by MEMRI
Following the July 14, 2017 shooting at the Al-Aqsa mosque, several articles in the Arabic media came out against the attack, calling on the Palestinians to abandon the path of violence and religious fanaticism and exchange it for investment in education, science and technology. This, "in order to produce an enlightened generation that is not in the grip of the religious insanity" that has so far led the Islamic umma to nothing but perdition. Iraqi journalist 'Omar Al-Khatib called on Palestinians to cease the violence that has cost them numerous unnecessary casualties, unite around the PLO, and stick to peaceful measures, which will bring them what they have not been able to achieve with weapons. Saudi journalist Mujahid 'Abd Al-Muta'ali contended that "solidarity with the refugee camps in the diaspora takes precedence to solidarity with Al-Aqsa," since men are more important than stones, and, like Al-Khatib, suggested that investing in the education of the young generation will bring the Palestinians closer to their objective. Israeli Arab lawyer Jawad Boulos warned against the growing willingness of young Israeli Arabs to die and to kill in the name of religion and its holy symbols, first and foremost the Al-Aqsa mosque, and called on the leaders of the Israeli Arabs not to settle for blaming the occupation as the reason for attacks, but to fight the elements that influence the youth in this direction, among them "poisonous, fanatical sermons."Following the July 14, 2017 shooting at the Al-Aqsa mosque, several articles in the Arabic media came out against the attack, calling on the Palestinians to abandon the path of violence and religious fanaticism and exchange it for investment in education, science and technology.
The following are excerpts from the three articles:
Iraqi Journalist: When The Prophet Muhammad Was In A Situation Similar To That Of The Palestinians Today, He Called For Restraint
Writing on the liberal Arab website Elaph,[1]
'Omar Al-Khatib, who was born in Baghdad and immigrated to Western
Europe where he lectures about the Middle East, called on the
Palestinians to behave with restraint, to abandon violence and religious
fanaticism, and to invest in education to produce an enlightened
generation that loves life. In this way, he argued, the countries of the
world will be persuaded to support them in the pursuit of their goals.
'Omar Al-Khatib (image: twitter.com/omar_k_khatib)
Al-Khatib wrote: "Several days ago, a
crisis and violence broke out on the holy soil of the Al-Aqsa
compound... If the Islamists and jihadis, as they call themselves, think
that the Arab umma still has the mentality it had in the 1960s
and 1970s, they are deluding themselves. Today, we are smarter and
better understand the situation, having acquired knowledge, which is the
basis for any victory. Moreover, today's media and websites make it
difficult for either the Israelis or the Palestinians to hide the
details of the events...
"First there is the question... of who
allowed three armed men into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and since when do
mosques and holy sites serve as murder arenas? The only ones who carry
out such acts are the Khawarij,[2]
the terrorists, regardless of their religion, for every religion has
its Khawarij and its terrorists. The second important factor is the
position of the jurisprudents and decision makers. Today the 'wearers of
turbans' [i.e., the religious scholars] are not the only ones to make
decisions, because any educated person who gained knowledge in some
field can voice his opinion on various issues, including religious ones.
I heard this once from the Saudi Mufti, and Al-Azhar thinks the same in
this context.
"The educated people of the umma
have an opinion on this issue, and [our opinion] carries weight, for we
have studied and pondered the Quran and the Sunna and the [commentaries]
on them, and have also studied and pondered biographies, history books,
and last but not least the modern books of political science, economy,
and engineering. This is how many of our forefathers... became the
educated [elite] of the 'Abbasid state in the era of Haroun Al-Rashid[3]
– a unique leader who brought Baghdad to a level of scientific and
military progress unmatched by any [other] capital, either in history or
in the modern world, so that the Baghdad of that period was like
Washington today.
"The Palestinians can be said to be in a
situation similar to that of the Prophet Muhammad in the early stages of
his mission, namely in the Meccan period, during which, despite all the
harm done to the Prophet and his companions he called for one thing
only: for restraint. But the thing is that today, if you call for
restraint, the lunatics will pounce on you from every direction and
accuse you of cowardice and submission. But being accused of submission
seems a thousand times more honorable to me than casting the umma
into perdition, as Saddam Hussein did to Iraq and [Mu'ammar] Qadhafi to
Libya, and as the Iranian regime is now doing to its people...
"Here we come to the point and ask the
Palestinians openly: What do you want? What do you aim to achieve, and
are your goals attainable? How many sacrifices are the Palestinian
people prepared to make? And if it makes these sacrifices will it
[really] attain its goals, or is this an act of collective suicide that
is totally unjustified? The Palestinians must answer all these
questions, lest they find themselves one day completely devoid of [free]
will and in the grip of an occupation even more despicable than the
Israeli one, such as Hamas's occupation of the Gaza Strip. The suffering
of the [Palestinian] people does not concern Hamas and its supporters,
because all the Muslim Brotherhood cares about is coming to power, and
then it does not care what happens to the people. That is what happened
to the Iranians when the Islamists gained power and turned their lives
into an insufferable hell.
"Finally, I call upon the Palestinian
people to unite under the PLO leadership and try act so that [this
organization] and its demands become reasonable both from Israel's
perspective and from the perspective of the Palestinian people. The PLO
must transform from a militant organization into a wise political front
that can invest in [developing] the Palestinian people's science and
culture, in order to raise an educated generation that is not dominated
by religious insanity and hostile to everything in the world; a
generation that loves life and knows how to live in honor and with
moderate beliefs. Then [the Palestinians] will discover that the entire
world supports them in attaining their legitimate demands. We too will
stand beside such a people and support it – but we will never support
those who fail to heed the voice of wisdom and reason, resort to
violence, and kill women, children, and the elderly, regardless of their
faith or nationality. This, first of all, because our religion forbids
it, and also because times have changed. The time of barbarity is over
and the time of compassion and human rights has arrived. You
Palestinians must therefore use peaceful means, which will allow you to
attain what weapons cannot."
