The battle against terror… or rather the Middle East
I should probably place inverted commas around terror because it’s once so clear and true definition has been modified greatly. This current war has been the greatest test to the Middle East and the Middle failed. There was a time when the Arabs stood together as one. There was a time when the Arab World were United. There was a time when the first people that the Arab leaders cared about were the Arabs.
But my goodness have things changed.
The people of the Arab World want those days back but unfortunately they aren’t the ones that leaders would listen to. People can march the streets and raise their voices to be heard. Heard they are but muted they will be. During the war on Gaza, British journalists went around the streets of Egpyt asking what the Egyptians how they felt – it was almost the same words said over and over again. Ashamed, frustrated, disappointed. They had every reason to be since the rest of the world was doing more than the Arabs.
Robert Fisk sums it up brilliantly:
“To admit that Egypt can’t even open its sovereign border without permission from Washington tells you all you need to know about the powerlessness of the straps that run the Middle East for us.
Open the Rafah gate – or break off relations with Israel – and Egypt’s economic foundations crumble. Any Arab leader who took that kind of step will find that the West’s economic and military support is withdrawn. Without subventions, Egypt is bankrupt…
… It is the corruption that has become embedded in an Egyptian society where the idea of service – health, education, genuine security for ordinary people – has simply ceased to exist. It’s a land where the first duty of the police is to protect the regime,…
…There has developed in Egypt a kind of religious facade in which the meaning of Islam has become effaced by its physical representation. Egyptian civil “servants” and government officials are often scrupulous in their religious observances – yet they tolerate and connive in rigged elections, violations of the law and prison torture”
It’s sad to say that this is all true. That the first people that come to the minds of the leaders are not their own people or their fellow Arabs – it’s the rest of the world, and their pockets of cash. But how can one look at the world if he cannot look at his own people or even listen to them? That is a sign of a failed leadership. Queen Rania launched a YouTube Channel to tackle against Arab stereotypes. But why tackle that first without tackling the issues among the Arab countries first? The world wouldn’t be so negative if the Arabs stood together as one. But they didn’t. They crumbled and the cracks were played with. They were made the laughing stocks of the world.
Norman Finkelstein in an interview:
“How can you expect other people to show respect Arabs if you can’t show respect for yourself?”
“… So many dead, so much destruction, before the bodies are even berried, before the buildings are rebuilt, the person responsible for it you can’t wait to welcome him [Bush], you can’t wait to roll out the red carpet. I can’t respect that…”
“…The Secretary of State [Rice] said it was the birth pangs of a new Middle East. That’s a statement of a freak. A human freak would compare the birth of a child with the destruction of a country, and yet, there are people here who are so anxious to welcome her. They are trying to figure out what the Americans are thinking. They can’t wait for their banquets. How can anyone respect that?…”
“… All the deaths and all the destruction and you can’t wait to welcome him.
“… It’s better to dies on your feet than to walk crawling on you knees”
Norman shows his respect for Hizbollah despite the fact that the Arab Interviewer implicitly implies that the Lebanon War in 2006 was because of Hezbollah.
“My parents went through World War II. Now, Stalin’s regime was not exactly a bed of roses. It was a ruthless and brutal regime, and many people perished. But who didn’t support the Soviet Union when they defeated the Nazis? Who didn’t support the Red Army? In all the countries of Europe which were occupied – who gets all the honors? The resistance. The Communist resistance – it was brutal, it was ruthless. The Communists were not… It wasn’t a bed of roses, but you respect them. You respect them because they resisted the foreign occupiers of their country.”
Hats off to him.
I want to feel sorry for the Arab World but I just feel like they have let themselves, and each other, down. It’s not like the people can do much but it’s the leaders that represent their country. The leaders look to reach out with people furthest away from them and not the ones nearest to them. It’s the leaders that are causing the great divide across the Arab World; ultimately the vulnerability and weakness is stripped bare for the world to play about with. The Arab World that was once proud of it’s’ history has now become a disgrace for its current history.
When will they rise again and how long will they remain silent? Palestine is almost wiped off the map. The real difference in the Arab World comes from Arab the leaders themselves.
