A recently released research study confirmed that the Yemenis’ standing by the Palestinian cause and the Palestinians, their legitimate rights, and their movements that resist the occupation are among the constants that were unanimously agreed upon by all forces of all stripes.

The study issued by the MOCHA Center for Strategic Studies under the title “The Al-Aqsa Tofan and the Yemenis’ position on it... the Historical Path and the Current Response” made it clear that this position was reflected in the state’s policy and the community’s movement to support Palestine and its people, and to provide financial, relief, and media support at the level of international forums and the mass movement.

It said that despite all the crises and tragedies that befell them as an expression of the unity of bodies and feelings, this position will remain a principled position and present in the collective consciousness of Yemen until the Palestinians achieve their rights and liberate their lands and holy places.

It pointed out that although the Yemeni people were deprived of expressing their choices and will in peaceful and civilized ways following the Houthi militia’s coup against the state, its war against the Yemeni people, the destruction of its capabilities, and its monopoly of the public scene by force of arms, the people remained loyal to the cause of Palestine despite all their wounds, their suffering for it and do everything they can to support it, the Yemenis demonstrated in a number of governorates, such as Taiz, Aden, Sana’a, Marib, and others, to express their solidarity with Gaza, their support for its people, and their support for the Palestinian resistance.

The study showed that this massive Yemeni sympathy for the Palestinian cause and resistance forced the Houthi group to align with it and carry out some operations that would increase its shares at home, regardless of the agendas it conceals and its alliances that control the scene of those operations and the rules of engagement in them. However, they exploited these events to raise money for the group in the name of supporting Palestine and imposed a number of levies on citizens to support missiles fired at Israel.

Clear official position:

The study reviewed Yemen's official positions, starting with the speech of the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council at the Arab and Islamic Summit held in Riyadh and his call on the Houthi militia not to exploit the tragedy of the Palestinian people through its synchronized escalation on all fronts in the liberated Governorates, as well as his call on the militia to end the siege of cities, to stop sowing Internationally prohibited mines, and not targeting civilians with missiles and suicide drones, in addition to the position of the House of Representatives, which strongly condemned the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, reiterating Yemen’s support for the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves, to extract their full rights, and to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The House of Representatives also condemned the continued Western - American and European - complicity with Israel in these crimes against humanity.

Once again, President Al-Alimi affirmed Yemen’s firm and supportive position on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the fulfillment of their legitimate rights, foremost of which is the establishment of their independent, sovereign state, stressing that Palestine will remain the core of the Arab and Islamic conscience and the focus of its national security, explaining that what is happening in Palestine today is an expected result of “ignoring the power of right in favor of the right of force, the rejection of all peace initiatives, the heavily-armed occupation's resorting to imposing fait accompli policies, and the failure of the international community to play its moral, legal, and political role in resolving just issues, compared to what is happening in Palestine.” What happened in afflicted Yemen following the coup by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia against constitutional legitimacy and national consensus.

The position of Maeen Abdulmalik, Prime Minister, reinforced the Yemeni position, when he called for urgent action to support the Palestinian people, who are being subjected to “flagrant aggression” and a “fully developed war crime” by the Zionist occupation forces, which have violated all conventions and international humanitarian law, stressing that Yemen's firm position towards the Palestinian issue.

The study noted Yemen’s vote in the United Nations General Assembly, on the past October 28, on the draft Arab resolution regarding Israel’s aggression against Gaza, and what was expressed by Yemen’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah Al-Saadi, of Yemen’s strong denunciation of the brutal and continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Gaza, and the resulting destruction of infrastructure, targeting of defenseless civilians, especially women and children, without discrimination, and cutting off water, electricity, and food for the residents of the Gaza Strip. This was considered a full-fledged war crime, a crime of ethnic cleansing, a flagrant violation of international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law, as well as all international and moral norms and conventions. He renewed the call for an immediate ceasefire, allowing humanitarian aid to enter without obstacles or restrictions, and protecting civilians and infrastructure, including hospitals, medical staff and places of worship. He expressed Yemen's rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip.

