When the Fatah Movement was formed in the mid-1960’s, it declared that it will form a resistance to liberate Palestine from the East to the West (from the river in the East to the Mediterranean Sea in the West). But this slogan soon evaporated and it surrendered the river in the East, the sea in the West and all the territory in between! The Fatah Regime has granted recognition to the Jewish State over almost all of Palestine and is now condemned to negotiate a state comprising the leftovers of Palestine under the ‘patronage’ of the Americans. The head of this regime was always shuttling to and from Washington whenever his party asked him to. Yet the Fatah regime after all these long years of negotiations and humiliating compromises, has achieved nothing and continues to be under occupation and even its head cannot travel except with permission from the Jewish State!
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
This is a translation based on an Arabic leaflet by Hizb ut-Tahrir.
When the Fatah Movement was formed in the mid-1960’s, it declared that it will form a resistance to liberate Palestine from the East to the West (from the river in the East to the Mediterranean Sea in the West). But this slogan soon evaporated and it surrendered the river in the East, the sea in the West and all the territory in between! The Fatah Regime has granted recognition to the Jewish State over almost all of Palestine and is now condemned to negotiate a state comprising the leftovers of Palestine under the ‘patronage’ of the Americans. The head of this regime was always shuttling to and from Washington whenever his party asked him to. Yet the Fatah regime after all these long years of negotiations and humiliating compromises, has achieved nothing and continues to be under occupation and even its head cannot travel except with permission from the Jewish State!
Later on, Hamas was formed on the same lines as Fatah and followed a course on the same tract as Fatah had done previously. It also declared that it will form a resistance and liberate Palestine from East to West. It criticised Fatah for having recognized the Jewish State and for its willingness to accept merely the 1967 occupied territory for the state of Palestine. Hamas accused Fatah of being nurtured by America and of conniving with the Jewish entity. But Hamas has now run its course and has also accepted the idea of having a Palestinian state within the 1967 territory along with the Jewish state over almost all of Palestine! Hamas, like Fatah before it, also extended its hands towards America to achieve this!
Hamas, ever since contesting elections under Jewish occupation, and participating in government under occupation and entering into the Makkah Accord, has been practically speaking of a Palestinian state on the 1967-occupied lands along with a Jewish State over most of the Palestinian territory. Yet it was playing with words with respect to the international and Arab resolutions calling for two-states. On the one hand it said that it ‘respected’ international resolutions while it was actually ‘recognising’ those resolutions. Anyone would certainly know that if one ‘respects’ a resolution, it would sooner or later ‘recognise’ it too!
And, here it is, Hamas now recognises them! Addressing a huge gathering in Damascus on 25th June, 2009, Khalid Mish’al used the flexible tongue and uttered those words. He said that Hamas wants a state within the 1967-occupied lands! And also reiterated that it was prepared to extend its hand of cooperation to America for this purpose!
The paradox is that while Fatah, in a conference held in Algeria in December 1988, after twenty years of its formation declared its acceptance of a Palestinian state on the territory of Gaza and the West Bank and rendered the idea of liberating the entire land of Palestine as a mere relic of the past; Hamas also followed Fatah step by step and declared its acceptance of forming a Palestinian state on the 1967 territories and extended its hand of cooperation towards America, about twenty years after its formation in 1987! As if Hamas is treading every single step walked in the past by Fatah!
Oh Muslims!
We do not wish to scrutinise the history of these organisations to establish the fact that the Western countries, especially the US have their presence and role in the formation of such organizations. Simply because when the reality is to be established, sayings and utterances can be dispensed with; even otherwise, what we state, is by the Will of Allah سبحانه وتعالى, the truth. We were greatly pained to hear the acceptance by Fatah of the concept of two-nations: a Jewish State over almost the entire territory of Palestine and another state of Palestine over the left-over lands, and that too constrained with overwhelming conditions and limitations.
