Palestinian MP and Head of the Palestinian Islamic Scholars Association Hamed Al-Bitawi: All Agreements with the Zionists Are Null and Void

Following is an interview with Palestinian MP Hamed Al-Bitawi, head of the Palestinian Islamic Scholars Association, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 15, 2007:

Interviewer: What is the religious legal position of the Palestinian Scholars Association regarding those who signed agreements with the Zionist occupation, giving them the right... or rather, depriving the Palestinian people of the Right of the Return?

Hamed Al-Bitawi: Any agreement between the Zionists and the Palestinians in the previous government, or the PLO, or any Arab country that gave the Jews the right to Palestine... Such agreements are null and void from the religious and legal point of view, and are rejected. They will be swept into the garbage dumps of history. What about those who sign such agreements? Nobody whatsoever has the right to do this.

Interviewer: What is the ruling...

Hamed Al-Bitawi: Could you repeat the question?

Interviewer: What is the Shari'a ruling regarding those who sign such documents?

Hamed Al-Bitawi:They are sinners and criminals. Nobody whatsoever has the right to give up on the Al-Aqsa mosque, on Jerusalem, and on Palestine, on Haifa, and on Jaffa. The soil of these cities was seeped in the blood of the mujahideen. The companions of the Prophet are buried in them. Thousands of mujahideen have been buried over the course of history. Nobody – no organization of anything else – is allowed to give the Jews the right to Palestine. The Jews have no rights in Palestine. Palestine is an Arab and Islamic land, and nobody is allowed to forsake any part of Palestine. Any agreement or negotiations that grant the Jews any rights in Palestine are null and void from the perspective of Islamic law. Our religion does not accept such an agreement, and nor do our national interest or the interest of humanity.