Sayyed Fadlullah describes the attacks against maritime shipping and aircrafts as a huge crime which Islam rejects
| The Sayyed called on the Arabs to shoulder their responsibilities vis-à-vis the piracy of homelands and the Israeli piracy against the Lebanese sovereignty |
His Eminence, the Religious Authority Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlullah, said that the attacks staged against maritime shipping and aircrafts and international transportation networks represent a huge crime which Islam rejects, because it harms the people's interests and the public order.
His Eminence called on the Arabs to assume their responsibilities and deter the pirates of the homelands. He also pointed to the piracy and organized crime perpetrated by Israel on a daily basis against the Palestinian people, questioning the reasons behind the silence of the Arabs on the Zionist air piracy and continued Israeli aggressions on the Lebanese sovereignty.
The security chaos that exists in the world is expanding day after day - in the form of a sea piracy as the case is on the shores of Somalia, or in the form of bombings and terrorist operations such as the attacks carried out few days ago in Mumbai, in addition to the mobile events that are in fact "normal" reactions to the occupation as in Afghanistan and Iraq and Darfur. This chaos represents an attempt to fiddle with global security and the security of the people of the third world in particular.
The messed up global security resulted from various reasons, namely the chaos created by the American Neo-conservative administration all over the place. The sectarian or confessional chaos that was or might be created here and there is deeply rooted in previous American decisions that were implemented through cutting off the strong bonds and ties between sects and ethnicities. Hence, the US manipulated this chaos in its game to control oil and the strategic positions in the world.
We used to say, ever since the US administration decided to fiddle with the security of the countries and spread chaos everywhere, that the Americans are able of spreading chaos, but they will be unable to control it and prevent it from expanding to other places.
While we condemn all acts of violence and looting and kidnapping operations, including sea piracy, the sphere of which has widened off the coast of Somalia and Aden recently, we call for a thorough study of the reasons and facts that rendered Somalia an arena for international chaos, especially since we know that the Bush administration has worked hard to create new chaotic arenas in the region. This administration wanted Somalia to be a new arena that embraces violent elements in order to reduce pressures practiced in other arenas such as Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, this administration wanted to revenge against the Somali people who drove the Americans out of Somalia in the past in a humiliating and degrading manner.
We consider that attacking transportation networks, maritime ships, and aircrafts is a huge crime which Islam rejects and punishes its perpetrators, because the issues is not only about the interests of the governments, but the interests of the people and their public order which should be respected regardless of the identity of those on board of these aircrafts or the beneficiaries from them. At the same time, we call for fighting piracy with its various faces and forms, namely the political form of piracy which confiscates homelands and allows the enemy to occupy others' lands and spread chaos and expel the original owners of the lands.
Therefore, we understand the recent Arab calls to confront the pirates off the shores of Somalia, and we affirm that they have to shoulder their responsibilities to confront the pirates of the homelands, namely the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Israel commits atrocities and massacres, practices starvation, and lays an unjust siege on Gaza, while no measures are being taken to deter it. The Arabs should not only send nominal aid for the Palestinian people, but they have to break the blockade instead. They also have to take measures against the Zionist air piracy and continued aggressions against the Lebanese sovereignty and Israel's threats to destroy the Lebanese infrastructure.
We believe that the Arabs should not only convene protocol meetings under the auspices of the Arab League, seeing that they are living in a state of unbalance. In light of the existential threat engulfing the Arabs, they should search for their destiny, which is vulnerable to blockade and starvation, as the picture is at the gates of Gaza and inside Palestine that is between two fires: the Zionists and the killing Arab silence.