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Dear Friends,
The tragic incidents
of September 11 have shocked the world. It is unthinkable that anyone could
be so full of hate as to commit such heinous acts and kill so many innocent
people. We people of Muslim origin are as much shaken as the rest of the
world and yet we find ourselves looked upon with suspicion and distrust by
our neighbours and fellow citizens. We want to cry out and tell the world
that we are not terrorists, and that those who perpetrate such despicable
acts are murderers and not part of us. But, in reality, because of our
Muslim origins we just cannot erase the "stigma of Islamic Terrorism" from
our identity!
What most Muslims will
say:
"Islam would never
support the killing of innocent people. Allah of the Holy Qur'an never
advocated killings. This is all the work of a few misguided individuals at
the fringes of society. The real Islam is sanctified from violence. We
denounce all violence. Islam means peace. Islam means tolerance."
What knowledgeable
Muslims should say:
That is what most
Muslims think, but is it true? Does Islam really preach peace, tolerance and
non-violence? The Muslims who perpetrate these crimes think differently.
They believe that what they do is Jihad (holy war). They say that killing
unbelievers is mandatory for every Muslim. They do not kill because they
wish to break the laws of Islam but because they think this is what true
Muslims should do. Those who blow-up their own bodies to kill more innocent
people do so because they think they will be rewarded in Paradise. They hope
to be blessed by Allah, eat celestial food, drink pure wine and enjoy the
company of divine consorts. Are they completely misguided? Where did they
get this distorted idea? How did they come to believe that killing innocent
people pleases God? Or is it that we are misguided? Does really Islam preach
violence? Does it call upon its believers to kill non-believers? We denounce
those who commit acts of violence and call them extremists. But are they
really extremists or are they following what the holy book, the Qur'an tells
them to do? What does the Qur'an teach? Have we read the Qur'an? Do we know
what kind of teachings are there? Let us go through some of them and take a
closer look at what Allah says.
What the Qur'an
Teaches Us:
We have used the most
widely available English text of the Qur'an and readers are welcome to
verify our quotes from the holy book. Please have an open mind and read
through these verses again and again. The following quotes are taken from
the most trusted Yusufali's translation of the Qur'an.
The Qur'an tells us:
"not to make friendship with Jews and Christians" (5:51), "kill the
disbelievers wherever we find them" (2:191), "murder them and treat them
harshly" (9:123), "fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them,
and lie in wait for them in every stratagem" (9:5). The Qur'an demands that
we fight the unbelievers, and promises "If there are twenty amongst you, you
will vanquish two hundred: if a hundred, you will vanquish a thousand of
them" (8:65).
Allah and his
messenger want us to fight the Christians and the Jews "until they pay the
Jizya [a penalty tax for the non-Muslims living under Islamic rules] with
willing submission, and feel themselves subdued" (9:29). Allah and his
messenger announce that it is acceptable to go back on our promises
(treaties) and obligations with Pagans and make war on them whenever we find
ourselves strong enough to do so (9:3). Our God tells us to "fight the
unbelievers" and "He will punish them by our hands, cover them with shame
and help us (to victory) over them" (9:14).
The Qur'an takes away
the freedom of belief from all humanity and relegates those who disbelieve
in Islam to hell (5:10), calls them najis (filthy, untouchable, impure)
(9:28), and orders its followers to fight the unbelievers until no other
religion except Islam is left (2:193). It says that the "non-believers will
go to hell and will drink boiling water" (14:17). It asks the Muslims to
"slay or crucify or cut the hands and feet of the unbelievers, that they be
expelled from the land with disgrace and that they shall have a great
punishment in world hereafter" (5:34). And tells us that "for them (the
unbelievers) garments of fire shall be cut and there shall be poured over
their heads boiling water whereby whatever is in their bowels and skin shall
be dissolved and they will be punished with hooked iron rods" (22:19-22) and
that they not only will have "disgrace in this life, but on the Day of
Judgment He shall make them taste the Penalty of burning (Fire)" (22:9). The
Qur'an says that "those who invoke a god other than Allah not only should
meet punishment in this world but the Penalty on the Day of Judgment will be
doubled to them, and they will dwell therein in ignominy" (25:68). For those
who "believe not in Allah and His Messenger, He has prepared, for those who
reject Allah, a Blazing Fire!" (48:13). Although we are asked to be
compassionate amongst each other, we have to be "harsh with unbelievers",
our Christian, Jewish and Atheist neighbours and colleagues (48:29). As for
him who does not believe in Islam, the Prophet announces with a "stern
command": "Seize ye him, and bind ye him, And burn ye him in the Blazing
Fire. Further, make him march in a chain, whereof the length is seventy
cubits! This was he that would not believe in Allah Most High. And would not
encourage the feeding of the indigent! So no friend hath he here this Day.
