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Developing Eight Islamic Countries (D-8)

Posted by islamispeaceandbrotherhood on September 6, 2007

 

Objectives and guiding principles

D-8, also known as Developing-8, is an arrangement for development cooperation among the following member countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. It also adds a new dimension to enrich the social and economic relations of its partners.

Following the “Conference on Cooperation for Development”, on October 22, 1996, and after a series of preparatory meetings, the establishment of D-8 was announced officially by the Summit of Heads of State/Government in Istanbul, on June 15,1997 (Istanbul Declaration).

The objectives of D-8 are to improve developing countries’ positions in the world economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at the international level, and provide better standards of living.

D-8 is a global arrangement rather than a regional one, as the composition of founding members reflects. Membership will be open to other developing countries subscribing to the goals, objectives, and principles of the group, sharing common bonds.

D-8 is a forum with no adverse impact on bilateral and multilateral commitments of the member countries, emanating from their membership to regional and international organisations.

Principal organs

The principal organs of D-8 are the Summit, the Council, and the Commission.

The Summit, which is the supreme organ of D-8 is composed of the Heads of State/Government of member states. It is convened once every two years.

The Council is composed of the Ministers in charge of Foreign Affairs of member states. It is the political decision making organ of D-8, and acts as a forum for thorough and comprehensive consideration of the issues.

The Commission is the executive organ of D-8. It is composed of senior officials appointed by their respective governments. Each Commissioner is responsible for national coordination in his/her respective country.

An Executive Director is appointed to ensure efficient communication, expedite the flow of information, and supervise the provision of services for the meetings.

Areas of cooperation

At the outset, ten sectors have been identified for cooperation and project development. They are: Trade; Industry; Telecommunications and Information; Finance, Banking and Privatization; Rural Development; Science and Technology; Poverty Alleviation and Human Resources Development; Agriculture; Energy; Environment; and Health.

On the basis of a division of labour for the coordination of D-8 activities, each sector is assigned to a member country.

Although 50-60 projects were originally proposed at the First Summit, in order not to spread resources too thinly, the following six priority projects were selected to be launched immediately:

  • Establishment of an International Marketing and Trading Company
  • Workshop on Poverty Alleviation
  • Establishment of an Industrial and Technological Data Bank Network among D-8
  • Establishment of Takaful Schemes (Insurance), including joint ventures between the companies of D-8
  • Cooperation for the Development of Inland and Coastal Aquaculture
  • Design, Development, Production, and Marketing of Agricultural Aircraft

D-8 countries have large, young populations with a growing and increasingly skilled labour force

D-8 member countries have relatively large populations. The total population of D-8 countries was around 800 million in 1997. This corresponds to some 13.5 percent of the world population. In four of the eight countries the population is well over one hundred million, in one country it is more than two hundred million.

After relatively high annual growth rates recorded in previous decades, population growth is gradually coming down in all D-8 countries, similar to the phenomenon observed in the rest of the world. Due to rapid growth in the past, a large part of their population will continue to be young for the foreseeable future, constituting a factor of dynamism in D-8 societies.

Moreover, an increasing number of these young people are being educated and trained in universities and research institutions in order to meet the requirements of high-tech industries for skilled labour.

Population in D-8 countries

 

Total
(millions)

Avg. Annual
Growth Rate (per cent)

 

1997

1980-90

1990-95

Bangladesh

122.2

2.4

1.6

Egypt

64.8

2.5

2.0

Indonesia

204.3

1.8

1.6

Iran

67.5

   
Malaysia

21.0

2.6

2.4

Nigeria

107.1

3.0

2.9

Pakistan

137.8

3.1

2.9

Turkey

63.7

2.3

1.7

Total

788.4

   
World Population

5,840.0

   
D-8 Pop/World Pop

% 13.5

   

Source: World Development Report, 1997,World Bank; World Population Data Sheet, 1997, Population Reference BureauD-8 countries have growing economies and relatively high technologiesStarting from relatively modest income levels, D-8 economies have displayed respectable growth rates in the recent past. In all countries, governments have undertaken reforms to remove the bottlenecks to rapid growth, liberalise markets and integrate better with the world economy. Growth in incomes, coupled with the already large and increasing populations, will create rapidly growing markets in the coming years.

In most of these countries, the private sector has become the driving force of the economy. As a result, large holdings have emerged in recent years. Some now rank amongst the first 500 largest companies of the world. Their partnership with well-known firms of the industrialised world in high-tech industries such as electronics, automotive, etc. has helped build a significant technological and industrial base in D-8 countries.

Gross National Product in D-8 countries

GNP
1995
bn
(USD)

Annual GNP
Growth rate
(1985-95) (%)

Per Capita
GNP (*)
1995

Bangladesh

28,752

3.5

240

Egypt

46,525

3.1

790

Indonesia

189,434

7.6

980

Iran

98,000

1,540

Malaysia

78,189

8.1

3,890

Nigeria

28,938

4.1

260

Pakistan

59,754

4.1

460

Turkey

169,858

3.9

2,780

Source: World Development Report, 1997, World Bank(*) When the purchasing power of US dollar and unaccountable services are taken into account, the figures in this column become much higher.D-8 Countries have a relatively rich resource base

In addition to sizeable human resources, D-8 countries also possess significant natural resources. Some of these resources are currently being exploited, but there remains large natural resources yet to be tapped.

Bangladesh is the largest jute exporting country, contributing 80 percent of world’s jute exports. Tea and rice are the other main agricultural crops. The discovery of natural gas in the Bay of Bengal indicates large reserves ready for exploitation.

Oil and gas reserves are Egypt’s main natural resource. While the size of the oil reserves is relatively modest by world standards, proven and potential gas reserves are substantial. Among the various other mineral resources, phosphate reserves are sizeable. In agriculture, Egypt produces and exports high quality cotton, rice, sugar cane, citrus and vegetables.

Indonesia is rich in both agricultural resources, and in oil and natural gas. Mineral resources include coal, tin, bauxite, copper and nickel. Indonesia is a major producer of palm oil, coffee, cocoa, natural rubber and wood products.

Iran has one of the oldest oil industries in the region, with 9 percent of the world’s known reserves. Natural gas reserves are also substantial, the second largest in the world. Iran also has mineral resources including iron ore and bauxite.

Malaysia continues to play a major role in the world market as a supplier of tin and rubber. Petroleum and natural gas production is gaining importance. The country remains the world’s leading producer of tropical lumber.

Nigeria has oil reserves of high quality with a low sulphur content and light gravity. There are also relatively large natural gas deposits, as well as a wide variety of mineral resources. In agriculture, cocoa remains a significant export item, after petroleum.

While fuel resources are relatively modest in Pakistan, the country boasts an extensive range of non-fuel minerals that includes, among others, magnesite, limestone, marble, and dolomite. In agriculture, Pakistan is a major producer of cash crops, such as cotton and rice.

Turkey has a diverse resource base. Given abundant water resources, the country has the capacity to produce a wide range of crops. Indeed, Turkey is one of the few countries in the world, self sufficient in food production. Moreover, for her energy needs, Turkey relies to a great extent (46%) on hydro-power obtained from water resources. There exists significant underground resources such as bauxite, chrome, iron ore and lignite.

Oil and natural gas production in D-8 countries (end-1995)

Oil

Natural Gas

Production

Share of World

Production

Share of World

(million tons)

Total
(percent)

(bill. cubic meters)

Total
(percent)

Iran

182.8

5.6

35.3

1.7

Egypt

46.0

1.4

13.0

0.6

Nigeria

93.8

2.9

4.0

0.2

Bangladesh

7.4

0.3

Indonesia

73.8

2.3

58.5

2.8

Malaysia

34.9

1.1

29.0

1.4

Pakistan

13.4

0.6

D-8 Total

431.3

13.3

158.6

7.5

World Total

3252.4

100

2119.6

100

Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 1996

Proven oil and natural gas reserves of D-8 countries
(end-1995)

Oil

Natural gas

Reserves
(thousand mil.barrels)

Share of
World Total
(percent)

Reserves
(trillion cubic meters)

Share of
World Total
(percent)

Iran

88.2

8.7

21.0

15.0

Egypt

3.9

0.4

0.6

0.4

Nigeria

20.8

2.1

3.1

2.2

Bangladesh

0.3

0.2

Indonesia

5.2

0.5

2.0

1.4

Malaysia

4.3

0.4

1.9

1.4

Pakistan

0.8

0.5

D-8 Total

122.4

12.1

29.7

21.1

World Total

1016.9

100

139.7

100

Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 1996

The share of D-8 countries in world trade is growing

An indication of the dynamism of D-8 economies is their rapid integration with the world economy. In recent years, their exports and imports, which constitute about 4 percent of the world total have been on the increase. Within a six-year period from 1990 to 1996, total exports of the D-8 countries increased by 87 percent. During the same period, increases in imports were even higher, at 93 percent. These large increases correspond to annual average growth rates of 10.4 percent and 11.0 percent for exports and imports respectively.

These rates are well above the changes in world trade as a whole which was at 5.5 percent during the same period. This obviously is an indication of the growing nature of the influence of the D-8 economies.

Main trading partners of the D-8 countries are industrialised economies. The majority of exports are destined for USA, Japan, Germany, and to a smaller extent, to UK, Italy, and France. With few exceptions, most imports originate from the same countries.

