Hamas compromise for peace cannot save an unjust process

Anisa Abd el Fattah



According to Al Ma’an News Agency, Hamas issued an open letter to Condoleeza Rice suggesting that Hamas is willing to enter the so-called “peace process” with Israel that was supposedly renewed at the Annapolis Summit between Israel, Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab states. 

I don’t think that there is anyone, considering the suffering that the US, EU and Israel have imposed upon the Palestinian people, that can question, or criticize the meaning of such an approach, if the story is true. No leader, no matter how dedicated to the philosophical principles that underlie his or her cause, can simply stand by and watch as their people are subjected to daily military raids, kidnappings and murders, punished and starved to death as a result of the seeming unwillingness of their leadership to accept the status quo. That being said, it also seems unfair to have walked such a path for so long a time, and then after so much sacrifice, to simply give up, and to surrender to the evil schemes of these Western war criminals, and their Arab lackeys. Whether or not the International Criminal Court, or the International Court of Justice, or the UN Security Council, ever fairly addresses the war crimes that have been carried out against the Palestinian people with impunity, at some point the chickens will come home to roost, should the new precedents that are being established in this demonstration of might makes right take hold universally. An entire world has stood by and watched as these countries, and international institutions have allowed Israel to violate every law known to God and man in its illegal attempt to not only colonize what is left of Palestine, but also to abolish any semblance of law, or respect for the law in the process. Some might believe that the slogan, no justice no peace is merely a slogan, while there are others who know from the lessons of history, that without just laws, and a commitment to justice, mankind cannot have peace, nor prosper, and that when we allow evil to go unchallenged, evil does not pity us, it destroys us, except for the grace of God.

What person today believes that if the US, EU and Israel are allowed to succeed in overthrowing a democratic election in Palestine, imposing a dictatorial regime over the people of Palestine, arming the people against themselves, while simultaneously murdering, kidnapping, and starving the people to death, that this will lead to peace? Only fools can believe such things. 

It was not enough that Zionist in the US and Israel worked successfully to use US fear, religious fanaticism and racial hatreds to convince us that the Geneva Conventions did not bind us when it comes to the treatment of Arabs and Muslims. They also worked very hard to make it appear that Arabs and Muslims have no right to life, and that their attempts at survival are criminal, and to be deemed terrorism and support for terrorism, etc. In their efforts to de-humanize Muslims and Arabs, the Zionist, whom the Pharisees and their Talmud had already dehumanized, also effectively de-humanized the US, and an entire world, and this is what is important. Will God bless such a world? Will it have peace? Natural disasters, economic collapse, poverty and hunger cause us not to have peace. Has it dawned on anyone that every evil we have allowed Israel to carry out against the Palestinian people with our help and support,  is now happening to us? 

Whereas on the surface it may appear that money and military power can be used to accomplish anything, God’s message in the Holy Scriptures must surely be that they cannot.  The test for believers is to be patient while God’s work is done, which does not mean to do nothing, or to turn back. Patience, according to Ayatollah Khamanei, who authored a wonderful book on this topic, means to persevere against all odds. 

Sometimes the truth is not so plain to see, and God’s hand is hidden. When you don’t own media outlets in the West, and you don’t control the media outlets in the East, and when it seems that the entire world, even your own brethren and sisters are against you, that’s when faith is tested. There is a Book that no newspaper can match for its truthfulness, and you don’t need the Internet to get it. The prophets said that it is Good News and a warning, and it is called the Holy Qur’an. It is the source of good news and inspiration for Believers, and a source of hope and healing for those who have been persecuted, hated and killed because they believe, and a cause of fear for the wicked. 

Gaza has been isolated, so that it can be fed a daily diet of propaganda by the media, and the collaborators that is designed to make its leaders and people feel that the world has turned against them, or that their positions are unreasonable, and unpopular, etc. This in turn creates feelings of doubt about what you believe and why.  In such a situation, who could believe that there is a God, or that God is aware of everything thought, done or said? Under such circumstances, who could believe that they are right, and that an entire world can be wrong?  Only the faithful.

God said in the Qur’an, “And between them and their desires is placed a barrier, as was done in the past with their partisans, for they were indeed in suspicious, and disquieting doubt” (34:54). The Qur’an says: “He it is (God) that enables you to travel through land and sea, so that you even board ships. They sail with them with a favorable wind and they rejoice thereat. Then comes a stormy wind and the waves come to them from all sides, and they think that they are being overwhelmed: They cry unto God sincerely, offering their duty unto Him, saying “If thou will deliver us from this, we shall truly show our gratitude.” But when He delivered them, behold they transgress insolently in defiance of right”(10:22-23). “To those who do right is a goodly reward. Yea more than in measure! No darkness shall cover their faces! They are companions of the garden and will abide therein forever. But those who have earned evil will have a reward of like evil.” (10:26-27).

