On Saturday Mahmoud Abbas hosted a celebration of Mohammed's birthday at his presidential palace in Ramallah.
Abbas' Presidential Advisor for Religious Affairs, Mahmoud al -Habash, gave a a speech on Abbas' behalf. In the speech, he said, "We are the heirs of the Pact of Umar, which the head of Palestine inherits today...through brotherhood among the Palestinian people, and through the work on the unity of our people."
Habash added that "this anniversary as an opportunity to renew our covenant to our Holy Prophet, ...you are the successor to [uphold] the pact of Umar and return Jerusalem under the banner of Palestine. "
Abbas was in the audience, applauding.
What is the Pact of Umar?
There are differing opinions as to its exact provisions, but it is the prototype of how to treat non-Muslims in an Islamic nation. The Pact itself may have been written specifically for non-Muslims in Jerusalem. According to Wikipedia, some of the rules include:
- Prohibition against building new churches, places of worship, monasteries, monks or a new cell. Hence it was also forbidden to build new synagogues.This is in exchange for being "protected."
- Prohibition against rebuilding destroyed churches, by day or night, in their own neighborhoods or those situated in the quarters of the Muslims.
- Prohibition against hanging a cross on the Churches.
- Muslims should be allowed to enter Churches (for shelter) in any time, both in day and night.
- Christians were forbidden to show their religion in public, or to be seen with Christian books or symbols in public, on the roads or in the markets of the Muslims.
- Palm Sunday and Easter parades were banned.
- Funerals should be conducted quietly.
- Prohibition against telling a lie about Muslims.
- If a Muslim wishes to sit, non-Muslim should be rise from his seats and let the Muslim sit.
- Prohibition against riding animals in the Muslim custom, and prohibition against riding with a saddle.
- Prohibition against any possession of weapons.
- Non-Muslims must host a Muslim passerby for at least 3 days and feed him.
- Prohibition against non-Muslims to lead, govern or employ Muslims.
- The worship places of non-Muslims must be lower in elevation than the lowest mosque in town.
- The houses of non-Muslims must not be taller in elevation than the houses of Muslims.
- Houses of the non-Muslims must be short so that each time that they would enter or exit their houses they would have to bend, in a way that it would remind them of their low status in the world.
Abbas apparently approved and applauded a speech where he is regarded as the modern heir to the Pact of Umar where Jews and Christians are systematically discriminated against.
Ironically, this blatant exhortation supporting Muslim supremacism and keeping non-Muslims as second-class citizens in "Palestine" was given on December 10 - Human Rights Day.