Among the themes that I tend to focus on "heritage theft" is probably one of the least discussed and least understood.
This piece was written by Khaled Abu Toameh and published by the Jerusalem Post:
Top Islamic Egyptian scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi Thursday told Hamas leaders in that “Palestine was never a Jewish homeland.”Yusuf al-Qaradawi is allegedly a "top Islamic Egyptian scholar" and, yet, for him history is something that is entirely grounded in politics and completely malleable. Within the field of history there is a broad recognition of the subjectivity inherent to the discipline. We all understand that no one has a God's Eye View on the past. Our views are inevitably shaped, at least in part, by our inclinations, political and otherwise.
He said that Muslims would never make any concessions or recognize Israel.
“Palestine,” he claimed, “was and will remain Arab and Islamic. The homeland cannot be sold for money.”
Al-Qaradawi, who arrived in the Gaza Strip late Wednesday at the head of a delegation of 50 Islamic scholars from 14 countries, made his remarks during a meeting with members of the Hamas cabinet in Gaza City.
He said that Muslims were in conflict with Zionism, “which claims to be Jewish, but is far from being so.”
Al-Qaradawi added: “Zionism wants to devour the land under false pretexts. Palestine was never Jewish.”
{See: That Noble Dream: The 'Objectivity Question' and the American Historical Profession, written by Peter Novick and published by the Cambridge University Press.}
This does not mean, however, that our understanding of the past is purely arbitrary or purely subjective. While we understand that perfect objectivity is unattainable in the discipline, we also understand that objectivity is a goal to be striven for within our academic work.
This top Islamic Egyptian scholar apparently disagrees. For someone like Qaradawi the actual past is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is politics and, in this case, it is the politics of Sharia for the purpose of decimating the Jews on historically Jewish land. Any land that was ever part of the Umma - however small - must remain within the Umma and they are willing to fight to the death for this religious obligation. Recent history tells us that some people will say anything and do anything, including but not limited to, blowing up their own children for the cause of Islamic Supremacy in the Middle East.
This is a cold, hard, brutal fact, but it is a fact and we cannot avert our eyes out of some well-meaning, wishy-washy, politically correct social imperative.
Ted Belman at Israpundit posted this and it is worth giving a listen:
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