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David Littman, historian and an NGO representative of the Association for World Education to the United Nations in Geneva, forwards the following. It is an examination of the Hamas Charter, prepared for the U.N. by two UN Non-Governmental Organizations.
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
First special session
5 July 2006
Joint written statement* submitted by the Association for World Education and the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), non-governmental organizations on the Roster
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[4 July 2006]
* The present document contains the statement that was to have been delivered orally by the organization(s) concerned at the first special session. It is issued, unedited and in the original language(s), as received. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author(s).
GE.06-13021
The Binding Charter of the Current Government of the Palestinian Authority Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas
1. We support wholeheartedly all serious efforts by Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and like-minded political leaders worldwide,to find an acceptable two-state solution of peaceful coexistence between two peoples in that small region - with human dignity for all.
2. However, to understand events in Gaza (and beyond) there is an urgent need to consider the implications of the 1988 Charter of Hamas - available on the net - since Hamas is the legally elected Government of the Palestinian Authority.1
3. We have been alerting the Commission about the dangers of this binding Charter since January 1989.2
4. Regarding peace, its Article 13 is totally negative: "Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. (…) There is no solution to the Palestinian question except by Jihad. All initiatives, proposals, and International Conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavours."
5. Religious hatred of Jews (not only of Israel) is expressed by a hadith or 'saying' that concludes Article 7:
"The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews) when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say: O Muslims (…) there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. "Only the gharkad tree [evidently a certain kind of tree] would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (this hadith, quoted from al-Bukhari and Muslim, both considered as highly reliable sources for the hadith or 'sayings' of the Prophet Muhammad).
6. Article 8, the slogan of the Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas (widely quoted by clerics and others) is a blueprint for jihadist terrorism: "Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its Constitution; Jihad is its path, and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes." 3
7. Article 28 widens the circle of hate to include all Jews: "Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Muslim people: 'May the cowards never sleep.'" The Charter in its preface quotes Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, as saying: "Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
8. Article 32 refers to an infamous century-old forgery in almost the identical terms used by Adolf Hitler: "Their plan is embodied in 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion', and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying." 4
9. Article 22 is an update of The Protocols, alleging that "the Jews" control all major world events. It is here quoted in full (but without the koranic verses, which may be found on the various websites in both Arabic and English). This article - and others - indicates the rich 'conspiracy thinking' of the Hamas Charter:
"For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skilfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broad casting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution [1789], the Communist revolution [1917] and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there. You may speak as much as you want about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establish- ment of their state. It was they that instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere without them having their finger in it. [quotation from the Koran] The imperialistic forces in the Capitalist West and Communist East, support the enemy with all their might, in money and in men. These forces take turns in doing that. The day Islam appears, the forces of infidelity would unite to challenge it, for the infidels are but one nation." [Koranic quotes follow to prove the point: "if ye understand."]
10. The CONCLUSION has a subheading: The Islamic Resistance Movement is Composed of Soldiers
under which article 36 states, inter alia, that the Islamic Resistance Movement "will only serve as a support for all groupings and organizations operating against the Zionist enemy and its lackeys (…) "The Islamic Resistance Movement adopts Islam as its way of life. Islam is its creed and religion. Whoever takes Islam as his way of life, be it an organization, a grouping, a country or any other body, the Islamic Resistance Movement considers itself as their soldiers and nothing more."
11. With the Hamas Charter now binding the Palestinian leadership, its call for the destruction of a Member State of the United Nations is in contravention to Article 2 (4) of the 1945 UN Charter. Article 3 (c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention condemns "direct and public incitement to commit genocide," which is punishable under its article 4. The grave situation in Gaza - and not only in Gaza - is linked to the Hamas Charter of religious and racial hatred, which merits debate at the Human Rights Council as soon as possible.
Notes:
1. www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/hamas.htm and others. Co-authored (dated 18 August 1988) by Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Dr. Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi. See NGO written statements on Hamas: E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/NGO/41: The 1988 Charter of Hamas and its evil legacy of 'jihadist-martyrdom bombings'; E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/NGO/25*: Hamas: Sheikh Yassin / al-Rantisi - The UN and a grave worldwide cultural clash; E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/NGO/26: Muslim Brotherhood / Hamas / Hizbullah / Al Qaeda: Terror Legacy of 'Jihad-Martyrdom-Bombings'; E/CN.4/2006/NGO/239: The 1988 Covenant of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas
2. Quoted by David G. Littman on 31 January 1989 (45th session, Commission on Human Rights), main representative of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (and again in 1990 and 1991); and since then, repeated regularly by him on behalf of the Association for World Education, and recently again for the WUPJ.
3. Article 8 - the slogan of Hamas - is taken from the 1928 Charter of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Article 2 of the Hamas Charter states: "The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organisation which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times." And Article 1: "The Movement's programme is Islam."
4. Philip Graves, The Truth about The Protocols: A Literary Forgery (London, 1921 - his articles from The Times); H. Rauschning, Hitler speaks (London, 1939), pp. 235-36; Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (London, 1967); Pierre-André Taguieff, Les Protocoles des Sages de Sion. Introduction à l'étude des Protocoles: un faux et ses usages dans le siécle (Paris, 1992).
Iraqi-American Fawaz Saraf emails:
A BBC headline this evening read something along these lines:
"Israel Captures Lebanese border village".
In my view, a great PR for Israel, especially among the Lebanese, would be the headline above but modified as follows:
"Israel captures Lebanese border village, ready to hand over to Lebanese army". Hezbollah is portraying itself as the resistance that liberated Lebanese land from Israel. Well, Israel left Lebanon so one would think now that Hezbollah would be busying itself rebuilding the south and making the lives of Lebanese shiites better. Sadly, and for myriad of reasons that perhaps take a book to explain, that is not how Arab political movements operate . I think it was important to attack Hezbollah and send a very clear message to the Lebanese, especially the shiites, and the message is Hezbollah is bad for you and we can help make your life better. In my opinion this message should be complemented with the message that states the following: Every village we clear of Hezbollah and then have it controlled by the Lebanese army will be safe from bombing and attacks and life in that village can then return to normal.
Circulating on the net:
(Hat tip: A.M. Whittaker).
