The Attack on Hizb ut-Tahrir

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The Palestinian Authority has, over a long stretch of time, been pursuing Hizb ut-Tahrir with the aim of preventing it from carrying out peaceful activities such as marches, meetings, lectures, and conferences. It is well known that Hizb ut-Tahrir has always spoken its mind frankly and clearly, whether inside Palestine or outside it, and that it fears neither political powers nor the might of despots and tyrants. We may disagree with the party on certain positions and opinions, and we may agree with it on others, but the question of agreement or disagreement must never touch the underlying principle.

Freedom of expression, by every means and method, must be guaranteed and secured for everyone, including Hizb ut-Tahrir. This freedom does not derive from human will or from anyone’s permission; rather, it is a natural, universal freedom rooted in the human being by creation, not by history or culture. In Islam, freedom is fundamentally an attribute of creation, not a favor granted by anyone, because God has instilled in people the capacity for discernment, and thereby the capacity for choice. For this reason, no authority whatsoever has the right to deprive any human being or any party of this natural right.

It is shameful for anyone to affirm a person’s right to expression while practicing something entirely different. Slogans and phrases that sing the praises of freedom are worthless if they find no practical translation into reality, and this must apply to the record of the Palestinian Authority, which continues to extol its supposed concern for citizens’ freedom. The Palestinian Authority has no real concern for citizens’ freedom, nor is it itself free enough to even make such a claim. For this reason, it must not place obstacles and impediments in the way of citizens, groups and individuals alike, expressing themselves clearly and openly, or expressing the people’s aspirations in confronting the Zionist occupation that occupies the land and displaces the people.

Attacking others or wounding their national, moral, patriotic, and religious aspirations. Through its agreements with the Zionists, its recognition of the Zionist entity, its security coordination with it, and its symbols carrying VIP cards, it is the Authority itself that insults people and inflicts moral and material harm upon them, and transgresses against their national aspirations and established rights. Whatever a party may do or say against the Palestinian Authority, it will never reach the level the Authority itself has reached in its contempt for the people of Palestine, at home and abroad. A person ought to know what his own hands are doing before he levels accusations at others.

There is only one category that has no right to express itself: those who collude with whoever assaults the people, who assist the aggressor against the people, who expelled us from our homes or backed our expulsion from our homes, or who cooperate with them directly or indirectly, or maintain good relations with them directly or indirectly. That is, those parties who recognize the Zionist entity and cooperate with it and with those in the West and East who have helped and continue to help it. This applies to the Palestinian Authority. The reason is that this category is not expressing an opinion at all; it is cooperating with an enemy that oppresses the people and denies them their rights, and it is not exercising a natural right but committing an act of aggression against the people.

Historically, the oppressed have prevailed over their oppressors. And the Palestinian people as a whole, Hizb ut-Tahrir included, will be victorious.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “الهجوم على حزب التحرير” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.