The Palestinian Authority mufti has announced that whoever transfers or sells Palestinian land to “the enemies” (i.e., Israelis) is a traitor and a sinner: “Palestine, that includes within it Jerusalem, is waqf [i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law] land [and] it is forbidden by Shari’ah law to relinquish it or ease the transfer of ownership of it to enemies, because it is part of the Islamic public property. Granting ownership over Islamic territory or part of it to enemies is invalid and constitutes treason. ... Whoever sells his land to his enemies or takes compensation for it sins, as in doing so he aids in the removal of Muslims from their homes.”
[Official PA. daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2018]
Emphasizing that Jerusalem is an “Islamic waqf until Judgment Day” and that “no one has the right to relinquish it” or the Al-Aqsa Mosque, P.A. Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and Supreme Fatwa Council Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Hussein closely echoed the charter of the terror organization Hamas:
| P.A. Mufti: | Hamas Charter, Article 11: |
| “Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque are an Islamic waqf until Judgment Day; they cannot be sold, given away, or bequeathed, and no one has the right to relinquish them.” [Official P.A. daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2018] | “The Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.” |
The mufti added that “relinquishing Jerusalem or part of it, or part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to the enemies is like relinquishing Mecca and the Holy Mosque, or Medina and the Prophet’s Mosque.’ ” His remarks came in response to the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the recent transfer of the American embassy to the city. In what may have been a response to the mufti, Supreme Shari’ah Judge and Abbas’s Advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash said in his sermon a week after the mufti’s statements that “no one has sold Palestine”: “Anyone who thinks that the nation has sold its Palestine or its Jerusalem is just imagining things. Anyone who thinks that a day will come when the nation will sell one inch or millimeter of the blessed and sanctified land of Palestine is just imagining things. The entire nation says what [P.A. leader] Mahmoud Abbas said: ‘The Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, or Christian who will relinquish one inch of Jerusalem has not been born and will never be born.’ ” [Official P.A. TV, April 20, 2018] The full PMW report can be viewed here.
