POPULAR pressure has, throughout history, proved to be an effective tool for causing change. The current protests staged by university students and unions against Israel's latest decision to add the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil (Hebron) and the Bilal Mosque in Bethlehem to the list of Jewish heritage are expressive of the feeling of every Muslim around the world. We have always complained that the reaction of the Arab and Muslim street is not equal in force to Israel's atrocities and attempts to profane holy Islamic sites. The problem, however, is that these protests are sometimes suppressed or discouraged by authorities. The current popular upheaval, which is supported by the commendable call of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities to UNESCO to stop the Israeli move, needs to be further backed by a decisive and positive official stand on the part of Arab governments. The shabby and repeated statements of condemnation, which are released on every occasion that Israel violates the sanctity of Islamic sites in occupied Jerusalem and other Palestinian cities, do not fulfil popular needs. If governments have their own calculations that prevent decisive measures against Israel, they should at least allow the masses room to express their anger and to form a reverberating pressure front. How can the Arab and Islamic conscience feel at ease when Israel is left to get away with its crimes against civilians and Islamic holy sites?