Main export items of the D-8 countries vary a great deal based on resource endowment, climate, and soil conditions. The bulk of these exports are oil and gas, agricultural products and textiles. Among import items machinery and transport equipment, iron and steel products, raw materials for textiles, chemicals, and certain food items are more important.

D-8 share in world trade
                                                             

 

Exports

Imports

        Millions of U.S. Dollars
  1992 1996 1992 1996
D-8 Countries’Total Trade

133,928

202,287

146,558

221,449

Billions of U.S. Dollars
World Total Trade

3,731.4

5,219.8

3,861.0

5,338.5

D-8 World Total/World Total
(percent)

3.59

3.88

3.80

4.15

Source: Direction of Trade 1997, IMF

Main commodities of foreign trade of D-8 countries

(1992-1995)

Main Export Items

Main Import Items

Bangladesh Textile yarn, clothing, food & live animals, jute products, raw jute, leather, fish & preparations,tea Raw cotton, petroleum & products, chemicals, textile yarn, machinery & transport equipment, food & live animals, iron&steel, crude fertilisers&minerals
Egypt Petroleum & products, cotton yarn & textiles, chemicals, engineering & metallurgical, cotton,foodstuffs, vegetables Machinery & transport equipment, live animals, animal prod., food & drink,chemical prod., rubber, leather,wood,cork,paper,base metals
Indonesia Crude petroleum, gas, petrol.prod., plywood, textiles, shrimps, processed rubber,elec. appar. copper, coal, paper&paper goods, palm oil Industrial raw materials, machinery,manufactured goods, chemicals, crude materials, food, mineral fuels
Iran Oil & gas, carpets, fresh & dried fruits & nuts, industrial goods which are cast iron & steel, chemicals, textiles, refined copper Road vehicles & machinery, iron, steel & manufactures, chemicals & pharmaceuticals, food & live animals, beverages & tobacco
Malaysia Machinery & transport equipment, elect.components, telecom equipment,office mach.,processed palm oil,crude petr.,sawn timber,rubber,crude petr.LNG Machinery & transport equip.,  manufactured goods,chemicals,  food & beverages, inedible crude materials, mineral fuels
Nigeria Petroleum, cocoa beans, rubber, textiles, fish and shrimps, cocoa butter Machinery & transport, manufactured goods, food & live animals, crude materials, animal & vegetable oils & fat, mineral fuels, misc. manufactures
Pakistan Cotton yarn & cloth, garments & hosiery, raw cotton, synthetic textiles, rice, leather, carpet & rugs, fish & products Non electrical machinery, petroleum & products, chemicals, edible oil, transport equipment,iron, steel &  prod., grains, electrical goods
Turkey Yarn & textiles, iron & steel products, machinery & equipment, transportation vehicles, tobacco Machinery & equipment, transport vehicles, petroleum, iron & steel products, fuel & petroleum, gas, rubber, chemicals

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Profiles

Currently intra D-8 trade is relatively small but has prospects for growth

The volume of intra-trade among D-8 countries is rather low. Indeed, in 1996 it amounted to only 14 billion dollars. In return, during the same period, the total trade of the member countries with the rest of the world exceeded 400 billion dollars. Thus, D-8 intra-trade represents only 3.5 percent of their total trade.

Even a cursory review of trade statistics of these countries reveals the potential for increased trade among D-8 countries. For this reason, the development of intra-trade is set as one of the primary objectives of D-8 cooperation.

Intra D-8 trade

Exports

Imports

Millions of U.S. Dollars

1992 1996 1992 1996
D-8 Intra-tradeTotal

4,206

7,382

4,466

7,192

D-8 Countries’ Total Trade

133,928

202,287

146,558

221,449

D-8 Intra-trade/D-8 World Total
(percent)

3.14

3.65

3.05

3.25

Source: Direction of Trade 1997, IMFNote: Global financial crisis has to a certain extent affected the D-8 intra-trade and the share of member countries in the world trade in 1998-99.http://www.mfa.gov.tr/d-8/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_8_Countries

http://www.developing8.org/

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Palestine Poem

Posted by islamispeaceandbrotherhood on September 2, 2007

Posted in Middle East, Palestine, Poem, Video, Videos, Zionism, İslamic World | Leave a Comment »

Israel’s Peace Game

Posted by islamispeaceandbrotherhood on September 1, 2007

THE ISRAEL’S PEACE GAME

The Oslo Accords signed in 1993 started a new page in Middle Eastern history. PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, in the presence of US President Bill Clinton, posed for journalists, shook hands, and brought Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to fruition with a concrete agreement. By signing the Oslo Accords, the two sides recognized each other for the first time in history and made the first bilateral agreement.

After signing this agreement, the idea that peace might finally be possible began to take hold throughout the world. It was widely accepted that the Arab-Israeli dispute finally would be resolved permanently, and that peace would bring welfare and happiness to the Middle East. Shimon Peres, the second-in-command in Israel, wrote a book entitled The New Middle East, which described the happy scene in question. It promptly became a bestseller. Israel’s appearance of “waging peace” seemed to have convinced almost everyone.

However, our book The New Masonic Order, first published in February 1996, described how this appearance did not reflect reality, how Israel’s peace was really a “phony peace.” We explained that by negotiating with the PLO, Israel merely wanted to exacerbate the conflict between it and Hamas, that Israel really had no intention of withdrawing from the Occupied Territories, and that it was merely using peace as a “tactical maneuver.” (See Harun Yahya, The New Masonic Order, Istanbul, 1996, pp. 508-520.)

The 6 years following the publication of this book have proved this view correct. The entire world now understands that the “peaceful Israel” of the mid-1990s was not realistic, and that Israel has continued its politics of occupation. The phony peace process initiated by Israel to end the Intifada only led to another one when Israel continued its oppressive and aggressive policies. After all of the fake peace scenarios, the election of Ariel Sharon, “The Butcher of Lebanon,” as prime minister demonstrated that the Zionists had decided to continue their policy of occupation and cruelty rather than peace. This reality was sufficiently clear proof that Israel’s peace offer was not genuine.

Without a doubt, the replacement of peace by renewed conflict is a deplorable turn of events. What we hope for, of course, is the assurance of peace and security in the Middle East. But it must be a just peace. Israel wants to impose an unfair peace that does not entail withdrawing from the Occupied Territories and that compels Muslims to accept the status quo. The reason for this is the Zionist ideology, from which many Israelis have been unwilling to free themselves.

The conditions that are necessary for a just peace in Palestine include the following: Israel must withdraw from the Occupied Territories, refugees must be allowed to return to their homes, Palestinians being held in Israeli jails must be tried by due process, and the final status of Jerusalem must be determined. Israel continues to insist upon its own views on all of these issues and refuses to make concessions. The reason is Zionist ideology.

As long as Israel does not abandon Zionism, it will remain unconcerned with human rights and justice. For this reason, all of its plans for Palestinians will be unjust. For Zionist Israel, “peace” means nothing more than a “strategic ceasefire” within a larger war. When we go back and take a look at the period beginning with the 1993 Peace Accords, we find this fact confirmed.

The Origin of the Israel-PLO Peace

The long history of conflict between Israel and Palestine is known to everyone. Ever since the turn of the twentieth century, the Middle East has been the scene of clashes between indigenous Muslim and Christian Arabs and Jews, the vast majority of whom had not been born in Palestine. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, these clashes turned into outright wars. By 1967, there had been four major wars and one permanent state of war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. After 1967, organizations working to liberate Palestine also began to make their presence felt.

The Palestinian resistance appeared in force when Israel occupied all Palestinian land in 1967. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a resistance movement formed by unifying several groups, increased its activities substantially during the 1970s. Until the 1980s, it played the leading role in the Palestinian people’s struggle. The rise of Islamic movements during the 1980s had a grave impact upon this organization, which had survived largely through the support of leftists, socialist Arab governments, and the Soviet Union. Islamic groups, particularly those organizing in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, became the standard-bearers of the Intifada in 1987 and led this uprising. By the 1990s, their strength rivaled that of the PLO. There is no doubt that this development led Israel to change tactics, to deal with this new Islamic movement unifying under a common identity, rather than with the PLO, which had lost the material support of the now-defunct Soviet bloc, and with it most of its power.

Israel decided to make a strategic change, rather than deal with these two threats at the same time. The most clever thing to do was to recognize the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian cause, and then play the PLO card against the other Palestinian forces. Of course this meant that Israel would have to put a temporary halt to its years-long policy of aggression, if only just for show. This is the context in which Israel and the PLO began the peace process during the early 1990s.

The “Peace for War” Theory

Retreating in order to make a more powerful move later is one of the more refined political strategies. Israel knows how to apply such a “strategic withdrawal” when necessary. One example occurred 3 years after it signed the Camp David Accords with Egypt. Israeli units invaded Lebanon in the summer of 1982, under the orders of Camp David signatory Menachem Begin, shocking those who had believed in the fairy tale of the Middle East peace process. The massacres that occurred in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps once again demonstrated what Israel really meant by peace. These events proved that Israel had not signed the Camp David Accords because it wanted peace in the Middle East; rather, it had merely sought to remove an obstacle (Egypt) so that it could concentrate on more important goals.

