Islamist Hypocrisy & Palestine: The Olama Islamic Council example

I read an interesting item in al-Wasat newspaper that I thought I should pass along. Nothing about it is unpredictable. In fact, it’s the usual, humdrum response we’ve come to expect from all Islamist political groups.

If that’s so, then what makes it interesting? You may ask. Well, it’s interesting because it exposes the hypocritical way these groups approach the issue of Palestine. I am fully aware that the general public opposes dialogue with Israel. But why must we ignore the need for dialogue between Palestinians? Before I get ahead of myself, let me offer you a translation of the Olama Islamic Council in Bahrain’s response to Sh. Salman’s article in the Washington Post. Mind you, it does not mention Bahrain or Bahraini leadership. But then again, how thick in the head do you have to be not to get their message!

“The messages of peace demanded by the United States of America, in the form of normalizing relations with the Zionist entity, and the concrete measures taken to improve Arab relations with it, are only intended to deceive the general publics of the Muslim World, which refuse any settlement, normalization, or convergence with it. Only the vulnerable (people of Palestine) and their valiant resistance movement will pay the price of such an agreement”.

They speak of Palestine’s ‘valiant resistance movement’. What Palestinian resistance movement? Last time I checked, the PLO (Fatah) and Hamas were at each other’s throats. Too busy butchering each other than 'resisting' Israel. Both sides of the so called Palestinian 'resistance' are disreputable and pathetic. Fatah refuses to accept Hamas’ right to form a government, even though the later won 74 of the 132 available seats in the 2006 election. While Hamas refuses to recognize the need for it to abandon terrorist tactics – suicide bombing and firing rockets at civilians is terrorism – in order for it to become an acceptable political partner.

What has Essa Qassim and the OIC – and all the other Islamists who 'care' deeply about Palestine, for that matter – done to help the Palestinians reconcile? NOTHING. When Israelis kill Palestinians, they scream murder, which, rightly so, it is. But when Palestinians murder each other,there is nothing but silence. We have a 'Society against Normalization with the Zionist Enemy' ready to jump on any mention of government contact with Israel, whether it is the Foreign Minister shaking the hand of his Israeli counterpart, or the recovery of Bahraini detainees from Israeli prisons. But do we see anyone rushing to form a 'Society against Inter-Palestinian Slaughter', or 'Society for Inter-Palestinian Peace'? No we don’t.
What do we hear from these Islamists instead? They repeat the same nonsense of courage and resistance, never speaking of peace our even reconciliation between the Palestinians. The all-wise clerics claim that efforts made to achieve peace are “intended to deceive the general publics of the Muslim World”. Who gave you the right, Essa Qassim and the rest of the OIC, to speak on behalf of the “general publics of the Muslim World” and declare that they all “refuse settlement, normalization, or convergence”? Surely you haven’t seen war, having spent your life between the relative tranquility of Bahrain and the shiny domes of Qum. Had you seen war, Mr. Qassim, you’d be begging for peace. For that reason, none of you are entitled to speak on behalf of anyone other than yourselves. Especially not on behalf of the people of Palestine, who have endured more than you can imagine.