THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT INSIDE ISRAEL AN INTERVIEW WITH SHAYKH RA ID SALAH Shaykh Ra id Salah is one of the founders of the Islamic movement in Israel and one of the most important Arab religious and political leaders in the country. The movement, founded in the 1970s, emerged officially in the early 1980s when it fielded candidates in municipal elections. Since then, it has become one of the major political and social forces among Israel s Palestinian population, along with the communist (Hadash) and national democratic (Balad) parties. Over the past three decades the Islamic movement has gained wide popular support, largely because of its effective network of social services and welfare programs within the Palestinian community as well as in response to local and regional political developments, namely the rise of political Islam in the Middle East. In 1996, disagreement within the movement concerning participation in the national elections to the Israeli Knesset led to a split. Shaykh Salah became the head of the Northern Islamic Movement (so named because its leadership was concentrated mainly in Um al-fahm and northern Israel), which opposed participation in national elections on ideological grounds and takes part only in elections for the local councils. The Southern Islamic Movement, on the other hand, until recently headed by Shaykh Abdallah Nimr Darwish, opted to run in Knesset elections. Widely seen as more flexible and less militant, with greater willingness to accept Israel s identity as a Jewish state, the Islamic Movement s southern wing today has two Knesset seats (running as part of the United Arab List). However, the Shaykh Salah faction is the larger and more influential of the two. Despite his refusal to participate in Israeli parliamentary elections, Shaykh Salah is unquestionably a national figure. While mayor of Um al-fahm (from 1989, when he was elected with 73 percent of the vote, until his resignation in mid-2001), he served as vice chairperson of the National Committee of Arab Mayors. He continues to be a prominent member of the High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab Citizens in Israel, the most important leadership body of the Palestinian community in Israel. As founder and president of the al-aqsa Institution for Maintaining the Islamic Sacred Places, he has played an active role in the preservation of Arab religious sites, both Muslim and Christian, in Israel and the occupied territories. He has raised large sums for the repair and restoration of al-aqsa Mosque and works tirelessly to promote his movement as the true guardian of the Haram Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. XXXVI, No. 2 (Winter 2007), pp. 66 76 ISSN: 0377-919X; electronic ISSN: 1533-8614. C 2007 by the Institute for Palestine Studies. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press s Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: jps.2007.xxxvi.2.66.
INTERVIEW WITH SHAYKH RA ID SALAH 67 al-sharif. Every year the Northern Islamic Movement organizes a rally called al-aqsa Endangered in Um al-fahm, which attracts thousands of Palestinian citizens from across Israel. Shaykh Salah, known for his personal modesty and integrity, is adept at synthesizing religion and nationalism, a synthesis particularly evident in the centrality of al-aqsa mosque as both a religious and national symbol in his activism. The activities of Shaykh Salah and his movement have long been monitored by the Israeli government. The movement s weekly newspaper Sawt al-haq wal-hurriyya (Voice of Truth and Freedom) has been closed several times by administrative order. In September 1998, he was hospitalized after being beaten by police while protesting land confiscations near Um al-fahm, and on 1 October 2000 he was wounded by a rubber bullet during the demonstrations by Israel s Palestinian citizens at the start of the second intifada. In this latter connection, Shaykh Salah and two other Palestinian leaders (Azmi Bishara and Abd al-malik Dahamsha) received warning letters from the Or Commission, the official commission of inquiry established by the Israeli government to look into the October 2000 clashes, during which thirteen unarmed Palestinian citizens had been killed by police fire. The warning letter to Shaykh Salah accused him of supporting violence as a means to attain the goals of the Arab sector in Israel, of denying the legitimacy of the existence of Israel, and of portray[ing] the state as an enemy. The Or Commission reiterated these allegations in its final August 2003 report, which also found that Shaykh Salah had substantially contributed to provoking tempers and the violent and widespread outburst that took place in the Arab sector at the beginning of October 2000. Nonetheless, the Commission concluded that since Shaykh Salah no longer held public office, having in the meantime resigned as mayor of Um al-fahm, there was no need to make a recommendation regarding him. The commission s warning letters and accusations against the Arab leaders were widely criticized in the Palestinian community as attempts to absolve the Israeli government of responsibility for the October events. In any case, by the time the Or Commission report was issued Shaykh Salah was already in prison and facing trial, having been arrested in May 2003 and charged along with four other members of the Northern Islamic Movement for supporting terrorism by raising money for West Bank Islamic charities claimed by Israel to be linked to Hamas and for contacting a foreign agent (i.e., Iran). In the course of the trial, which lasted more than a year and a half, the charges were scaled back and the charge of contact with Iran was dropped. In January 2005, Shaykh Salah was sentenced as part of a plea bargain to three and a half years imprisonment (including three years of suspended sentence). He was released in July 2005.
