IMAD-AD-DEAN AHMAD'S ADDRESS TO THE FIRST CONFERENCE ON JERUSALEM
(BEIRUT, LEBANON January 29, 2001)
Bism Allâh ar-Rahmân ar-Rahîm
As-salâmu alaikum wa rahmatullah.
Brothers and Sisters:
First, allow me to apologize for speaking in English.Although
I am a Palestinian whose mother was born and raised in Jerusalem
and whose father was born in a small village that the Israelis
have now partially incorporated into Jerusalem through their
expansion of the definition of the city’s borders, yet I must
speak in English because my Arabic is inadequate to the task.It
is a poor excuse for my weak Arabic, but it is nonetheless a
fact that I have never lived in the Arab world because I was
born a refugee on a ship on the Atlantic Ocean as my mother
fled to America in 1948.I
was born stateless like my people.
|
Four members of the American delegation to
the "First Conference on Jerusalem" in Beirut
in January, 2001: Ahmed Yusef, Abdurrahman
Alamoudi, Yaser Bushnaq, and Imad-ad-Dean
Ahmad. |
I
came to this meeting looking forward to dealing with practical issues
of constructing a new international organization dedicated to the liberation
of Jerusalem.After listening
to the general comments today, I have no doubt of the firmness of the
conviction of every person here to see Jerusalem liberated.But
as you are my brothers and sisters I must speak to you frankly about
my concerns. The Zionists in America claim that the Arab and Muslim
defenders of Palestine speak with a different voice in Arabic than they
do in English.Throughout the
proceedings I have been appalled at frequent requests to the translator
to stop translating into English.In
the Qur’an Allah (swt) says that secret councils are the work of the
devil.Anyone ashamed of his own opinions should refuse to say them in any
language.My suggestion and recommendation
is that we stop speaking only to one another and speak to the world.
Our
effectiveness will depend on the intelligence with which we pursue it.Misunderstanding of the forces against us will
not bring us nearer to our goal.I
inform you that the support of Zionism which is the policy of the American
government is not the result of a disposition toward Zionism by the
American people but because of the their ignorance.The
American people are well-meaning, but lack knowledge of the true nature
of Zionism, hearing only what the Zionist-controlled media and politicians
have let them know.But the lion’s
share of the blame lies not with the Zionists nor with the slavish media
nor the corrupt politicians: it lies with us that we have not been frank
and direct with the people of America and the world, preferring to work
with corrupt governments in the Muslim world or with power-hungry revolutionary
movements that would be no better than the tyrants they would replace,
as the PA demonstrates.
The
American people are unaware of Zionism’s history, its racist foundation,
its colonialist nature, and the systematic brutality of its daily dealings
with the indigenous people of Palestine.Most
Americans do not even know that there are Christian Palestinians.
Without
American aid to Israel, Israeli intransigence would become impossible.The education of the American people is an invaluable
element of the work before us. I came here in the hopes that this organization
could play a role in that education.If this organization will abandon the duplicitous and heirarchical
modes of operation that have plagued the Muslim world for hundreds of
years and operate as the open and transparent agency of afraid of no
one and nothing but Allah subhana wa ta’allah, then my hopes, including
the liberation of Palestine, may yet come to pass.
Akûlu kawla hadhi
wa astghfirallahul adhîm.
Jazâkum Allah al-khair!
Imad-ad-Dean
Ahmad
