« What happened to Tim Allen? | Main | When Tech meets Textile »
July 18, 2006
Peace with Jews, or Jews in Pieces?
The pseudonymous Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey attended a "Peace" rally in Cairo, and found it ... very different from the Western versions, in that the protesters were more interested in "Piece" than "Peace," as in blowing Israel and the Jews to pieces.
Yesterday I went to a "Support Lebanon and Palestine" demonstration in front of the medical doctor's syndicate, which was organized by the Al Karama (Dignity) Pan Arabist Nasserite movement, Kefaya and youth for change -- basically all leftist organizations -- along with other individuals from palestinian, lebanese and syrian origin. I went there expecting a Peace demonstration, what I got was a totally different deal.
The people at the demonstration were Chanting seriously anti-Israeli chants, even using ones used by Hamas and Hezbollah. The mood was one of anger. This wasn't a pro-palestinian or Lebanese demonstration as much as it was an anti-Israel demonstration. And no one was particularly calling for peace.
[...]
The signs carried by those protesters say "Long live the armed resistance of Hezbollah" and "The Zionist existence is a crime against Humanity". The chants started calling on every arab country to send in its armies to fight Israel and eliminate it. And talking to the people was an interesting experience as well ... never-mind that Hezbollah are the ones who started this whole thing by kidnapping the 2 israeli soldiers. Nope, not interested in discussing it with you; Israel is behind it all.
I left the demonstration thinking of the American left and their demonstrations in the US. The US left is totally anti-War, any kind of war. Not our left. Our left has always called for War. Actually, the war with Israel and getting rid of Mubarak have always been the only 2 things that the egyptian left and the islamic right have always agreed upon. That's their common ground.
Hmm…
And then when I went home I saw this post by Lisa and it depressed me even more.
It was on a Peace demonstration held in Tel Aviv by the Israeli left, and attended by Arabs, Jews, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi. And From all age groups too.
The signs they carried said "There is no military solution"…. And "In War there are only losers". They chanted anti-War slogans, demanded an end to the bombardment and for the Israeli government to negotiate with Hezbollah. They wanted Peace.
[...]
But then I remembered that we -- the majority of us anyway -- don't want peace with Israel, and are not interested in any real dialogue with them. We weren't then and we are not now. The Entire peace process has always been about getting the land back, not establishing better relations. Even when we do get the land back, it's not enough.
People in Egypt lament daily the Camp David treaty that prevents us from fighting. In Gaza they never stopped trying to attack Israel. In Lebanon Hezbollah continued attacking even after the Israeli withdrawal. And the people -- the majority of the arab population -- support it. Very few of us are really interested in having any lasting Peace or coexistence. I mean, if our left is asking for war, what do you think the rest of the population is thinking?
I think that the Israeli want peace with us because they don't want their lives disrupted. They don't want to have the IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza, rockets coming into their towns from Hamas or having to go to wars against Hezbollah to get their soldiers back. I think they want peace because they want their peace of mind. They view us as if we were a headache. We view them as if they are a cancer.
And this is why there will never really be any peace in the middle-east.
Interesting, eh?
Posted by Mike Lief at July 18, 2006 12:09 AM
| TrackBack
Comments
Excellent points. There really isn't any negotiating with someone who's only desire is your death. You pretty much have to take them out.
Posted by: jim at July 18, 2006 09:10 AM