Nor hath he any food except the corruption from the washing of wounds, Which
none do eat but those in sin." (69:30-37) The Qur'an prohibits a Muslim from
befriending a non-believer even if that non-believer is the father or the
brother of that Muslim (9:23), (3:28). Our holy book asks us to be
disobedient towards the disbelievers and their governments and strive
against the unbelievers with great endeavour" (25:52) and be stern with them
because they belong to Hell (66:9). The holy Prophet prescribes fighting for
us and tells us that "it is good for us even if we dislike it" (2:216). Then
he advises us to "strike off the heads of the disbelievers"; and after
making a "wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining
captives" (47:4). Our God has promised to "instill terror into the hearts of
the unbelievers" and has ordered us to "smite above their necks and smite
all their finger-tips off them" (8:12). He also assures us that when we kill
in his name "it is not us who slay them but Allah, in order that He might
test the Believers by a gracious trial from Himself" (8:17). He orders us
"to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies" (8:60). He has made the
Jihad mandatory and warns us that "Unless we go forth, (for Jihad) He will
punish us with a grievous penalty, and put others in our place" (9:39).
Allah speaks to our Holy Prophet and says "O Prophet! strive hard against
the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern against them. Their abode
is Hell - an evil refuge indeed" (9:73).
He promises us that in
the fight for His cause whether we slay or are slain we return to the garden
of Paradise (9:111). In Paradise he will "wed us with Houris (celestial
virgins) pure beautiful ones" (56:54), and unite us with large-eyed
beautiful ones while we recline on our thrones set in lines (56:20). There
we are promised to eat and drink pleasantly for what we did (56:19). He also
promises "boys like hidden pearls" (56:24) and "youth never altering in age
like scattered pearls" (for those who have paedophiliac inclinations)
(76:19). As you see, Allah has promised all sorts or rewards, gluttony and
unlimited sex to Muslim men who kill unbelievers in his name. We will be
admitted to Paradise where we shall find "goodly things, beautiful ones,
pure ones confined to the pavilions that man has not touched them before nor
jinni" (56:67-71). In the West we enjoy freedom of belief but we are not
supposed to give such freedom to anyone else because it is written "If
anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will
it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those
who have lost (All spiritual good) (3:85). And He orders us to fight them on
until there is no more tumult and faith in Allah is practiced everywhere
(8:39).
As for women the book
of Allah says that they are inferior to men and their husbands have the
right to scourge them if they are found disobedient (4:34). It advises to
"take a green branch and beat your wife", because a green branch is more
flexible and hurts more. (38:44). It teaches that women will go to hell if
they are disobedient to their husbands (66:10). It maintains that men have
an advantage over the women (2:228). It not only denies the women's equal
right to their inheritance (4:11-12), it also regards them as imbeciles and
decrees that their witness is not admissible in the courts of law (2:282).
This means that a woman who is raped cannot accuse her rapist unless she can
produce a male witness. Our Holy Prophet allows us to marry up to four wives
and he licensed us to sleep with our slave maids and as many 'captive' women
as we may have (4:3) even if those women are already married. He himself did
just that. This is why anytime a Muslim army subdues another nation, they
call them kafir and allow themselves to rape their women. Pakistani soldiers
allegedly raped up to 250,000 Bengali women in 1971 after they massacred
3,000,000 unarmed civilians when their religious leader decreed that
Bangladeshis are un-Islamic. This is why the prison guards in Islamic regime
of Iran rape the women that in their opinion are apostates prior to killing
them, as they believe a virgin will not go to Hell.
