Roots of the Gaza Conflict

By Nonie Darwish

14 Jan, 2009

From Front Page Magazine on January 08, 2009

With the explosive current events in Gaza, the world needs to understand the
roots of this eternal conflict; otherwise we are all kidding ourselves with hopes of
peace.

For decades, Arabs had demanded that Israel end the "occupation," and in 2005,
Israel did so, disengaging unilaterally from Gaza. With their demands met, there
was no ‘cycle of violence’ to respond to, no further justification for anything other
than peace and prosperity. With its central location and beautiful beaches on the
East Mediterranean, a peaceful and prosperous Gaza could have become
another Hong Kong; a shining trade and commerce center. But instead of
choosing peace, the Palestinians chose Islamic jihad. They rolled their rocket
launchers to the border and started bombing Israeli civilians.

Understanding the reasons why the Palestinians chose violence over

peace requires connecting the dots from the behavior of Muslim states
back to the laws of Islam: Sharia. Mainstream Sharia books define Jihad as:
"to war against non-Muslims to establish the religion." (Shafi’i Sharia o9.0).
Jihad is not just the duty of the individual Muslim, but it is also the main
duty of the Muslim head of State (the Caliph):

"A Muslim caliph is entrusted to take his people into war and command offensive
and aggressive Jihad. He must organize Jihad against any non-Muslim
government, which prevents Muslim da’wah (meaning preaching and spreading
Islam) from entering its land." (Shafii Law o25.0 to o25.9).

Sharia law# o25.9 states:

"(When the caliph appoints a ruler on a region, his duty includes) if the area has
a border adjacent to enemy lands, (he will) undertake Jihad against enemies,
dividing the spoils of battle among combatants and setting aside a fifth for
deserving recipients."

Also:

"The Caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians until they
become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax provided he has first
invited them to enter Islam or pay Jizya, the non-Muslim poll tax, (in
accordance with the word of Allah Most High Chapter 9 verse 29)."

Zia-Ul-Haq, former President of Pakistan, said "jihad in terms of warfare is a

collective responsibility of the Muslim Ummah."

One of Islam’s eminent 20th century scholars, Sheikh Maolana Maududi said:

"Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the
earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam regardless of the
country or the nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a state on
the basis of its own ideology and program … the objective of Islamic jihad is to
eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and establish instead an Islamic
system of state rule. Islam does not intend to confine this revolution to a single
state or a few countries; the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution."

Some people seem to think that such laws are just historical relics, on the
books but not in practice or in control of the minds of Muslims. But that is
the kind of denial we cannot afford; these laws rule the hearts, minds and
actions of a majority of Muslim individuals and states around the world
today. These scriptures are taught, preached and promoted as the
incontrovertible and eternal word of God and funded by Saudi petrodollars
throughout the world, including Western nations such as the U.K. and the
United States.

No Muslim leader can survive in a Muslim country if he announces the end of

Jihad against non-Muslim countries and states that all references to Jihad in
Islamic law do not apply today. Treating non-Muslim neighboring countries and
individual as equals, with respect and in peace without trying to convert them to
Islam, is simply against Islamic Law.

Muslim leaders who dare to go against this theology are called traitors and
puppets of the ‘Great Satan’ West. That is a description that no Muslim leader
wants to be labeled with. When president Anwar Sadat of Egypt signed the
peace treaty with Israel in 1979, he told his confidants that he knew he was
signing his own death warrant. He understood that under Sharia he must have
permanent war with non-Muslim Israel.

How can a Muslim leader or individual avoid the hundreds of Quran and Hadith
commandments to Muslims to kill Jews and Christians? Q 9:29: "Fight those who
believe not in Allah until they pay the Jizya with willing submission and feel
themselves subdued." Q 9:5: "Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them".
Q47.4: "When you encounter the unbelievers, Strike off their heads."

A Muslim leader cannot face his devout Muslim subjects after making a decision
to engage in friendship and peace with Jews. Mosques all over the Middle East,
after all, recite Mohammed’s commandment to Muslims:

"The Hour [Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the
Jews, and kill them. And the Jews will hide behind the rock and tree, and
the rock and tree will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, this is a Jew
behind me, come and kill him!" (Sahih Muslim 41:6985, also Sahih Bukhari
4:52:177)
This Hadith, issued by Mohammad, makes a whole group of people illegal to
exist. It was issued in the 7th century, not after the 1948 creation of the State of
Israel. It is not a response to modern-day grievances; it is a permanent
commandment.

Many Muslims claim that Arabs and Jews lived well together for many years
before 1948. But that claim ignores the fact that Jews had to live as ‘Dhimmi’s’
under Islamic Law and were never allowed to rule themselves separate of the
Islamic Sharia. When Muslims were weak they often treated their dhimmi
subjects well and ignored the commandments to kill, subjugate and humiliate
them. But Jew hatred is intrinsic to Islamic scriptures that do not permit
reformation under the penalty of death.

This is the real basis of the Arab/Israeli conflict: not a conflict over land or
occupation, but a divine obligation to destroy neighboring (non-Muslim) Israel,
where Jews are no longer Dhimmi’s but are free to rule themselves. We cannot
ignore the root of the problem in Muslim scriptures. That is the true force behind
the hate and propaganda Jihadist machine against Jews in the Muslim world.

Some Muslims tell me that they don’t believe in Sharia and question why am I
making a big deal about it. My answer is that Sharia is the law of the land in 54
Muslim countries and many Muslim groups are demanding Sharia in the West. In
1990, 45 Muslim countries signed the Cairo Human Rights Declaration which
stated that Sharia has supremacy over the UN Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

The Muslim world must look within to its sacred laws, scriptures, sermons,
teaching and preaching, and reform the obstacles for peace that have
condemned them to a permanent state of jihad. The non-Muslim world must have
no illusions.