Before We Fight the Terrorism of Jihadist Movements

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The whole world talks about terrorism and confines it to Islamic organizations, ISIS (the Islamic State organization) foremost among them, seeing no other party or actor practicing terrorism at the global level.

If terrorism, according to American definitions, is the use of force or violence against civilians to achieve political goals or purposes, then America itself is the foremost terrorist, since it besieges Gaza in cooperation with the Zionist entity and a number of Arab states, in order to pressure the public in the Gaza Strip into rising up against Hamas and against Palestinian resistance generally, paving the way for the return of the self-rule authority to Gaza.

America also practices terrorism against a number of Arab and Islamic states through the economic, financial, and military sanctions it imposes on them, in order to incite their peoples to rise up and overturn their ruling regimes. This is what it did against Libya under Gaddafi, against Syria over many long years, and against Iraq, Iran, Sudan, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and others.

America tries to present itself as a state in search of peace, and sometimes carries out activities meant to blind observers to its terrorist activities, but the Zionist entity has practiced terrorism not only now, but ever since the Zionist invasion of Palestine began, ever since the British Mandate was paving the way for establishing the Jewish national home in Palestine. The people of the West resolved, nearly a hundred years ago, to exhaust the Palestinian people in order to expel it from its homeland and hand that homeland over to criminal Zionist gangs that learned the arts of tormenting human beings from the Europeans.

Occupation Is Terrorism

Terrorism was one of the principal tools the World Zionist Organization used, in cooperation with British colonialism, to establish the Jewish national home. The historical evidence pointing clearly to the massacres committed by Zionist gangs during the British Mandate is abundant, all aimed at terrorizing the Palestinian people so that it would be forced to flee its homes and homeland to save its own life. The Deir Yassin massacre is well known, as are the massacres of Haifa, al-Dawayima, the Dahmash Mosque in Lydda, Tantura, and others.

The rape of Palestine and the establishment of the Jewish state represent, historically, the most extreme forms of terrorism, first because it was carried out by force of arms, and second because it deliberately aimed at eliminating a people and stripping it of its homeland, leaving it to wander the earth, scattered. The 1967 occupation, too, is terrorism, because it was carried out by force of arms and prevented Palestinians who had been working abroad from returning to their homeland — and continues to prevent them to this day. Israel does not occupy the West Bank with flowers and roses, but by force of arms, and under the umbrella of Western protection, American protection specifically.

And at this very moment, when the world speaks of fighting terrorism, the Zionist occupation of the West Bank continues, its siege of the Gaza Strip continues, the people of the West continue supplying the Zionist entity with every kind of weapon and diplomatic and security support, and they continue, too, to describe the Palestinian people as terrorist.

The Humiliation of Arabs and Muslims

The establishment of the Zionist entity was the greatest source of humiliation for Arabs and Muslims — not necessarily for Arab and Muslim rulers, but for the Arab and Islamic peoples. The people of the West broke the back of the Arabs when they divided the Arab homeland into fiefdoms and distributed them among Arab tribes to rule as proxies of colonialism and by colonialism’s command. The Sykes-Picot Agreement fragmented the land of Greater Syria and Iraq, and Britain then worked to fragment the Arabian Peninsula, forming small states sitting atop enormous natural wealth.

In defiance of the Arab nation, Western colonialism established the Zionist entity on the land of Palestine — land considered an Islamic endowment (waqf), containing within its bounds some of the holiest sites in Islam. And even though the Arab homeland is vast in area, population, and wealth, the small Zionist entity has managed to inflict repeated defeats and humiliation on this homeland and its people, and has gripped the necks of its rulers, thanks to the continuous support of Western colonialism, which constantly affirms that the entity will remain a military power no Arab strength, however great, can overcome.

The Arab and the Muslim feel humiliation, abasement, degradation, and misery before the Zionist entity and before the might of the Western powers that insist on keeping Arabs and Muslims defeated. The people of the West give no consideration to the fact that Arabs and Muslims, like the rest of the peoples of the earth, need to feel dignity, pride, and respect, and they work continuously to insult the people of the Arab region and heap further humiliation upon them.

The Arab has been boxed into a corner of contempt and scorn to such a degree that he has begun to flee from himself, breaking out of his rational, mature, sensible bearing. Whoever imagined that humiliation could pass without a price, without a reaction, without thoughts of revenge, was mistaken.

The Birth of Resistance Organizations

It was never to be expected that the people whose rights were violated would remain silent about that violation, and from the very beginning of the Zionist invasion of Palestine, Arab and Islamic groupings began forming to preserve Palestine and prevent its seizure. The beginning was with the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt, which formed military battalions to fight in Palestine alongside the Arab armies.

At the Palestinian level, Palestinians moved early to establish Palestinian military movements or groupings to reclaim their seized rights, even though the people were somewhat delayed in announcing these movements because of the circumstances of dispersal and displacement.