Dear fellow Muslims:
Is this the Islam you
believe in? Is this your Most Merciful, Most Compassionate Allah whom you
worship daily? Could Allah incite you to kill other peoples? Please
understand that there is no terrorist gene - but there could be a terrorist
mindset. That mindset finds its most fertile ground in the tenets of Islam.
Denying it, and presenting Islam to the lay public as a religion of peace
similar to Buddhism, is to suppress the truth. The history of Islam between
the 7th and 14th centuries is riddled with violence, fratricide and wars of
aggression, starting right from the death of the Prophet and during the
so-called 'pure' or orthodox caliphate. And Muhammad himself hoisted the
standard of killing, looting, massacres and bloodshed. How can we deny the
entire history? The behaviour of our Holy Prophet as recorded in authentic
Islamic sources is quite questionable from a modern viewpoint. The Prophet
was a charismatic man but he had few virtues. Imitating him in all aspects
of life (following the Sunnah) is both impossible and dangerous in the 21st
century. Why are we so helplessly in denial over this simple issue?
When the Prophet was
in Mecca and he was still not powerful enough he called for tolerance. He
said "To you be your religion, and to me my religion" (109:6). This famous
quote is often misused to prove that the general principle of Qur'an is
tolerance. He advised his follower to speak good to their enemies (2: 83),
exhorted them to be patient (20:103) and said that "there is no compulsion
in religion" (2:256). But that all changed drastically when he came to
power. Then killing and slaying unbelievers with harshness and without mercy
was justified in innumerable verses. The verses quoted to prove Islam's
tolerance ignore many other verses that bear no trace of tolerance or
forgiveness. Where is tolerance in this well-known verse "Alarzu Lillah,
Walhukmu Lillah." (The Earth belongs to Allah and thus only Allah's rule
should prevail all over the earth.).
Is it normal that a
book revealed by God should have so many serious contradictions? The Prophet
himself set the example of unleashing violence by invading the Jewish
settlements, breaking treaties he had signed with them and banishing some of
them after confiscating their belongings, massacring others and taking their
wives and children as slaves. He inspected the youngsters and massacred all
those who had pubic hair along with the men. Those who were younger he kept
as slaves. He distributed the women captured in his raids among his soldiers
keeping the prettiest for himself (33:50). He made sexual advances on
Safiyah, a Jewish girl on the same day he captured her town Kheibar and
killed her father, her husband and many of her relatives. Reyhana was
another Jewish girl of Bani Quriza whom he used as a sex slave after killing
all her male relatives. In the last ten years of his life he accumulated two
scores of wives, concubines and sex slaves including the 9 year old Ayesha.
These are not stories but records from authentic Islamic history and the
Hadiths. It can be argued that this kind of behaviour was not unknown or
unusual for the conquerors and leaders of the mediaeval world but these are
not the activities befitting of a peaceful saint and certainly not someone
who claimed to be the Mercy of God for all creation. There were known
assassinations of adversaries during the Prophet's time, which he had
knowledge of and had supported. Among them there was a 120 year old man, Abu
'Afak whose only crime was to compose a lyric satirical of the Prophet. (by
Ibn Sa'd Kitab al Tabaqat al Kabir, Volume 2, page 32) Then when a poetess,
a mother of 5 small children 'Asma' Bint Marwan wrote a poetry cursing the
Arabs for letting Muhammad assassinate an old man, our Holy Prophet ordered
her to be assassinated too in the middle of the night while her youngest
child was suckling from her breast. (Sirat Rasul Allah (A. Guillaume's
translation "The Life of Muhammad") page 675, 676).
The Prophet did
develop a 'Robin Hood' image that justified raiding merchant caravans
attacking cities and towns, killing people and looting their belongings in
the name of social justice. Usama Bin Laden is also trying to create the
same image. But Robin Hood didn't claim to be a prophet or a pacifist nor
did he care for apologist arguments. He did not massacre innocent people
indiscriminately nor did he profit by reducing free people to slaves and
then trading them.