The war on “terror”, even though terror exists in all parts of the world, was intensely focused on the Middle East. It’s was the ultimate test of Unity and the leaders crumbled. The leaders crumbled because they could no longer differentiate between those that matter and those that don’t. The leaders have put down their country, their people and their history. Shame on them!
Join the Conversation
But what about the Hezbollah killing innocent Israelis? I don’t occupy or kill and am not a Zionist – that doesn’t make me safe. I was just born here. What am I to blame for that I deserve to die from Hezbollah rockets?
Millions of Palestinians are asking themselves that same question every day, yet they’re still dying by the thousands.
Yeah, so I don’t support the IDF attacking civilians and go to protests. On the other hand, you supporting those who attack me and my friends and family.
Yarden,
Things are so simple so let’s not complicate it: What war has ever gone by without innocent civilians dying? Israel so quick to point out its own suffering finds it difficult to face the fact that they cause suffering to others, and that part just baffles me.
So your question “what about Hezbollah killing innocent Israelis?” can easily turn around to “what about the Israelis killing the innocent Arabs?”
What will you say about that? Or will you just avoid that?
Not all Arabs are so-called terrorists. Some people were just born in the Arab World. Not all are to be blamed. Not all Arabs deserve to die from Israeli missiles.
So as much as I’d love to get into a discussion with you – I’ll have to say that you need to look at the other side and start acknowledging that this is just a cycle. Both sides will say that they are the victims, and both sides will point at the other and call them the victimisers.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: neither side is free of guilt.
If you fail to cknowledge that then there is no point of discussing this matter.
Peace,
Lou Lou
Lou Lou, did you read what i wrote? I don’t avoid it – I go against it in demonstrations and in not participating in it.
I say both sides are guilty of hurting innocents. So I don’t support my side for hurting civilians but are they doing the same at the other side? I believe some are, but in this article the writer claims Arabs should support Hezbollah.
If I shouldn’t support my army for killing innocents, why is it alright to support Hezbollah for killing innocents on my side?
Yes, and the Soviet army occupied all those countries and the cold war started. Great example of the subjective journalist Fisk. I still don’t blame you for being negative about the corruption and problems.
I think that it’s more significant to focus on presenting points of view that lead to compromise and respect for each group’s situation, rather than focusing on blame, vilifying the “other” or making incendiary statements. It leads only to arguments and stalemate. There are ways that this conflict can be resolved and they don’t involve ignoring the rights and the feelings of the other side. Our statements here should promote the idea of peace through compromise and determination to build positive relationships to counteract the history of conflict. I think that would be more helpful.
Yarden,
1. I read what you wrote and replied to it by turning it round in para 2 and 3
2. The writer isn’t being pro-Hezbollah, just pro-resistance.
She places down the different types of leaderships that run in the Arab World – did you read the article?
Hm. There is a romantic attachment to being a rebel; to fighting “the Man”, rallying around a cause…but there have been very few successful rebel movements that did not succeed the incumbent governments with regimes that were just as brutal, just not to their factions. There is no better example of this than the Soviet system and their “resistance groups”. When the only favourable comparison that your system can come up with is against the Nazis…
That said, I find ethnic nationalism distasteful, and the ugly stepchild of protectionism. With all the bigoted “Old-world” rhetoric flying around Europe and North America now that all the national credit cards have been maxed out, I’m a little suprised that a poster to this forum would start beating that tired old drum. Personally, I never even considered that Arabs aren’t getting enough respect, and certainly not over politics. Damn, if we were going to start making racial judgements based on political performance that would leave…the Inuit?
So, an innocent little question rearding your dream of a “Re-united Arab Empire”…would that include Arab-Israelis? How about Arab Jews? Would their needs and desires be cared for as well?
And would Iran, as well, not-Arabs, be frozen out? I guess they just didn’t want to be Arabs bad enough…well, on the bright side, I guess the millions of immigrants and foreign non-Arab workers who have made the Middle East their home would be tickled beige to be made honorary Arabs so they could “fit in”.
You know, now that I think of it, this is such a good idea I’m going to go out and have a bunch of “honorary White Person” stickers made up with a picture of a cracker and a piece of white bread on the Canadian flag, and give em out to all the non-White folks in my city so they can feel included. I bet the natives are particularly going to appreciate that.