The Battle on the Land of Palestine

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The Zionists are bombarding with the utmost savagery and barbarity, fully aware of what they are doing. They are bombing civilians without mercy and without let-up, bringing houses down on the heads of their inhabitants, and testing out the latest terrifying destructive inventions produced by American technology. In this the Jewish Zionists do not depart from their historical record except in one respect: the intensity of the bombardment. They have killed civilians before in Palestine for the sake of terror and expulsion, and they have bombed Irbid, al-Salt, Bahr al-Baqar, Latakia, Abu Zaabal, Aita al-Shaab, Marwahin, and Beirut, among others; but their moral degeneracy is now turning into a hysteria of degeneracy, as though they themselves have been terrified by what they see.

This is a historic battle, pointing to great historic transformations that will leave their mark on the entire Arab-Islamic region and on the course of the Palestinian cause. Among these transformations, I note the following:

First: for the first time, a genuine military battle is being fought between Palestinians and Israel on the land of Palestine itself. There have been previous battles, such as the Battle of Karameh and the Battle of the Litani, but this battle differs in that the Palestinian fighter is now present on the land of Palestine, facing a heavily armed regular army, standing with unmatched courage in defense of a strategic foothold whose repercussions will bear on the development of the Palestinian cause.

In Israeli security doctrine, battles must be fought on enemy soil — this is what Israel has been careful to ensure over time. But Arab capability has developed over time, to the point that rockets now launch from Arab land toward usurped Palestine, and martyrdom operations now strike at the heart of Zionist population centers. About a quarter of Israel’s population rushed to shelters heading south in 2006 because of Hezbollah’s rockets, and they still reckon with days to come in which the confrontation will be even fiercer and harsher. But now the battle is on the land of Palestine itself — the land Israel occupies, from which it expels its people and keeps them confined in camps of displacement and homelessness. And Israel is aware that the resistance’s steadfastness now means the coming battle on the land of Palestine will be fiercer and harsher still.

I am certain that the day the battle will be fought on the land of Palestine occupied in ‘48 is not far off. The age of defeats has passed, and Israel’s downward curve is plunging with increasing speed.

Second: those fighting in Gaza are Sunnis, and those who have offered them support and aid have, for the most part, been Shia. This battle has utterly demolished the attempts by Israel and the Arab regimes to sow sedition between Sunnis and Shia. Many of those standing with Israel in this battle are Sunni, and many of those standing with the fighters are Shia. Each has taken sides with his own camp: the fallen Shia and his fallen Sunni ally have gone toward Israel, while the honorable among Sunnis and Shia alike have gone toward the fighters.

This is a battle that will silence, once and for all, every voice that tried to tear Muslims apart into Sunni and Shia in order to please America and Israel. And I do not think the treacherous, conspiring Arab leaders will dare strike this ugly chord again — a chord as ugly as their own faces.

Third: over time, Palestinians have suffered from the saying “our people are tired,” and thereby squandered their sacrifices and the blood of their martyrs. With every uprising against Israel, we paid a heavy price and made enormous sacrifices, and there was always someone among Palestine’s leaders who would appear before us to tell the people that we had made too many sacrifices, that the people could bear no more, and that we must make concessions or stop. This happened in 1936, when Palestine’s leaders ended the strike because the people were hungry and exhausted, and it happened in many other cases, such as the 1987 intifada. We always made the sacrifices, but we never completed the journey, so our efforts appeared as though they were chaotic and improvised, yielding us nothing but pain and grief. This is why our enemies have kept reminding us of our repeated defeats, and asking us to sit at the negotiating table, because it might give us something we lack.

This is a different battle. The sacrifices are great and enormous, and martyrs keep falling one after another, but the insistence on continuing to fight is clear and evident, and it is precisely the right course. The fighters now understand that laxity and retreat will afflict us with weakness, and will contribute seriously to the decline of the Palestinian cause. Our martyrs are dear to us, and Palestinian blood is precious, just as children’s tears and mothers’ groans strike at the very core of our hearts; and this is why we must grit our teeth against the pain, in the hope that God will grant us a clear victory.

Fourth: for the first time, resounding rhetoric and speeches filled with hollow slogans have given way to a composed, calm management of the battle. Our words were always bigger than our stature, and our swords always longer than our own height; but now the situation is entirely different, and the word belongs to the battlefield, not to orators on wooden pulpits.

Fifth: this battle has torn away completely the veil covering the faces of Arab leaders whose honeyed words had deceived some of us. Arab leaders, President Hosni Mubarak foremost among them, have thrown in their lot decisively with Israel, and they do not hide their cooperation with the enemy against the Palestinian resistance. And at the Palestinian level, there is someone who has already packed his bags, preparing to climb aboard an Israeli tank to return and rule Gaza.

The resistance is steadfast, and will remain so, God willing, and its steadfastness will bring comfort to the hearts of a believing people.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “المعركة على أرض فلسطين” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.