With the known and
documented violent legacy of Islam, how can we suddenly rediscover it as a
religion of peace in the free world in the 21st century? Isn't this the
perpetuation of a lie by a few ambitious leaders in order to gain political
control of the huge and ignorant Muslim population? They are creating a
polished version of Islam by completely ignoring history. They are
propagating the same old dogma for simple believing people in a crisp new
modern package. Their aim: to gain political power in today's high-tension
world. They want to use the confrontational power of the original Islam to
catalyse new conflicts and control new circles of power.
Dear conscientious
Muslims, please question yourselves. Isn't this compulsive following of a
man who lived 1.400 years ago leading us to doom in a changing world? Do the
followers of any other religion follow one man in such an all-encompassing
way? Who are we deceiving, them or ourselves? Dear brothers and sisters,
see how our Umma (people) has sunk into poverty and how it lags behind the
rest of the world. Isn't it because we are following a religion that is
outdated and impractical? In this crucial moment of history, when a great
catastrophe has befallen us and a much bigger one is lying ahead, should not
we wake up from our 1.400 years of slumber and see where things have gone
wrong?
Hatred has filled the
air and the world is bracing itself for its doomsday. Should we not ask
ourselves whether we have contributed, wittingly or unwittingly, to this
tragedy and whether we can stop the great disaster from happening?
Unfortunately the
answer to the first question is yes. Yes we have contributed to the rise of
fundamentalism by merely claiming Islam is a religion of peace, by simply
being a Muslim and by saying our shahada (testimony that Allah is the only
God and Muhammad is his messenger). By our shahada we have recognized
Muhammad as a true messenger of God and his book as the words of God. But as
you saw above those words are anything but from God. They call for
killing, they are prescriptions for hate and they foment intolerance.
And when the ignorant among us read those hate-laden verses, they act on
them and the result is the infamous September 11, human bombs in Israel,
massacres in East Timor and Bangladesh, kidnappings and killings in the
Philippines, slavery in the Sudan, honour killings in Pakistan and Jordan,
torture in Iran, stoning and maiming in Afghanistan and Iran, violence in
Algeria, terrorism in Palestine and misery and death in every Islamic
country. We are responsible because we endorse Islam and hail it as a
religion of God. And we are as guilty as those who put into practice what
the Qur'an preaches - and ironically we are the main victims too. If we are
not terrorists, if we love peace, if we cried with the rest of the word for
what happened in New York, then why are we supporting the Qur'an that
preaches killing, that advocates holy war and that calls for the murder of
non-Muslims? It is not the extremists who have misunderstood Islam. They do
literally what the Qur'an asks them to do. It is we who misunderstand Islam.
We are the ones who are confused. We are the ones who wrongly assume that
Islam is the religion of peace. Islam is not a religion of peace. In its
so-called "pure" form it can very well be interpreted as a doctrine of hate.
Terrorists are doing just that and we the intellectual apologists of Islam
are justifying it. We can stop this madness. Yes, we can avert the disaster
that is hovering over our heads. Yes, we can denounce the doctrines that
promote hate. Yes, we can embrace the rest of humanity with love. Yes, we
can become part of a united world, members of one human family, flowers of
one garden. We can dump the claim of infallibility of our Book, and the
questionable legacy of our Prophet.
Dear friends, there is
no time to waste. Let us put an end to this lie. Let us not fool ourselves.
Islam is not a religion of peace, of tolerance, of equality or of unity of
humankind. Let us read the Qur'an. Let us face the truth even if it is
painful. As long as we keep this lie alive, as long as we hide our head in
the sands of Arabia we are feeding terrorism. As long as you and I keep
calling Qur'an the unchangeable book of God, we cannot blame those who
follow the teachings therein. As long as we pay our Khums and Zakat our
money goes to promote Islamic expansionism and that means terrorism, Jihad
and war. Islam divides the world in two. Darul Harb (land of war) and Darul
Islam (land of Islam). Darul Harb is the land of the infidels, Muslims are
required to infiltrate those lands, proselytize and procreate until their
numbers increase and then start the war and fight and kill the people and
impose the religion of Islam on them and convert that land into Darul Islam.
In all fairness we denounce this betrayal. This is abuse of the trust. How
can we make war in the countries that have sheltered us? How can we kill
those who have befriended us? Yet willingly or unwillingly we have become
pawns in this Islamic Imperialism. Let us see what great Islamic scholars
have had to say in this respect.