68 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES Shaykh Salah was interviewed in his office in Um al-fahm on 28 May 2006 by Jamil Dakwar, a member of the JPS Editorial Committee and former senior attorney with Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, who also wrote this introduction. The interview, conducted in Arabic, was translated by Aiman Haddad. Dakwar: Can you give us a brief account of the establishment and development of the Islamic Movement under your leadership? Shaykh Salah: The Islamic Movement was established in the mid-1970s and has been concerned with preserving the identity of its followers and with integrating their Islamic, Arab, and Palestinian dimensions. At the same time the movement seeks, through its members and institutions, to protect our existence on our land, defend our rights and sacred sites, and assume our legitimate role in supporting the Palestinian people. We are particularly concerned about the status of Jerusalem and its holy places, especially al-aqsa Mosque. Currently, the movement enjoys good relations with the entire political and religious spectrum of the Arab Palestinian community within the 1948 borders, and at the same time endeavors to play a positive role with respect to Palestinian society in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Dakwar: The Palestinians seem to be living a new political reality since Hamas won the elections for the legislative council. How do you see the situation? Shaykh Salah: The Palestinian people are not living a new reality; they continue to live in the same conditions as in previous years. Their misery remains the same, meaning that the occupation including the policies of assassinating Palestinian leaders, collective punishment, and siege continues. Israel s attempt to evade the just demands of the Palestinian people regarding the establishment of a state is not new either, nor is its refusal to withdraw its settlers from Palestinian lands, protect Jerusalem and its sacred sites, and release Palestinian prisoners, now numbering in the thousands. I emphasize this point because it is unfair to claim that the Palestinians are experiencing such suffering today simply because they exercised their legitimate right to elect their leaders. At present, the Israeli establishment is trying to exploit the new political situation to push the Palestinians toward civil war by encouraging disputes among the various political forces. This also is not new. Palestinians in the past managed to foil these attempts, and I am confident that they will do so again. Dakwar: Could you say something about the relationship between your movement and the Islamic movements of the occupied territories, especially Hamas? Shaykh Salah: Our relations with other parties are transparent and we have no secret dealings to conceal. This applies to our relations with the entire political and religious spectrum within the 1948 borders and to our relations
INTERVIEW WITH SHAYKH RA ID SALAH 69 with Palestinian society as a whole in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, of which Hamas is a part. We don t deny the importance we attach to Palestinian unity or our efforts to promote it, including our meetings with the late president Yasir Arafat, Palestinian ministers, and various political leaders, including those of Fatah and Hamas, during periods of serious dispute. Those meetings were not only open but were also part of the agenda of the High Follow-Up Committee; in fact, I represented the consensus of the political forces in the 1948 borders at those meetings. Dakwar: Can you tell us about your detention and trial for supporting terrorism, which not coincidentally followed Israel s crackdown on the Islamic Movement after 9/11 and the U.S. declaration of its global war on terrorism? Shaykh Salah: I was arrested in May 2003, and I was in prison for over two years, including the period of the trial. Officially, I was charged under the antiterrorism laws because our organization collected money for charities in the occupied territories, but to this day I don t know the real reasons for my arrest and imprisonment. Maybe it had something to do with our role in thwarting Israel s schemes targeting al-aqsa Mosque through our rehabilitation and restoration works, even though we worked under the umbrella of the al-awqaf Committee and the al-aqsa Mosque Restoration Committee. Another factor may have been our contacts (though open and legal) with Islamic and Arab institutions in implementing projects critical to the life of our community inside the 1948 borders (such as building private schools, hospitals, and cultural centers and providing assistance to our people in the Negev and the coastal cities). There was also our support again entirely open for our people in the occupied territories under siege, through providing relief and medicine and equipment for hospitals and so on. We were surprised when we suddenly found ourselves being investigated for these activities, as if helping Palestinian orphans, sick persons, widows, and students had now become illegal activities in support of terrorism. Or maybe it was our initiative to survey all the awqaf [Islamic endowments] holdings and the various Islamic and Christian sacred sites. Of course, long before the trial, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon explicitly called for outlawing the Islamic Movement in newspapers such as Maariv and Ha Aretz, and at one point even said he had given orders to the security apparatus to track us. So we understood that a file was being prepared on us and that we could expect arrests among our members. Dakwar: Do you think the Islamic Movement is still under surveillance? Shaykh Salah: Absolutely, and I have no doubt that surveillance has been increased. We do not rule out the possibility of further charges and arrests, The reference is to the Palestinian perception of an Israeli plan to transfer control of the site to Jewish religious authorities Ed.
