The Homeland's Brokers: Enemies of the Teacher and the Student

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Is it possible to believe a person who betrays his own mother? And is it possible to trust someone who opens his homeland’s doors to aggressors and invaders against people’s interests? And is it possible for someone who works to secure the enemy’s safety to provide safety for his own countrymen? And can a corrupt person set people’s affairs right? Does the corrupt person even look for the straight path?

Perhaps there are people in Palestine who imagine that the homeland’s brokers, the corrupt, and the tyrannical will do justice by the teacher and the student, and will work to raise the standard of knowledge and education and to uplift everyone. But one who lacks a thing cannot give it, and whoever has made a habit of sabotage cannot possibly accept the path of reform. The corrupt person thrives only in an atmosphere of corruption, and the malicious can be found only in places of malice and rot. Education, and raising the level of the student and the teacher, threaten the corrupt. A secure, good teacher passes on elevated morals to the student, teaches him the truth, helps him understand the course of events, and instills in him a critical, analytical mind. This alone poses a danger to corruption, to the corrupt, and to the homeland’s brokers. A good teacher poses a great danger to conspirators, liars, hypocrites, and those allied with the enemies, and remains a constant target of every force hostile to the homeland and the citizen, working to break him. A good teacher is the future — he is the one who shapes the generations that carry the tools of production and raise the flag high, with pride and dignity.

The corrupt, the corrupters, the brokers, want neither dignity nor pride; they are searching only for their own appetites, and are quite prepared to sell themselves, their homelands, and their fellow citizens for the sake of their bellies and their private parts. Their hearts will never have room for a good teacher, nor for a mature student capable of analysis and of grasping the various relationships forged by conspiring politicians. This is why the teacher must be kept preoccupied with his daily livelihood and worries, so that he cannot muster the strength to carry out his mission with integrity and devotion. Those who deprive the teacher amuse and entertain themselves at people’s expense, and insist on keeping the teacher under pressure so that the pressure does not fall on them in the future. Many Palestinian officials have appointed themselves volunteers in the service of the enemies, and have decided to work diligently and earnestly to break and destroy the Palestinian people; we now hear news of them, and the street constantly speaks of their misdeeds and their shameful conduct. And if there is anyone who imagines that these people will work to secure safety and peace of mind for citizens, particularly for teachers, let him examine what he sees on the ground. We look at their deeds, not at their words.

And one final question: does Israel allow them to adopt policies that restore the Palestinian person’s dignity? Of course not. They will not even try, because their very existence is bound up with their commitment to Israel’s interests.

So what must we do? We must defend ourselves, our rights, and our dignity. And if we do not genuinely do so ourselves, no one else in this world will do it on our behalf.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “سماسرة الوطن أعداء المعلم وأعداء الطالب” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.