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Ahmed Al-Khalidi

@khalidi79397

One of Hamas’s oldest justifications for endless war is religious: they say all of Palestine is a waqf - a holy Islamic trust that belongs to God and can never be given up or shared. To a Western ear, that might sound poetic or symbolic. But it’s not. In Islamic law, a waqf is an eternal endowment - land that can never be sold, divided, or negotiated. So when Hamas calls all of Palestine a waqf, what they really mean is: 1. peace is illegal 2. compromise is sin 3. coexistence is forbidden That idea didn’t come from thin air. It’s written directly in their founding charter from 1988: “The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [holy possession] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part, or abandon it or any part of it.” - Hamas Charter, Article 11 That’s not politics. That’s a religious veto on peace itself. In 2017, Hamas tried to sound more moderate. They released a new “policy document” that dropped the word waqf, but they never canceled the old charter. They still refuse to recognize Israel, and they still talk about “liberating all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.” It’s a rebranding, not reform. And that’s the core problem: When your ideology says God forbids compromise, no ceasefire or peace deal can ever last. This isn’t about justice or freedom anymore. It’s about theology being used to trap people in an endless war that serves only those in power. Because in this logic, even if Gaza were rebuilt, even if borders were redrawn, Hamas would still claim the war must go on because heaven demands it. As a Palestinian, I reject that. My faith doesn’t require me to destroy my neighbor to prove my devotion. And no piece of land is more sacred than a child’s life. Until we free ourselves from this myth of sacred land, we’ll remain prisoners - not of Israel, but of an idea that belongs to the 7th century.