70 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES even though we work transparently through legal institutions registered at the Israeli ministries. Our financial activities are on record at banks and our account numbers are known. Our institutions from our kindergartens and private schools to hospitals and clinics to cultural and sporting literary institutions are officially recognized by the appropriate licensing bodies and present their reports to the appropriate official parties. Everything we do is within a 100 percent legal and transparent framework, yet it seems that we remain constantly accused. We said that we realize the reality we live in, but it is our right to preserve our identity, social values, the existence of our civil institutions, and the attempt to approach independent thinking and decision-making, and shoulder the burden of the Palestinian society within the 1948 borders. It is also our right to attempt to find solutions for our problems instead of just complaining about them. These are the general characteristics of the Islamic Movement. Dakwar: In a series of articles that you published under the title Toward a Self-Reliant Society, you mentioned several faith-based initiatives such as reviving al-awqaf as an economic lever and the establishment of the One Thousand Charitable Fund and more. Can you tell us more about these initiatives? Shaykh Salah: First of all, these initiatives, which we are still developing, are deep-rooted concepts and not personal opinions that the Islamic Movement presented to the people. They have religious and historical roots in Islamic and Arab culture; we are simply trying to revive them now. Al-Zakat, for example, is one of the five pillars of Islam, so we are calling for the revival of this as an act of worship that undoubtedly has its benefits with regard to social solidarity among the Palestinian society inside the 1948 borders. When we talk about inheritance, we don t mean a civil law defining the concept of inheritance, but rather a certain law specified by the Islamic shari a that clarifies the details of the process. We do not deny that it has its benefits with regards to social solidarity among all Palestinians within the 1948 borders. In our efforts to encourage the revival of these values, we do not simply leave it to individuals to revive them on their own. Al-Waqf Foundation, for example, covers the endowments that people have been setting up including real estate waqf that people have been offering to invest and revive as an economic lever as they were in the past. Waqf properties before the Palestinian Nakba [catastrophe] constituted almost 7 percent of the area of historic Palestine. Dakwar: Can you tell us something about the movement s One Thousand Charitable Fund? Shaykh Salah: This was something we began promoting at meetings in our community in the Negev, the Triangle, Galilee, and the coastal cities. The idea was to mobilize 1,000 of our people who would each commit to donate $1,000 annually. In some 23 meetings, we succeeded in getting more than 500 people to sign up, and we are confident that we will soon reach 1,000. Our intention is
INTERVIEW WITH SHAYKH RA ID SALAH 71 not to stop there, but to get 2,000 people, 3,000 people to sign up, so the fund will be the Two Thousand, or the Three Thousand Charitable Fund, and so on. We believe that such funds must be given a global dimension. We are aware of the complexities involved and are registering all the appropriate documents locally and internationally so that everything will be entirely legal and transparent. The One Thousand Charitable Fund, which is under our management, will be a vehicle for reaching out to the widest segment possible of the Islamic and Arab world so that they may join ranks with us to adopt these projects. You may ask who are the beneficiaries of the services offered under the various programs. Some may think that services will be provided on a sectarian or partisan basis, but this assuredly will not be the case. Palestinian society encompasses a spectrum of religious and political beliefs, and if we want to live as part of our society, we cannot view it from a narrow perspective. Therefore, in providing services, we take into account that we are addressing the entire spectrum of our society. Earlier I mentioned our project of surveying al-waqf properties and sacred sites that had been neglected and scattered; we surveyed not only mosques and Muslim cemeteries but also churches and Christian cemeteries in our efforts to preserve a heritage that had almost disappeared not as a result of natural causes but from deliberate Israeli campaigns. One would need an entire interview to describe their methods to eliminate this religious, cultural, and historical legacy. I should also mention that we are about to inaugurate the first hospital in the town of Tamra, which will be open to all segments of Palestinian society, as will all our future private hospitals and schools. We also help university students, regardless of their religious or political affiliation, by