As Palestine struggles under ruthless Zionist occupation, the citizens of the West Bank and Gaza face a more callous opponent, that of the Palestinian Authority. The PA tries to showcase itself in front of the West as a forthcoming contender of democratic values and basic human rights.  However, this poses a major challenge to the residents of Palestine.  A party that is rarely mentioned in the Arab media but often mentioned and widely discussed in Western media outlets, this party has the PA in a sort of a mess that it doesn't quite know how to deal with it.  Ironically this party originated in the heartland of Palestine; it is 000 000 .  Since the signing of the Annapolis Agreement three years ago, HT has been struggling a silent battle in which very few if any Palestinian news sources want to confront or highlight the plight of HT members in Palestinian jails. 

The rulers parade around the world trying to dignify themselves by calling for human rights from Israel while they themselves dominate their own people from speaking to the masses.  Palestinian security forces are unleashed by the hundreds when HT tried to form rallies and a conference last month.  During the time before the conference and rallies were scheduled to take place, police and security forces were sent to raid people's homes and workplaces to detain and haul away sincere members and HT supporters to jails without any valid reason or known offence.  Many members have been in jail for a few weeks.  In some districts, HT members were released after a few days in jail, which was known to the people as precautionary attempts to delay or foil the conference and rallies.  However in the district of Salfeet, the case is much more daunting.  Until today two months after the Rajab conference was scheduled to be held, two members are still detained.  The annual Khilafah "Caliphate" conference was denied the opportunity to be held due to massive restrictions by security forces which included roadblocks to widespread random arrests. Even the Israeli security forces worked hand in hand coordinating the checkpoints by guarding the southern entrance to Ramallah to ensure that Muslims from Al-Quds do not enter the Ramallah area to attend the conference.  Indeed the picture is quite grim, when you have former enemies now cooperating with one another against a new common goal: to halt 000 000  from spreading its ideas to the public masses.   HT is known for calling for the eradication of the Zionist state from the Holy Land of Palestine.  The same people who labeled themselves as the Palestinian Liberation Organization now deserve an appropriate more fitting label "Oppressive Authority Organization" who once struggled and rebelled against the Zionist state of Israel now choose to collaborate with them against their own Palestinian brothers and sisters, jailing and torturing them and raiding their homes at all hours of the day and night. The new PA regime seeks to ensure the very safety and validity of the Israel State.  Who could ask for better occupants?!   

There are HT members still held without genuine charges. Intentionally given long unfair due process to judicial procedures, they sit in jail cells deprived of family and work.  As lawsuits have been brought up against the courts, the courts squirm through loopholes and High Court judges miss their own court sessions therefore, purposely postponing all related HT hearings.  Furthermore, when a court issued an innocence verdict, the security offices fail to apply the judgments of innocence and immediate release of the victims. The system is corrupt that everyone from the police officer to the High Court Judge acts as a lion in the territory wanting to enforce his own terrible will upon the people.  Alhamdulillah, Allah swt is much greater than them.

وَلَوْ يَرَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ إِذْ يَرَوْنَ الْعَذَابَ أَنَّ الْقُوَّةَ لِلّهِ جَمِيعاً وَأَنَّ اللّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعَذَابِ) )

{Oh, that those who do evil had but known, (on the day) when they behold the doom, that power belongeth wholly to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment!} (Al-Baqara: 165)   

During several occasions, Adnan Dhameiri, the spokesman for the Palestinian Security Forces, said that 000 000  members and supporters should not be afforded the same rights and liberties as the rest of the Palestinian citizens.  His so-called argument for this is that HT renounces the Palestinian constitution, shuns the Palestinian flag and its national anthem so according to him, HT members should not be given the rights of the Palestinian constitution.   Further commenting that HT can't have the right to pick and choose suitable rights from the law. Now the problems arise, if the spokesman of the security forces does not want to acknowledge HT members as citizens of Palestine, then according to what laws and principles are you going to deal with these people.  Are they above the law or exempt from law?  As a matter of fact, those who know and apply the law, realize that HT members do not violate the laws of the constitution.  So where does this leave Adnan Dhameiri's false logic?  Regarding the banned Khilafah "Caliphate" conference, HT members are only required by law to give prior notice of their public venue to the city, because of traffic control purposes in public outdoor areas.  If HT is not banned by the law of Palestine, so what has provoked the security officers so deeply?  Why are people jailed and harassed because of their belief system?  And banned from assembling rallies and conferences?  So now the issue goes back to Dhameiri----it is not HT that is choosing which rights and principles to apply rather it is he who is engaging in this ploy. If one believes in the framework of his nation, why not uphold it for himself and all its citizens including HT members. 

In actuality, HT does not pose a threat to the Palestinian Authority.   While the Hizb does not intend to overtake or replace the Palestinian Authority, nevertheless they treat HT like Hamas who use violence to express their opposition.  HT is not like Hamas nor does it employ material methods to achieve its means.  HT uses intellectual fikr to further its concepts into the Ummah.  Thus the question delves deeper into the Palestinian minds, if this is HT's reality then who is behind this resistance?  Who is behind the banning of HT's voice across the lands in the mosques and rallies?  Hence, it is a greater authority than that of the PA.  Someone who is at greater risk for loss. The US is the one with the most to gain in banning HT and its work from being spread across the masses.  It is fearful from the very concepts in which HT members deeply believe, risking jail sentences and police harassment. Indeed, it is the US with the most to lose.  Palestine is under occupation by the Zionists and the US wants its plan to tread on without any resistance from sincere Muslims.  The Zionist state is deeply protected by the US which whom it spends millions of dollars funding the PA to carry on its plan with the Jewish State.   Therefore proving the PA does not possess the true authority to govern by its own constitution and uphold its law and principles upon its citizens.  As revealed in the following ayah,

فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لَّا يَنفَعُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مَعْذِرَتُهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يُسْتَعْتَبُونَ ) الروم: 57 (

{In that day their excuses will not profit those who did injustice, nor will they be allowed to make amends.} (Ar-Rum: 57)

HT is and always will have the same belief system no matter which agent ruler or spokesman comes before the people.  It realizes that this is much deeper than Dhameiri's statements.  Therefore, HT members and supporters will not be shaken by their oppressors despite being imprisoned or harassed. Its members will not be silenced or stopped until the Islamic way of life comes to existence and uproots the Zionist state from the very Holy Land which HT originated, and returns Al-Quds to its rightful Muslim owners.  Inshallah, by Allah's Great Will and Mercy this become the new reality in Muslims' lives as confirmed by the following ayah:

وَاللّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَى أَمْرِهِ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ} يوسف: 21 }

{And Allah hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not.} (Yousef: 21)

 

By; Manal Bader

Bayt Al-Maqdes