'When they enter a country as conquerors, they destroy it and disgrace and humiliate its elite citizens. And these (people) too will do the same'. (27:35)
Read the Friday Sermon Below:
The Precarious State of the Palestinians
Gaza is the largest open Arab prison in the world. So what is the role of the media in the face of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians?
The media have a very important role to play in this conflict which is captivating the interest of the whole world. Without the media, the world would not have known about what is happening in this region. The media play a role in raising awareness and disseminating information. Journalists on the ground witness the truth and pass on the message that thrills. They witness the atrocities committed by an invader [invading the homes, properties and lives of Arab-Muslim Palestinians], the misery and human drama of an oppressed people.
Nowadays the role of
digital social media has also become even more important thanks to the
internet. The world is sharing the first news exposing the atrocities and
violent crimes committed by the Israeli military. I hope that through this
sermon and the appeal of all who advocate peace, the international community
will be compelled to put pressure on Israel to end the [unjust] occupation of
Palestine: A hard ordeal which lasted more than fifty years and which left
thousands of dead, wounded and desperate.
Don’t journalists who cover events on the ground put their lives in danger? Certainly it is very dangerous! Journalists are arrested in the occupied territories. They are assaulted and violently beaten. From 2008 to 2012, several journalists were killed in attacks in the occupied territories. Many of them died from the bombs and others from the bullets, and even being run over by a bulldozer. It’s a difficult job, but you don’t have the right to back down if you want to show the world what is going on in Palestine and in the territories occupied by Israelis and Jewish settlers.
There is no respect for
the rights of journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Israelis
violate the rights of journalists, attack them, imprison them and terrorize
them. Several journalists were targeted during the attacks in Gaza. There is
also no guarantee that the Israelis will respect the rights of journalists in
the future.
How can the media
participate in the peace process in Palestine? The media convey information about what is happening
on the ground. Journalists spread the news around the world. The international
community must listen to the voices of those who bear witness to the atrocities
and barbaric acts against a defenseless people, especially, when the very
recent resumption of conflict is linked among other things to the non-respect
and the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in April 2021 by the Israeli police
officers who entered the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan [on the first
day of Ramadan on 13th April] to cut all speakers to prevent the
spread of the call to prayer. The United Nations must force Israel to end the
occupation and find a solution to the endless acts of violence which claim
innocent lives on both sides [Muslims-Jews – Palestinians-Israelites]. I would
say that the role of the media is very important and the world must listen to
the voice of journalists, especially those who want [to establish] peace and
who are not Islamophobic and extremist in their thoughts and actions.
As I told you at the beginning of my sermon, Gaza is considered the largest open Arab prison in the world. The situation is chaotic and miserable. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating day by day. There is no drinking water, no electricity, and no food. The Israelis control the entry and exit. There are no airports or ports, and Gaza’s population of 2 million lives in abject poverty. They expect [yearn for] international aid and humanitarian aid to reach them.
The ceasefire agreement is very fragile and not always respected. It is not lasting, and is uncertain because it is an agreement signed on a document that has no value. The IDF [Israelite army] never respects a temporary agreement. There will be no peace as long as the territories are occupied and the siege of those territories is not lifted.
The Muslim minority (scattered) across the world, that is, the Palestinian is persecuted to the extreme, for being human and moreover as if being Muslim is a crime punishable by the law of this world. In Israel, the treatment of the Palestinian population, predominantly Muslim, is one of the most abject and inhuman there is. The goal is to degrade humans to the state of animals through systematic abuse. In the Gaza Strip, two million Palestinians are kept in a prison (-like conditions). The Israeli army established an almost hermetic barrier, with the collaboration of Egypt, preventing the supply of food [and other basic necessities] to the population.
In the West Bank,
Israel has adopted the same policy of the former white South African regime
towards the Palestinians, that is, apartheid and the creation of Bantustans in
Palestine. They want to create separate so-called “homelands” to house the
Palestinians, and exclude them from their right to be legitimate citizens. In
white South Africa, the Bantustans were an administrative instrument to
separate racial groups and exclude the black people from the white-dominated
political system. The Israelis created enclaves separated by high walls,
without any connection and controlled by Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians
will have autonomy in these Bantustans and will have control over education,
and health, but trade, security and external relations will be in the hands of
the Jews.
Israel is reproducing exactly the same apartheid system put in place by the white regime in South Africa. Every day, Jewish authorities confiscate Palestinian lands to facilitate the settlement of Jewish settlers in their stead. The Palestinian population is continuously oppressed; their freedom of movement is strictly controlled. The laws are based on ethnicity and religion, and are unfavourable to Palestinians. The Palestinian people are continually discriminated against, oppressed. Palestinians do not have the right to vote; laws are applied in a discriminatory manner against them.
In Palestinian neighbourhoods, there is no infrastructure, no proper roads, no running water. The villages have no electricity. No building permit is granted. Palestinian hospitals are grossly under-equipped. Even former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2010 admitted that Israel was an apartheid state. In 2012, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination condemned Israel for establishing two separate legal systems for Jews living in illegal settlements and the Palestinian population on the other. The two groups are kept hermetically separate and all the facilities accorded to the Jews are deprived to the Palestinians who are subject to racial segregation and apartheid.
The armed Jewish
settlers tour the Palestinian Bantustans and, with the blessing of the Israeli
army, spread terror among the population, killing the Palestinians like dogs.
Jerusalem is being cleansed of its Palestinian population and of its Arab, and
Islamic character. The houses are demolished, the date palms are bulldozed.
The NGO Human Rights Watch’s 2010 report on the treatment of Palestinians says that the Jews [i.e. Israel] discriminate against the Palestinian population. The report also finds that by rendering their communities virtually uninhabitable, Israel’s discriminatory policies often result in forcing Palestinians out. According to a June 2009 survey of homes in “Area C”, an area that covers 60% of the West Bank and which is under Israel’s exclusive control, and in homes in East Jerusalem, unilaterally annexed by Israel, 31% Palestinian residents have been displaced since 2000.
Therefore, the legitimate residents of Palestine are continuously forcibly displaced. When the Palestinian moves, he must have a permit. At any time, the army can prevent him from passing. Despite a ruling from the international court of justice, Israel continues to deny Palestinians human rights. Water resources, arable [fertile, cultivable] land are strictly reserved for Jews. Palestinians are forced to drink water from landfills.
As we can see, everything is done to make the life of the Palestinians impossible. This persecution is also similar to the plight of the Royingya Muslims in Myanmar, Burma, and the Uyghur Muslims in China. Very few countries in the world reserve such criminal treatment for part of its population [to such a heinous degree].
Today we see Muslim Arab states endorsing the Abraham plan and making deals with the Zionist state, and saying nothing when Gaza is under relentless and intensive aerial bombardment, and hundreds of men, women, and children are being massacred. Such a shame!
May Allah help the
world to be cured of their Islamophobia and help mankind to realize the true,
pure, peaceful and righteous essence of the Islamic system. May Allah have
mercy on Palestine and all the victims who are persecuted to such an extent
that our hearts suffer upon realizing their suffering. May Allah have mercy on
all those innocent people who find themselves deprived of their right to live
their lives according to their desire, an Islamic desire approved by the
Creator. May Allah destroy the wicked or change their hearts so that Islam
spreads in them. Insha-Allah, Ameen.