AL-AHWAZ OCCUPIED, BETRAYED & IGNORED
By Ibrahim Ebeid.
A Revised article.
February 10. 2024
Al-Ahwaz, also known as Arabistan, and Palestine are being sacrificed by Arab regimes with no remorse. In a previous article, I discussed the danger of Arab submission by normalizing relations with the Zionist entity that might hinder the just cause of Palestine and prolong its occupation by the Zionist Entity.
This critical article deals with Al-Ahwaz, which is an Arab country that Iran occupied a century ago, which not many people know about and some deliberately ignore.
When oil was discovered in Al-Ahwaz in 1908, the trouble started. While the Persians had an eye on it because of the remarkable discovery of oil, the British assured the last Emir of Ahwaz protection and partnership against the ambitions of the Persians.
Within a decade, Sheikh Khazaal was under arrest in Tehran, the name Arabistan, Ahwaz had been wiped from the map, and the Ahwazi Arabs had been victimized by brutal oppression that continues to this day.
For centuries, Arabs lived and ruled Al-Ahwaz, and their descendants still live there even under repression and ferocious occupation; this occupied land extends north over 600 km along the east bank of the Shatt Al-Arab, and down the entire eastern littoral of the Gulf, as far south as the Strait of Hormuz.
Sir Percy Cox, the British political resident in the Gulf, in a ceremony at the Palace of Fallahiyah on Oct. 15, 1910, presented the sheik with reassurances of Britain’s steadfast support and the logo and title of a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire.
In 1914, in a letter from Sir Percy, the sheik had in his hand what amounted to a pledge by the most extraordinary imperial power of the time to preserve his autonomy and protect Arabistan from the Persian regime’s expansionist policy.
In the letter, dated Nov. 22, 1914, the British envoy wrote that he was now authorized “to assure your excellency personally that whatever change may take place in the form of the government of Persia, His Majesty’s government will be prepared to afford you the support necessary for obtaining a satisfactory solution, both to yourself and to us, in the event of any encroachment by the Persian government on your jurisdiction and recognized rights, or on your property” But sooner as the Russian Revolution has taken place the British switched support to Persia under the pretext of Russian threat that might be spread to Persia and control the region. The United Kingdom screwed the Ahwazi people and surrendered Al- Ahwaz to Iran; since then, Arabistan has succumbed to the most brutal occupation where mass execution is taking place en mass to inflict horrifying terror on the people. The policies of Persia towards the Arabs of occupied Ahwaz (Arabistan) are publicly exposed; they are equal to or worse oppressive than the harms inflicted upon the Palestinians by the Zionists. Peaceful protests are met with violence and repression in Iran and abroad. Countless citizens working to keep the flame of Arab culture alive have been arrested, disappeared, tortured, executed, or gunned down at checkpoints.
Many Ahwazis sought sanctuary overseas and are working to bring the plight of the Ahwazi people to the attention of the world not safe.
Ahmad Mola Nissi, one of the founders of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, fled Iran with his wife and children and sought asylum in the Netherlands in 2005. On November 8, 2017, an unknown assassin shot him dead outside his home in the Hague.
According to Dr. Salim Sirrieah, The area of this Arab region is 370 thousand square Kilometers, more than the total area of Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Jordan combined. Home to 12 million Arab citizens, it is economically the lifeblood of the Persian economy. Oil and natural gas extracted from the Ahwaz oil fields are 85% of Persian oil and gas production, and 75% of the total electrical energy is produced in Ahwaz.
Ahwaz annually produces three million tons of wheat, 50% of Iran’s total production and 90% of Iran’s date crops. Eight rivers flow into the region, which made 65% of the arable land in Iran concentrated in that region. The presence of these rivers in “Ahwaz” made the area the most important center for establishing nuclear reactors. In Iran, the most famous is the Bushehr reactor.
Iran has built three large dams on the Karun River near the capital of Ahwaz, and the number of dams built on the rivers reached 17 dams to irrigate the faraway Persian provinces, generating electric power and depriving Arab villages.
In my opinion, the danger of normalizing relations with Iran will lead to ignoring the struggle of the Ahwazi people for liberation and independence. It is equal to normalizing relations with the Zionist entity for the Palestinians.
Also, it will sustain the status of the Iranian domination of Iraq and control of the sectarian regime that is expanding swiftly in other parts of the Arab Homeland.
Two domination camps are being born, the Camp of Zionism on one side and the camp of Safavid Iran. Both are detrimental to the Arabs and will hinder the struggle and diminish the hope for the liberation of Ahwaz and Palestine.
Now, China has entered the arena of mediating to restore diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran to widen its commercial market in the area. Beijing is utilizing the peace talks and normalization between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Zionist entity to impose peace with no justice; what matters is the economic market and the gains to have the Middle East an open market.
Normalization between the Arab States and Israel is expected and encouraged by China and the United States, and likewise between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The destruction of Iraq by the United States, its allies, and Arab regimes and the silence of China and Russia led to the present situation that we are in. Ahwaz and Palestine were ignored and betrayed. China and the United States are on cahoot towards dominating the Middle East; both do not give a damn about the Arab people; they care only for an open market for gains, and to achieve that, they plot to keep us weak and dependent upon them.
Normalization of Saudi Arabi with “Israel” will lead to open doors for Muslim and Arab regimes to follow.
A genuine stand is needed to prevent such deterioration and decline in the National and International struggle; I am not a theorist or a thinker, but I depend on common sense because it is free from ideological theories that control our minds and limit our thinking, living in Palestine before the invention of the Zionist entity and seeing what happened in Iraq gave me a better experience than reading the books of Karl Marx or Lenin I lived the experience and suffered.
The Arab progressive and humanitarian movements must devise a plan or a platform to unify their struggle away from selfishness and self-interest.
The Progressive movements must free themselves from the rigid theories that limit their abilities and capabilities, and they must understand the national struggle of people who suffer under colonization, occupation, and fragmentation. The actual battle comes from the field, not from books and theories. They should know that the Ahwazis are subjected to political, cultural, social, and economic repression; they were treated as second and third-class citizens by the Iranian monarchy in the past, and their situation is still the same under the current regime of the Islamic Republic. An Ahwazi Arab cannot give his child an Arabic name.
The people of Ahwaz, who own the land that currently produces 85 percent of the oil, 75 percent of the gas, and most of the water, live in extreme poverty.
