In 1983, Ronald Reagan pondered upon the usefulness of video games for war training “I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.”

Unfortunately, Reagan was right; the resemblance between the recently released footage of the murder of two Reuters employees by US Apache helicopter pilots and our own experience of video war games is irrefutable. The advancement in technologies and enhanced imagery in video gaming, over the last two decades has made the distinction between virtual reality and reality increasingly ambiguous. The shocking images and audio footage of this tragic event expose the surreal nature of war and the extreme ease with which these cowardly game-like attacks are undertaken.

The torturous display of the intimate struggle for life in contrast to the distant disregard for it only signifies the almost complete dissolution of humanity into the abyss of ignorance, segregation and separation. As a result, the almost digitised ‘other’ is defaced and dehumanised, making it easier than ever to eliminate “those bastards”, who deserve nothing more than a chuckle and a cheer for their demise.

As of yet, no official response has been provided.

This is an update to a post published in August 2007 following these tragic events, on Thoughts of the Middle East, Politics and the Media.

I found the article to be deeply problematic and have written a detailed response and criticism of his arguments and position. I find his ideas to be particularly troubling in light of the fact that at least 1,000 people have now died, so many of whom were children, something Heinsohn fails to acknowledge in his artcile Ending the West’s Proxy War Against Israel: Stop Funding a Youth Bulge, And the Fighting will Stop too.

My response:

GENOCIDE IN GAZA: Heinsohn’s Proxy War Against The Palestinians

“The atrocities committed by Israel is a genocide of a conquered people. Gaza is a concentration camp and no amount of PR can reduce the magnitude of this horrible crime against humanity and decency”.[1]

The ‘Youth Bulge’ theory that Gunnar Heinsohn feverishly promotes is far from legitimate in an analysis of any society, let alone a society like Gaza, which is riddled with poverty and war and whose citizens, as a result of the illegal Israeli occupation, have no freedom of movement. The theory suggests that in countries where at least 30% of the male population is aged between 15-29, there is a tendency for these young men to “eliminate each other or get killed in aggressive wars until a balance is reached between their ambitions and the number of acceptable positions available in their society.” [2] Even at first glance, this theory is clearly far too reductionistic and does not take into consideration the many complicated and interrelated factors that determine the make up of Palestinian society – for instance, the overriding impact of the Occupation on the very possibility of ‘acceptable positions’ in the first place. It is interesting to note that the ‘youth bulge’ theory has become highly influential on US Foreign policy with two key consultants to the US Government, Jack Goldstone and Gary Fuller, ardently supporting it. [3]

While Heinsohn, in the most dubious manner, never cites his ‘statistics’ and ‘facts’, it is clear that his figures are intertwined with rhetorical accusations that have serious genocidal implications. For example, in his examples of the wars in Lebanon and Algeria, where birth rates fell significantly during the fighting, he asserts, “The warring stopped because no more warriors were being born” [4]. Juxtaposed to this questionable correlation, he contends, that with the ever increasing population of Gaza “the killing continues” [5]. No thought is ever spent on the context and diplomatic processes undertaken – as with Bush’s current support for the Gaza Operation – by national and international parties to reach this outcome. Heinsohn seems only concerned to disseminate his prejudice of the animalistic nature of the Arab.

Heinsohn even goes as far as to unashamedly claim that the death toll in the Palestinian territories is relatively slight over the last 60 years when compared to the death toll of Muslims across the entire world over the same period of time. Yet, how can one even bring oneself to compare the entire Muslim world (currently 1.5 billion people) to a measly scrap of land on the Mediterranean coast? The strongest feature of such an argument is the calculated ignorance of the reader who would assent to such spurious ‘logic.’

The argument that Israel does its utmost to spare civilian lives is wearing thin, especially in light of the recent UN proposal to investigate Israel’s war crimes [6], the refusal of many Israeli soldiers to fight in Gaza [7] and the condemnation of Israel by its most loyal ‘Zionist’ supporters [8] – not to mention the entire history of the Occupation, which is never mentioned by Heinsohn. For instance, with respect to the bombing of the UN School in Jabaliya, Israel had been given UN location coordinates, but this did not stop its fatal bombardment. The cynicism of this attack – and its lack of even respect for the dead, many of whom were children – is exposed with Israel’s insistence that it attacked the school in response to shooting from militants. Indeed, the UN insists that there were no militant fighters within the proximity of the school. This attack alone left 42 dead, further reinforcing the fact that there are no safe havens for the rest of the Palestinians in Gaza [9]. Also, contrary to Heinsohn’s estimate of 10-15% civilian deaths, it has been estimated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that at least 30% of all fatalities are civilians, and approximately 45% of casualties.