offering scholarships, within our available resources, through our educational foundation, Iqra. Dakwar: Give some examples of projects that could be launched through reaching out to the wider Arab and Muslim world through the One Thousand Charitable Fund. Shaykh Salah: There are momentous issues that tragically are being ignored. For example, everyone speaks of the right of return, but what good does it do to talk about the right of return when our lands are being expropriated and we remain silent? We need to act to preserve this land if we are to tell the refugees preserve your right of return. There should be an initiative to establish a special fund to protect the refugees legitimate right of return by challenging land expropriations. In fact, as we all know, land confiscations are a major problem both within the 1948 borders and in the occupied territories, and there is need for three separate funds to protect Palestinian lands. In Jerusalem, there is a war going on over each house, each shop, each piece of property. When we have the slogan that Jerusalem is Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian, we cannot just stand by and do nothing while Zionist groups, unfortunately supported by U.S. institutions and individuals, continue expropriations there to close the Jerusalem file. There is a pressing need to set up a fund to save Jerusalem before it is literally lost. A third, parallel issue is the ongoing expropriation of large
72 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES swaths of the West Bank, which threatens the future of the Palestinian project. There needs to be a fund to protect West Bank land as well. It might seem tedious to have to keep repeating the need for rescue funds for this or that, but this is the bitter reality we are living. Dakwar: Getting back to the Islamic Movement s more local initiatives, what would the social orientation be, say, of the hospitals and schools you are establishing? With regard to schools, would there be separate ones for boys and girls? Shaykh Salah: Let me say first that it s extremely unfair to associate separating male and female students with the Islamic Movement. Many countries in Europe have policies of segregated education this is the case in about a third of the schools in Britain. There are reports indicating that the rate of educational success in sex-segregated schools is higher than in coeducational schools. So it is not a terrible, unprecedented trend if we decide to apply sex-segregated education in our private schools. Moreover, in Um al-fahm we have two secondary schools, one for girls and next to it one that is mixed, so we offer a choice for female students to attend either a mixed school or a girls school. We are trying to be fair with everyone this way. We are following this path concerning our private schools, and we will see what people decide. If we find there is an interest in sex segregation, we will go for segregated education, and if we find there is an interest in letting students choose, we will let them do so. In short, we will choose at every stage in the coming years whichever path reflects the public interest. We do not have a predetermined orientation. We will try to benefit from experience and improve that experience to achieve success, God willing. Dakwar: I also want to ask about general social issues, like honor killings in the Palestinian society. Where does the Islamic Movement stand with respect to this phenomenon? Shaykh Salah: We have not ignored this. We have a women s magazine called Ishraq, managed by an editorial board consisting of women from various disciplines, which devoted an entire issue to this topic. We are clear in our rejection of trends that seek to turn our society into a decadent one, without values or ethics. We have our values and constraints that ensure familial and societal cohesion and protect the morals and ethics of individuals, both men and women. Adultery is strictly forbidden. It completely contradicts the value of honor, and we must combat all the trends that encourage it in one way or another, whether these trends originate from women s organizations or from those who appoint themselves to make pronouncements on all manner of issues. If people or groups are to be free to express themselves, we also are free to reject these calls that promote decadence and undermine moral values, and we combat these calls on the clear basis of Quranic law and with logical and persuasive arguments addressing both the mind and the heart. We cannot do more than that and we do not call for more than that. Certainly, we reject killing as a means