So the 1992 peace process was just another “strategic withdrawal,” a camouflaged post-modern war tactic. This did not escape the notice of those experts and intellectuals who were following the peace process closely. Edward Said, one of these experts, warned the PLO near the beginning of the peace talks that they had forgotten that they were dealing with a “nation of Talmudists.” (Talmudist: strongly bound to the Talmud, the Jewish Holy Book.) According to Said, the Israelis could be preparing a trap behind every word and every comma of these peace talks

With their first peace offer, which promised Palestinians the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the Israeli government was planning to put down the Palestinian resistance. This plan was really a trap. Likewise, the regions put under Palestinian control by the Oslo Accords amounted to about 22% of all Palestinian lands. Moreover, by putting the Gaza Strip, a stronghold of the Islamic movement, under Palestinian control, Israel freed itself of the need to deal with these resistance groups. Under the agreement, Palestinian security forces would have to deal with such resistance groups directly. Israel lost nothing in the bargain – on the contrary, it proved to be a most profitable transaction. In fact, the agreements that followed Oslo helped Israel “cleanse” Jerusalem of Christians and Muslims.

It was certainly no coincidence that settlement construction near Jerusalem picked up speed immediately after signing the Oslo Accords. These developments were simply the result of an expertly devised strategy, each step of which had been carefully thought out in advance.

SUPERFICIAL ATTEMPTS AT COMPROMISE: THE MITCHELL REPORT

Tension in the Middle East reached the breaking point with the eruption of the al-Aqsa Intifada, which led international circles to attempt new peace initiatives. The Mitchell Report, the one that gathered the most attention and was presented by a delegation led by former Senator George Mitchell, examined the problem at the source and presented its suggestions. Its main goal was to determine the basic reasons for the Israeli-Palestinian tensions and to suggest how to prevent such conflict in the future. Although the report was no less than 8 months in the making, it did not produce the desired result. Just like so many other earlier Middle East peace initiatives, the Mitchell Report was an artificial stopgap measure, rather than a genuine attempt at lasting peace.

Of course the Mitchell Report contained material intended to please both sides. Where it was most sorely lacking, however, was in its failure to address the real problem and its lack of sincere suggestions or sanctions. While stating that Israel had used excessive violence, it also accused Yasser Arafat of sabotaging the Oslo Accords and failed to identify the real criminal and the real victim. Committee members, insisting that they were not a court of law, did not mention the continuing Israeli terror or the recent massacres. When the report is analyzed in detail, it is clear that when the committee members said that they “would not judge anyone,” what they really meant was that they “would not reach any firm decision against Israel.” Middle East expert Daniel Pipes explains the report’s “supposedly” neutral attitude by saying: “Had the Mitchell committee been asked to assess the outbreak of World War II, it would likely have regretted Hitler’s crossing of the Polish border but balanced this with tsk-tsking about “provocative” statements coming from Warsaw.”1

Before the report had even been published, the commentary of a senior Israeli official published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz provided important clues as to whether it would really result in a just peace. This official reported that the report would probably accuse the Palestinians of sabotaging the peace negotiations and the Israelis ofpracticing excessive violence and continuing to open new settlement areas. But even more important was his remark that “[Israel] will be able to deal with the general complaints – like criticism of settlements or the use of force – … but will have a more difficult time dealing with any operative recommendations the report makes. This could include a call for an international observer force along the lines of the International Presence in Hebron.”2 Another Israeli official caused a stir with these comments:

We insist the commission stick to its mandate … that means clarifying the facts and not going beyond that. We will not let the report turn into a platform for the conflict to be internationalized with posting international observers.3

When the report was released, it contained no “specific directives,” just as Israel had desired. By making only general criticisms, the report conformed completely to Israel’s wishes. Indeed, despite the passage of time since the report’s publication, the fact that Israeli tanks continue to pound Palestinian territory demonstrates just how successful the report has been in bringing peace to the region.

The only way to ensure a permanent peace is to adopt a truly unbiased attitude and to protect the rights of the wronged party, no matter what the conditions. In terms of Palestine, it is quite obvious which party has been wronged and needs to have its rights protected. Before everything else, Israel must withdraw from the Occupied Territories and return to the Palestinians all of the rights that it has denied them. This fact is often brought to the agenda by Israelis who demand peace. Here is the announcement of the “Now Peace” movement:

Right now we find ourselves in the middle of a Palestinian independence war. This ruthless and unnecessary war began because of Israel’s 1967 forced occupation of Palestinian lands, the suppression of two million people through this occupation, and Israel’s desire to continue this occupation. There can only be one end to this war: the withdrawal of Israel form the occupied territories and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital. The end of the occupation and the raids could usher in a period of peace in this region.”4

As long as these conditions are not met, all of the peace negotiations and suggestions for compromise will fail to reach their target. As long as Israel does not forsake violence, diplomatic efforts will mean nothing. After all, in Palestine the sounds of cannons, tanks, and missiles carry farther than those of diplomacy.

Ariel Sharon Prepares for War

A news report obtained from the well-known defense strategy magazine Jane’s Defense Weekly in the latter part of July 2001 demonstrated once again just how Sharon was planning to bring peace to Palestinian territories. According to this report, the Israeli military was preparing a war plan that would involve 30,000 troops, F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft, intense bombing, and heavy artillery. The goal of the operation would be to eliminate the possibility that Palestinian forces could ever assemble again.

The most interesting part of the plan was how it was to be brought to life, as reported by CBS News. The Israeli government had devised a plan worthy of its ideology and its past: The war was to be set off by a suicide bombing against a heavily populated Jewish area. Such a plan is interesting in that it shows Israel’s willingness to disregard the lives of its own people, if necessary, to achieve its Zionist goals. This information was reported by CBS:

The report says the Israeli invasion plan would be launched after another suicide bomb attack which causes a large number of deaths, like the one at a Tel Aviv disco last month.5

With this report, and Sharon’s rise to power, it was expected that regional tension would increase dramatically, and that Israel would withdraw from the peace process completely and increase its use of force. By electing “The Butcher of Lebanon” as their leader, the Zionists gave the first signals that such a war was coming. The Palestinian side had expected such a situation. With Sharon in power, the possibility that an all-out war will break out is a possibility that must not be ignored.

While this war might be a partial operation aimed at the PLO, it could turn into a regional war, dragging in neighboring countries. Of course, the world will not see the real face of this war, but, as always, only the face that it wants the world to see. An article in The Independent reads:

I suppose it’s the same old story. The Israelis only want peace. The unruly, riotous, murderous Palestinians – totally to blame for 95 of their own deaths – understand only violence. That’s what Israeli’s military spokesman said last night. Force, he said, “will be the only language they understand”. Which is about as near to a declaration of war as you can get.6

1- Daniel Pipes, Mitchell Report Missed It, The Washington Times, 30 May 2001
2- Aluf Benn, Israel Braces for Mitchell Report, Ha’aretz, 24 April 2001
3- Aluf Benn, Israel Braces for Mitchell Report, Ha’aretz, 24 April 2001
4- Yeni Safak Turkish Daily, 25 May 2001
5- CBS, 12 July 2001
6- The Independent, 13 October 2001

How Fair Was Oslo?

As we reported earlier, the 1993 Oslo Accords were greeted with enthusiasm by the Western media and by some groups who wanted peace in the Middle East. However, the years following that event have not justified their enthusiasm. The Western media followed a pro-Israel stance on the issue of peace, just as it had on so many other issues. The Palestinians were accused of not supporting peace, even though some of their demands were justified, and portrayed as callously rejecting the opportunity Israel was offering them to achieve “statehood.”

But the facts were otherwise, for Israel did not offer them what they deserved. In reality, Israel offered Palestine hush-money not to stand in its way.

First, and most importantly, the land that Israel agreed to give the Palestinians parcels of land that amounted to less than 22% of true Palestinian territory, were surrounded by Israeli soldiers, and were separated from each other by roads that only Jews could use. Another detail that must not be forgotten is that the land was barren desert land. Moreover, the borders, airspace, and groundwater of the “independent Palestinian state” were to be under Israeli control.

Some circles regarded Israel’s division of Palestinian areas into three main regions (i.e., A, B, and C) as a significant concession. According to this example, though, while one Jerusalem street would be placed under the control of Palestinian police, the next street over would be controlled by Israeli soldiers. As a result, Israelis would be able cross over to this street, thus bringing the Israeli military into Palestinian territory, just as it does today in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank whenever it wants. One cannot speak of a sovereign Palestinian state in such a situation.

Israel’s suggestion of putting part of Jerusalem under Palestinian control also was nothing but a hoax. As with many of its other concerns, Israel is only interested in manipulating Palestinians to its own benefit. Robert Fisk mentions this fact in one of his articles:

And the Palestinian Authority knows all too well what “control” would mean in Jerusalem. While Arafat’s men collected garbage, supplied the traffic cops and kept their own people in order, the Israelis would continue to hold sovereign power over all Jerusalem.121

Aside from this, the Oslo Accords did not give the Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes and land due to the Israeli terror of 1948 the right to return. It is impossible to solve the Palestine problem without allowing the refugees to return.

In conclusion, the “peaceful Israel” façade that began in the 1990s and revealed its falsity in 2000 clearly does not reflect the real truth. As long as Israel views Jerusalem and all Palestinian land as its own property, perceives Palestinians as “two-legged animals,” and regards the world through the biased lense of Social Darwinism, it cannot bring peace to the Middle East.

The True Road to Peace

The question of how peace, one that is fair and just, can be brought to the Middle East can be answered by looking at history.