Part of Israel’s reasoning for this war has been, what it claims to be 8 years of missiles fired by Hamas. [10] However, one would have to question this on at least two levels. In the first instance, Israel only withdrew from Gaza in 2005. It would be clearly uncharacteristic of Israel to carry out this withdrawal, if i) Hamas was attacking Israel at the time ii) if there had not been a ceasefire being upheld at the time and iii) if Israel thought that this move would have jeopardised Israel’s safety.

It is also important, in the second instance, to note that in an analysis of the breaking of ceasefires, even up to this most recent incident [11], it is “overwhelmingly Israel that kills first after a pause in the conflict” [12], with 79% of all ceasefires being broken by Israel, 8% by Palestinians and 13% by both on the same day. In addition, Israel is more likely to break a ceasefire the longer it lasts, breaking 96% of ceasefires which lasted more than 7 days and 100% of which lasted longer than 9 days. [13]

Heinsohn throws out the further assertion, moreover, that “the reason for Gaza’s endless youth bulge is that a large majority of its population does not have to provide for its offspring”, as if it is a choice of the Palestinian people to live under continuous occupation, where they have restricted access to food, water and electricity, with Gaza’s borders shut off from land, air and sea access. The people of Gaza are refugees in their own land and as a result every new child will be born a refugee. Indeed, he has the audacity to assert: “Unrestrained by such necessities as having to earn a living, the young have plenty of time on their hands for digging tunnels, smuggling…” [14] Remarkably, Heinsohn is able to turn a humanitarian crisis – Gaza’a 45% unemployment rate, the highest in the world [15] – into a symptom of a degenerate Arab youth. The fact that Israel’s economic blockade, its repeated elimination of electricity and fuel sources, and its closure of 95% of all factories in Gaza [16], is totally neglected to be mentioned.

So what is Heinsohn’s solution to this ‘youth bulge’ that is feeding on international aid (sounds like ‘government handouts’ to ‘scroungers’)? Well, he directly offers a couple of practical solutions. Firstly aid must be cut off – the international community is urged by Heinsohn to have the courage to tell the Gazan’s to look after their own children and build their own economies. If only the Palestinians had such a preposterous luxury under the Occupation! Another recommendation is to export some of those young Palestinian men to North America and Europe. After all, “who would not want to get out of that strip of land”? [17] But, I have to wonder, if Heinsohn’s description of the Palestinian men and women were accurate, why would they want to give up all the aid they are getting and work for a living in their besieged land? We can also not ignore his calls to allow and support Israel’s freedom to defend itself, to let the killings go on, after all it can only benefit the predicament, as it purportedly did in Lebanon and Algeria when the warriors ceased to be born.

In response to the outrageous suggestions of Heinsohn and his extreme ‘bad faith’, I contend that the only authentic solution I can see, is for Israel to be made to abide by International law, so that it can be ‘saved from itself’ [18] and encouraged to cling on to the last threads of the democratic values that exist in the Israeli community. Such a turn by Israel to the neighborhood of legality would allow this relatively new country to begin to engage with its neighbors and in this way to begin to repair the damage to Israel’s legitimacy and its image across the world.

What is most astonishing about this insensitive article is its overwhelming sense of fatality, with respect to the people and for the future of Palestine. There is no attempt at an illustration of the reality of the situation in Gaza, only an obfuscating of the unnecessary and avoidable suffering by associating it with characteristics of laziness, aggressiveness and greediness. Indeed, Heinshohn’s cynicism even outdoes itself when he outrageously attacks the ‘NGO’s and social workers’ for perpetuating the situation of conflict for their own benefit. In his Malthusian pessimism Heinsohn is right about one thing, “the current situation can only get worse” [19] – if, that is, this kind of self-serving and genocidal theory continues to influence American foreign policy and its advocates are hired as their prize intellectual advisors.