Similarly, we are immensely pained to hear of Hamas’s acceptance of this concept. In fact, we are even more severely pained now because while Fatah had ‘agreed’ to this idea as a result of their ‘pragmatic’ approach and not as a requirement under Islam. Fatah never once claimed to be an Islamic party, while Hamas is publicly regarded as an Islamic party and as such its acceptance of this proposal is fraught with dangerous consequences, since people will perceive its acceptance of a Jewish occupied state over 1948-occupied lands and 1967 occupied land for a fractured Palestinian state, as being sanctioned under Islam, which is a disaster! This was why we have always urged Hamas to avert this mess. We have advised them not to participate in elections under occupation and urged them not to become part of the ruling regime under occupation but they never heeded to our advice and continued to justify their treading of this deviant path!
Oh Muslims!
Despite our being greatly pained at the recognition of two-nation concept by an ‘Islamic’ party, we still see some light and hope because this reality is at least better than deceptive fog. Light at sunset is still better than the pitch darkness of the night where steps slip because of invisibility! Despite the heavy odds, there are Palestinians who face the pains and have their hopes in Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Hence the recognition of the 2-nations within Palestine will not give the Jewish entity any legitimacy under Islam, since Fatah and Hamas do not represent either Islam or Muslims, but they are merely a part of the Islamic convoy deviated from the correct path.
As for Palestine, it certainly is a blessed Islamic territory, belonging to the Islamic Ummah and situated at its very heart and soul. This has been so ever since Allah سبحانه وتعالى linked it to the great event of al-Isra’ wal Me’raj and said:
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ
“Glorified (and Exalted) is He (Allâh) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him] Who took His slave (Muhammad [sal-Allâhu ‘alayhi wa sallam]) for a journey by night from Al-Masjid Al-Harâm (at Makkah) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsâ (in Jerusalem), the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, in order that We might show him (Muhammad [sal-Allâhu ‘alayhi wa sallam]) of Our Ayât (proofs, evidences, lessons, signs, etc.). Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.” [al-Israa, 17:1]
This is Palestine; its solution does not lie in extending a hand of cooperation towards America and negotiating a two-state solution with the Jewish State. Even if they were to withdraw from the 1967-occupied territories, one hand span of Palestine will be under the 1948-occupied Palestine while another hand span will be under the 1967-occupied land, while under Islam; they are both one and the same. This blessed land has been tended with the pure blood of the martyrs of the Islamic armies over many periods of the Islamic Khilafah. Not a single inch of Palestinian land is there that has not witnessed the blood of its martyrs or the dust flying from the footsteps of the Mujahid’s horses.
Indeed, Palestine has remained in the custody over the necks of Muslims; it was first opened by Muslims during the era of syeddina Omar’s Khilafah. It was this period of Omar رضي الله عنه that established and consolidated the authority and rule of Islam over Palestine and ruled that the yahood will not reside in this blessed land, this remained so throughout history. Whenever the enemy cast his evil eye on Palestine, there would rise a Salahuddin who cleansed it of the crusaders, or Qutz or Beybrus who rid this blessed land from the Tatars. And then there was Khaleefah Abdul Hameed towards the very end of the Khilafah period who protected this land from being occupied by Hertzel and his band. A person like him would be here if there was a Khilafah in existence, and would have rid this land from the usurpation of the Jewish occupiers and brought the entire territory to the fold of the Islamic State.
Palestine continues to be in the custody over the necks of Muslims and no Muslim is allowed to betray this custody, Allah, the All-Powerful says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لاَ تَخُونُواْ اللّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ وَتَخُونُواْ أَمَانَاتِكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
“O you who believe! Betray not Allâh and His Messenger [sal-Allâhu ‘alayhi wa sallam], nor betray knowingly your Amânât (the things entrusted to you, and all the duties which Allâh has ordained for you).” [Al-Anfaal, 8:27]
Hizb ut-Tahrir
4th Rajab, 1430 A.H
26th June, 2009 C.E