Israel Matzav

Judea, Samaria and Andalusia

Yoram Ettinger argues that the reason why Israel can never buy peace by giving up land in Judea and Samaria can be found on the Iberian Peninsula in Andalusia. Andalusia is the name that the Muslim world uses to refer to the area of southwestern Spain that includes Grenada (whose most important landmark, the Alhambra Palace, is pictured above) and Cordoba, the birthplace of the Rambam (Maimonides).

This principle of "holy land" is permanent, and is stronger than any leader or passing policy, and it applies to any land that was ever under Islamic control. It is an inseparable part of the legacy of Muhammad and Islamic law, especially at this time of the surge of the trans-national Muslim Brotherhood, which views Allah, the Koran, the Prophet Muhammad, jihad and martyrdom as the goal, the law, the leader, the way and the exalted aspiration. Their loyalty to the "holy land" obligates Muslims to "holy war" and the restoration of sovereignty in the Philippines, Thailand, parts of China, Kashmir, Chechnya, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere.

The centrality of "holy land" in the Muslim experience can be understood from the example of Andalusia, the Arabic name for most of the Iberian Peninsula, which was under Islamic rule from 711-1492 C.E. The Muslim Golden Age did not take place between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, but rather in Andalusia, especially in the Alhambra palace/fortress in Granada. At the beginning of the 8th century, the Muslims conquered the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, Sicily and the Italian coastline and declared it "Abode of Islam." In 1492, Spain was liberated from the control of Muslims, who today still view "Andalusia" as their "holy land." Muslim terrorist plots in Madrid in March 2004 killed 191 people and wounded around 1,800. The attack intended to correct the "injustice of Andalusia." Saudi Arabia is constructing the second largest mosque in the world in Cordoba, the former capital of Andalusia, while mosques are springing up like mushrooms all over Spain.

Professor Efraim Karsh, head of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies at King's College in London, in his book "Islamic Imperialism" (Yale University Press, 2007), says: "In 1980, there was a huge map of Afghanistan on which large parts of what was then Soviet Central Asia and China's Xinjiang Province were labeled 'Temporarily Occupied Muslim Territory.’ Dr. Yusuf Qaradawi, a spiritual guide of the Muslim Brothers [said] the city of Hirqil [Constantinopol] will be conquered first … The other city Romiya, Rome ... we hope and believe that it too will be conquered … That means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror."

Recognition of foreign sovereignty over Muslim "holy land" amounts to humiliation, betrayal and servitude for Arabs and Muslims. The Treaty of Hudaybiyya from 628 C.E. set a precedent for the "phased plan," or for signing tactical agreements that temporarily relinquish "holy land," but never abandon the overarching, permanent strategy of reclaiming it all at a later stage.

Why do Israel's policymakers continue to delude themselves that it's otherwise?

Labels: Andalusia, Judea and Samaria, Waqf

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:47 PM