The study said that a large number of the Yemeni people sympathized positively with the operations carried out by the Houthi group against Israel, calling on the group to modify its internal course and address the local situation in order for Yemen to regain its regional and international status and influence away from the agendas and calculations of Iran and its axis of resistance.

Against normalization:

The study touched on the position of the Yemenis on normalization with Israel, which had begun since the late 1990s of the last century, when signs of normalization with the Zionist entity appeared by the Yemeni government, which led to a wave of official protests through the House of Representatives, and popular protests through demonstrations, marches and media campaigns rejecting this trend by all stripes of party, political, intellectual and societal work, which forced the government at the time to retreat from this trend. Since then, this file has been permanently closed.

However, the study found that the Southern Transitional Council - in light of the political intrigues and the use of foreign powers against the home’s partners - tended to express positions contrary to the consensus of the Yemenis, with satisfaction with its scene of normalization, considering that this deviation and anomaly from the positions of the various Yemeni forces, political, social, sectarian and intellectual, was met with Widespread disapproval and denunciation, including symbols of the Southern Movement themselves.

Popular sympathy:

The study reviewed images of Yemeni popular sympathy for Palestine and its people, which are considered among the Arab peoples most sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and the Palestinians, as they translated this sympathy into interest, movement, and material and moral support. Every year is not devoid of festivals in support of Al-Aqsa Al-Sharif, mass demonstrations demanding the defense of the Palestinian people, solidarity stops, or collecting financial donations in schools, stores, and mosques, as well as through piggy banks.

The study said that the Yemeni popular interest in the Palestinian issue led to the establishment of the Al-Aqsa Association, which Sheikh Muhammad Al-Muayyad contributed to its establishment in 1990, and headed its administration during the period 1997 - 2002. The Association contributed in the implementation of many charitable projects that meet humanitarian needs inside Palestine and in the diaspora camps, especially in Lebanon and Jordan. These projects included Al-Aqsa Mosque and the relief, health, educational, social, and development aspects. This Association financed the construction of Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in Gaza, providing medicine to patients, establishing a medical solutions factory, sponsoring hundreds of disabled people and hundreds of families of martyrs, and sponsoring 2,600 orphans inside Palestine. The Association also worked to sponsor a project to cultivate five dunams of liberated land in the Gaza Strip, an olive farm project, and other projects. The Secretary-General of the Association, Shaker Heba, confirmed that the Al-Aqsa Association ranked first in terms of providing support to Palestinians, refugees, and diaspora camps at the level of the Arab and Islamic world.

The Palestinian issue in the conscience:

The study spoke in detail about the popular and official interest in the Palestinian issue and resistance from the early 1960s until the late 1970s, when Palestinian resistance movements were formed as popular efforts aimed at liberating Palestine and resisting the Zionist occupation. Most of these movements have adopted armed struggle as a means of resisting the occupying Zionist entity.

The Yemenis continue to express their positions of solidarity with Palestine and its people, especially in light of the media openness that has begun to invade the Arab region and allows peoples to be informed of new events and their interaction with them, in addition to Yemen receiving Palestinian refugees at various stages and granting them great privileges.

The study pointed out the establishment of the Popular Committee to Support the Palestinian People in Yemen, in which all stripes of political action, bodies, social components, unions and popular symbols participated, as an embodiment of the Yemeni national alignment behind the Palestinian cause and the choice of resistance against the Israeli aggression and the Zionist occupation, because it is a common Arab-Yemeni cause. During the period of its existence and activity, the Authority contributed to many internal and international activities in support of Palestine, and provided many donations, aid, and in-kind contributions to Palestine and its people.

The research study showed that the Palestinian issue was among the concerns of the man in the street and the general public of the Yemeni people. It was present among the intellectual and cultural elites and recorded a prominent presence in the literary arena, because literature is considered the template most capable of expressing the emotions, feelings and consciences of societies. Here we present some symbols of Yemeni literature and poetry and their interests in the Palestinian issue.