20 August 2000

In the name of Allah the most Gracious the most Merciful    

“And We decreed for Beni Israel in the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)”

Our souls and blood will be sacrificed for the Aqsa
31st Anniversary of burning the Aqsa Mosque

To the Palestinian people:
To the Arab and Islamic Nation:

Ever since the Zionist Dennis Rohan committed his crime on Thursday 21 August 1969 and Zionist Jewish spite against the Aqsa Mosque was growing and hoping to destroy the whole lot of it after the fire destroyed most of Salahuddin pulpit, which was installed after liberating Al-Quds from 90 years of crusade occupation in 1187AD. Incidents are accelerating these days and that acceleration bears dangers against the Aqsa Mosque as the Jewish threats and violation of its sanctity increase and as Jewish elevation daily grows to the extent that it is about to assume power in the strongest state on earth. Furthermore, calls are voiced out loud calling for demolishing the Aqsa and building the alleged temple in its place!

Tomorrow falls The anniversary of that ugly crime to remind Muslims with what happened to their Mosque and the possible destruction that could target it, God forbid, in the event silence towards our enemies’ conspiracies persisted. During the recent Camp David summit’s discussions, the enemy’s premier Ehud Barak demanded the establishment of a Jewish synagogue inside the holy Aqsa Mosque’s yards. Furthermore, the so called high rabbinate council in the Zionist entity discussed on Monday 7 August the possibility of establishing that synagogue and decided to postpone the debate and not canceling it!!

In a serious development, members of the “Temple Mount Trustees” accompanied by other fanatic Jews tried to enter the Aqsa Mosque through Bab Al-Maghareba on Thursday 10 August. They marched in tumultuous demonstrations chanting anti-Arab and anti-Muslim slogans. They demanded the construction of their alleged temple in place of the Aqsa Mosque on the anniversary of what they consider the destruction of the two temples, which fell on that same day. They carried the foundation stone of what they called their temple and washed it in Ein Silwan while reiterating, “Bring down the Mosque over their (Muslim) heads”!! Meanwhile, severity of the Jewish rabbis’ statements calling for leveling the Aqsa Mosque was increasing in an unprecedented manner. In late last July rabbi Abraham Shabeer, who was the Zionist entity’s chief Ashkenazi (Western Jews) rabbi and who is currently the biggest source of Jewish edicts, said in a ceremony organized to lay down the foundation stone of a religious school in the presence of ministers, “There is nothing called the Aqsa Mosque. This is a lie fabricated by the Arabs and they believed themselves. Regretfully some of us also believed them.”

He added, “There is no way for deception here for the Temple Mount (The Aqsa Mosque) is the property of the Jews and the Jewish people in their Diaspora. It is not becoming of the state, which represents the Jewish people, to give up this place.”

To couple the stand of the chief rabbi of the western Jews, the chief rabbi of the eastern Jews Ovadia Yossef, also the chief rabbi of the Shas party, advocated similar stands. In the past few days he condemned presence of Arabs in Al-Quds describing them as snakes and animals. He even attributed lies to almighty Allah by saying that every day Allah “regrets” that he created the Arabs as written in the Talmud “because they are evil doers and hate Israel.”

In line with the accelerating campaigns to judaize the city, mayor of the so-called Jerusalem municipality Ehud Ulmert said on 9 August that “After 33 years of preventing Jews to practice their right of prayers in the Aqsa, today work must be done to actualize that right.” Ulmert had recently opened a tunnel connecting the Ma’aleh Adomim settlement to the Hebrew University during which he announced the annexation of that settlement to Al-Quds!

Falling in line with such growing dangers engulfing our captured Mosque, there is the American administration’s position topped by the US president’s call for moving his country’s embassy to Al-Quds. There is also his statement during the Camp David summit in which he affirmed that most Christians in the world believed that the Aqsa Mosque was in fact the Temple Mount, displaying total bias to the Jewish viewpoint in this matter. He was also trying to affect the international public opinion into accepting judaization of Islamic sanctities with the blessing of a superpower.

Our fears, worries and concern over fate of the Aqsa and Al-Quds are doubled with recent Arafat’s statements after his return from Camp David in which he openly gave up the Buraq Wall to the Jews claiming they had the right to praying at that wall.

Our Palestinian people ... our Arab and Islamic Nation:

We in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on the anniversary of the burning of the blessed Aqsa Mosque would like to explain and affirm the following:

First: The so-called settlement negotiations with the Zionist enemy are nothing but capitulation talks and an umbrella to give up rights. At present those negotiations are drawing the final episode of the conspiracy against our people and Nation through which most of the blessed Palestinian lands are surrendered along with the Muslims’ right of owning Al-Quds. Furthermore, the refugees’ right of return is being obliterated. Confronting the various stages of the Camp David conspiracy should top the list of duties and responsibilities. Such a stance also necessitates exposing all capitulators regardless of their positions.

Second: We call on the Palestinian Authority to end the capitulation talks with the enemy and return to the people’s option that of steadfastness and struggle to grab our rights, protect our sanctities and defeat occupation since the enemy only understands the language of force while that of begging only boosts its arrogance.

Third: We urge the Nation’s religious scholars to be at the forefront of the lines in face of the Zionist danger and to spread awareness among the Muslim masses about that enemy’s aggressive plots against the Muslims’ first Qibla, site of our prophet’s ascension to the heavens and third mosque that should be visited in Islam.

Fourth: We appeal to leaders of intellect, parties, movements, Arab and Islamic forces, popular and syndicate bodies and all civilian institutions to assume their role in resisting the Zionist danger and exposing its dimensions. They should confront challenges equipped with determination and active moves in various arenas including spreading public awareness and organizing popular rallies to reflect the Nation’s real stand towards Al-Quds and the Aqsa Mosque. Let the governments and regimes listen to the masses’ voices and conscience in face of Clinton and Barak’s threats.

Fifth: We ask leaders of the Arab and Islamic countries along with the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Arab League to shoulder their responsibilities and duties towards Palestine, Al-Quds and the Aqsa Mosque. We ask them to support the steadfastness of our people and their living forces that insist on the Nation’s rights and defend its sanctities. We finally ask them to adopt the Jihad and struggle option to seize our rights and prepare our Nation’s peoples to live up to the level of struggle and challenge with that hideous enemy.

Let our people head tomorrow Monday to Al-Quds on the anniversary of the big crime to gather and pray at the Aqsa Mosque and let all Muslim masses move in support of its great Mosque, the symbol of their pride, honor and dignity before it is too late and before the Nation bewails the third holiest shrine after the Grand Mosque and the Prophet Mosque. Let all rise up in support of our people’s steadfastness in Al-Quds and its surroundings. Let all declare in loud voices their rejection of bargaining on one inch of our pure Quds’ soil and let all voice up high calls for ending the comic peace negotiations aimed at surrendering our holy shrines.

Let the whole world know that wiping out, demolishing or attacking the Aqsa Mosque would only be possible over the skulls and remains of the whole Nation.

“So when the time of the second (Jewish) mischief in the holy land comes, we will send against you our worshippers to inflict on you utter defeat and enter the Mosque (of Al-Aqsa) as they had entered it before and to devastate with utter destruction whatever they (the Jews) have built in their elevation.”

The Islamic Resistance Movement
(Hamas – Palestine)
Department of Islamic Relations
Sunday 20 August 2000