Two days ago, a large number of our honorable sisters and brothers in our Middle East, especially from the Palestinian people, expressed their dissatisfaction and anger through various social media platforms over the use by Al-Aqsa satellite channel, affiliated with Hamas, in its news bulletin of the phrase “the Christian community” to describe the Palestinian people from the sect of our Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him…
Some considered it a slip of the tongue and a minor mistake… another segment saw no need for comment or attention… another group, from political adversary currents, used this dangerous media slip, in my opinion, as a platform to launch harsh criticism against Hamas, the political adversary who has become, in the eyes of a large portion of this group, the primary enemy before the occupation, and vice versa… This political adversary is considered by Hamas circles as the more dangerous enemy…
Humbly, I say to these people that such an ideological slip, which could create a major social rift within the ranks of the Palestinian people, cannot be ignored and, in my opinion, is not a slip of the tongue or a passing mistake as some question, but rather ideological residues whose roots I will reveal in the following lines… However, despite its seriousness and danger, this matter should not be ammunition for attacking the political adversary… Fundamental matters related to the unity of the Palestinian people and their religious and social compositions cannot be dragged into the arena of media skirmishes between factions… Beware, my brothers in Fatah, not to unleash the sectarian genie from its bottle… Give the matter its due attention, but do not make it another open window for external interference in Palestinian affairs… You in Fatah and Hamas have been and still are the cause of the hateful division that has opened the door wide for Arab and foreign interventions in Palestinian affairs to entrench this cancerous division for which our Palestinian people continue to pay a heavy price.
The expression “the Christian community” as a description of a section of the Palestinian people from the sect of our Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, carries within it the naivety and absurdity of the ideologically biased journalist on one hand, and is a loud alarm bell ringing for everyone near and far to awaken from their political slumber on the other hand… It is also a stark, hateful expression of selective sectarian, ideological, and racial upbringing that has cumulatively become part of the dominant political identity of this current.
This is not the first time Hamas reveals to us the pulse of its Islamist ideological heart... and it will not be the last, and I am fully certain of this... Therefore, we must stand vigilant against such slips.
After Saturday comes Sunday!
This is one of the slogans written by Hamas members on the walls of Palestinian Christian homes during the first Intifada... This slogan, which shows us the ideological blindness of these people, will remain a stain on the history of Hamas... And history, my brothers, is unforgiving and does not forget.
The youth of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Palestine have been indoctrinated with sectarian racism, religious arrogance, and Islamist fanaticism since the early days of Hamas in the first Palestinian Intifada, and it was entrenched in the movement's charter, which remains in effect without amendment or correction...
Slogans such as 'Islam is the solution,' 'Islam is the path of return,' 'Our land is Islamic, this is the identity,' 'Revolution, revolution against the occupier, nothing but the Quran is the solution,' and 'The Quran is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people'... These are the movement's slogans that Hamas youth chanted in their sit-ins, demonstrations, prayers, and writings on the walls in the West Bank and Gaza during the years of the first Intifada... This is what the Hamas Muslim Brotherhood planted at the start and continued this racist path, with those who later split from them among Salafi currents in Gaza harboring fire in the churches there... And this is what we reap today from Al-Aqsa Channel... What one grows up on, one grows old on!
My brothers in Hamas, I know that an overwhelming majority of you have authentic Palestinian roots and in your veins flows bright red Palestinian blood like anemones in the Galilee mountains... Do not leave your arena and faction to the resentful Brotherhood current... You are first Palestinians, secondly pure Arab Qahtanis, and finally you are Muslims from the great Prophet Muhammad's community, peace be upon him.
The Muslim Brotherhood who revealed their true face in Egypt, Tunisia, and Syria, this face hostile to Arabism and nationalism and patriotism was alien to our homelands, falsifying Islam, the religion of mercy and tolerance, paid to sabotage the Arab homeland and the nation of Jesus and Muhammad, became nakedly despised … do you understand?
You�
In Hamas movement, you are no longer reckless boys as you were in your early years … now you have�
At the age of thirty … the age of full awareness … cleanse your minds, your movement, and your ranks from the impurities of the alien Brotherhood ideology … listen to the voice of open insight within your ranks … listen to Dr. Ahmed Youssef and his peers … liberate yourselves from the Brotherhood current that falsifies your Palestinian identity and return to the embrace of Palestine, to the womb of patriotism … strike with the sword of the Palestinian people and throw the Brotherhood’s sword into the dustbin of history.
The people of Palestine, my brothers on Al-Aqsa TV and in the Hamas movement, are proud of their sons from the faith of our master Jesus, peace be upon him… the people of Palestine are proud of the thinker and leader Nayef Hawatmeh, may God prolong his life, and honor the national secularist Dr. George Habash and the self-made leader Talat Yaqub, may God have mercy on them… the people of Palestine adorn their history with mighty leaders, with the steadfast comrades Emil Habibi, Emil Touma, and Tawfiq Ziad, whose pure blood watered the land of the usurped Galilee … The sons of our Palestinian people are proud of their late son Professor Edward Said and honor the devoted son of Palestine Professor Elias Zreik and a large group of their like… Palestine, as a people and leadership, bow in reverence to the true protector of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, Bishop Hanna Atallah.
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My brothers in the Hamas movement should also be aware and understand that history is not distorted by propaganda and media arrogance... History is the memory of peoples and its bright light cannot be obscured by any sieve... The history of the modern Palestinian resistance struggle began in the Christian village of Eilabun in the pure land of the Galilee when the brothers in Palestine were busy building mosques and opening Quran memorization schools, distancing themselves from the struggle against the usurping occupier... until you woke up from your ideological slumber after forty years.
And in the end, I must remind you in the Hamas movement and on Al-Aqsa satellite channel that we Palestinians holding the ember inside Palestine in the Galilee, the Triangle, and the Negev... we are the icon of steadfastness and challenge for more than seventy years... We owe our lives to the church where we were born in its hospitals in Nazareth, learned and graduated from its schools, and were educated in nationalism by its sons who raised the banner of nationalism and steadfastness on the land of our ancestors since the first day of Palestine's usurpation.
Apologizing for the disgraceful mistake against our Palestinian brothers from the religion of our master Jesus, peace be upon him, cannot be done with a phrase by your ideological media... Prove to us that your sword is Palestinian and your concern is Palestine and the Palestinian people... the entire Palestinian people... Raise the cross on your homes, centers, cars, and offices
Alongside the crescent... and do not forget that the Christian sons of Palestine do not need a Hamas pardon certificate to prove their Palestinian identity... They are not only the crown jewel of the Palestinian people... they are the emerald of the crown.
