United Palestinians

Palestinians can achieve more if they unite now and face the Israelis with one voice in the final talks to delineate the Palestinian's state border, the future status of Jerusalem, settlement of refugees and water issues. At this critical time, the Israelis are united but the Palestinians are disunited. I hope Palestinians will listen to the following appeal:

1. Please forget the irrational and evil idea of destroying Israel and throwing it in the Mediterranean sea. The destruction of a nation and its people is not in the hand of man but Almighty God. (I have also written to the leaders of Israel and American Jews to forget about their evil ideas to destroy the Al Aqsa mosque in the hope of building their third temple at the site.)

2. Palestinian leaders must stop those few extremists who are conducting bombing of civilians to end the bloody act because such a behavior is un-Islamic and uncivilized, and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Moreover, these violent acts give the Israelis enough reasons to weaken their just and noble cause and project the darker side of Palestinians. The whole world knows that Israel's record is full of brutal and uncivilized acts, and they have their darker sides too. If Palestinians want to win their due rights, then they should aspire for a much higher moral standard and not behave like Israelis.

3. Palestinians have a just cause and they have every human right to struggle and recover their occupied lands as enshrined in the United Nations Charter but their methods must be peaceful and nonviolent. Victory is in God's hands and only He knows when and how it will come about.

4. Palestinian unity is the best way to achieve their objectives. United they will stand and divided they will fall. Unity does not mean that they all look alike or stop thinking individually. Unity means that everyone will have different approaches or ideas or beliefs but they will learn to respect and tolerate each other's opinion and strive for a consensus and have the unity of purpose.

M. KHALIQ QURESHI

Jakarta