Saudi Journalist: The Road to Jerusalem Is Not Via Jihad And The Militarization Of Palestinian Children
Saudi journalist Mujahid 'Abd Al-Muta'ali
likewise exhorted the Palestinians to put their trust in the education
of their children as a means to support their struggle to realize their
goals.
Mujahid Abd Al-Muta'ali (Image: alwatan.com.sa, July 31, 2017)
Mujahid 'Abd Al-Muta'ali wrote:[4]
"As far as I'm concerned, solidarity with the refugee camps in the
diaspora takes precedence to solidarity with Al-Aqsa, since for me a
person is more important than a stone. This is how I see the world, and
this is the way to regain Al-Aqsa: people [will liberate] Al-Aqsa, not
the other way around…
"The sane people are tired of explaining
to the simple people that the road to [regaining] Jerusalem does not
pass through the jihad [against] the Soviets in Kabul, or through the
invasion of Kuwait, the destruction of Baghdad, the conquering of Beirut
with partisan weapons, the uprising against Damascus by means of the
ISIS coyotes, the deception of Qatar, the false wisdom of Istanbul, or
the Iranian [Shi'ites'] self-flagellation with swords and chains until
blood flows.[5]
"The road to Jerusalem starts with
shaking the dust off the feet of the [Palestinian] children in the
refugee camps of the diaspora, so that they receive better education and
then set out in study delegations to the best universities in the
world. Then, allow those pioneers of knowledge to fight by themselves
for the [Palestinian] cause, and you will see the difference between
enlightening these children and militarizing them."
Israeli Arab Lawyer: We Must Counter The Growing Willingness Of Young Israeli Arabs To Perpetrate Terror Attacks In Israel
Attorney Jawad Boulos, a legal advisor to
the Palestinian Prisoners Club, wrote that while it is convenient for
Israeli Arab leaders to present the attacks (which were perpetrated by
Israeli Arabs) as resulting from the occupation, poverty, and
unemployment, these are surely not the only reasons, and Israeli Arab
leaders must fight this phenomenon to ensure peace within their own
society and to protect the lives of their youth.
Jawad Boulos (image: elhmra.com, July 1, 2017)
He wrote: "Everyone who took a position on this event [the Al-Aqsa terror attack] connected it directly to the crime of the Israeli occupation, [claiming that] this is what motivated these young people to do what they did. Accepting this as the sole [explanation] is worrying, and the automatic and demagogic linking [of the attack to the occupation] – even if it is essentially or partly valid – reflects a somewhat unsatisfactory and superficial approach. It proves that the leadership chose the safest and most convenient option, while essentially avoiding the honest reckoning with the phenomenon that their position and natural responsibility obligate them to undertake for the sake of the lives of their population, in particular the weaker sectors within it.
"The occupation is no doubt the source of
the evil and the greatest crime of all – that is an axiom. There is also
no doubt that the accumulating actions and crimes of the occupation
fuel the feelings of opposition, the oppression, and the impulsivity in
the hearts of everyone who witnesses these [crimes] or is victimized by
them. Yet I have no doubt that these agitating deeds of the occupation
alone are not enough to bring people to the point where they are willing
to die or to kill, as was the case with the three Muhammads.[6]
"It is natural and only human that
anyone who witnesses the oppression of the occupiers and their servants
would be filled with rage and prepared to act against the occupier and
his oppression. But it is neither natural nor obvious that such a
person, bitter though he may be, should reach the emotional state where
he is ready to take action and kill himself and others. In addition to
what the occupation and its soldiers cause, there are [surely] internal
social factors as well, and it is they that ultimately lead these young
people to perpetrate their 'operations.'
"The leadership should investigate
precisely this point and try to examine its essence and dismantle its
infrastructure, in an effort to fight this phenomenon that is starting
to spread quickly through our societies. I doubt they will find it
difficult to expose the factors that are influencing these people...
especially since these leaders have already mentioned some of these
influences, among them poverty, unemployment, ignorance, and the
repeated dissemination of poisonous, fanatical sermons, mainly calling
for revenge in the name of religion and its holy symbols, first and
foremost the Al-Aqsa mosque, for example.
"We must acknowledge that the number [of
young people] who are prepared to die as martyrs is very large, and the
leaders must fight this phenomenon for the sake of peace within our
society and in order to protect the lives of the young people – who fall
victims to the occupation, but not to it alone."[7]
[1] Elaph.com, July 30, 2017.
[2]
Khawarij/Kharijites (literally, "those who come out") – an early
Islamic sect that advocated excommunicating Muslims for even minor sins
and was proclaimed heretical by the mainstream Sunna. Today, the term is
used to brand Muslim groups as extremist, and is often applied to ISIS
and to other Salafi-jihadi groups by their critics in the Muslim world.
[3]
The fifth 'Abbasid caliph, whose reign (786-809) is considered a time
of cultural, scientific, and religious flowering, referred to as the
Abbasid golden age.
[4] Alwatan.com, July 31, 2017.
[5] The reference is to the custom of self-flagellation in Twelver Shi'ism.
[6] The three perpetrators of the Al-Aqsa attack were all named Muhammad.
[7] Al-Quds
(Jerusalem), July 29, 2017. It should be noted that this article was
also published in other papers and on news websites, such as the
London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi and on Israeli Arab websites Haifa.net.co.il, July 27, 2017, and Akkenet.net, July 28.2017.
MEMRI
Source: https://www.memri.org/reports/articles-in-%20arab-media-against-al-aqsa-shooting
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