In every challenge faced by monotheists historically, we find that in the end, it was our covenant with God that is tested. To bear witness that there is One God and that Muhammad (saw) is a prophet of God means that there is no authority that can compel us to act against God’s laws and truths. To say that we believe that Muhammad is a prophet of God, means that we believe that what Muhammad taught was not only true, but divinely communicated, and that the Qur’an is indeed the word of God. Yet, within our desires lie our tests. That might be the meaning of the verse of Qur’an that says that after God told Adam that Satan is an enemy, Satan succeeded in misguiding Adam because Adam had no firm resolve (patience).  What did Satan use to seduce Adam? The Qur’an says it was promises of eternal life, and a kingdom, both metaphors for power. On the surface it might appear that eternal life and kingdom have political meanings, such as unchallenged authority. If we look deeper, we might find that what they really mean is to be like God.  If God had intended for Adam to be like God, would Satan have been God’s conduit?  Why did Adam believe Satan, and disbelieve God?  It was because Satan offered Adam what he desired. Even though Satan is a liar, Adam believed him.

There is a hadith that supposedly says that man is judged by his intentions. That is why a man can do something that appears evil, while his intention is good, and so God will forgive him, and vice versa. The Qur’an says that we must seek God’s mercy in repentance and never despair of God’s mercy.

Today, as perhaps never before in our lifetimes, those who profess faith are being tested. God has allowed evil to reach its zenith, destroying the law and all norms of human decency. More than 1 million innocent civilians have been killed in Iraq, and the media and others are calling it a success. God has allowed the wicked to appear all powerful, and in control of life and death. They reward their friends with wealth and notoriety, and they punish their enemies with poverty and deprivation, and God has allowed it. God said in the Qur’an, “Don’t think that you will be left to say that you believe and that you will not be tested.” The Qur’an goes on to say that Abraham was God’s friend, yet God tested Abraham with the most difficult of tests. God gave Abraham after he had reached nearly 950 years of life a son.  Then God revealed in a vision to Abraham that he was to take his son’s life with his own hand. Who among us could pass such a test?  Abraham took his son to an altar to be sacrificed. The Qur’an says that before Abraham could sacrifice his son, God said to Abraham that the command was only a test, and in exchange for the life of Ishmael, God provided a ransom. Some will believe these teachings literally, and others figuratively, and the prophet Muhammad said that both would be right. Whether or not we believe that these events actually took place, there are lessons to be learned.

The Palestinian people must feel that their test is much more difficult than Abraham’s test. How many of their sons have been sacrificed, and there was no ransom?  It must appear to them that the entire world has forsaken them, and that God is punishing them, or that He has forgotten them. Let us contemplate what God said to the prophet Muhammad (sa) in Chapter 8 of the Qur’an, verses 66-71. The Qur’an says, in verse 68, “ Had it not been for a previous ordainment from God, a severe penalty would have reached you for what you took. But now enjoy what you took in war, lawful and good, but fear God, for God is oft forgiving and most Merciful.”

This verse perhaps demonstrates how even in times of conflict we must abide by God’s laws, never forsaking our covenant of obedience to God as One God, which is to relinquish all will and all of our desires, in exchange for the aggrandizement of God only, for all Praise and Glory is due to Him only. In all things, we must obey God. “Abraham said to his father and people, I do indeed clear myself of what you worship besides God;I worship only Him who created me, and He (God) will certainly guide me”  The believers of our time must say this same thing to idol worshipers of our time, and be steadfast in our worship of God, with absolute trust in Him.

The Qur’an says in Chapter 7, verses 102-103; “ Most of them we found not true to their covenant, but most of them we found rebellious and disobedient. Then after them we sent Moses with our signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they wrongly rejected them, so see what was the end of those who made mischief.”

Muslims throughout the world must not forget Palestine. We must not allow the media and propagandists to cover up what is taking place in Palestine, and particularly in Gaza We must speak out for Palestine, and through our hope and commitment, strengthen our brothers and sisters there.

The Good News is that increasingly people throughout the world are recognizing the injustice and criminality of the illegal occupation in Palestine. Many international NGOs and people like ourselves who are fed up with evil, are raising their voices and acting for peace. Even US lawmakers and some politicians here are breaking ranks with the wicked puppets of Zionism that have undermined the US, and put an entire world at risk of war to appease their lust for power over the Muslim and Arab world. These men and women are calling for justice and an end to US unconditional support for Israel. There is hope, and change on the horizon, and we must be the carriers of that message, since in that message, and not in the compromise with evil and injustice might lay the best hope for peace.