The peace of Arafat according to Saladin

Arafat looks to the past, to the two most famous figures in Islam's long history of warfare, Mohammed and Saladin, in order to remedy the present. Arafat's concept of peace is the same as that of Mohammed and Saladin - a coin that one must pay to achieve something else: "Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations. Since January 1965, when Fatah was born, we have become the most dangerous enemy that Israel has. We shall not rest until the day when we return to our home, and until we destroy Israel."

Arafat was even more pragmatic when he defined the peace he offers Israel: "The PLO offers not the peace of the weak, but the peace of Saladin. Saladin was the great Moslem warrior of the 12th century. His capture of Jerusalem in 1187 sparked the Third Crusade. But Saladin is also "famous" for the "peace" which he made with the Crusaders, before he attacked with ferocity and drove the Crusaders from the Holy Land. It was Mohammed himself who laid the foundation for Islam to build a history of making peace with an enemy in order to attack at a later, more opportune time. In 628, Mohammed made a "peace treaty" with the Quraish tribe in Mecca in order for Moslems to worship at the Ka'abah. Two years later, when he had gained more followers and was considerably stronger, he abrogated the treaty and attacked the Quraish people, slaughtering every male among them. This agreement between Mohammed and the infidels of Mecca is known as the "Truce of Hudaybiyyah." "This truce became a model and a precedent in Islamic law for all agreements with infidels: never permanent, never lasting more than 10 years (with the possibility of another 10 years extension, no more). Islam is not permitted to stop its war against non-Moslerm for more than this period." "In the Arab-Islamic teaching concerning peace with nonMoslems, the peace is an entirely Islamic affair: it is initiated by the Moslems when they feel it is a necessity, and anticipate its practical benefits; and they end it at their will whenever they feel they should or can. Even when peace treaties are entered into by the Islamic people with non-Moslems, the enemy remains an enemy. In the Islamic thought and teaching, it is permissible to conclude peace treaties for practical reasons, on the road to ultimate Islamic victory. The Islamic concept of peace is therefore the cessation of hostilities until such time the conditions favour resumption of hostilities that will ultimately lead to Islamic victory." The truce is part of Islam's long-term policy of war - it is an integral facet of Islam's drive to bring the world into complete subjection. According to Islamic law books, "war could be interrupted, when expedient, by an armistice or truce of limited duration. It could not be terminated by a peace, but only by victory." The reason should now be very clear why, in one of the above quotes, a PLO leader refers to the Peace Accord as a cease-fire. Only an "armistice" or "truce" is permissible in Islam, and that is "not to last for more than 10 years."

When the enemy is too strong, as Israel has proven again and again, a truce may be made for a limited time. The enemy understands such a truce as peace, and thus Arafat and all Arabs see peace as "a weakness to exploit." The Israeli-PLO Peace Accord, therefore, is a tactical move in an overall plan. Jerusalem - there is a powerful rallying cry for Moslems - Al Quds-Jerusalem! And down through the ages that cry has been used to rally the "warriors of jihad" - from Mohammed's use in the 7th century to Saladin's in the 12th to Arafat's in the 20th. Arafat is remedying "the present" with "the remedies of the past." Six days after signing the Peace Accord, Arafat called for a jihad to liberate Jerusalem. The following extracts are taken from his speech in a Johannesburg mosque: "In the name of Allah... believe me there is a lot to be done. The jihad will continue... Our main battle is Jerusalem. Jerusalem... And, here we are, I can't - and I have to speak frankly, I can't do it alone without the support of the Islamic nation. I can't do it alone... No, you have to come and fight and to start the jihad to liberate Jerusalem... no, it is not their (the Jews) capital. It is our capital. It is your capital... This agreement (Israeli-PLO Peace Accord) - I am not considering it more than the agreement signed between our prophet Mohammed and the Kuraish tribe - a despicable truce. The same way Mohammed had accepted it we are accepting now this peace effort... From my heart, and I am telling you frankly from brother to brother, we are in need of you. We are in need of you as Moslems, as warriors of jihad... Again I have to say... onward to victory, onward to Jerusalem! 'They will enter the mosque as they entered it before." Could Arafat's intentions be made any clearer? Mohammed's Truce of Hudaybiyyah is the model for Arafat's peace with Israel! He thought he was confiding to the Islamic faithful, but his speech was secretly recorded by a journalist who had managed to slip into the mosque uninvited.

Consider:

a) Arafat speaks as a Moslem in the name of Allah.

b) Although he has signed an agreement that calls for the end of violence and terror, he pledges that it will continue.

c) He makes absolutely clear that Jerusalem is the real prize and that it is not the Jewish capital, but the capital of the Palestinian state and an Islamic capital.

d) He boasts that he will treat the Israeli-PLO Accord just as Mohammed treated his agreement with the Kuraish people - is a "despicable truce."

e) He uses Mohammed's and Saladin's rallying cry of Jerusalem to invite South African Moslems to wage jihad in Jerusalem against the Jews. f) Arafat ends his speech by quoting the Koran - a verse that refers to the Roman Army entering the Jewish temple like the Babylonian Army had done previously: "utterly destroying all that they laid their hands on" implying that he would do the same.

The Israeli-PLO Peace Accord is a sham - a tactical Islamic military maneuver designed to bring about the Jewish state's destruction. And Arafat has made no bones about the PLO's view of the Accord's objective. During his "triumphant" return to Gaza in early July 1993, an area from which Israelis were barred, he stirred the crowd by shouting with them, "In blood and spirit we will liberate Palestine". He took delight in informing the Arab world of his success: "From here, from the land of Palestine, I say to the world, I say to my brothers the Arab leaders, that we will keep our promise...." And then he, clarified the "promise": "From here in Gaza, we will go to the Ibrahim mosque (the Machpelah Cave in Hebron), we will go to Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm, Kalkilya, Bethlehem, Ramallah and then, after Hebron, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And the emotionally charged crowds joined Arafat in chanting the Islamic battle "Allahu Akbar". It was a true expression of the aspirations in every Moslem's heart: "Millions of Moslems, from Iran in the east to Libya in the west, vow with raised fists and holy fervor to redeem Jerusalem by the sword. They swear that the Jews, whom the second Sura of the Koran calls 'sly, cruel and treacherous,' will be driven out of the occupied land.

The message to Israel is loud and clear: The PLO wants Jerusalem for its capital - "all of Jerusalem". And the commander of the new "Palestinian Police" also asserted: "This is the first step toward the restoration of Jerusalem and the entire occupied land to their owners". He also said: "The door is open to those ... who wish to escalate the armed struggle. Jerusalem is history, power and God. Her daily events have become real-life drama to hundreds of millions throughout the world. Jerusalem has become home to the second largest press bureau in the world - hundreds of foreign journalists and dozens of TV crews. The world waits for the coming clash over the Holy City. Some see it as the end of time, others as a decisive battle in the struggle between Islam and the West.

The battle for Jerusalem is not a struggle for Palestinian rights nor is it a struggle between men, that is, between Jew and Arab. It is a spiritual battle - an attempt by the forces of Satan to unseat God from the city where He chose to establish His throne

R. Bennett.

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