As discussed earlier, the only administration that ever enabled Jews, Christians, and Muslims to live together in peace and security in Palestine was an Islamic administration: that of the Ottoman Empire. The reason for this is that true Islamic ideals do not harbor any brutal ideologies like Zionism or the one that caused the Crusades. A true follower of Islam would not look at the world through the prism of Social Darwinism, as Zionists do. Also Islam teaches believers that any anger that they might harbor toward a community should not drag them into injustice. Moreover, Islam regards Jews and Christians as the People of the Book and respects their right to live, worship, and own property.

For this reason, strengthening the Middle Eastern as well as the global Muslim community will bring peace and security not only to the Islamic world, but to other nations and people of other faiths as well. Throughout history, fair and just Muslim administrations have earned the consent of non-Muslims, and will do so in the future as well. Muslims will never abandon Jerusalem or accept this holy city as the “Eternal Capital of Israel.” The most sensible solution, then, is for East Jerusalem to be administered by a Palestinian governing body, but under the direction of a board in which members of all three religions are equally represented, as a disarmed and free city. Of course, these administrators must live and practice the ethics of their respective religions. In such a Jerusalem, Christians and Jews would be free, as well as Muslims. This plan holds the key to the real salvation of Palestine and the Middle East.

The environment of peace, justice, and tolerance experienced during the centuries of Ottoman rule is the best example of this. Since the end of Ottoman rule in the area, and despite the various regimes and policies that have been attempted, the Middle East has not experienced any peace and stability.

Posted in Islam, Middle East, Palestine, Politics, Zionism, İslamic World | Leave a Comment »

Zionist Terror and Palestine

Posted by islamispeaceandbrotherhood on September 1, 2007

Zionist Terror and Palestine 

The behavior exhibited by Israeli soldiers raised with such ideas is consistent with this attitude. Today in occupied Palestine, some dreadful scenes have become part of everyday life: 18-month-old babies dying in their beds when their houses are attacked by Israeli helicopter gunships, young girls working in the olive groves being shot and killed for no reason, and children returning home from school being wounded and permanently disabled. The Zionist education system is at the root of these inhuman, and all-too-common, episodes. Research shows that this education and brainwashing has been extremely effective. In a test conducted by Tel Aviv University psychologist G. Tamarin, a statement describing the Jericho massacre from the Old Testament’s Book of Joshua was distributed to fourth- and eighth-grade students. They were asked: “Suppose the Israeli Army occupies an Arab village in a battle. Do you think it would be proper, or not, to act against the inhabitants as did Joshua with the people of Jericho?” The number who answered “Yes” varied between 66% and 95%, according to the school attended or the kibbutz or town where the children lived.29

Garaudy emphasizes that the Book of Joshua and the Old Testament in general are the source of Zionist terror:

This conception of the “promise”, together with the means for its realisation (as the leaders of political Zionism derive these from the Book wherein Joshua recounts his feats of extermination of the previous inhabitants, which he carried out at God’s command and with his support), plus the themes of “the chosen people” and of “Greater Israel”, from the Nile to the Euphrates, constitute the ideological foundation of political Zionism.30


Israeli sharp-shooters fire on unarmed Palestinian civilians, women and children included.

The memoirs of an Israeli soldier published in the Israeli newspaper Davar are an important example of this. The soldier in question participated in an operation to seize the Palestinian village of Ed-Dawayma in 1948, and described the scenes of brutality he witnessed:

They killed between eighty to one hundred Arab men, women, and children. To kill the children, they (soldiers) fractured their heads with sticks. There was not one home without corpses. The men and women of the village were pushed into houses without food or water. Then the saboteurs came to dynamite them.

One commander ordered a soldier to bring two women into a building he was about to blow up… Another soldier prided himself upon having raped an Arab woman before shooting her to death. Another Arab woman and her baby were made to clean up the place for a couple of days, then they shot her and the baby. Educated and well-mannered commanders who were considered “good guys” … became base murderers, and this is not in the storm of battle, but as a method of expulsion and extermination. The fewer the Arabs who remain, the better.31

This is just one of the many brutal episodes that have occurred over the last 50 years.

Before the Israeli government was founded, the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern gangs were responsible for removing Palestinians from their lands. These terrorist organizations prior to 1948, and the Israeli army after 1948, conducted a terrorist campaign on Arab civilians. Menachem Begin, the Irgun’s leader and a future prime minister, explained their strategy: “The Arabs fought tenaciously in defense of their homes, their women and their children.”32 In other words, the Zionists’ war would be waged against innocent people.

The truth is that since that date, the Palestinians have struggled to protect their homes, women, and children from Israel’s official policy of terrorizing the entire Palestinian people. Newspaper reporter and Middle East expert Flora Lewis explains Israeli-style brutality in this article in the International Herald Tribune:

Israeli officials have now publicly acknowledged a policy of “targeted attacks” on Palestinians believed to be involved in terrorism. These are planned assassinations, quite rightly called “criminal acts… murder” by Moshe Neghi, a respected Israeli journalist… Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said on the radio that the policy was unequivocal. “If anyone has committed or is planning to carry out terrorist attacks, he has to be hit… It is effective, precise and just.”33

It should be emphasized that, as Sneh reported, Israel’s struggle is not limited to terrorist elements; rather, it targets an entire people.

The details provided here are only a small part of the cruelty perpetrated by the Israeli government. But this is a practice that the Palestinian Muslims know all too well, for there are close similarities between the Qur’an’s depiction of Pharaoh and what the Zionist Israeli leadership has done to innocent Palestinians. In his time, Pharaoh targeted the weakened, defenseless Jews and brutally murdered them. Also, the leaders of Pharaoh’s tribe had strong feelings for their own land, and so told Pharaoh that Musa “desires to expel you from your land” (Qur’an, 7:110) The Israeli journalist Uri Avnery has drawn attention to this similarity. In the article “The Murder of Arafat,” he reminds us that one of Judaism’s fundamental tenets is that the period of Jewish enslavement in Egypt will never be forgotten. According to him, what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today is merely a variation of the cruelty meted out to their Jewish ancestors by Pharaoh:

In the new myth that is being born before our eyes, Sharon is the Pharaoh and we are the ancient Egyptians. In the story about the Exodus, the Bible lets God say: “I have hardened (Pharaoh’s) heart and the heart of his servants.” After every calamity that befell him, Pharaoh broke his promise to free the Israelites… He (God) wanted the Israelites to become hardened by the hardship, before they started on their long march. This is what is happening to the Palestinians now.34

The following verses describe how Pharaoh murdered the defenseless people:

Remember when Musa said to his people: “Remember God’s blessing to you when He rescued you from the people of Pharaoh. They were inflicting an evil punishment on you, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live. In that there was a terrible trial from your Lord. And when your Lord announced: ‘If you are grateful, I will certainly give you increase, but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is severe.”‘ (Qur’an, 14:6-7)

With God’s help, the Children of Israel finally escaped Pharaoh’s brutality and cruelty. In our time, the radicals of Israel are in Pharaoh’s position and advocate violence. The Palestinians must follow the advice that God gave the Children of Israel at that time: Be patient, trust in God, and stay true to His Path.

Israeli Massacres

Some of the massacres perpetrated by the Israeli army and terrorist organizations (e.g., Haganah, Irgun, and Stern) between 1948 and 1982 are described on the following pages. None of these massacres were directed against armed groups. The history of Israel is full of violent actions against and massacres of civilians. Just a few examples will suffice: the blowing up of the King David Hotel in 1946; the Deir Yassin massacre of 1948, in which innocent villagers were tortured and killed; the inhuman massacre at Qibya village in 1958; the massacres at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, conducted by the pro-Israeli Christian Lebanese militias under the auspices of Ariel Sharon and resulting in almost 3,000 deaths; the attack on the Masjid al-Aqsa in 1990, which resulted in 11 deaths and almost 800 injuries; the massacre at Ibrahim’s Mosque in 1994 during morning prayers; the massacre at Qana refugee camp in 1996; and the 1999 seige of a tunnel by 4,000 soldiers are just a few examples of this violence.

Those who died in these attacks were innocent people who had no means of protecting themselves. The massacres listed on the following pages are merely examples of the violence and terror that have continued from 1947 until today. While the figures are important to showing the extent of Zionist violence, they cannot even begin to describe the resulting harm, especially since the violence is still ongoing. Indeed, virtually every day since 1947 has generated news reports of attack, death, torture, and violence from the territories occupied by Israel. For example, when all of those who have died since October 2000 are accounted for, the number comes to almost 2,000. (This figure does not include those killed in Operation Defensive Shield.) In other words, Israel continues these daily killings in a systematic way.

Some Examples of Israel’s Half-Century Reign of Terror

The King David Massacre, 1946: 92 dead

This attack was carried out by the Irgun terrorist organization and with the knowledge of David Ben Gurion, the highest-ranking Zionist official of the period. A total of 92 people, consisting of Britons, Palestinians, and Jews, were killed, and 45 were seriously injured.

Baldat Al-Shaikh Massacre, 1947: 60 dead

Sixty Palestinians sleeping in their beds, among them women, children, and the elderly, lost their lives as a result of this attack, which was carried out by 150-200 Zionist terrorists. The attack began at 2:00 a.m. and lasted for 4 hours.

Yehida Massacre, 1947: 13 dead

At Yehida, one of the first Zionist settlements, Zionist assailants dressed as British soldiers opened fire on Muslims.

Khisas Massacre, 1947: 10 dead

Two cars full of Haganah members entered the village of Khisas on the Lebanese border and opened fire on everyone who crossed their paths.

Qazaza Massacre, 1947: 5 children dead

Five children lost their lives in this episode, in which Zionist terrorists attacked a random house.