INTERVIEW WITH SHAYKH RA ID SALAH 73 to protect the value of honor. Adultery must be combated, but through dealing effectively with its causes. The weaknesses that lead people down these paths cannot be treated by killing, but through the revival of religious, historical, and cultural traditions, as well as ethics, values, and Islamic, Arab, and Palestinian codes of behavior. Experience drawn from Arab and Islamic history can provide clues for dealing with such breaches that split families apart and drain them of their values. There is an incident that always gives me pause. It was when the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked a group of Arab women to pledge that they would not commit adultery. One of these women, the wife of a renowned leader [qa id], stood up and exclaimed, shocked, What? Do free women ever commit adultery?! The meaning is that there was no need for such an oath: this was a value that everyone agreed on, even in the pre-islamic era. It is therefore a value with deep Arab and Islamic roots, and it is a value deeply held by Palestinians. So yes, we call for standing against destructive westernization. Yes, we call for preserving our religious, historical, cultural, and ethical heritage, as well as our values and code of behavior. Our stand on these issues is clear, but once again, we reject treating breaches of these values with the so-called honor killings. Dakwar: To return to the political scene, there are some who claim that the two-state solution is, given the situation on the ground, no longer a realistic solution. What is your opinion about this? Shaykh Salah: We should first ask: does the Israeli establishment recognize a collective right for the Palestinian people? From my observation, Israel wants to fragment this collective right. It does not want to permit any framework for a collective right that preserves the unity of the Palestinian people. The construction of the apartheid wall in the West Bank, the fences around Gaza, and the cantonization of the West Bank that segments it into large prisons prisons in the shape of a city, or cities with prison conditions are all part of this fragmentation. So the fact that there are various options being debated does not stem from the question of whether or not the Palestinian people should have a state, but from Israel s determination to shatter the unity of the Palestinian people s right. After all this, they ask the Palestinians what they want. In my opinion, this is like asking the Palestinians to choose whether they want to be killed with a machine gun or a knife. What are the choices? That Gaza remain as an independent emirate under siege, or that the emirate of Gaza be part of an Arab country or administered by Arab countries? Should we agree to let the northern West Bank be part of one entity, and the southern part of another? These are crimes, and we reject them without hesitation. We do not believe that the march of history is inevitably coercive. We do not believe that this oppression, perpetrated by Israel with American support, is eternal or historically inevitable. Eventually, it will collide with the will of the people. Our position supports the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is well known who it is that has deliberately created obstacles in the way of establishing a Palestinian state. Justice in this case should be the elimination of
74 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES those obstacles whatever their nature. The International Court of Justice in The Hague did not hesitate to pronounce the apartheid wall illegal and called for its dismantlement. All these things known as facts on the ground should be dismantled. When thieves rob a bank in the United States, they create facts on the ground. Does U.S. law seek to excuse them on that basis, or does it put them in jail? The murderer who breaks into a school in the U.S. and kills students also creates facts on the ground. Are excuses found for him, or is he sentenced to life imprisonment, with some calling for his execution? Why is it that when it comes to the rights of the Palestinian people, respect for the law is replaced with facts on the ground? We believe that all of these facts on the ground separation walls, settlements, bypass roads, and security and military roads must be removed, and there should be respect for the principle of the existence of a collective right for the Palestinian people. This will not happen unless a Palestinian state is established. Dakwar: Concerning the organization of the Palestinian community within the 1948 borders, there is some debate about the High Follow-Up Committee, specifically whether it should be transformed into a democratic and elected institution or reworked to become a kind of local parliament for the Palestinian community here involving a degree of self-administration at the political, economic, educational, cultural, and religious levels, a body that seeks to embody the aspirations of Palestinians within the 1948 borders. What are your thoughts on this? Shaykh Salah: The High Follow-Up Committee is not an idea in the planning stage, but a body that already exists. It needs to become more representative and efficient. There are several ideas on the table, but so far nothing has been done. A few years back there were some meetings aimed at rebuilding the High Follow-Up Committee and the Islamic Movement submitted written proposals including one that aimed at a process in which all Palestinians within the 