[1] Bakhtiar, A. (10 January 2009). The Source of Arabs’ Shame: Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

[19] Heinsohn, G. (12 January 2009). Ending the West’s Proxy War Against Israel.

The particular significance this election plays in so many peoples’ lives is the undeniably unstable and uncertain nature of the realities we are confronted with, both in America and across the rest of the world. Just a few examples of these issues may include: the collapsing economies, the continuously rising cost of living, increasing unemployment rates, loss of homes, the lack of availability of adequate healthcare and even food, the numerous humanitarian disasters both environmental and/or man-induced and of course the constant threat of war that people from many nations are warned about, regardless of how real or likely these threats are in actuality or not.

The outcome of this election is likely to determine to a great extent what path will be taken to tackle these issues and in what manner the US will interact with the international community, with particular concern on the Middle East, Iran and Russia. However, the outcome of the election is beyond the control of the international community who are anxiously awaiting a decision.

In light of this, I thought it would be appropriate to address the Dear American Voter discussions on what I, someone living in both Europe and the Middle East, is concerned about when it comes to the election of the next president of the USA. MideastYouth has previously posted on the Dear American Voter initiative, a project developed by Link TV that aims at getting the international communities voices heard within America.

Dear American Voter,

I recently returned to the UK from Syria, where I went to visit my parents who have now retired there. It is truly one of the most beautiful countries I have ever encountered, although undoubtedly it has its flaws and weaknesses. Apart from a number of cultural differences, what I realised most of all was the fundamentally universal nature of being human, the striving to simply live. Waking up every morning, earning money, consuming, loving your family, socialising with friends, trying everything in your power to make ends meet while at the same time attempting to enjoy and make the most of the short, temporary and precious life we each have been given.

It is difficult, amongst the welter of distracting images that obscure contexts and omit the real faces of people and places, to think of an ‘other’ as anything more than that. Instead Dear American Voter, I ask you to put a face on the victims of the US Government, because they are no different from you. We may pray differently, but we do not love differently and we do not suffer differently.

I ask you to question your government’s actions, to review the stories we have all been told, to uncover all the contradictions, identify the rhetoric and unearth the truth. It is clear to us and to you Dear American Voter that we have all lost and suffered enough at the hands of our governments. Your troops that have been able to return home, have unfortunately not been greeted by your government as heroes and patriots, instead they have been deprived of adequate medical care and have been refused financial assistance with their education. It would appear to me that the current US government perceives us all as faceless.

If we are to ever live in a truly globalised world, it is fundamental that each nation is able to remain independent and indigenous while at the same time being open to dialogue and negotiation. If this is our aim, to be able to work as a cosmopolitan world to tackle the issues we face such as environmental issues, poverty, etc. then we need the leader of the Worlds’ Super Power to lead us towards this instead of a possible war with Iran or maybe even Russia?!

America should be the greatest country in the world. Unfortunately it falls short. And both you and I, Dear American Voter, are the ones that bear the brunt of its shortcomings. You are suffering now, but instead it is the major corporations that are being bailed out with your tax money. In my opinion one of the biggest scams in history.

I suffer everyday wondering if Syria, my parents, my family, will be the next on America’s list. Unfortunately the decision for who will be the next president of America is out of my hands. However you have the power Dear American Voter, the power to allow for change to occur, the power to decide whether your country continues along the same terminal path or instead if your country is once again admired and looked to as a source of inspiration.

I await your decision in anticipation.

I urge anyone else who feels strongly about the direction our world is going in but who does not have the opportunity to vote in this upcoming election to express their thoughts and concerns to our Dear American Voters, while there is still ‘hope’ for ‘change’.

Esra’a and I have recently been discussing an article which we found to be very distressing and unfortunately also very indicative of what many Palestinians have gone through and continue to go through. This particular incident, although by far not the worst, is something we feel most people can relate. It is about a Palestinian family who worked tremendously hard to build a home for themselves, their children and their elderly parents. However, instead of a sanctuary, it turned out to be an even more effective base from which the Israeli army could observe Nablus. They have had to endure their private property being raided, their privacy violated while having neither the power nor the support to change it.

