MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

All you need to know about the Middle East: a guest post

• Posted by Beth on February 18th, 2005 filed in General, Guest Posts    

From my friend “TWM”, via email:

All You Need to Know About the Middle East

Now that the Palestinians have had their election and put on the
‘party dress’ of civility in which to attend peace talks with the
Israelis, it is important to understand the players on the field. As
in sports, if you really want to enjoy the game, it help if you know
the game and the players.

As in all disputes, there are two sides. Mostly, the ‘who is right’
and the ‘who is wrong’ becomes clear, after checking the facts.
However, there are some disputes where it is said, that the truth lies
somewhere in in between both sides of the disagreement.

The Middle East isn’t such a dispute. The ‘who is in the right’ and
the ‘who is in the wrong’, is very clear.

The Arab world would like to be considered as moral equals in the
Middle East equation. Well, that just isn’t so. To be a moral equal
implies equal values. Let’s examine that more closely.

Firstly, let’s define the players. The Israelis of course, are on one
side, the Arabs on the other. Why the entire Ummah (Arab Nation), and
not just the Palestinians? Because the Ummah, by choice, have inserted
themselves into the equation.

Israel was partitioned by the UN in 1948. Israel has as much right to
exist as any other state in the region. Her borders are as valid as
any other state borders. Virtually all states, everywhere, came about
as the result of conflict–including the borders of the Arab states.

It was the Arab world that kicked out UN Peacekeepers in 1967, and it
was the Arab world, in a coordinated effort, that massed troops along
Israel’s borders, blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba and promised her
destruction to wild, frenzied Arab populations.

That didn’t quite work out as planned.

It was the Israelis, in 1967, offered to exchange land for peace. It
was the Ummah who declared in the 1998 Khartoum Declaration, that
there would be no peace with Israel, only war, till her destruction
came about. Abba Eban, then Israel’s Foreign Minister, said it best in
an address he gave to the UN:

“I think that this is the first war in history that on the morrow the
victors sued for peace and the vanquished called for unconditional
surrender.”

The Arabs are where they are as a result of the decisions they have
made. There could have been a Palestinian State decades ago–but the
Ummah decided that would not be in their best interest. There are
decades of real history that cannot be rewritten or denied that can
illustrate similar points, but even the most basic and rudimentary
examination of history makes clear the truth.

All the history notwithstanding, there is a more important reason why
the Israelis and Palestinians are not moral equals. As stated earlier,
moral equality is determined by shared morals. First, we’ll look at
the moral equivalence of the Palestinians and then we’ll examine the
Ummah’s claim to moral equivalence.

The Palestinians bitterly complain about what they consider human
rights abuses committed by Israel. With moral indignation, they beat
their chests, hoping the world will look past the reality of
Palestinians lynching each other, Palestinian courts that are bought
and sold, the truth about ‘honor killings’ in the region and of
course, the rampant corruption that is endemic.

Then there is the matter of state sponsored educational texts, state
sanctioned clerical rabid anti-semitism and state controlled press,
all spouting hatred. Arab political figures, who sound so
choreographed in English, revert to the predictable barbaric
rhetoric.

The concerted Palestinian effort at deceit, disqualifies them from
claiming moral equivalence with anyone. Listening to Hanan Ashrawi,
for example, talk about human right and due process, is like listening
to a whore discuss family values.

The Palestinians are in no position to criticize the Israelis for
anything. Until they clean up their own house and until they can show
even the slightest bit of honesty, their word is suspect, period.
There is nothing they say or claim that can be taken at face value. It
is their own long history of deceit that has put them them in the
position they now find themselves.

The words ‘Sabra’ and ‘Shatilla’ are often used by Palestinians as
examples that ‘justify’ their behavior. They are quick to point out
that Ariel Sharon was responsible for the massacres that occurred in
the refugee camps. Of course, nothing can be further from the truth.
The massacres were committed by the Christian Phalange. They committed
the atrocities for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the
decades long horrific treatment they received at the hands of the
Palestinians. Ever misleading, the Palestinians are trying to rewrite
history–another attempt at ‘Taqqiyah,’ that time honored tradition of
culturally sanctioned deceit.

What Ariel Sharon was found guilty of was not knowing what might
happen–that is to say, the Kahane Commission believed that Ariel
Sharon should have realized what might transpire–that Christians,
oppressed by the Palestinians in southern Lebanon for decades, might
want to exact revenge. In no way did the Kahane Commission blame
Sharon for what happened.

The fact of the matter is, if the Israelis truly wanted to eliminate
the Palestinians, they could have done so, long ago.

The reality is that Palestinian children shield gunmen as they throw
stones at Israeli tanks. They, and the terrorists, know they can do
that because as a rule, those tanks will not open fire on those
children. If there were an Israeli policy to open fire on gunmen
irrespective of who shielded them, there would no longer be such
tactics employed. As a rule, large caliber weapons fire is very
persuasive.

The rest of the Arab world are no more honest than the Palestinians.
The output from Arab media, educational and religious institutions are
legendary in their scope, stupidity and venom.

The Ummah has never wanted or desired a peace treaty with Israel.
Simply put, on the day a peace treaty with Israel is signed, the clock
begins to count down for those Arab regimes. As long as those
repressive regimes are able to focus misplaced outrage outwards,
toward Israel, they did not need to address their own shortcomings.
The day a peace treaty is signed, no doubt some of that repressed Arab
outrage will be turned inward, toward their own governments.

Of course, these Arab regimes know how to handle dissent. Hafez Assad
of Syria, flattened the city of Hama, resulting in the death of
10,000-30,000 Syrians. And that is but one example of Arab brutality.
There are thousands of others.

To put that in perspective, the Palestinians claim a death toll of
about 3,000 in the current Intifadah. Those numbers have yet to be
reviewed–the Palestinian penchant for stretching the truth is
legendary. Jenin, for example, was claimed to have been a massacre. Of
course, the death toll was under 60, the vast majority of whom were
gunmen. Then again, why let the truth get in the way of ‘Taqqiyah’?

As the Israelis and Palestinians sit down at the table, it is
important to realize one thing: Whatever symbols and infrastructure
the Palestinians have, was put there and paid for, by the Israelis.

After the 1967 war, the Israelis brought in electricity, health care,
education, roads, sanitation and built a Palestinians economy, where
none existed before. That is the face of Zionism that is so hated by
the Ummah–because Israel did in few short years what the Ummah
refused to do for decades.

In the Arab world, the creation of the State of Israel is often
referred to as the ‘Naqbah,’ the Catastrophe.

As one Arab friend said to me in a bitter tone that the real ‘Naqbah’
was video and audio tape. He said, “Now, you can see what we have
become.”

Damn, I wish I had written this myself! THANK YOU, TKM!

[And no, I'm not sharing him. He's writing pieces for me. ;-) ]