1948 borders could vote for the committee directly. But we have to lay the foundations for such participation thoroughly and slowly we have to reach agreement among all the political movements before arriving at a situation where direct elections would be possible. In brief, let me say that we are convinced of two things: first, that the High Follow-Up Committee must be safeguarded at all costs, with its role and tasks activated; and second, that we must all strive to create the conditions and achieve the required consensus among the political forces so that there can be direct elections. Dakwar: What about reviving the role of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), as is now being discussed? Does the Islamic Movement envisage any role in this process and would it seek representation in the PLO for the Palestinians within the 1948 borders? Shaykh Salah: The PLO was created to alleviate the burdens of the Palestinian people, not the other way around the people should not have to put up with the afflictions of the PLO. In order to serve the Palestinian people, the
INTERVIEW WITH SHAYKH RA ID SALAH 75 PLO has to be as representative as possible, reflecting the reality of present-day Palestinians in terms of where they live, their political affiliations and opinions, and taking into account the political, institutional, and societal changes they have witnessed. As for us, the Palestinians within the 1948 borders, I believe that we need to maintain a relationship with the PLO, a transparent, legal, and open relationship defined by the interests of the Palestinian people and channeled through the High Follow-Up Committee. It is very clear that the High Follow-Up Committee is our framework within the 1948 borders, so I think it is clear that the relationship should be between the PLO and the High Follow-Up Committee. I cannot offhand identify the modalities of the relationship, but it is very important that there be one, especially given the momentous issues faced by all the Palestinians. I mentioned earlier issues like land expropriations and its impact on the right of return. This issue does not concern only us, but Palestinians everywhere; it s the backbone of the Palestinian cause. We may have an opinion on this issue that we want to present through this legal and transparent relationship and through the High Follow-Up Committee with the PLO. We also have opinions on the issue of al-awqaf and the sacred sites, as well as the fate of political prisoners within the 1948 borders, that we would want to express. Dakwar: If you were able to send a message to the leaders in the West, particularly in the United States, concerning issues important to the Islamic movement, what would it be? Shaykh Salah: Leaderships change yesterday it was Nixon or Carter or Clinton, today it is Bush, and who knows who it will be tomorrow. So it is the Western public, the people, that we are interested in addressing. Our Islamic, Arab, and Palestinian values impel us to communicate on the basis of civilized dialogue carrying a message of love for human existence and a call for cooperation aimed at promoting lives of health and happiness for ordinary people and defending their collective and individual rights, as well as their just demands to protect their livelihood, religion, and heritage. These are the values we find in our Islamic, Arab, and Palestinian identity. We have no problems with the Western public, and we reject the notion of an inevitable clash of civilizations with the western world. Our values are clear: O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. This is the past, present, and future difference that leads to the existence of different peoples and concepts, but the Holy Qur an emphasizes that despite these differences the foundation of this relationship is to know one another, knowledge here being that which involves goodness and casts out evil. It is very clear that if there is environmental pollution in Um al-fahm, it may also threaten London and Washington and so on. At present there are momentous issues that threaten the entire world, but they could also bring us together. However, this will not happen if the official political leadership in the west remains under the sway of the American and British Zionist lobbies, or if the leadership in Europe, in addition to being pressured by the Zionist lobby,
76 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES remains controlled by U.S. official policy. Such pressures lead to futile losses without any benefits in return. Why are American and Western soldiers being killed in Iraq or Afghanistan? What benefits them there? We would like to invite the Western people to look inward, to take time for introspection, and to stand up to their leaderships and demand policies that will benefit them, and us, and all humans with a conscience who believe in values of the human civilization like justice, truth, peace, and freedom. Shaykh Ra id Salah in a Tel Aviv court during a remand hearing, 13 May 2003. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)