In the past, we have rarely had the opportunity to directly confront an Israeli and ask, “How do you feel about this?”

We understand that many people, Palestinians, Israelis and the international community are sick of talking about this conflict and are sick of all the associations people make that are so dependent on nationality and religion. But this is important. We cannot go on ignoring what is really happening merely to feed other people’s interest or out of fear of being labelled anti-Semitic or a supporter of terrorism.

People ask us all the time whether we condemn the attacks of the suicide bombers and the anti-Semites. And we do. So why, more often than not, when we ask the same of the attacks against the Palestinians we are confronted with the same response… Security? Why are criticisms of the actions of the Israeli government completely undermined by the incessant accusation of anti-Semitism?

So we ask you, how do you feel about this as a human being? Where do you stand on this? Is there any moral justification for the quartering of soldiers in a private home? We hope that this post will not be misinterpreted or be taken as offensive. We believe that this is a legitimate question that demands answers, if we are to ever find an acceptable alternative.

We share this platform for a reason, other than it being a place for us all to co-exist, it is also our duty to confront one another about these realities. As hard as these realities are for us to deal with and discuss, they are even harder for those who have to live it.

Escaping reality is rarely productive, there are some things that we must face. This conflict is one of them. Allow us to move on from pointing fingers, we each already have our own ideas and instead allow us to move on to the real issues, what is happening in reality right now so that we can work together to achieve the only thing that is needed and deserved, a solution. Share with us your opinions, your feelings, the way we are sharing it with you right now. Allow us to understand your stance. We hope this thread will lead to a more productive dialogue.

Thanks to the kindness of people, we were able to collect a total sum of $1,174.23 in aid of these two orphanages in Iraq. The money has been sent and is now in the safe hands of Ausama, who will no doubt already be putting the donations to good and much needed use.

Ausama has promised to keep us regularly updated about the developments they have been able to make to the orphanages and thus the lives of the orphaned children.

All of us at Mideast Youth have been delighted to be able to work with, and aid such a worthy cause. And we only hope that with your continued support we will be able to take on and help many more desperate causes.

I would just like to thank everyone again for their indispensable donations and support.

This has shown that it is real action in the world that makes a difference, that creates change. And this has also shown that real action is possible through our virtual interaction.

It is real action that must be our focus.

It makes Syria look weak and thoughtless. And that is no reflection of the people, especially the youth. In fact, it shows them to be extremely powerful. Powerful enough to warrant such actions from the government!! And the fact that one of the reasons they gave to justify themselves was that “Facebook could become a conduit for Israeli penetration of our youth” is disgraceful and embarrasing.

This effects me, not just as a Syrian, that feels her country deserves more but also as a person that communicates regularly with her family and friends who live there. In fact my parents have just returned/retired to Syria, and now more than ever I fear the consequences for Syria. With an uncertain government that is faced with two very real and very dangerous ‘enemies’ that threaten war, Syria instead needs to think.

Syria is a beautiful country, with landscape that allows you to feel the Sacred’s presence. A rich history, and a delightful and loving people. Instead of the government fearing the youth’s exposure to the rest of the world, they should encourage and promote it. The Syrian people are smart enough to make up their own minds about what is going on in the world. And from my point of view the Syrian government has little to fear of its people. It is only with real freedom that the people can stand by their governments, and help protect their nation. Allow the Syrian people to be humanised, to be seen and to be heard, so that we can avoid another war.

So what can we do? How can we give Facebook back????

The article is rather vague as to the reasons for the cancellation of these particular concerts.

I am also curious as to which Leading Palestinians initially supported this, but have since distanced themselves from it, and the reasons for that.

Here is the article.

However for this young woman these dreams, hopes and aspirations have been viciously ripped away from her. On her wedding day she faces the reality that she will never see her family again.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY1Ig58rIxk[/youtube]

I’m tired of the consequences of politics. I’m fed up that too many people have to face the reality that their dreams will never be fulfilled, so why bother trying? I’m sick of politics’ theft of our dreams and our lives. To me this is just another symptom of the necessity for radical change.

