Al-Aqsa Has Men Who Protect It

13 March 2010
The first Intifadah began to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the second began in protest against its desecration, and the third that is now snowballing has come to protect it from the confrontations that are meant to undermine it before Judaizing it. It has come also to expose the official and popular Arab collusion of remaining completely silent and looking the other way.

Those that are standing fast in occupied Jerusalem defend their holy sites with their own hands, voices, bare chests, and sit-ins. They challenge live bullets before the rubber ones, hold their heads high, and are ready for martyrdom. They do not look for excuses, do not believe in being realistic, and do not fear the very large difference in the balance of power.

They expose the "Ramallah [Palestinian] Authority" that uses the Dayton security forces to prevent resistance and even all forms of peaceful demonstrations against the Judaization of the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque and the mosque of the Prophet's companion Bilal Bin-Rabah. It accepts to return to indirect negotiations in the presence of humiliating settlement provocations, and cancels on Israeli orders a celebration marking the naming of a square in Al-Birah after martyr Dalal al-Maghribi.

The Palestinian [National] Authority is busy receiving US envoys who want indirect Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to polish the image of the blood-stained, racist face of the Netanyahu government before the world. The moderation Arabs are busy offering financial and oil enticements to China to join the forthcoming UN blockade against Iran.

The defenders of the Al-Aqsa Mosque have launched this intifadah at this time because they feel that danger is looming over their land, honour, and holy sites. The Israeli Government has announced the building of 50,000 housing units in occupied Jerusalem, and its settlers prepare to declare an international day for the building of the third temple on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque, next Tuesday [ 16 March]. They will invade the mosque's court, lay the foundation stone, and make offerings for the Hebrew Passover.

The defenders no longer ask for the help of Arab rulers or even that of the Arab and Islamic peoples. They are tired of this, and they have decided to enter the confrontation on their own, accepting their fate, and relying on themselves and their creator.

We are facing a new division of the Arab region that reminds us of the similar one that occurred in the wake of the Iraqi forces' invasion of Kuwait. There is a new tone increasingly used by certain officials, stating: You the Arabs of the north! Go and fight Israel on your own. This is your problem. Take with you whoever you like from the [Arab] Maghreb Union's 'tricked' ones and from the impoverished people of Yemen and Sudan. As far as we are concerned, we have our own enemy; we have our Iran and you have your Israel.

When he went on his night journey to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, our master Muhammad, the messenger of humanity (prayers and blessings of God be upon him), did not arrive there from Nablus, Gaza, or Damascus but from Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, the capital of enlightenment and guidance and the seat of Muhammad's call. The Babylonians arrived in Jerusalem from Mesopotamia, and the Ayubis from Egypt.

We are not giving history lessons, nor are we offering religious and moral advice. We are reminding those who are trying to forget or feigning to forget and thereby dragging us to destructive wars in the wrong place once again. These wars are chosen for us by the Americans and the Israelis, who have already dragged us into the Iraq war with lies and misleading campaigns, the disastrous consequences of which are still besetting the region.

They send delegations to Russia and China with US instructions to entice them with generous promises, cheap oil and gas deals, and hundreds of billions of dollars in future investments in return for not voting against a resolution imposing a stifling blockade against an Islamic state. The point is that all they will get in return is more settlements and Judaization of Islamic holy sites in Palestine, which are supposed to be theirs too.

They colluded in the first and second wars against Iraq. They destroyed this Arab country that has protected them from the Islamic "tsunami" coming from the east, and they reaped only thorns, sectarian strife, military and geographical imbalance, and a system of government that is more hostile and more threatening to them.

The stifling blockade of Iraq, the swamping of markets with cheap oil, and the provocation of the Iraqi leadership with their pride and honour pushed that leadership to the Kuwait occupation disaster. This led to the known results, the impact of which is still there with us. But then, have those who are striving to impose a stifling blockade against Iran and to mobilize forces worldwide in broad daylight to take part in it thought about the reactions that might be entailed by these steps?

What if the Iranians decide to take revenge on those who besiege them, by using various ways and means, first through "terrorism" and activating sleeping cells at least, and then by shelling and setting fire to [oil] wells and infrastructure in a second stage? Can we sustain this? Can we provide protection for our citizens, skyscrapers, and tours?

Why is "realism" sacred when the issue is Israel, its mighty nuclear arms, its occupation of our land, and its Judaization of our sacred shrines, but this "realism" evaporates completely when the issue is an Arab or Islamic state? We then start beating the drums of war and brandishing the swords of blockades.

While thousands of the sons of occupied Jerusalem and the Arabs of Palestine that was occupied in 1948 are rushing forward to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque, we observe that more than one "unwholesome mosque" is being built in Arab capitals to promote alliance with the Israelis and strengthen the ties of friendship with them. This is given that they are now considered to be the new supporters against the other enemy of the nation and the region.

The population of Jerusalem is heroically resisting because they are beyond the borders of the [Palestinian] Authority in Ramallah, and they are not ruled by any Arab regime. They are fighting the enemy directly, not through its Arab representatives. This is the secret of their strong power and their preparedness to sacrifice their souls to preserve the Islamic Arab identity of their holy sites and land.

They take the fig leaf from the official Arab government system and its league in Cairo, abort plans to strengthen the growing Arab-Israeli alliance, and return the conflict in the region to its original source without any alteration.

These pious mujahidin are the sole shining spot of light in the pitch darkness of this nation, and their clean blood that is shed to defend and protect the holy sites is a rebellion against the humiliating Arab and Islamic subservience. It is the most honourable and cleanest blood of all. It is also a source of pride, dignity, and cherishment.