Dr. M. Khan the
translator of Sahih Bukhari and the Qur'an into English wrote: "Allah
revealed in Sura Bara'at (Repentance, IX) the order to discard (all)
obligations (covenants, etc), and commanded the Muslims to fight against all
the Pagans as well as against the people of the Scriptures (Jews and
Christians) if they do not embrace Islam, till they pay the Jizia (a tax
levied on the Jews and Christians) with willing submission and feel
themselves subdued (as it is revealed in 9:29). So the Muslims were not
permitted to abandon "the fighting" against them (Pagans, Jews and
Christians) and to reconcile with them and to suspend hostilities against
them for an unlimited period while they are strong and have the ability to
fight against them. So at first "the fighting" was forbidden, then it was
permitted, and after that it was made obligatory" [Introduction to English
translation of Sahih Bukhari, p.xxiv.]
Dr. Sobhy as-Saleh, a
contemporary Islamic academician quoted Imam Suyuti the author of Itqan Fi 'Ulum
al- Qur'an who wrote: "The command to fight the infidels was delayed until
the Muslims become strong, but when they were weak they were commanded to
endure and be patient". [ Sobhy as_Saleh, Mabaheth Fi 'Ulum al- Qur'an, Dar
al-'Ilm Lel-Malayeen, Beirut, 1983, p. 269.]
Dr. Sobhy, in a
footnote, commends the opinion of a scholar named Zarkashi who said: "Allah
the most high and wise revealed to Mohammad in his weak condition what
suited the situation, because of his mercy to him and his followers. For if
He gave them the command to fight while they were weak it would have been
embarrassing and most difficult, but when the most high made Islam
victorious He commanded him with what suited the situation, that is asking
the people of the Book to become Muslims or to pay the levied tax, and the
infidels to become Muslims or face death. These two options, to fight or to
have peace return according to the strength or the weakness of the Muslims."
[ibid p. 270]
Other Islamic scholars
(Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, Ga'far ar-Razi, Rabi' Ibn 'Ons, 'Abil-'Aliyah, Abd
ar-Rahman Ibn Zayd Ibn 'Aslam, etc.) agree that the verse "Slay the
idolaters wherever you find them" (9:5) cancelled those few earlier verses
that called for tolerance in the Qur'an and were revealed when Islam was
weak. Can you still say that Islam is the religion of peace?
We propose a solution.
We know too well that
it is not easy to denounce our faith because it means denouncing a part of
ourselves. We are a group of freethinkers and humanists with Islamic roots.
Discovering the truth and leaving the religion of our fathers and
forefathers was a painful experience. But after learning what Islam stands
for we had no choice but to leave it. After becoming familiar with the
Qur'an the choice became clear: It is either Islam or humanity. If Islam
thrives, then humanity will die. We decided to side with humanity.
Culturally we are still Muslims but we no longer believe in Islam as the
true religion of God. We are humanists. We love humanity. We work for the
unity of humankind. We work for equality between men and women. We strive
for the secularization of Islamic countries, for democracy and freedom of
thought, belief and expression. We decided to live no longer in
self-deception but to embrace humanity, and to enter into the new millennium
hand in hand with people of other cultures and beliefs in amity and in
peace.
We denounce the
violence that is eulogized in the Qur'an as holy war (Jihad). We condemn
killing in the name of God. We believe in the sanctity of human life, not in
the inviolability of beliefs and religions. We invite you to join us and the
rest of humanity and become part of the family of humankind - in love,
camaraderie and peace.
_______________________________________________________________________
FOR THE
PALESTINIANS.
This is a must read!
This
is an outstanding piece of writing from a man in New Zealand who claims to
be an agnostic. I could only hope that every Jew and every Christian
throughout the world understood the issue as well as he does! PLEASE - read
it - print it out - keep it for future reference - forward it to everyone
you know!
SPEAKING
THE TRUTH TO THE POWERLESS, AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE COMMONLY CALLED
"PALESTINIANS"
Greetings
to any Palestinian who may be reading this. My name is David White. I am a
citizen of New Zealand, a small, Western, nominally Christian country in the
South Pacific Ocean. I am not Jewish, or Christian, I guess I'm vaguely
agnostic.
