Foreword

Palestine holds a prominent place in the hearts and minds of all Muslims. It is, in fact, home to Al-Aqsa Mosque of which the surroundings were blessed by Almighty Allah, to which the All Powerful made the Prophet Mohammad bin Abdullah (may prayers and peace be upon him) travel by night from Mecca Al Mukarammah, and from which he was ordered to ascend till Sidratul Muntaha (the nearest step to the Divine Throne). In Palestine was born and brought up Jesus Christ (May peace be upon him). There he acted as a preacher and suffered considerable harm. It was also the hometown of many a prophet at various periods of ancient history. Palestine was the land and burial place of prophets. It is held in great deference by all believers and enjoys a high standing in the history of the revealed religions.

The presence of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Palestine underlies the special attachment of the Muslim Ummah to it; an attachment made particularly strong by the fact that Palestine is an Arab land that has been inhabited by Arabs throughout history. Despite  numerous and successive foreign conquests, Palestine was able to safeguard its own Arab identity. When it was peacefully conquered by the Khaliph Omar bin Khattab, most of its people embraced Islam though a faction of them continued to adhere to christianity, living in full harmony and brotherliness with Muslims who preserved their religion and were staunch defenders of their land, until European armies invaded Palestine in the eleventh century A.D during what is known to historians as the Crusades and to Arab and Muslim historians as the Alfaranja wars.

Throughout Arab and Islamic history, Palestine had been part and parcel of the vast Islamic state until the outbreak of World War I when Palestine fell into the hands of the allied forces. The entry of the British forces into Palestine  in 1917 marked the first foreign occupation since the end of the Crusades. It was then placed under the British mandate after it had been severed from the Islamic state by virtue of the League of Nations instrument and the resolutions of the Lausanne Conference, entrusted with the task of sorting out the situation of the Arab emirates under the Ottoman Empire and determining their future.

Palestine was subsequently to experience serious events. Resistance movements emerged in all the territories of Palestine to foil the European plan designed to organize jewish emigration to Palestine from around the globe and to alter the region’s population structure. This tense situation was to culminate in the emergence of an Israeli state following the usurpation of 54% of Palestine’s land in 1948, and the subsequent occupation by Israel of the remainder of Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza strip), including Alquds in 1967.

The book we are prefacing brings into focus the high standing of Palestine in the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims in the form of a documented historical research work. The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization presents the book in English to readers all over the world, to highlight a truth that needs to be unveiled to all people and to reaffirm the right of the Arab Muslim Ummah to Palestine, as well as the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self- determination and to the establishment of an independent state with Alquds Alsharif as its capital.

By publishing this book, authored by Hassan Said Karmi, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is pursuing its support to the Palestinian cause.This support takes the form of a series of publications such as a reference book on Alquds Alsharif published in Arabic, English and French, a set of documentary books on Palestinian villages wiped out of existence, a book on Islamic civilizational landmarks in Palestine, a book  titled:  “You Have Usurped Our Land”, a large compilation of the proceedings of the international symposium on Alquds and its cultural heritage held by ISESCO in Rabat in 1993, as well as the convening in Rabat in June 2002 of an international conference for the protection of Islamic and christian holy shrines in Palestine, not to mention other forms of support extended by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to the Palestinian people to preserve its educational, scientific and cultural institutions and help the latter discharge their mission to protect its holy shrines and to assuage its sufferings, notably in the areas of education, science and culture, i.e. the fields of competence of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The publishing of this book comes at a highly critical juncture marked by zionist arrogance and Israel’s total disregard for international legality, for the appeals of the international community and for the protests at its continuous aggression against Palestinians, their holy shrines and institutions, as well as the sustained blatant violation of relevant United Nations resolutions and the provisions of international law, placing the Arab Islamic Palestine under serious threats, mortgaging the future of the Palestinian people, and making it drift towards the unknown.

The standing of Palestine for Arabs and Muslims entails a great responsibility for all, part of which is discharged by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization within its own fields of competence and the resources available to it. It is equally well the responsibility of all mankind in modern times, a responsibility that would only fall away with the end of the Israeli occupation, the establishment of an independent Palestinian State with Alquds Alsharif as its capital, and the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland.

Almighty Allah we beseech to guide our steps and bless our endeavours.

Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri
Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)