It would have been foolish for anyone to think the Palestinian people would remain silent and submit to Zionist-Western will, and the reaction was to be expected, as it would be with any other people expelled from its homeland — nor was it ever intelligent to reckon that the Palestine question would remain the cause of the Palestinian people alone, without the Arabs and Muslims.

Palestine is a holy land for Arab Muslims and Christians alike, and it is holy to Islamic societies at large, in East and West, stirring everyone’s feelings, at least on the religious level, and shaking the foundations of Arab and Islamic conscience and belonging. For this reason, Arabs and Muslims were not content merely with the emergence of Palestinian organizations raising the banner of liberation — they, too, moved to consider establishing their own organizations, drawing in mujahideen from every corner of the Arab homeland and the Islamic world.

Nationalist leaders and religious figures were not aloof from the Palestinian cause, and always considered it the foremost cause of Arabs and Muslims, one that must be resolved in a way that satisfies Palestinian interests and rights.

Not all Arabs and Muslims shared the same emotional pitch toward Palestine — some worked with the Zionists to help cement the foundations of the Zionist entity, and ultimately decided on reconciliation and normalization with the entity, opening embassies for it in Arab capitals, and this was also true of some Palestinians who recognized the entity and began coordinating with it as though it were an intimate friend.

The Muslim Brotherhood never wavered from its Islamic vision of Palestine and the holy sites, and continued religious teaching that deepens belonging to the Palestinian cause and strengthens commitment to liberating Palestine, particularly after the failed wars the Arab regimes waged with the Zionist entity, and over time a number of Arab and Islamic organizations emerged from under the Brotherhood’s cloak, going further than the Brotherhood’s own approach in confronting the Western-Zionist challenge.

A jihadist movement appeared in Egypt and in Afghanistan, followed by Palestinian jihadist movements that do not believe in diplomatic work and peaceful dialogue as long as the enemy continues arming and preparing for war. Regardless of the origins of al-Qaeda’s formation, and what is said about the role of the Americans and certain Arab parties in creating it, we cannot overlook Sheikh Abdullah Azzam’s joining it with the aim of anchoring the Palestinian vision within the organization. Some accuse Sheikh Abdullah of forgetting the Palestinian cause to fight communism, but the facts do not bear this accusation out, because were it not for Israel’s existence, and were it not for his zeal for Palestine, he would never have journeyed to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He may have erred in his choice, but he did not err in his intentions.

From Pakistan and Afghanistan, Islamic organizations set out, resentful of the people of the West and of the Zionists, vowing revenge, and here I should note that the matter was not confined to Sunnis, but included Shiites as well, even if their approaches differed.

The Iranian revolution came to affirm the Shiite commitment to the Palestinian cause and the rejection of the Zionist entity’s existence, considering the cause part of Islamic doctrine itself. For this reason, Iran focused on establishing a resistance movement expressing the Shiite position in word and deed, and Lebanese Hezbollah emerged. Some Sunnis were influenced by the Iranian revolution and felt that their own leadership of Muslims might come to an end, giving way to Shiite leadership, and so they grew keen to redouble their efforts to remain at the helm of leadership.

Extremism in the Name of Religion

Time has passed since Sunnis began forming organizations to challenge the people of the West by force, on the grounds that the people of the West are the cause of the various tragedies and sorrows Arabs and Muslims suffer.

In their argument against the West, the Sunni organizations get the greater part of the truth right, because it was the West that established the Zionist entity, that tore apart homelands and works to plunder their wealth, and that installs vindictive, despotic tyrants as rulers over peoples.

But the years have witnessed fierce rivalries among these organizations, leading to extremism in political and ideological positioning, with each organization believing it would win over the Arab-Islamic arena through escalation and acts that destroy lives and demolish homes. For this reason, most Islamic organizations drifted away from the idea of resistance or revolution, adopting instead extremism, excess, killing, and criminality, to the point of doing harm to the Islamic religion itself, its values, and its methodology.

Were it not for the existence of the Zionist entity, its dominance over Arab regimes, and its enormous military capabilities backed by Western colonialism, all these Islamic organizations would never have developed, the rivalries among them would never have intensified, and reckless, barbaric behavior would never have developed at the expense of the conduct of resistance and revolution.

If the world wants to rid itself of terrorism and terrorists, it must address the matter at its roots: Western colonialism and the Zionist entity. Were it not for the Zionist entity’s existence, none of these Islamic movements and organizations would have developed, and none of this rancor against the people of the West would exist.

The Zionist entity practices terrorism day and night against the Palestinian people and against Arabs and Muslims, through wars and assassinations, holding the Palestinian homeland in its grip and preventing Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes and properties. What is required is not merely refraining from supporting the Zionist entity, but correcting the mistakes the people of the West committed by establishing this entity in the first place. And no one should dream of eliminating terrorism as long as the Zionist entity exists and continues its violations against the Islamic holy sites.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “قبل أن نحارب إرهاب الحركات الجهادية” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.