Writing
this letter is a good way for me to discuss the horrible mess in the Middle
East, spell out as many relevant points as possible concerning the state of
the Palestinian people, and to see what can be made of them. I don't speak
Arabic, so I can only communicate with English-speaking Palestinians.
There
aren't many here in NZ, though, and I haven't yet met any. I don't know how
many will ever see these words, but, here's hoping someone does.
I have a post-graduate university education, and I suppose I could be called
an intellectual. Unfortunately, many such people have supported abhorrent
ideologies such as Nazism, and continue to support Communism, so I refuse to
describe myself in this way. I don't want to be considered as another
"trendy leftie" academic, as we would say in NZ. So, unlike many
university-educated types, I am anti-totalitarian, pro-peace up to a point,
pro-democracy, pro-capitalism (except the capitalists running Enron), and
sceptical about the "cult of victim-hood." I'm quite safe here
in New Zealand, and no-one I know has been killed by a Palestinian.
My
perspective of Palestinians is something like this - you're Arabs (of
course), mostly Muslim, but with a Christian minority. Many of you live
outside Gaza/West Bank, mostly in Jordan and other Muslim countries, with
some groups living in Western countries as well. You feel that you have been
wronged by Israel and are fighting to destroy them.
As for my
perspective on Israel, I see them like this: They are a mainly Jewish,
small, free-market democracy with a large Arab minority surrounded by
hostile Arab dictatorships. They have an ancestral claim to Israel, their
state was created as a refuge from persecution, they have a right to exist,
and, having survived a holocaust in Europe, they should not have to sit
still and wait for another one in the Middle East.
A "DOWN-UNDER" OVERVIEW
Over the
last few months, the conflict in the disputed territories of Gaza and the
West Bank has turned into a war between the Palestinian people and Israel.
(I will not apologize for using the term "disputed", as I believe it
reflects a rather complicated situation more accurately than "occupied").
Your
interpretation, as far as I can tell, seems to be something like this: You
have no state of your own, and you are fighting a war against those you call
"Zionist oppressors" and "colonial imperialists", in order to create a
Palestinian state. Accusations of massacre and human rights violations by
the Israeli Army are being tossed around like confetti. Your late leader,
Yasser Arafat used to brag that he would "martyr" himself rather than
"surrender", and that bungling and incompetent organization, the United
Nations (again, no apologies for venting personal opinions), is trying to do
what it is constitutionally incapable of doing, i.e. "saving future
generations from the scourge of war".
The
Israelis see things differently, of course. For them, it's a simple battle
for survival. They offered you a state, and you attacked them instead. They
have occupied Palestinian towns, have fought it out with various armed
groups, and desperate attempts are being made by the US, other Arab
countries and the UN to break the so-called "cycle of violence". As a
result, the Palestinian situation at the moment generally, can be explained
by putting it into New Zealand idiom, put bluntly, the Palestinian people
are buggered. Munted. Stuffed. Rooted (American equivalent=screwed. British
equivalent: done over). It's like this: Yasser Arafat had turned down the
Israeli offer of a Palestinian homeland in Gaza and the West Bank. You want,
or Arafat claims that you wanted, a Palestine "from the river to the sea;"
in other words, "all or nothing".
There is
one insuperable obstacle to this- Israel. No matter how eloquent your
arguments or numerous your martyrs, no matter how many European diplomats
are angered by, or UN resolutions are passed against, Israel, the Israelis
are not going to pack up and leave. The only way you will get the
Palestinian state you want is by destroying Israel.
This is
what you have been trying to do since 1948, and the current "intifada"
launched in 2000 is your latest effort. However, the Israelis are not
standing there and letting you kill them. They are fighting back, and if
they have to choose between their own survival and yours, guess which choice
they'll make.
A vast
wringing of hands, a great fluttering of Diplomats. That has been the
overall response to the disaster you have created for yourselves. You, the
Palestinian Arabs, are obviously hoping for some kind of international
intervention to save you. As we in New Zealand would say, "Get Real!"