The Semiramis Hotel Massacre, 1948: 19 dead

In an operation aimed at making the Palestinians uneasy and forcing them out of Jerusalem, a group of Zionist terrorists directed by Israel’s first president, David Ben Gurion, blew up the Semiramis Hotel. Nineteen people were killed.

Naser al-Din Massacre, 1948

A group of Zionist terrorists dressed as Arab soldiers opened fire on those townspeople who left their homes to greet them. Only 40 people escaped the carnage, and the village was wiped off the map.

The Tantura Massacre, 1948: 200 dead

Tantura, now home to about 1,500 Jewish settlers, was the site of a large massacre of Muslims in 1948. Israeli historian Teddy Katz described the attack as follows: “From the numbers, this is definitely one of the biggest massacres.”

The Dahmash Mosque Massacre, 1948: 100 dead

Israeli 89th Commando Battalion lead by the future Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, announced to the villagers that they would be safe only if they assembled at the mosque. However, the 100 Muslims who sought refuge there were slaughtered. The terrified residents of Lydda and Ramle abandoned their lands. Approximately 60,000 Palestinians emigrated, and 350 more died en route due to poor medical conditions.

Dawayma Massacre, 1948: 100 dead

This attack was one of the largest Israeli massacres. A majority of those killed were assembled at the mosque for Friday prayers. Palestinian women were raped during the attack, and homes were dynamited with people inside them.

Houla Massacre, 1948: 85 dead

Israeli soldiers forced 85 people into a house and then set it on fire. Afterwards, most of the terrified residents fled to Beirut. Of the 12,000 original residents of Houla, only 1,200 remained.

Salha Massacre, 1948: 105 dead

After residents of the village were forced into the mosque, the people were fired upon until not a single person remained alive.

Deir Yassin Massacre, 1948: 254 dead

The fact that the world agenda is controlled by the Western media, most of which is pro-Israeli, sometimes prevents events occurring within Israel from coming to light. But some incidents of such violence and cruelty have been documented in detail by international organizations. This is one of those incidents, and was carried out by the Irgun and Stern terrorist organizations.

On the night of April 9, 1948, the people of Deir Yassin awoke to the order “evacuate the village” coming from loudspeakers. Before they understood what was happening, they had been slaughtered. Subsequent Red Cross and United Nations investigations conducted at the scene showed that houses were first set on fire and that all people trying to escape the flames were shot dead. During the attack, pregnant women were bayoneted in their abdomens while still alive. The victims’ organs were mutilated, and even children were beaten and raped. Throughout the Deir Yassin massacre, 52 children were maimed under the eyes of their own mothers, and then they were slain and their heads cut off. More than 60 women were killed and their bodies mutilated.35 One woman who escaped alive related the following atrocity that she had witnessed:

I saw a soldier grabbing my sister, Saliha al-Halabi, who was nine months pregnant. He pointed a machine gun at her neck, then emptied its contents into her body. Then he turned into a butcher, and grabbed a knife and ripped open her stomach to take out the slaughtered childe with his iniquitious Nazi knife.36

Not satisfied with just the massacre, the terrorists then rounded up all the women and girls who remained alive, removed all their clothes, put them in open cars, driving them naked through the streets of the Jewish section of Jerusalem. Jacques Reynier, the Red Cross representative of Palestine at the time, who saw the mutilated bodies during his visit to Deir Yassin the day after the attack, could only say: “The situation was horrible.”37

During the course of the attack, 280 Muslims, among them women and children, were first paraded through the streets and then shot execution-style. Most of the girls had been raped before their execution, and the boys’ genitals had been cut off.38

It should be pointed out that the terrorists who carried out this atrocity were not members of radical organizations acting outside the law or beyond the government’s control; rather, they were controlled directly by the Israeli government. The Deir Yassin massacre was carried by the Irgun and Stern gangs, under the direct leadership of Menachem Begin, the future prime minister of Israel.

Begin described this inhuman operation, merely one example of the official policy of Israeli brutality, in these words: “The massacre was not only justified, but there would not have been a state of Israel without the ‘victory’ at Deir Yassin.”39 Zionists used such attacks to terrorize the Palestinians and drive them from their land so that the immigrating Jews would have a place to settle. Israel Eldad, a famous Zionist leader, expressed this truth openly when he said: “Had it not been for Deir Yassin – half a million Arabs would be living in the state of Israel [in 1948]. The State of Israel would not have existed.”40

The Zionists considered this type of ethnic cleansing as vital to establishing the state of Israel. Indeed these operations, which continued after the Deir Yassin attack, caused many Palestinians either to abandon their land and flee, or to suffer the same fate as the residents of Deir Yassin.

The Massacre at Qibya, 1953: 96 dead

Another Zionist attack designed to “encourage” the Palestinians to flee occurred in Qibya, a village of 2,000 on the Jordanian border. Later investigations at the scene conducted by quite a few observers clearly revealed the nature of this atrocity. The Qibya massacre, which occurred on October 13, 1953, consisted of demolishing 40 houses and murdering 96 civilians, a majority of them women and children. The “101″ unit was led by Ariel Sharon, another future prime minister of Israel. Its approximately 600 soldiers first cordoned off the village and severed its contact with all other Arab villages. Entering it at 4:00 a.m., the Zionist terrorists began to systematically demolish houses and kill the residents. An unperturbed Sharon, who personally led the attack, made the following announcement after the massacre: “The orders were utterly clear: Qibya was to be an example to everyone.”41

Dr. Yousif Haikal, Jordanian ambassador to the United Nations at that time, explained the massacre in his report to the Security Council:

The Israelis entered the village and systematically murdered all occupants of houses, using automatic weapons, grenades, and incendiaries; and dynamited houses over victims’ heads… Forty houses, the village school, and a reservoir were destroyed. Twenty-two cattle were killed and six shops looted.42

The famous Catholic journal The Sign, published in the United States, also reported on the atrocities perpetrated during this attack. Editor Ralph Gorman explained his thoughts as follows: “Terror was a political weapon of the Nazis. But the Nazis never used terror in a more cold-blooded and wanton manner than the Israelis in the massacre at Kibya.”43

Those who later came to the massacre site encountered horrifying images. Most of the dead bore bullet wounds to the back of the head, and many had been decapitated. Along with people who died beneath the wreckage of their houses, many innocent women and children also were brutally murdered.

Kafr Qasem Massacre, 1956:49 dead


In the Kafr Qasem attack, Israeli soldiers once again murdered innocent babies.

The attack on Kafr Qasem, during which 49 innocent people, without regard to women or children, young or old, were brutally murdered, occurred on October 29, 1956. On this very day, Israel also launched its assault on Egypt. Israeli frontier guards went on security rounds at about 4:00 p.m., claiming that they were securing the borders. They told local officials in the border towns that curfew from that day onwards was to start from 5:00 p.m. instead of the usual 6:00 p.m. One of these towns was Kafr Qasem, near the Jewish settlement of Betah Tekfa.

The townspeople were informed of the new curfew only at 4:45 p.m. The local official told the Israeli soldiers that most of the townspeople worked outside the town and, as they would just be returning from work, they could not possibly be informed of this change. At the same time, Israeli soldiers started to erect a barricade at the town’s entrance. Meanwhile, those working outside the town started returning home. The first group soon reached the border of the town. What follows is eyewitness Abdullah Samir Bedir’s account of what happened next:

We reached the village entrance at about 4:55 p.m. We were suddenly confronted by a frontier unit consisting of 12 men and an officer, all occupying an army truck. We greeted the officer in Hebrew saying ‘Shalom Katsin’ which means ‘Peace be unto you officer,’ to which he gave no reply. He then asked us in Arabic: ‘Are you happy?’ and we said ‘Yes.’ The soldiers started stepping down from the truck and the officer ordered us to line up. Then he shouted to his soldier this order: ‘Laktasour Otem,’ which means ‘Reap them!’ The soldiers opened fire…44

Bedir, who escaped this terrifying ordeal only by playing dead, was certainly not the only witness of this brutality. From this moment on, Israeli soldiers stopped every vehicle attempting to enter the town and executed those inside. Among them were 15- and 16-year-old boys, young girls, and pregnant women. Those who heard the noise and went outside to see what was going on were shot for violating the curfew the moment they stepped outside. The Israeli soldiers were ordered not to arrest, but to execute, all who violated the curfew.

This incident, reported in full detail in official Israeli Parliament records, is one of the most striking examples of official Israeli policy.

When they are told: “Do not cause corruption on Earth,” they say: “We are
only putting things right.” No indeed! They are the corrupters, but they
are not aware of it.
(Qur’an, 2:11-12)

Khan Yunis Massacre, 1956:275 dead

The Israeli soldiers who attacked the refugee camp in Khan Yunis murdered 275 people. UN officials who conducted an on-site investigation discovered victims who had been shot in the back of the head after their hands had been tied.45

The Massacre in Gaza City, 1956: 60 dead

In this attack, Zionists killed 60 people, including women and children.

Fakhani Massacre, 1981: 150 dead

As a result of Israeli air attacks on this Lebanese region, 150 people died and 600 were wounded.46

The Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre, 1994: 50 dead

On Friday, February 25, 1994 a terrible massacre occurred in Palestine. In an attack carried out by a Zionist Jew on Muslims gathered for Friday prayers at the Ibrahimi Mosque, more than 50 Muslims died and almost 300 were wounded. Some of the wounded later died from their injuries.

