Press Release
Liberating Palestine Is Not the Responsibility of the People of Palestine Alone, But the Responsibility of the Entire Ummah
(Translated)

There is no doubt that the statements made by the President of Syria regarding his relationship with the Jewish entity, in which he said that Syria is avoiding confrontation with it and that he has no interest in entering into a confrontation with it, pointing out that his country is working to reach a security agreement with the Jewish entity with the participation of a number of countries, are certainly shocking to all sincere people and revolutionaries and require us to pause and consider them.

He added that the success of this agreement could constitute a step paving the way toward “comprehensive peace,” while emphasizing that this would not come at the expense of Syria’s rights, stating that Syria would not give up its right to the occupied Golan Heights.

The Jewish entity is a usurping entity occupying Palestine, the place from which the Messenger of Allah (saw) was taken on his Masra (Night Journey and from which he ascended to the heavens); the land of conquerors and heroes, the land of resurrection and gathering, the first qiblah of the Muslims, and the land containing the third of the Two Holy Mosques. It is Islamic land watered with the blood of martyrs. It was conquered by Al-Faruq of the Ummah and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (saw), and they were not Palestinians. Salah al-Din liberated it, and he was Kurdish. Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the Ottoman Sultan, preserved it. Palestine is therefore the jewel of the lands of the Muslims, for whose defense and sanctity hundreds of thousands of Muslims fought with all their might. It does not belong solely to the people of Palestine, nor to any state, authority, or organization in the world.

The problem with the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine is therefore a problem with the entire Islamic Ummah, not merely with the people of Palestine. This is an established matter in the consciousness and creed of the Ummah, and it will remain as long as Surah Al-Isra remains:

[سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ]

“Glory to Him Who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.” [Surah Al-Isra:1].

The revolutionaries of ash-Sham repeatedly chanted, during their revolution against the tyrant Bashar and their struggle to free themselves from his regime, statements such as: “We are heading to the Quds, martyrs by the millions,” and “The people demand the liberation of Palestine.”

As for thinking according to the political frameworks desired by the West, this means the continuation of colonialism and the perpetuation of occupation. The path to the Ummah’s honor and liberation lies in genuine unity based upon the Book of Allah Almighty and the Sunnah of His Prophet (saw), not in reinforcing the Sykes-Picot prison that colonialism constructed to divide the Islamic Ummah and isolate each of its countries separately.

The problem of the people of Syria with the Jewish entity is not confined to the occupation of the Golan Heights; rather, it concerns the occupation of every inch of Muslim land.

Beware of returning to thinking within the confines of Sykes-Picot, the conditions imposed by the colonialists, and deceiving ourselves with ideas of gradualism, accepting the existing reality, and being content with what exists. Had the Messenger of Allah (saw) and his noble Companions (ra) accepted the existing reality despite their weakness and need, Islam would never have established itself, and we would never even have received the blessing of Islam.

We are an Ummah that says: «وَاللهِ لَوْ وَضَعُوا الشَّمْسَ فِي يَمِينِي، وَالْقَمَرَ فِي يَسَارِي عَلَى أَنْ أَتْرُكَ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ حَتَّى يُظْهِرَهُ اللهُ، أَوْ أَهْلِكَ فِيهِ مَا تَرَكْتُهُ» “By Allah, even if they placed the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand so that I would abandon this matter until Allah makes it prevail, or I perish pursuing it, I would not abandon it.”

As for those submissive and defeatist concepts, they are unbecoming of a people who, through sacrifices and blood, brought down some of the fiercest gangs and tyrants of this era. Such concepts have brought the Ummah nothing but humiliation, colonialism, isolation, and the loss of lands.

The Central Media Office
of Hizb ut Tahrir