–I would also recommend watching ‘The Syrian Bride’ which depicts this situation, vividly.–

“Write down, I am an Arab!” wrote Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in 1963,

A sentiment held by many Arabs around this time. There was a sense of unity, an Arab Awakening, as millions stood up and insisted that they were Arabs before anything else. However, since then, this sentiment has gradually faded and instead has been replaced by a much more religious identity. There is an array of key events that we could maintain influenced this shift, such as the 1967 war, the 1973 war, the Iranian revolution, the use of Afghani fighters in the toppling of the Soviet Union, the Iran/Iraq war, the Lebanese civil war, the first Intifada, the first Gulf war, the second Intifada and now of course the ongoing second Iraq war. Yet, although each of these events left us in a more precarious position, they cannot be solely blamed for the weakening of this sense of unity among the Arabs.

There is an inescapable correlation between the state we are in today, as a fundamentally divided Middle East, and the exclusive religiosity of it and our view of our own history. Nietzsche, in On the Use and Abuse of History for Life distinguishes between three types of history, each of which, if used excessively or in the wrong way, proves to be suppressive and destructive. However if used in unison and in balance with one another, history then proves to be productive and beneficial to the present. History must serve life; life should not simply be a tool to promote a history.

The first type of history is monumental history, the history of momentous events. Unfortunately, we often cling too strongly to these events, blinding ourselves from the possibilities of our own present. Instead, monumental history should be used to instil in us a faith in humanity, for “the greatest moments in the struggle of single individuals make up a chain, in which a range of mountains of humanity are joined over thousands of years.”[1]

Antiquarian history signifies a love of the past, which may be considered something that preserves our traditions and cultures. However all too often this love of the past is used to define how we should live, what we should think and essentially who we should be — today.

“The Arabs find themselves – in spite of all the changes of the last fourteen centuries – moving on a stage where history is repeating itself with just one objective: the continual actualization of the past.”[2]

From too young an age, we are taught that the peak of our existence as Arabs has passed, such as the time of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), the Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire. We were once great, now we merely exist in our own shadows. We are taught to rarely question, to do as we are told according to our flawed preconceptions of our own cultures and religions.

Most importantly however is a critical history, where we should be able to critically examine the past and shatter our preconceived ideas of it in order to truly live in the present, unhistorically. Regrettably, we have failed to critically examine our own history, and as Nietzsche stresses it is only through destruction, as it were, that creativity is truly possible. Consequently it is only when we can use these three methods of history in the right manner and proportion that we can truly live unhistorically and thus successfully exercise our creativity.

Nietzsche also emphasises the importance of the youth – for whom the historical sense is perhaps the least dominant – if there is to be any hope for the future. It is in light of their importance that history is so often misused against them in order to “uproot the strongest instincts of youth, fire, defiance, forgetting of the self, to dampen down the heat of their sense of right and wrong, to hold back or repress the desire to mature slowly with the contrary desire to be finished quickly, to be useful and productive, to infect the honesty and boldness of the feelings with doubts. Indeed, history is itself capable of deceiving the young about their most beautiful privilege, about their power to cultivate in themselves with complete conviction a great idea and to allow an even greater idea to grow forth out of it.”[3]

Therefore it is up to us, as Arab youth to ensure and continue to develop an even more outstanding time of creativity. We must know where we have come from, but have no irrational loyalty to the past, crippling us from being able to critically examine the errors of our past. We must not allow any of the corrupt governments, whatever their motive or incentive, to suppress our thoughts and our voices. It is through art, film, poetry and the creation of an alternative media that we can express ourselves and get our message out there. After all, our creative expression is all we have if we truly want to be free. “When you are free, you have to face reality, the world in its entirety. You have to deal with the world’s problems, with everything…. On the other hand, if we are slaves, we can be content and not have to deal with anything. Just as Allah solves all our problems, the dictator will solve all our problems.”[4]

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[1] Nietzsche, F. (1874) Untimely Meditations: On the Use and Abuse of History for Life. http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/history.htm

[2] Adonis. (2003) An Introduction to Arab Poetics. Saqi Books; London. pp. 78-9.

[3] Nietzsche, F. (1874) Untimely Meditations: On the Use and Abuse of History for Life. http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/history.htm

[4] Interview with Adonis (Ali Akbar Said),Syrian Poet. http://wahdah.blogspot.com/2006/03/adonis-interview.html

Originally published in the a-Rab.

http://a-rab.net/september-2007