The massacre was perpetrated by a Jew living in the Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement in Hebron. This terrorist also turned out to be a reserve officer in the Israeli army and a member of a Zionist terrorist organization. Israeli sources reported that he wore military clothing during the attack.

The attacker sneaked into the mosque and hid behind a column as the Muslims were performing their dawn prayers. As they bowed their heads in unison, he opened fire on them with a machine gun. According to eyewitness accounts, he did not act alone – he was simply busy pulling the trigger. As his clips emptied out, his accomplices replaced them.

Following this incident, Israeli soldiers surrounded the mosque and prevented reporters from reaching it. Many more people died when these soldiers opened fire on Palestinian Muslims who had gathered around the mosque to protest the attack.47

Qana Massacre, 1996: 109 dead

More than 100 people, mostly women and children, lost their lives in the Qana refugee camp when it was bombed by the Israeli air force. The terrible scenes of carnage, including those of decapitated children, have never been forgotten. A UN inspection team determined that the massacre was deliberate.

Massacre of Sabra and Shatilla

“I had to take the babies and put them in buckets of water to put out the flames. When I took them out half an hour later, they were still burning. Even in the mortuary, they smouldered for hours.” Dr. Amal Shamaa of the Barbir hospital, after Israeli phosphorus shells had been fired into West Beirut, 29 July, 1982.48

The Zionist terrorist operations to intimidate Palestinians and drive them off their land following WWII resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people. But Israel’s attack on the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 will go down in history as one of the worst acts of Zionist genocide ever committed. During the attack by Lebanon’s Christian Phalangist groups, with the support and direction of Israeli soldiers, more than 3,000 people, most of them women and children, were murdered. Subsequent research and investigation showed that Ariel Sharon, at that time Israel’s defense minister and now prime minister, was responsible for the operation. Due to this bloody attack, he is still known as “The Butcher of Lebanon.”

Journalist and Middle East expert Robert Fisk reported on the horrifying scenes he saw immediately after the attack in an article written after Sharon was elected prime minister:

For everyone who stood in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Beirut on 18 September 1982, his (Ariel Sharon’s) name is synonymous with butchery; with bloated corpses and disembowelled women and dead babies, with rape and pillage and murder… Even when I walk these fetid streets today, more than 18 years after… the ghosts haunt me still. Over there, on the side of the road leading to the Sabra mosque, lay Mr Nouri, 90 years old, grey-bearded, in pyjamas with a small woollen hat still on his head and a stick by his side. I found him on a pile of garbage, on his back… Just up the lane, I came across two women sitting upright with their brains blown out, next to a cooking pot… One of the women appeared to have had her stomach slit open. A few metres away, I discovered the first babies, already black with decomposition, scattered across the road like rubbish… The flies racing between the reeking bodies and our faces, between dried blood and reporter’s notebook, the hands of watches still ticking on dead wrists. I clambered up a rampart of earth – an abandoned bulldozer stood guiltily nearby – only to find, once I was atop the mound, that it swayed beneath me. And I looked down to find faces, elbows, mouths, a woman’s legs protruding through the soil. I had to hold on to these body parts to climb down the other side. Then there was the pretty girl, her head surrounded by a halo of clothes pegs, her blood still running from a hole in her back.49

In another article, Fisk describes what he saw while touring the hospitals where the injured were being treated: “What we saw here we would not easily forget. Visiting the Barbir hospital was to see what gunfire does to flesh.”50

The brutality that these pitiful and innocent people were subjected to should serve as a warning of the Israeli leadership’s ideology. Most of the murdered women had been raped. Pregnant women had been sliced open so that their babies could be ripped out. Children barely 3 or 4 years old had been murdered in front of their parents. Many of the men had had their ears and noses cut off before being shot execution-style.

A news report about the massacres appeared in the French Le Monde newspaper on February 13, 2001. Nihad Hamad, a now-42-year-old survivor, describes what happened:

The Israeli Armed Forces spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning surrounding the camp. They wanted to seal off the east side. Our mujaheddin had left. Around here there was no one left but some boys of 15 or 16… On Thursday night, the bombing got twice as intense. We realized our light weaponry wouldn’t be of any use. Everyone in the shelters was a refugee. Everyone was afraid. The elders of the group, those that people listened to, decided to go to the Israelis and tell them that the camp would surrender. With white flags in their hands they got in the car and headed out. They never came back. Some young men left with weapons and went in the same direction. They never came back either, nor the ones who went looking for them. Then we realized much better that we had to get out of here right away… Hundreds of people were fleeing to the same common salon in the northern part of the camp. There were so many of us that we almost suffocated. At daybreak there was the silence of death everywhere; this place was a ghost town now. The bombing had stopped. Every once in a while we could hear single shots being fired. Then, from the direction of the mosque, a woman’s screams pierced the silence. Her hair was a tangled mess, her tattered clothes covered in blood. She had the manner of someone who had lost her mind. At her feet were children whose throats had been slit… They behaved brutally, and they used their knives and other incisive tools to carry out the murders in silence. After the militias finished their work at the camps, they finished their dirty work at the Gaza Hospital. They dragged the doctors, nurses, and wounded out of the hospitals and killed them. Along with those who were missing, we learned that between 3,000 and 3,500 people had been killed.51


Sharon is known by Arabs and throughout the world as “The Butcher of Lebanon,” and displays his ruthlessness at every opportunity.

This frightful scene was the work of Ariel Sharon, known for such remarks as “The Arabs know me, and I know them” and for describing the Arabs in such disparaging terms as “bugs.”52 Following the 1967 War, Sharon caused 160,000 Palestinians to leave East Jerusalem and become refugees. His punishment techniques include bombing houses, bulldozing refugee camps, and arresting hundreds of youths for no reason and subjecting them to torture. When Sharon was responsible for security in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians were assassinated, thousands were arrested and deported, and in Gaza alone 2,000 homes were destroyed and 16,000 people were exiled for the second time. Aside from the Sabra and Shatilla massacres, 14,000 people (including 13,000 unarmed civilians) died within the space of a few weeks, and about half a million people were made homeless.

The cruelty and brutality described here has occurred continuously on Palestinian soil for the past 50 years. Moreover, the examples cited above are merely those massacres during which many Palestinians lost their lives on a single day. Similar events, among many others, are as follows: 8 people in al-Sammou, 1966; 9 people in Aitharoun and 16 people in Kawnin, 1975; 20 people in Hanin and 23 in Bint Jbeil, 1976; 7 people in Adloun, 1978; 80 people in Abbasieh, 1979; and 20 people in Saida, 1980. Beyond these, several people have been killed or maimed every day for years. And every day houses are still destroyed and people are still driven from their homeland. Clearly, Israel’s ultimate goal is to intimidate the Palestinians, drive them off their land, and bend them to their will through a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing.

The entire world looks on as this community is murdered, as it is subjected to blatant genocide. For some reason, most governments have – and continue to – ignored these brutal and inhumane practices and apply no sanctions other than the occasional “condemnation.”

In his classic work World Orders: Old and New, Middle East commentator Noam Chomsky describes the Israeli government’s view of the Palestinian people and how American strategists evaluate this view:

As for the Palestinians, U.S. planners had no reason to doubt the assessment of Israeli government specialists in 1948 that the refugees would either assimilate elsewhere or “would be crushed”: “some of them would die and most of them would turn into human dust and the waste of society, and join the most impoverished classes in the Arab countries.” Accordingly, there was no need to trouble oneself about them. These basic interpretations have remained stable until today, taking concrete form as events unfolded.53

The prophecy of American and Israeli authorities has been fulfilled today. Moreover, the policy of violence and intimidating Palestinians practiced during Israel’s founding period and early years continues unabated.

The Palestinian Muslims are facing trials and tribulations similar to those faced by Muslims throughout history. In the Qur’an, God reminds the believers of that time (the Children of Israel) about Pharaoh’s violence:

Remember when We rescued you from the people of Pharaoh. They were inflicting an evil punishment on you – slaughtering your sons and letting your women live. In that there was a terrible trial for you from your Lord. (Qur’an, 2:49)

Indeed, God helps those who are patient, and, according to His law, salvation is always for genuine believers, even if they are few in number, weak, or downtrodden. But, we also should realize that this trial is not only for the Muslims of Palestine; rather, it is for all who witness or know of this cruelty. For wherever they are and no matter what their condition, Muslims are obligated to help the wronged and the oppressed. And the greatest help they can give is to deal with this evil from its roots. In other words, the greatest help people can offer the Palestinians who continue to fight for their lives amid the ongoing chaos and strife is to wage an intellectual struggle against the Zionism’s fundamental Social Darwinistic attitude, which engenders strife, chaos, and anarchy.

