The Greater Impurity and the Lesser Impurity

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

My attention was caught by an article written by a man who recognizes the Zionist entity, accusing of treason a man who merely normalizes with it. This one who recognizes the entity says that the normalizer is a traitor, that he is peddling the homeland and trifling with the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people, all in pursuit of his own financial interests. The attack on the normalizer is fierce, and I do not know what his response would be, should he find the courage to respond, given that he knows the one who recognizes the entity is backed and has strong cover from the owners of the kingdom who themselves recognize the entity.

There is no doubt that the normalizer is a traitor, but his treason does not rise to the level of the treason of the one who recognizes the entity. The normalizer is a traitor because he recognizes the Zionist entity in practice, and paves the way, psychologically and practically, for its legal recognition — and for the people of Palestine to follow his path, so that the atmosphere becomes ripe for accepting the Zionist entity without the Palestinian people obtaining any part of its fixed national rights. As for the one who recognizes Israel, he is the greater traitor, because he recognizes the entity legally, and in doing so has surrendered roughly 78% of the area of Mandatory Palestine, and has surrendered the refugees’ right of return — because the mere act of recognizing the Zionist entity means that this entity holds sovereignty and is the one who decides who enters the territory constituting its state and who does not. And since the entity rejects the right of return and insists on recognition of its state’s Jewish character, the refugees’ right has, in practice and in law, effectively been nullified by the one who recognizes the Zionist entity.

The one who recognizes the Zionist entity is also a normalizer, because recognition means establishing ordinary relations with it across political, security, economic, social, touristic, scientific, cultural, and other dimensions. He may well normalize even with the brothels of Netanya and Tel Aviv. And the one who recognizes the entity does not stop at normalization — he stands as a guard at the gates of the Kingdom of Israel, defends the entity’s security, and arrests Palestinians in defense of Zionist security.

So if the normalizer is a traitor of the lesser treason, then the one who recognizes the entity is a traitor of the greater treason; and if the normalizer is afflicted with the lesser impurity, then the one who recognizes the entity is afflicted with the greater impurity; and if the normalizer needs the waters of the Mediterranean Sea to purify himself, then the one who recognizes the entity needs the waters of the Atlantic Ocean — and even then, his purity remains doubtful.

It is very easy, on the Palestinian scene, to hear someone who applauded the Oslo Accord give a fiery speech, stirring the crowd’s emotions as he defends the right of return. He is lying, yet there are people who applaud him and believe he is sincere in what he says. Or you may see the very man who arrests Palestinians in defense of Israeli security turn around and defend the Palestinian detainees held by the Zionist entity. He arrests the Palestinian and subjects him to the worst torment, then describes the Palestinian detainees in the Zionist prisons as heroes who sacrificed themselves in defense of the homeland. And you will find someone who accuses others of treason at the very same time that he continues filing security and non-security reports to the Zionists, or who carries a special crossing permit issued by the occupation.

It is also easy to find someone who says today that Mr. Mahmoud Abbas’s term as president has ended and that he no longer holds legitimacy, only to find him the very next day appealing to “Brother President” to work for the release of prisoners held by Israel. And you find someone who says the Oslo Accord is religiously forbidden, that it is a betrayal of the people and the homeland, yet who, on that very same day, exchanges kisses and smiles with the men of Oslo. And you see someone circulate a statement against negotiations, calling them high treason, while at the same time demanding that the Palestinian Authority pay his office rent or upgrade his car. It is common to find someone describe so-and-so as corrupt and depraved, yet insist on voting for him should elections ever be held. And you find someone go on at length describing so-and-so’s treason and his dealings with the Zionists, then invite him to lunch the next day. The examples of the two impurities, the greater and the lesser, are countless.

The liberation of Palestine requires clarity of vision and a lofty, elevated moral standard, one that surpasses the moral standards of the aggressors, the colonizers, the occupiers, and the collaborators. A human being rises when he is at peace with himself, when his words are reflected in his deeds. But this person who stumbles about not knowing what he is saying, who gives no thought to what he says or does, will bring Palestine nothing but more sorrow and calamity.

We will most certainly defeat the Zionist entity — but that certain outcome awaits our ridding ourselves of these two impurities, and our attaining a superior level of moral conduct, which alone will enable us to excel in every sphere of life.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “النجاسة الكبرى والنجاسة الصغرى” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.