Ahwaz, an Arab country still suffering from occupation

Brigadier/Ma’mun Haroun Rashid, Palestine Advisor

Since April 20, 1920, the Arab people of Ahwaz have been suffering from the heinous occupation of the Persian regime. On this day, 98 years ago, Persia, later renamed Iran, conspired with the United Kingdom, the first colonial power in that period that had colonized many regions and countries around the world, especially Arab countries including the Arabian Gulf region.

Iran occupied the Arab state of Ahwaz in a dirty plot in which Prince Khazal Al-Kaabi, the Ahwaz leader, was arrested and imprisoned until he passed away. The British role in this plot violated all international laws, regulations, and decisions. They played an important role in facilitating the Persian occupation of Ahwaz to protect their interests in the region, especially after the discovery of oil in Ahwaz.

Britain, the colonial state, saw that the strategic importance this region represents to it after the discovery of oil, in addition to its control of transportation routes and its supervision of the Arabian Gulf and its ports of importance for the export of oil. The country, especially from energy sources, and controlling its land and sea routes to secure oil access to it.

The occupation of Al-Ahwaz at that date constituted the beginning of a bloody phase in which the Ahwazi Arab people are still suffering from its dependencies, and the dependencies of what was practiced and still being practiced by the Persian occupation, whether in its imperial face or by the mullahs. The Iranian occupation was practiced during the reign of Shah Muhammad Reza Belhavi, who was allied with the forces of global colonialism represented in Britain And the United States and Israel practiced the harshest forms of repression, subjugation, and abolition of the Ahwazi Arab people. In addition to attempting to abolish the Arab identity of the Ahwazi people and denying them the exercise of their human rights, they imposed a policy of framing on Arab citizens.

He forbade dealing with the Arabic language, whether in schools, government departments, or even conversation between citizens, and he displaced entire villages from the Arab villages and replaced them with citizens of Persian origin in an attempt to cancel the Arab character of Al-Ahwaz.

In this context, he drained the rivers in Al-Ahwaz, changed their paths, and built dams, in order to push the Arab population to leave their lands and migrate from them in pursuit of livelihood after their land, farms, and trees dried up as a result of the water confinement from their lands. At the same time, the prisons of the Iranian occupation were crowded with Arab citizens from Al-Ahwaz. In an attempt to break the will of this people, who, despite all these measures throughout all the years of occupation, refused to submit and remained attached to their Arabism, their land and their state, they practiced the mullahs’ regime in Tehran and after the so-called Islamic Revolution, they practiced in a more horrible way the most horrible practices against the people and the land of Al-Ahwaz. In a continuous attempt to break the will and abolish the identity of this people who are increasingly clinging to their Arabism and their land as the occupation practices and tools increase.

Throughout the years of occupation and the historical injustice that befell the Arab Al-Ahwazi people, throughout these years the Al-Ahwazi people rose up on many occasions against the occupation and its practices and the practice of its agents and security tools, rose in defense of their right to independence, freedom, the establishment of their independent state, and the restoration of their riches plundered by the occupying state, the 15th Intifada From April 2005 it is still fresh, and other uprisings and struggles have not stopped since the occupation until now, and what is happening now, whether in Al-Ahwaz or within the geography of what is called Iran, is nothing but an expression of the continuation of the struggle of the Al-Ahwazi people and other peoples under the yoke of this occupation in the geography of Iran.

In the absence of a position from the international community, states, activists, societies and international organizations, in the absence of this position, and its siding with the forces of injustice, the remnants of colonialism, and its submission to the logic of force, as an agent with different measures as is happening in Al-Ahwaz and Palestine, justice will remain missing, and the slogans of freedom, dignity, justice and human rights These slogans will remain empty, meaningless and worthless slogans.

But the peoples yearning for freedom and independence will continue their struggle and struggle, no matter how heavy the sacrifices, and the Al-Ahwazi Arab people, who have been suffering for ninety-eight years of occupation, continue their struggle. Despite his truth and identity, he has become a bright page in his history and the history of the nation. Future generations will be proud of him and all peoples yearning for freedom and independence will follow his example.