Haniyeh Saves Our Face

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The mujahid Sheikh Ismail Haniyeh appeared before us from Tehran with a face marked by resolve, piercing eyes, and a steady tone untouched by hesitation or fear, declaring his commitment to resistance, his refusal to recognize Israel, and his commitment to the fixed national rights. He did not hesitate for a moment to record his gratitude to Iran and its people for standing with the Palestinian resistance, at a time when the people of the West, followed by some Arabs, are sharpening their swords in threat against Iran and its armament, scientific, and technological programs.

The cause of Palestine is passing through a dark ordeal caused by its own sons, and Haniyeh pulls it out of its impasse through his steadfastness, his courage, the firmness of his stance, and his determination to press on toward liberation in cooperation with every force that still holds fast to the rights of the people and the sanctities of the nation.

—the words of our trivialities, our naivety, and our recklessness with the fate of our people, the soil of our land, our sanctities, and the blood of our martyrs. We have made a farce of ourselves before friend and foe alike, and a laughingstock before history, which will record us as dwarfs before the nations that insisted on their rights and wrested them, by force, from between the fangs of their executioners—a mockery bewailing, under its own burden, the immense sacrifices that the Palestinian people have generously offered over the course of a hundred years.

In the midst of these feeble days, marked by scrambling self-interest, dependency, fragmentation, fracture, and craving, Haniyeh affirms that the Palestinian people will remain towering, great, mighty, steadfast, and moving forward on the path of dignity and giving until liberation is achieved. So thank you to him—may God honor him and honor the arms of the resistance fighters, believers in God, steadfast and truthful.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “هنية ينقذ ماء وجوهنا” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.