Just in case anyone out there (Hello, State Department!) still thinks that negotiations and concessions will bring peace between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. The jihad imperative makes that impossible, as do the classic tenets of Islamic law upon which the Palestinian Religious Scholars Society are basing their ruling. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Ruth King:
The Palestinian Religious Scholars Society on Wednesday issued a fatwa (Islamic religious decree) forbidding normalization with Israel.
The fatwa came in response to a surprise ruling earlier this week by Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, head of Egypt’s al-Azhar Mosque University, in favor of normalization with Israel.
“Islam does not prohibit normalization with other countries, especially Israel, as long as this normalization does not affect religion,” Tantawi, one of the Arab world’s leading Muslim scholars, wrote.
Condemning Tantawi’s stance, the Palestinian Religious Scholars Society said his ruling was tantamount to supporting infidels, a move that is banned by Islam. “This is like sharing with the infidel in his evil deeds,” it added.
Reaffirming a long-standing ban on normalized relations with Israel, the Palestinian group said relations with occupiers of Muslim lands meant recognition of their aggression.
“It is the religious duty of all Muslims to help their brethren in driving the enemy out of their lands,” the Palestinian group added. “How can there be any cooperation between Muslims when some of them are involved in normalization with the enemies of Islam?”
Criticizing Egypt’s agreement to deploy border guards along the border with the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian “scholars” said they were expecting the head of al-Azhar to issue a fatwa “calling for the mobilization of Muslim armies to expel the Jews from the rest of the lands of Palestine instead of deploying troops to defend the enemy’s borders.”
The Palestinian group is headed by Sheikh Hamed Bitawi, who also serves as head of the Palestinian Authority’s Sharia Appeals Court in Nablus. Bitawi is also known as a senior Hamas official in the West Bank.
Did you catch that? Head of the Palestinian Authority’s Sharia Appeals Court in Nablus and also a senior Hamas official in the West Bank. Just in case anyone still thought that the PA shunned and rejected Hamas and its terror attacks against innocent civilians.