The
European Union and the UN have demonstrated on numerous occasions in the
past their incompetence and total incapacity to take any sort of firm action
without American leadership. Ask your Muslim brothers of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
about how effective the EU and the UN were in protecting them without
American intervention. In spite of the impression that American diplomatic
efforts have created, the US will not take sides against Israel, and will
eventually abandon its futile attempts at even handedness. If they do join
forces militarily with Israel in their war against terrorism, your fighters
will be snuffed out like candle flames.
As for
your "beloved Arab brothers" in the Middle East, they make a great deal of
noise about your "liberation struggle", and have sent money and arms, but
have not sent a single tank to save you. Their diplomatic proposals are ones
that could have been offered at any time, and are aimed at benefiting them,
not Palestinians. The Egyptians themselves will not declare war on Israel
unless they receive $100 billion to cover their costs.
Do you really believe that the rest of your Arab Muslim brothers think you
are worth that much? Do you really believe they will put your interests
ahead of their own? Although your friends and Arabs in Europe are passing
sanctions and burning synagogues in your support, not a single EU warship
has sailed to your aid, and not a single NATO aircraft has dropped a single
bomb on your "Zionist oppressors".
I have noted that large numbers of people, including university educated
intellectuals support the Palestinian cause. Don't be misled by this. No
matter how many western intellectuals, news media and international
organizations may support the Palestinian struggle, none of this matters
because America stands by Israel.
THE UNBEARABLE BURDEN OF LIFE
How did you get into such a mess? As you yourselves would say and have
indeed said on many occasions, it isn't your fault. It's always the "Great
Satan" America, and it's "Lesser Satan", Israel, that you blame for all your
woes. Everything that you do, such as your "martyrdom operations", are
described as the products of your "rage" at being "dispossessed of your
land", and of your "helplessness" in the face of "Zionist" might.
There are only 300 million Arabs against over 5 million Jews! How unfair!
How unjust, that so many can do so little against so few! A number of
Western commentators have put Arab failures down to numerous cultural
factors, not the least being Islam. Your religious beliefs in martyrdom and
jihad, coupled with a total inability to accept any blame for your own
predicament, have combined to do you great and lasting damage.
Look closely at why Western countries such as Israel have succeeded, and
Muslim countries have not. Western countries are free-market democracies.
Muslim countries (other than Turkey) aren't. Surely that should tell you
something.
WHY I STAND?
As I said, I do not, and I will not, support the Palestinian cause. Why not?
I have a number of reasons, and here they are:
1. You have made it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that you intend to
destroy Israel and kill or drive out its Jewish population. This is
genocide, pure and simple. You justify this by saying that Israel has
committed many crimes against your people, and that you seek "justice". I
say this in response- NOTHING WHATSOEVER is an acceptable justification
for genocide. Loss of land, humiliation at being militarily defeated -
others have suffered these and moved on to create new nations and
opportunities for themselves.
Examples abound- the Germans thrown out of East Prussia in Europe 1945, the
Nationalist Chinese who fled to Taiwan in 1949, to name but two. Germans and
Taiwanese have coped with military defeat and the loss of land. They haven't
warred with their neighbours, nor have they launched terrorist attacks upon
them. Both countries have more wealth than any Arab nation. Why can't
Palestinians cope? Are Germans and Chinese better able to deal with
adversity than Arabs?
2. You have accused the Israelis of "genocide" against you. Here's a
question for you: Israel has atomic bombs and powerful military forces. If
they really, truly wanted you all dead, they could easily do it. Why haven't
they? If the Israelis went all-out, you would be, as we say in New Zealand,
"dog tucker". Why did they spend so much time negotiating with your leaders?
Because Israel only wants peace and secure borders. You refuse to give
them even those. You plan genocide and accuse Israel of the same crime.
Prove it!
3. The use of terrorism. Killing people for being Jewish is despicable.
Terrorist attacks on innocent civilians are also despicable. (At this point,
I'd like to pause and get a question of nomenclature cleared up, regarding
those Palestinians who kill themselves and others with explosives strapped
to their bodies. You call them "martyrs". Western media sources and
academics debate the precise term to use in describing them. Others,
including the Israelis, call them terrorists. I have a better, more
appropriate term. I prefer to use the word "kamikazes". The original
kamikazes appeared in 1944, in the war in the Pacific. They were Japanese
Navy and Army pilots, organized into "Special Attack Units" with orders to
crash their planes into American warships, in the hope of destroying them -
"one plane, one ship". Their initial impact was similar to that of the
Al-Qaeda attacks on New York Twin Towers and the Pentagon-shock and horror.
