Visit Jerusalem as Liberators, Not as the Submissive

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

At the Doha conference on Jerusalem, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas called on Arabs and Muslims to visit Jerusalem as a sign of their attachment to the Holy City in the face of Judaization, saying that such visits do not constitute normalization with Israel. Most West Bank mosque preachers echoed Mr. Abbas’s statement on Friday, 2 March 2012, repeating the call for Arabs and Muslims to visit the holy sites, and attacking Sheikh al-Qaradawi for having forbidden visiting Jerusalem under the enemy’s spears, on the grounds that this amounted to normalization with Israel. Some preachers went so far as to compare this visit to the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) attempt to visit Mecca while it lay under the authority of his disbelieving enemies.

It is clear from the context of the verses that, had a battle taken place between the Muslims and the disbelievers at Hudaybiyyah, the Muslims would have won — but God, glory be to Him, chose peace over victory for reasons known to Him alone. For this reason, it is not permissible at all to compare what God willed with what Mr. Abu Mazen wills.

For an Arab or a Muslim to visit Jerusalem requires the person wishing to visit to go to an Israeli embassy, consulate, or representative office, and to submit an entry-visa application. He may have to pay a visa fee, and he must pay an entry fee at Lydda Airport, which Israel controls, and he must also spend money, a large portion of which ends up going to Israelis. It is quite possible that Israeli intelligence will seek him out and track him in order to recruit him as a spy or as an agent supplying it with various pieces of information, and so on. All of this ends up supporting the Israeli treasury, which in turn supports the Israeli army occupying Jerusalem.

The visit amounts to normalization with the enemy; it takes place under the enemy’s spears, according to his will and with his permission. This, in itself, is an acknowledgment of Israel and of its occupation of the Holy City.

Whoever wants Jerusalem should come as a liberator. Instead of bringing his money to spend it for Israel’s benefit, he should draw his sword and march toward Jerusalem. He should come to Jerusalem with his head held high, dignified and unbowed, not with a bent neck and lowered ears. Only then will Israel understand that Jerusalem is sacred, and that there are those who will avenge it, in word and in deed.

Whoever shakes Israel’s hand has no right to speak about Jerusalem, nor does anyone who maintains relations with it — whether commercial, political, security-related, economic, or diplomatic. Enough deceit and lies.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “زوروا القدس محررين لا خانعين” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.