In a March 31, 2018 article in the Kuwaiti government daily Al-Watan, columnist 'Abdallah Al-Hadlaq harshly criticized the Hamas-led "Great Return March" initiative, stating that protests of this sort lead to chaos and are not accepted in Islam. Calling Hamas "terrorist" and "allied with Iran," he accused it of using women and children as human shields and described the marches as "provocative." He warned that the protests are likely to get out of hand and provoke violence by the Israeli Defense Forces, and that, like previous Palestinian protests, they will generate no international sympathy for the Palestinian cause. He also called U.S. President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the U.S. embassy there "courageous and correct."

This is not the first time Al-Hadlaq has castigated Hamas and Iran and praised Israel. In the past he was included on a "blacklist" of Arab writers who support Israel and oppose Hizbullah, Hamas and Iran.[1]

It should be noted that his March 31 article has been removed from Al-Watan's website. The following are translated excerpts from it: [2]



The article as it appeared on the Al-Watan website

"Demonstrations and sit-ins are un-Islamic and are unknown in Muslim history. These are non-Muslim methods that Islam does not accept. Violent demonstrations and sit-ins are negative phenomena that lead to chaos. All this [is based on] religious rulings by qualified fatwa-issuing bodies, and they apply to the calls issued by the terrorist Hamas movement, Iran's ally, to participate in a violent demonstration titled 'the Great Return March' and its call for women and children to lead the terrorists and inciters in breaching the Israeli border fence...

"Despite the organizers' promise to control the marches and demonstrations and keep them non-violent so as not to give the IDF an excuse to use force, [we can assume,] given the violent and aggressive character of the terrorist, pro-Iranian Hamas movement, and its habit of using civilians, [including] women and children, as human shields, [that] these demonstrations and marches will surely turn into violence, destruction and chaos, and will not manage to generate international sympathy for the 'Palestinians'[3] or any support for what they call their rights, especially the 'right of return.'

"The terrorist Palestinian factions decided to organize marches and demonstrations they call 'The Great Return March' near the Gaza-Israel border on the 42nd anniversary of the so-called Land Day. The organizers of these provocative marches and demonstrations began to level [the ground] along the border in order to set up a permanent protest-camp for the demonstrators. The IDF will surely not allow the rabble to cross the security fence [between Israel and] the Gaza Strip, and will handle the events from the perspective of Israel's might and national security. Accordingly, the IDF is making the necessary preparations and bringing in the reinforcements necessary to handle any possible development.

"The Palestinians' previous thuggish and violent marches and protests did not succeed, did not yield international solidarity with the Palestinians, and did not help [improve] the internal [Palestinian] situation by directing the Palestinian anger towards Israel... Israel's concern is that these marches may target [its territory], leading to escalation [of the violence] and to the launching of a larger and more violent operation on May 15, when America's 'Deal of the Century' [is to be revealed] and its decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem [is to be implemented].

"The IDF may use protest-dispersal means, such as airdropping flyers, shooting in the air and shooting tear-gas canisters in order to keep the marchers from reaching the border zone. The use of force by the IDF cannot be ruled out if [the protesters] try to closely approach the Israel-Gaza border, and then every kind of response may ensue.

"Any Palestinian proposal is doomed to fail, after President Trump took the courageous and correct decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel and to transfer of the U.S. embassy there, and announced the Deal of the Century, to end the eternal conflict between the state of Israel and the unceasing Palestinian stubbornness... [He did this] because Israel-U.S. relations are strategic and have cultural depth, so the U.S. will never conceivably give up [its support for] Israel, which is its foremost ally. The occasional disagreements between them are short-lived and confined to specific opinions and views. Israel serves the broad American plan, and the disagreements between them are negligible.

"Since December 6, 2017, when President Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and launched [the process of] moving the U.S. Embassy there, the Palestinian protests have remained very minor, and, according to current assessments, are dwindling to nothing. The Palestinian Authority6 called for protests, but it does not want violent protests. Hamas, on the other hand, tried to exploit this call [for protests] to spark a third intifada, but its efforts were in vain."