 

27- Mark Mazower, “Sharon Should Surrender to History,” The Financial Times, 25 May 2001.
28- Roger Garaudy, The Case of Israel: A Study of Political Zionism, Shorouk International, p. 75
29- Garaudy, The Case of Israel, p. 76.
30- Garaudy, The Case of Israel, pp. 69-70, emphasis added.
31- Davar, June 9, 1979.
32- Dr. Hamdan Badr, The Role of The Hagana Organization in the Establishment of Israel (Amman: Dar al-Jalil lil-Nashr wal-Dirasat, 1985), p. 303, emphasis added.
33- Flora Lewis, “Israel Defiles Itself with These Assassinations of Palestinians,” International Herald Tribune, January 12, 2001, emphasis added.
34-Uri Avnery, “The Murder of Arafat,” http://www.mediamonitors.net/uri64.html
35- Massacres Committed by the Jews in Palestine, www.hatedbooks.com/book/2.htm.
36- Arafat Hijazi, Deir Yassin: The Roots and Dimensions of the Crime in Zionist Thought, p. 63
37- Massacres Committed by the Jews in Palestine, www.hatedbooks.com/book/2.htm.
38- Lemi Brenner, The Iron Wall: Zionist Revisionism from Jabotinsky to Shamir (London: Zed Books, 1984), p. 141-143).
39- Palestinian History, http://www.nilemedia.com/Topics/History/
40- Israel Eldad, “On the Spirit That Was Revealed in the People,” De’ot, Winter 1968, as quoted in Davis and Mezvinsky (eds.), Documents from Israel (1967-1973), pp. 186-7, emphasis added
41- The Memoirs of Ariel Sharon, trans. Antoine Abir (Beirut: Maktabat Bisan, 1991), p. 110..
42- Massacres Committed by the Jews in Palestine, www.hatedbooks.com/book/2.htm, emphasis added
43- Massacres Committed by the Jews in Palestine, www.hatedbooks.com/book/2.htm, emphasis added
44- Massacres Committed by the Jews in Palestine, www.hatedbooks.com/book/2.htm, emphasis added
45- Michael Palumbo, Imperial Israel, (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1990), pp. 30-32; citing UN General Assembly: Official Record, 11th session supplement.
46- “Israeli Massacres:Details and Numbers,” www.ummah.net/unity/palestine/massacres.htm.
47- Ahmet Varol, (http://www.vahdet.com.tr/filistin/dosya2/0358.html).
48- Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation, (London: Andre Deutsch, 1990), p. 9.
49- Robert Fisk, “The Legacy of Ariel Sharon,” The Independent, February 6, 2001, emphasis added.
50- Fisk, Pity the Nation, p. 9.
51- Le Monde, February, 13, 2001, emphasis added.
52- Haithem El-Zabri, “Rivers of Blood: A New Sharon Episode,” The Palestine Monitor, no. 2, February 2001, emphasis added.
53- Noam Chomsky, World Orders: Old and New, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), p.204, emphasis added

Posted in Islam, Middle East, Palestine, Zionism, İslamic World | 1 Comment »

Muslim Palestine

Posted by islamispeaceandbrotherhood on September 1, 2007

MUSLIM PALESTINE

Since the beginning of Islamic history, Palestine, and the city of Jerusalem in particular, has been sacred to Muslims. In contrast to Jews and Christians, Muslims have made their regard for the sacredness of Palestine an opportunity to bring peace to the region. In this chapter, we will address some historical examples of this fact.

‘Isa (Jesus), one of the prophets sent to the Jews, marks another important turning point in Jewish history. The Jews rejected him, and then were driven from Palestine and subjected to great misfortunes. His followers became to be known as Christians. However, the religion that is called Christianity today would be founded by another man, called Paul (Saul of Tarsus). He added his own personal vision of Jesus into the original teaching and formulated a new doctrine in which Jesus was not defined as a prophet and messiah – as he was – but as a divine figure. After two and a half centuries of dispute among the Christians, Paul’s teaching turned into the doctrine of Trinity. It was a distortion of the teaching of Jesus and his early followers. After this, God revealed the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, so that he could teach Islam – the religion of Abraham, Moses and Jesus – to all of humanity.

Jerusalem is sacred to Muslims for two reasons: it is the first qibla that Muslims faced during their ritual prayers, and it is the site of what is considered to be one of the greatest miracles performed by the Prophet Muhammad: the mi’raj, the night journey from al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca to al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, his ascent through the heavens, and his return to al-Masjid al-Haram. The Qur’an recounts this event as follows:

Glory be to Him who took His servant on a journey by night from the Masjid al-Haram to the Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, in order to show him some of Our Signs. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. (Qur’an, 17:1)

In the Qur’anic accounts of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, most of the relevant verses refer to Palestine as being “blessed, holy lands.” Verse 17:1 describes the site upon which the Masjid al-Aqsa is located as the land “whose surroundings We have blessed.” In verse 21:71, which describes the exodus of Prophets Ibrahim and Lut, the same lands are referred to as “the land which We had blessed for all beings.” At the same time, Palestine as a whole is important to Muslims because so many Jewish prophets lived and fought for God, sacrificed their lives, or died and were buried there.

Thus, it is no wonder that, in the past 2,000 years, Muslims have been the only power to bring peace to Jerusalem and Palestine.

Caliph Umar Brings Peace and Justice to Palestine


Qubbat as-Sakhrah

After Rome expelled the Jews out of Palestine, Jerusalem and its environs became abandoned.

However, Jerusalem once again became a center of interest after the Roman Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity (312). Roman Christians built churches in Jerusalem, and transformed it into a Christian city. Palestine remained Roman (Byzantine) territory until the seventh century, when it became part of the Persian Empire for a short time. Eventually, the Byzantines reclaimed it.

The year 637 represents an important turning point in Palestine’s history, for after this it came under Muslim control. This event brought peace and harmony to Palestine, which for centuries had been the scene of wars, exile, looting and massacre. Moreover, every time it changed hands, which was rather frequent, it witnessed new brutalities. Under Muslim rule, however, its inhabitants, regardless of their beliefs, would live together in peace and harmony.

Palestine was conquered by Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph. When he entered Jerusalem, the tolerance, maturity, and kindness he showed to the area’s inhabitants, regardless of their religion, marked the beginning of a beautiful new age. A leading British commentator on religion Karen Armstrong describes the capture of Jerusalem by Umar in these terms in her book Holy War:

The Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem mounted on a white camel, escorted by the magistrate of the city, the Greek Patriarch Sophronius. The Caliph asked to be taken immediately to the Temple Mount and there he knelt in prayer on the spot where his friend Mohammed had made his Night Journey. The Patriarch watched in horror: this, he thought, must be the Abomination of Desolation that the Prophet Daniel had foretold would enter the Temple; this must be Antichrist who would herald the Last Days. Next Omar asked to see the Christian shrines and, while he was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the time for Muslim prayer came round. Courteously the Patriarch invited him to pray where he was, but Omar as courteously refused. If he knelt to pray in the church, he explained, the Muslims would want to commemorate the event by erecting a mosque there, and that would mean that they would have to demolish the Holy Sepulchre. Instead Omar went to pray at a little distance from the church, and, sure enough, directly opposite the Holy Sepulchre there is still a small mosque dedicated to the Caliph Omar.

The other great mosque of Omar was erected on the Temple Mount to mark the Muslim conquest, together with the mosque al-Aqsa which commemorates Mohammed’s Night Journey. For years, the Christians had used to the site of the ruined Jewish Temple as the city rubbish dump. The Caliph helped his Muslims to clear the garbage with his own hands and there Muslims raised their two shrines to establish Islam in the third most holy city in the Islamic world.9

In short, Muslims brought civilization to Jerusalem and all of Palestine. Instead of holding beliefs that showed no respect for other peoples’ sacred values and killing people simply because they followed a different faith, Islam’s just, tolerant, and moderate culture brought peace and harmony to the region’s Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities. Muslims never resorted to campaigns of forced conversions, although some non-Muslims who saw that Islam was the true religion did convert of their own free will.

This peace and harmony lasted as long as Muslims ruled in the region. However, at the end of the eleventh century, an external conquering force from Europe entered the region and plundered the civilized land of Jerusalem with a barbarity and savagery that had never been seen there before. These invaders were the Crusaders.

The Crusaders’ Savagery and Saladin’s Justice


The Crusaders captured Jerusalem after a five-week siege, and proceeded to loot the city’s treasures and slaughter its Jews and Muslims.

While Palestine’s Jews, Christians, and Muslims were living together in peace, the Pope decided to organize a crusade. Following Pope Urban II’s call on 27 November 1095 at the Council of Clermont, more than 100,000 Europeans set out for Palestine to “free” the Holy Land from the Muslims and find the fabled wealth of the East. After a long and wearying journey, and much plundering and slaughter along the way, they reached Jerusalem in 1099. The city fell after a siege of nearly 5 weeks. When the Crusaders moved in, they carried out a savage slaughter. All of Jerusalem’s Muslims and Jews were put to the sword.

In the words of one historian: “They killed all the Saracens and the Turks they found … whether male of female.”10 One of the Crusaders, Raymond of Aguiles, boasted of this violence:

Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (and this was more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are normally chanted … in the Temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins.11


Saladin (Salah ud-Din al-Ayyubi), who defeated the Crusaders in the battle of Hattin, was noted in historical sources for his justice, courage, and honorable character.

In 2 days, the Crusader army killed some 40,000 Muslims in the barbaric manner just described.12 The peace and harmony in Palestine, which had lasted since Umar, ended in a terrible slaughter.

The Crusaders made Jerusalem their capital and established a Latin Kingdom stretching from Palestine to Antioch. But their rule was short-lived, for Saladin gathered all of the Muslim kingdoms under his banner in a holy war and defeated the Crusaders at the battle of Hattin in 1187. After this battle, the two leaders of the Crusader army, Reynald of Chatillon and King Guy, were brought into Saladin’s presence. He executed Reynald of Chatillon, who had become infamous for the terrible savagery he had committed against Muslims, but let King Guy go, as he had not committed similar crimes. Palestine once again saw the true meaning of justice.

