The People of Palestine Cannot Be Uprooted

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Arab media outlets never tire of commenting on Donald Trump’s deal concerning the Palestinian cause, and whether deliberately or not, they are working to spread panic among the Palestinian people.

Although the deal has not yet been announced, and the media do not know its provisions precisely, they act as though they know them and build their analyses on speculation. Some Arabs do know — particularly in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan — and since the leaders of these states know, Mahmoud Abbas, the illegitimate president of the Palestinian Authority, surely knows too. The leaders of the Arab parties involved have not explained the deal’s provisions, which they were certainly asked not to discuss.

The media say the deal aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause through three things: closing the file of the Palestinian refugees, evicting the Palestinians from Jerusalem, and establishing a Palestinian state on land that is not Palestinian. In other words, Trump’s aim is not merely to dispose of the refugee issue and shut the door on the right of return — it is to uproot the Palestinian people from their roots and manufacture a new colonial Palestine populated by a transplanted people.

This writer does not know what the “deal of the century” actually contains, but he never expects any good to come from the United States where Arabs and Muslims are concerned. America is hostile to Arabs and Muslims, and provides every kind of support to the terrorist Zionist entity; the years that have passed since the end of the nineteenth century have confirmed America’s hostility to this nation.

That hostility has taken the form of plundering its wealth, insisting on its fragmentation, working tirelessly to keep it weak and subservient to others — especially the Zionists — blocking any search for means and methods to unite the nation, igniting wars among its parts, and draining its energies. There is never any trust to be placed in America, and its policies are not expected to produce any good for the nation, or for Palestine in particular. This is why some of the media analyses that assume the worst of Trump and his policies are likely to prove correct.

Whoever possesses knowledge is duty-bound to convey it to the people, so that they remain aware of what surrounds them, can manage their own affairs, and take their precautions. No leader or official who possesses knowledge of projects, programs, and plans touching people’s lives has the right to remain silent, unless doing so serves some overriding security value that affects the safety of the people at large.

There are Arab leaders who know about the deal, and Jared Kushner (Trump’s advisor) did not speak to them of illusions but of actual plans. Yet none of them has spoken to the media candidly and clearly so that the people would be informed. This is a deeply rooted problem in Arab leadership behavior, where facts remain concealed until foreign media takes them up.

We have gone through periods in which we knew nothing of the truth of what was happening except through the BBC’s Arabic service or the Zionist entity’s own broadcasts. This applies to the Palestinians as well, who often had no idea what was happening in the negotiations between the Zionists and PLO figures except through Zionist media.

In Islamic terms, withholding evidence is not permissible — whoever withholds evidence is like one in whose belly a fire boils. This matters a great deal in Islam, because people must not be left in the dark, blindsided by events. Whoever knows the truth is able to arrange his affairs and plan ahead, and to rally strength to confront whatever others are plotting against him.

The truth also helps people think together and work to forge a unified position backed by real strength on the ground, one that averts calamity or tragedy. Forming public opinion is exceedingly important in the life of nations, and that opinion cannot be useful if it rests on false information.

For this reason, no trust can be placed in a leader who lies or conceals the truth from the people for reasons of his own, or in deference to an enemy or an adversary, and the public must not stay silent in the face of his conduct or let him do as he pleases.

There are those who blame the Palestinian people for failing to rise up against the Palestinian leaderships that have damaged the standing of the Palestinian cause and worked continually to destroy the unity of the Palestinian people.

The blame is justified, because people see national transgressions being committed every day against the cause and the people. But let us also bear in mind that accurate information does not reach the people, and that events often fall on their heads suddenly, without their having been prepared to absorb them or turn their negative consequences back onto those who caused them. The Palestinian leaderships bear great responsibility for this, and must be held to account for it — even if some of those responsible are now among the dead.

However dark the nights grow, however grim the affairs, however harsh life becomes, the roots of the people of Palestine will remain firmly planted in the ground, their heads held high toward the sky, and the sons of Zion will never be able to reach them, however great the force, arrogance, and aggression they muster.

The Zionists are without roots, and their history was written by ignorant rabbis who falsified events and fashioned illusions for themselves that they then treated as sacred. The evidence for this is abundant, foremost among it the scientific and narrative contradictions found in the Torah as it exists in Jewish hands today.

They falsified religious teachings, historical events, and the succession of civilizations in order to establish claims to rights in the land of Canaan and Bilad al-Sham — the blessed land, the land of Palestine. And there are political and academic factions among the Arabs who have volunteered to serve this falsification by adopting the Jewish narrative themselves.

Let whoever seeks knowledge and understanding read the book of the great scholar Dr. Kamal Salibi on the history of the Jews, and let him read other Western books as well, such as Paul Johnson’s history of the Jews.

In any case, the people of Palestine have been subjected to ferocious attacks since 1882, and to attempts by the “lovers of Zion” to invade the land and seize it with the help of world powers and wealthy Westerners. This people has tasted the bitterness of suffering, the harshness of life, and the narrowness of existence, yet it has remained steadfast, resisting, offering every possible sacrifice to keep its head held high, firmly rooted in its homeland.

And if this people has suffered a heavy setback, that is due to the concessions of its political leaderships — it will inevitably rise again to become master of its own cause and its faithful guardian. The roots of the Palestinian people are hundreds of times stronger than America’s military might, and all the ferocious armed attacks against this people will never uproot it.

However hard Trump and the Zionists alongside him may try, they can never overcome the force of history, the solidity of culture, and an unyielding will. Results are always contained within their premises, and the harvest is of the same kind as the seed sown; it is the premises and the seed of the Palestinian people that will determine the outcome, because Trump’s premises and his seed are built on evil and aggression.

Some Arabs are enthusiastic about the Zionists and Trump’s deal, and are trying to persuade the illegitimate Palestinian leadership to accept it. It is possible that the illegitimate leadership will be persuaded, especially if financial pressure is applied to it — but how many times have Palestinian leaderships resorted to concessions and failed?

They failed because they were surrendering fixed Palestinian national rights and recognizing the Zionist entity, and because they were also subjected to enormous pressure from Arab and Western states — yet none of their concessions ever produced a resolution to the cause. And any resolution that fails to satisfy the national rights of the Palestinian people can never stand on its own feet, even if a sovereign Palestinian state were established in isolation from Zionist and American standards.

The leaderships have colluded against Palestinian culture in order to blot out people’s awareness of their own cause, but the rising generations are proving to be more aware of their cause than the politicians are, and their awareness cannot be erased or made to collapse.

There is therefore no need to pay too much attention to the fears being spread by media that still do not know the substance of Trump’s deal. The deal will inflict further harm on the Palestinian people, and no good can ever come from America — but the Palestinian people must arm themselves with still greater strength of will and determination, for they are capable of foiling every conspiracy yet to come, just as they foiled those that came before.

It is essential that the people not submit meekly to the force of history, logic, and the power of right — rather, what is required of them is to remain on the field of challenge and confrontation, independent of leaderships that have torn the people apart and handed them over to the enemy to toy with their fate.

Source: Originally published in Al Jazeera on 2018-07-17. Translated from the original Arabic, “شعب فلسطين عصي على الاقتلاع”.