A PRESS STATEMENT

The recent declaration of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is a culmination of many years of subjecting a people to a life of indignity and humiliation under a brutal, smothering, and illegal Zionist military occupation of Palestine by Israel.

 

While Western nations have actively tried to regularize the acceptance of injustice in the Middle East, the people of Palestine have refused subjugation under the occupying State of Israel. Their resistance now running into a century, is testimony that the Palestinian Question cannot be answered by imposing the Zionist apartheid policies on the region.

 

In the days to come, we will hear predictable statements from Western capitals condemning Hamas’s “terror”, reaffirming “solidarity” with Israel and asserting Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Absent from this lop-sided formulation will be the obvious link of this escalation to illegal occupation and unbridled expansion of Zionist settlements on stolen land, leading to Palestinian dispossession. Certain media channels will tip-toe around discussing Palestinians’ undeniable right to armed resistance to an illegal occupation, under international law.

 

In the calculus of military might, Israel is an overwhelming top-dog, by a factor of magnitude. As dramatic as Hamas’s operation has so far claimed at least 300 Israelis, the toll on Gaza is already approaching the 350-mark. Inevitably, many more Palestinians will pay the ultimate price. Palestinians, however, want to make a statement. Contrary to Benjamin Netanyahu’s bluster at the recent UN General Assembly where he presented a prop in form of a map of the region without Palestine, Palestinians want the world to know that they still exist.

 

The inclination towards peace, a stance which both sides will be asked to adopt, sounds instinctive for humanity. Equally, the disposition to resist injustice is part of the human spirit. There cannot be peace without justice. Neither should Palestinians have to choose between dying and living with dishonour.

 

Arab nations that have either normalized, or seek to normalize relations with Israel, need be reminded by the non-stop Zionist provocative actions such as those we witness at Masjid al Aqsa, that Israel remains what it has been and no grounds of expediency will ever white-wash its war crimes and atrocious governance of Occupied Palestinian Territories.

 

The rest of the world needs to rally and express solidarity with the Palestinian people in affirming their aspirations for freedom, in the same way many nations rose to fight colonialism and apartheid. Enough resolutions of the UN Security Council have already been passed, in calling for the ending of the occupation. They have to be implemented.

Issued by:

The Executive Committee
Jamiatul Ulama South Africa

 

8 October 2023

 

A NOTE TO IMAMS: In light of what is recommended in times of distress and danger to the Ummah, given the unfolding escalation of the situation in Palestine, we call for the inclusion of the supplication of Qunūt-e-Nāzilah in the Fajr prayers and/or as prescribed, according to the different Schools of Fiqh. May Allah protect the innocent and grant victory to those fighting oppression and injustice, wherever they are. Āmīn.