Three months after Hattin, and on the very same day that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had been taken from Mecca to Jerusalem for his night journey through the heavens, Saladin entered Jerusalem and freed it from 88 years of Crusader occupation. In contrast to the Crusaders’ “liberation” of Jerusalem, Saladin did not touch one Christian in the city, thereby turning aside their fear that they would all be massacred. He merely ordered all Latin (Catholic) Christians to leave Jerusalem. The Orthodox Christians, who were not Crusaders, were allowed to stay and worship as they chose.

Karen Armstrong describes the second capture of Jerusalem in these words:

On 2 October 1187 Saladin and his army entered Jerusalem as conquerors and for the next 800 years Jerusalem would remain a Muslim city. Saladin kept his word, and conquered the city according to the highest Islamic ideals. He did not take revenge for the 1099 massacre, as the Qur’an advised (16:127), and now that hostilities had ceased he ended the killing (2:193-194). Not a single Christian was killed and there was no plunder. The ransoms were deliberately very low … Saladin was moved to tears by the plight of families who were rent asunder and he released many of them freely, as the Qur’an urged, though to the despair of his long-suffering treasurers. His brother al-Adil was so distressed by the plight of the prisoners that he asked Saladin for a thousand of them for his own use and then released them on the spot… All the Muslim leaders were scandalised to see the rich Christians escaping with their wealth, which could have been used to ransom all the prisoners… [The Patriarch] Heraclius paid his ten-dinar ransom like everybody else and was even provided with a special escort to keep his treasure safe during the journey to Tyre.13

In short, Saladin and his army treated the Christians with great mercy and justice, and showed them more compassion than their own leaders had.


When King Richard I of England captured the Castle of Acre, he massacred the Muslims. The painting below depicts the executions of hundreds of Muslim captives. Their corpses and severed heads piled up beneath the platform.

After Jerusalem, the Crusaders continued their barbarity and the Muslims their justice in other Palestinian cities. In 1194, Richard the Lionheart, who is portrayed as a great hero in British history, had 3,000 Muslims, among them many women and children, treacherously executed in the Castle of Acre. Although the Muslims witnessed this savagery, they never resorted to similar methods. Rather, they abided by God’s command: “Let not the hatred of a people (who once) obstructed you from the Sacred Mosque lead you to transgress…” (Qur’an, 5:2) and never used violence against innocent civilians. In addition, they never used violence unnecessarily, not even against the defeated Crusader armies.

Crusader savagery and Muslim justice once more revealed a historic truth: An administration built upon the principles of Islam allowed people of different faiths to live together. This fact continued to be demonstrated for 800 years after Saladin, particularly during the Ottoman period.

The Ottoman Empire’s Just and Tolerant Rule


After Sultan Selim’s conquest of Jerusalem and its environs in 1514, a 400-year period of peace and security began on Palestinian lands.

In 1514, Sultan Selim captured Jerusalem and the surrounding area, and some 400 years of Ottoman rule in Palestine began. As in other Ottoman states, this period would enable Palestine to enjoy peace and stability despite the fact that adherents of three different faiths were living alongside each other.

The Ottoman Empire was administered by the “nation (millet) system,” the fundamental feature of which was that people of different faiths were allowed to live according to their own beliefs and legal systems. Christians and Jews, which the Qur’an calls the People of the Book, found tolerance, security, and freedom in Ottoman lands.

The most important reason for this was that, although the Ottoman Empire was an Islamic state administered by Muslims, it had no desire to force its citizens to adopt Islam. On the contrary, it sought to provide peace and security for non-Muslims and to govern them in such a way that they would be pleased with Islamic rule and justice.

Other major states at the same time had far more cruder, oppressive, and intolerant systems of government. Spain could not tolerate the existence of Muslims and Jews on Spanish soil, two communities on which it inflicted great violence. In many other European countries, Jews were oppressed just for being Jews (e.g., they were forced to live in ghettoes), and were sometimes the victims of mass slaughter (pogroms). Christians could not even get along with each another: the fighting between Protestants and Catholics during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries turned Europe into a bloody battlefield. The Thirty Years War (1618-48) was one result of this conflict. As a result of that war, central Europe became a battleground, and in Germany alone, 5 million people (one-third of the population), perished.

In contrast to these brutalities, the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim states established their rule upon the Qur’anic commands of tolerant, just and humane administration. The reason for the justice and civilization displayed by Umar, Saladin, the Ottoman sultans, and many Muslim rulers, which is accepted by the West today, was due to their faithfulness to the Qur’anic commands, some of which are as follows:

God commands you to return to their owners the things you hold on trust and, when you judge between people, to judge with justice. How excellent is what God exhorts you to do. God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (Qur’an, 4:58)

O you who believe, be upholders of justice, bearing witness for God alone, even against yourselves or your parents and relatives. Whether they are rich or poor, God is well able to look after them. Do not follow your own desires and deviate from the truth. If you twist or turn away, God is aware of what you do. (Qur’an, 4:135)


Studies of Palestine during the late Ottoman period reveal an advanced level of welfare, trade, and industry throughout the region.

God does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought you in the religion or driven you from your homes, or from being just toward them. God loves those who are just. (Qur’an, 60:8)

If two parties of the believers fight, make peace between them. But if one of them attacks the other unjustly, fight the attackers until they revert to God’s command. If they revert, make peace between them with justice and be even-handed. God loves those who are even-handed. (Qur’an, 49:9)

There is a phrase used in politics such that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This means that everyone who acquires political power becomes somehow morally corrupted by the ensuing opportunities. This really applies to most people, because they shape their morality according to social pressure. In other words, they avoid immorality because they are afraid of society’s disapproval or punishment. Authority grants them power, however, and decreases the importance of these social pressures upon them. As a result, they become corrupt or find it ever more easy to compromise their own morality. If they possess absolute power (and thereby become dictators), they may try to satisfy their own desires in any way.


The Ottomans brought peace, stability, and civilization to all the lands they conquered. One can still find fountains, bridges, inns, and mosques from the Ottoman period throughout Palestine.
(Left) Herogate, 16th century
(Right) Khan al-Umdan

 

The only human examples to which the law of corruption does not apply is people who sincerely believe in God, embrace religion out of fear and love of Him, and live according to that religion. Given that their morals are not defined by society, not even the most absolute form of power can affect them. God states in a verse:

Those who, if We establish them firmly in the land, will perform prayer and pay charity tax, and command what is right and forbid what is wrong. The end result of all affairs is with God. (Qur’an, 22:41)

In the Qur’an, God presents Dawud, peace be upon him, as an example of the ideal ruler, explains how he judged with justice between those who came to ask for his judgment and how he prayed with complete submission to God. (Qur’an, 38:24)


The Ottomans brought peace, order, and tolerance everywhere they went.

The history of Islam, which reflects the morality that God teaches Muslims in the Qur’an, is full of just, merciful, humble, and mature rulers. Since Muslim rulers fear God, they cannot behave in a corrupt, proud, or cruel manner. Of course there were Muslim rulers who became corrupt and departed from Islamic morality, but they were exceptions to and deviations from the norm. Thus Islam proved to be the only belief system that has produced a just, tolerant, and compassionate form of government for the last 1,400 years.

The land of Palestine is a testament to Islam’s fair and tolerant governance, and bears the influence of many different faiths and ideas. As reported earlier, the governments of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, Umar, Saladin, and the Ottoman sultans were such that even non-Muslims consented to them. This period of fair administration lasted until the twentieth century when, with the end of Muslim rule in 1917, the region was plunged into chaos, terror, bloodshed, and war.

Jerusalem, the center of three religions, experienced the longest period of stability in its history under the Ottomans, when peace, abundance, and prosperity reigned there and throughout the empire. Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and their various denominations, worshipped as they pleased, honored their own beliefs, and followed their own customs and traditions. This was possible because the Ottomans ruled with the belief that bringing order, justice, peace, prosperity, and tolerance to their lands was a sacred obligation.

Many historians and political scientists have drawn attention to this fact. One of them is Columbia University’s world-famous Middle East expert Professor Edward Said. Originally from a Christian family of Jerusalem, he continues his research at American universities, far from his homeland. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, he recommended resurrecting the “Ottoman nation system” if a permanent peace is to be built in the Middle East. In his own words,

A Jewish minority can survive the way other minorities in the Arab world survived… it worked rather well under the Ottoman Empire, with its millet system. What they had then seems a lot more humane than what we have now.14

Indeed, Palestine never witnessed another “humane” administration once Ottoman rule ended. Between the two world wars, the British crushed the Arabs with their divide-and-conquer strategy and simultaneously empowered the Zionists, who would later prove antagonistic even to them. Zionism incurred the Arabs’ wrath, and, from the 1930s on, Palestine became the scene of clashes between the two groups. Zionists formed terrorist groups to fight the Palestinians, and, shortly thereafter, began attacking the British as well. Once Britain threw up its hands and abandoned its mandate over the region in 1947, the clashes turned into war and the Israeli occupation and massacres (which continue to this day) began in earnest.

In order for the region to enjoy “humane” rule once again, Jews must abandon Zionism and its goal of a “Palestine exclusively for the Jews,” and accept the idea of sharing the land with Arabs on equal terms. Arabs, for that matter, must abandon such un-Islamic goals as “driving Israel into the sea” or “putting all Jews to the sword,” and accept the idea of living together with them. According to Said, this means reviving the Ottoman system, which is the only solution that will allow the region’s people to live in peace and harmony. This system may create an environment of regional peace and security, just as it did in the past.

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