(I noted that many Palestinians appeared on Western TV celebrating the
September attacks). Note: The American response, in both cases was not the
one hoped for.
Once the shock had worn off, the US set out to destroy the kamikazes, and
terrible destruction was rained down on Japan, ending only with 2 atomic
bombs. You know what is happening right now in Afghanistan to the Al-Qaeda
group.
4. Using children as suicide bombers. Anyone who teaches children to kill
themselves in suicide attacks is not worth supporting under any
circumstances. For you to do this to your children is an abomination.
A commentator on a Web magazine said that if the Palestinians laid down
their arms, they would get peace and land. If the Israelis laid down their
arms they would be killed. You know that is true, even if most of Europe
doesn't.
Your cause is evil, because it seeks destruction at any price.
Genocide is not justice. Sacrificing your own children for the sake of your
leader's personal ambitions is wicked.
THAT'S WHY I CANNOT SUPPORT YOU. THAT 'S WHY I
STAND WITH ISRAEL. PALESTINE, PAST AND FUTURE?
The Second World War in Europe ended with Hitler's suicide. He was replaced
by Admiral Doenitz who quickly made peace with the Allies. Japan's leader,
Emperor Hirohito, decided on surrender rather than see his nation destroyed.
If Arafat had chosen surrender, though, will the rest of the Palestinians go
along with it? He died. Did the war end? If the answer to both of these
questions is No, then the Palestinian people are doomed. Do you really
prefer death as a people? Do you fully comprehend what you are doing? If you
are indeed aware that the path you have embarked upon leads to destruction,
and if you have freely chosen to walk in that direction, then as a people
you are truly beyond hope.
Are Palestinians really going to be a "Kamikaze Nation"? Are you really
going to give Israel no other option except your destruction? If they must
choose, then as Israeli historian Martin Van Creveld said, "Better a
terrible end than terror without end".
Do not think that kamikaze tactics can get you what you want. The Israelis
can tell you all about Masada, if you ask them. Remember what happened to
the Japanese at places like Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Palestinians deserve
better than the current mess you are in now - but before you can be given
anything, you must offer a sincere peace, you must stop teaching your
children to hate, you must stop believing that "victim-hood" justifies
everything and - above all other things - GIVE UP ISRAEL! Accept
that you will never go there again except perhaps as workers or tourists.
Accept that Jews are human beings too. Accept the verdict of 1948 and learn
to live with it. Invest in banks, not bombs. Build computer chips, not
Kalashnikovs. Teach science and mathematics, not hate. Look to the future,
not the past. Stop blaming Americans and Jews for all your problems, and
take responsibility for your own actions. Read those parts in the Quran
about living with the "peoples of the Book".
Golda Meir, the former Israeli Prime minister, is quoted as saying, "There
will be peace in the Middle East only when the Arabs love their children
more than they hate Israel ". Every time I see pictures of Palestinian
children waving guns and wearing dummy explosives, then I can only say she
is right. The alternative to peace is not victory but death. Think about it
- before it's too late.
From an Infidel to Those Who Submit, and are living in the Holy Land - May
God grant you steadfastness in the face of things that cannot be changed,
the capacity to cope with those that can be changed, and the wisdom and the
ability to tell the difference.
David White, Auckland, New Zealand
______________________________________________________________________________
COMMENT.
To those radical Moslems who are intent
in overthrowing the West and are engaged in the hopeless task, your chances
of advancement and prosperity are slipping away. Especially the
happiness of you, your family and your neighbours. How can your
personal objectives include a love of others as well as yourself and yet
justify the having of children so that they may be brainwashed to committing
suicide to murder others, even of the same religion?
Intelligent and sensible people of all
religions, including Islam, find this really crazy.
___________________________________________________________________________________
WILL BRITAIN ONE DAY BE MUSLIM?
Click
here to read
an article written by a leading British columnist.
See also
www.submission.org/
THE FIFTH COLUMN
IN BRITAIN
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