-Caveat Lector- Asalamu'alaikum Hudaibiyah Treaty at Center of Clash By Lawrence Morahan CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer August 08, 2001 http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200108\For20010808a.html (CNSNews.com) - The interpretation of a treaty signed 1,373 years ago between followers of the Prophet Muhammad and non-religious Arabs outside the holy city of Mecca has become the center of a dispute in Washington between opposing sides in the Middle East conflict. In a March 19 speech to a prominent pro-Israel group, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) said Yasser Arafat walked away from "a dream deal" at Camp David in July 2000. "Apparently, [Arafat's] approach to the peace process was based on the Treaty of 628 at Hudaibiyah, which was a treacherous treaty," Lantos told members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "Islamic forces made truce with non-Islamic elements, and they had no intention of keeping that agreement. They went on to attack, and destroyed those with whom they had made the treaty," he said. However, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent American Muslim group, took strong issue with Lantos' remarks. "There is not one shred of evidence to back up this false allegation," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a letter to Lantos. Muhammad and his companions made the agreement with pagan Arabs at Hudaibiyah in 628 A.D. so they would be allowed to make their pilgrimage to Mecca, Awad said, citing established historians. Two years later, the pagan Arabs broke the treaty by attacking and killing 20 of the Muslims, he said. "It is internationally recognized that when one party breaks a treaty, the other party is released from its obligations," Awad said. Even after the attack, no revenge was taken against those who broke the treaty, Ahmad said. In fact, when the Muslims finally entered Mecca, amnesty was granted to nearly all former enemies, he said. Lantos' remarks defamed the Islamic faith, said Omar Ahmad, chairman of CAIR. "This demonstrably false smear on the Prophet Muhammad's reputation is a common 'talking point' promoted by the pro-Israel lobby as justification for that state's brutal and racist policies," he said. Lantos, a long-time crusader for human rights worldwide and a founding co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said in an Aug. 3 reply that he intended no offense to Muslim believers nor any defamation of the Prophet Muhammad. His concern was not centered on the treaty as such, he said, but with Arafat's interpretation of it. "Mr. Arafat has repeatedly invoked the Treaty of Hudaibiyah in order to justify to religious Muslim audiences his signing of the Oslo agreement, which required his recognition of the state of Israel," Lantos said. "The clear inference has been that he is not forsaking the goal of conquest of all historic Palestine, rather that he is merely accepting a truce so as to be better positioned to achieve that goal," he added. Some saw political motives behind CAIR's letter of protest. "I think it has less to do with the speech than it does with Mr. Lantos' concerns about the upcoming conference on racism in South Africa," said a source in the House International Relations Committee, of which Lantos is the ranking Democrat. "Now they've suddenly found his speech and decided five months later that he was attacking Islam. That's certainly not what was done," the source said. But CAIR said Tuesday that Lantos' response came only after "hundreds of Muslims called, faxed and e-mailed his office to express outrage at his remarks." "While Representative Lantos says he had no intent to defame the Prophet Muhammad, he does not clearly retract his false allegation that the Prophet's actions were 'treacherous,'" Awad said. Awad also criticized representatives of the pro-Israel lobby for continuing to promote what he called "this slur against the Prophet Muhammad as an anti-Muslim 'talking point.'" 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