HAMAS - Closing statement - Muslim Ulama conference

The Palestinian people are facing a tragedy represented in the Zionist terrorist aggression supported by international collusion and an ambiguous Arab and Islamic silence. The Muslim Ulama out of religious responsibility and ethical and humanitarian duty in supporting and protecting the Palestinian people in addition to stating what is right on behalf of the Islamic Ummah with its countries, sects and peoples would like to affirm the following stable doctrines and stands:

First: The entire land of Palestine from the river to the sea and from its northernmost area to its southernmost area with all its cities and villages and its capital Al-Quds is an Arab-Islamic land. Palestine is the country of all Palestinians whether those living under occupation or those forced to live outside it as refugees. Palestine should be returned back to them and they should return back to it without any conditions.

Second: Al-Quds with its known historical borders is an Arab-Islamic city that is not for partitioning or division. All Muslims shoulder the responsibility of liberating it in addition to defending it and protecting it from judaization and from any schemes to alter its landmarks.

Third: The Israeli presence on the land of Palestine today with all its forms is an illegitimate and illegal presence based on invasion, usurpation, occupation and displacement of the indigenous people. Its presence is strengthened through colonization and judaization in addition to aggression, terrorism and massacres. The Muslims would continue to consider that presence as alien, aggressive, hostile and usurper of lands, rights and holy shrines despite the lapse of time. All negotiations, agreements and settlements signed with that entity are null and void because they are not based on any legitimate or legal foundation.

Fourth: The Palestinian people’s resistance against that occupation and aggression with all its forms is a legitimate right endorsed by Islam along with other heavenly messages, natural laws and human values.

Fifth: The martyrdom operations executed by Mujahideen against the Zionist enemy are legitimate operations based on the Book of Allah and the Sunna of His prophet, peace be upon him, and they are the highest form of martyrdom and a path to Allah’s satisfaction and paradise. Mujahideen opting to martyrdom based on creed and belief chose that path with absolute awareness and free will. Such operations are one of the most important strategic weapons of resistance that enabled it to defeat the enemy morally and impose a new equation in the light of the existing unbalanced material forces.

Sixth: We affirm that the international community must put an end to the Israeli aggressor’s aggression rather than asking the aggressed Palestinian people to give up their weapon that of self-sacrifice to defend their existence. We affirm that the Palestinian people have the right to seek all available means to obtain arms and ammunition in the battle of self-defense.

Seventh: We categorically refuse the American terrorism lists and their addendums, which falsely enlisted honorable resistance forces in Lebanon and Palestine along with countries, societies, institutions and personalities supporting those forces. We declare to the protectors of the Zionist entity in the American administration, who target resistance in its capacity as the sole and real threat to that entity, that we consider such resistance as the noblest and holiest phenomenon in our contemporary history. We judge this resistance as the living expression of the Ummah’s determination to defend its rights, causes and holy shrines in face of the Zionist entity. Its Jihad and Mujahideen represent the Muslims’ honor and dignity and reflects human aspirations of all the oppressed in the world.

Eighth: The Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements and other resistance forces are the vivid expression of the Ummah’s will. They are the first defense line of the peoples and countries’ rights, causes and sanctities.

Ninth: Supporting, defending and protecting the Palestinian people is the duty of all Arabs and Muslims whether governments, peoples or political forces.

Tenth: We call on the governments, peoples and political parties in the Arab and Islamic worlds to cooperate in order to extricate the Ummah from the present state of weakness, impotency, division, disintegration, and differences due to national, sectarian or political considerations. We call on them to initiate dialogue, conciliation and solidarity to achieve the Ummah’s unity based on unity of civilization, common interests and dangers that threaten all. We are confident that setting the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds as the central cause of the Ummah and considering it the uppermost priority would pose as the correct initiation measure towards building elements of strength and unity of Arabs and Muslims.

Eleventh: The Ulama consider the American administration’s aggressive and oppressive campaign after the 11th September incidents, which started with the aggression on Afghanistan and the accompanying savage massacres against unarmed civilians and annihilation of captives at the Gangi castle as a crime of the century. The American administration is attempting to subdue the Islamic world to its absolute hegemony, which necessitates activation of the Ummah’s living forces in face of that project in a bid to resist and foil it.

Twelfth: The Ulama calls on the Arab summit conference scheduled in Lebanon to strongly object to the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. We ask the summiteers to provide protection for the Palestinian people and to support the intifada and resistance in its capacity as a religious and heavenly duty before Allah then before their peoples.

Thirteenth: The conferees laud the content of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah’s speech at the Gulf Cooperation Council’s summit and appreciate the stands of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran in support of the Palestinian people and their resistance. The conferees perceive such stands as the nucleus of a unanimous Islamic stand.

Fourteenth: The conferees highly appreciates Lebanon’s distinctive role on the official and popular levels in confrontation of the Israeli occupation and for backing resistance and supporting the intifada. The conferees thank the Lebanese government for hosting the conference in Beirut and for providing all necessary facilities to ensure its success.