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Heaven On Earth
Palestinians Tell their Story: Innocent Victims of Israeli Aggression
Someone forwarded to me a posting at the Al Awda listserv, a chronology of Palestinian resistance. Rather than reproduce the entire chronology which goes back to the 1880s, and presents Arab violence as noble resistance to Zionist aggression, I’ll just reproduce the final entries, some of the most revealing aspects of the “narrative” that Palestinians tell themselves about who they are and who the Israelis are:
A CHRONOLOGY OF PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE:
FROM LIBERATION TO STRANGULATION2001, August 10: In an unprecedented step, the Israeli occupation forces raided the Orient House, the headquarters of the Palestinian team to the Peace talks, and the seat of the multilateral talks. The Palestinian flag was pulled down and the Israeli flag was hoisted in its place. All files related to the negotiations, along with other classified documents were also confiscated. Other Palestinian institutions linked to the Orient House were also closed.
Now one would never know from this “chronology” that the previous day the “Palestinian resistance” had carried out a “martyrdom operation” in which a religious fanatic had entered a pizza parlor with a bomb packed in a guitar case and blown up the place, killing 15 (including 7 children) and wounding 150. And unfortunately, that morally revolting deed, widely celebrated by Palestinians, was not in any way “unprecedented.” At no point in the chronology is one such “martyrdom operation” mentioned. Only the dastardly oppression of the Israelis.
2002, March 28: The Arab League summit promised Israel peace, security and normal relations in return for a full withdrawal from Arab lands occupied since 1976, the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital and a ‘fair solution’ for the Palestinian refugees. In response, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield on the following day against the Palestinians in the West Bank.
2002, June/July: Israel launched Operation Determined Path to reoccupy the West Bank areas handed to the PA following the Oslo accords.
Again, by not mentioning the March 27th attack on the Park Hotel on Passover eve, we get a Palestinian narrative where they are part of a good-will effort to make peace, and those awful Israelis just respond with more violence. The key phrase “in response” (to Arab peace offers, rather than to a staggering campaign of ruthless terror aimed specifically at civilian populations), speaks volumes about how the Palestinians tell themselves their victim narrative. It might be too much to ask them — even sophisticated ones like the folks at Al Awda — to show even the most remote levels of self-criticism and fairness to Israelis. But there’s no reason on earth why outsiders should grant such shamelessly dishonest “memories” any credence whatsoever.
2007: Painful and shameful fighting broke out between Palestinian factions killing and wounding hundreds of Palestinians.
And that’s it folks. Nothing in the chronology from 2002 to 2007. Out of nowhere we get “shameful, painful…” fratricide, but not a trace of real self-criticism. Not a word on the cult of death and genocidal hatred that the Palestinian “resistance” had created to destroy Israel, which now, frustrated by the “apartheid wall” and the pervasive checkpoints, turns in on itself and devours Palestinian society.
So speak Palestinian demopaths and their Western “progressive” enablers. Is there any reason we should be dupes to such poisonous mythology?
It’s quite astonishing (w/o being surprising in the least) what is occurring in various western ideological, media and supposedly “pragmatic” or “realist” quarters. All the usual suspects are being blamed (most prominently Israel, U.S. policy, the President, the West) while only token or peripheral mention – if that – of Hamas and the inter-generational Arab refugees aka “Palestinians” more generally is made. E.g., Beyond Belief. I’m trying – with little success – to imagine these same players blaming those Arab refugees and their varied, adaptive and unrelenting tactics/strategies for anything Israel might do, no matter how justified (e.g., the security barrier in either the West Bank or around Gaza).
Iow, despite the stark realities, it’s only a matter of time before Hamas reconnoiters and then solidifies its new position – and the western quarters noted above continue with their neo-colonial and “the usual suspects” narrative they’ve long adopted and incorporated.
i gave up on the west. imo, it is doomed. it lost reason quite a while ago and it is simply committing suicide. i don’t think the self-destruction can be stopped. and to be honest, it deserves its fate.
There’s got to more to this than “the west is degenerate”.
We aren’t THAT stupid are we?
The “realists”, don’t forget, have “interests”.
Follow the money.
If Israel is identified (by the Arab League, say, or 1.4 billion Muslims) as being The Obstacle to Peace, the Powers That Be will work to eliminate that obstacle.
Wouldn’t the British Empire have done the same?
Maybe we really are that stupid. And degenerate – except the American PEOPLE don’t seem to be buying it. And people really do see the BBC, it’s becoming harder and harder to hide what they’re trying to do.
first off, altho i don’t share fp’s pessimistic prognosis, i do share his diagnosis. we are that stupid. anyone looking at pallywood and al durah and realizing that the vast majority of our MSM consider this genuine footage — like courtiers at the emperor’s court when he set out on his naked procession — realizes how astoundingly self-destructively stupid we are.
but, as you point out Sophia, there are people who aren’t that stupid and we have to hope that people like Fouad Ajami can begin to awaken that public to grapple with the realities that PCP systematically sweeps aside.
it’s not just that good intentions aren’t working, they’re backfiring. how many more times before we wake up? 5? 10? is leaving iraq one of them?
if we are this stupid and we don’t seem to learn, on what exactly are we supposed to base hope?
you say “some people who are not stupid”. if so, why have they not been effective until now? the reason is
those do not count anymore in a world where knowledge and reason no longer count.
as to ajami, i am not as impressed as you are. and he has very little traction.
excepting for foundational conceptions, i’d agree concerning the culturally and politically oriented pessimism. hence i often do think in terms of the “erstwhile west” or VDH’s “post-west”
excepting, that is, for those foundational conceptions (Westphalian conceptions of identity and sovereignty, Locke and Montesquieu and other better founded Enlightenment conceptions, Will Hutton’s self-respect noted herein, respect for “the other,” responsible just war conceptions and accompanying resolve, etc). Or put in terms of archtypes, Nehemiah comes to mind; a lot of foundational/conceptual thinking, holding to the right vision and a lot of hard work. Still, those all remain essential and extant western conceptions and building blocks. In that sense – if no other – “the west” itself remains a viable conception.
intelligence must be developed. this used to be the function of education. it isn’t anymore. instead it is about employment and conformism — vocational training.
the west is producing people who will do anything to avoid thinking, because they dk how and it’s hard; they have no independent, critical thinking capacity and no notion of the importance of knowledge. but they are convinced they are knowledgeable and smart. jeffb and calzone are prime examples.
hence the gullibility and its explotation. which is much worse in dar-el-islam:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/journey_into_islam.html
[...] us situation in order to provide political stability and establish law and order. This is quintessential Palestinian thinking. We didn’t do anything wrong, we didn’t make any [...]
[...] is is a great “trope” to hit for his Oslo-thinking audience? And of course, true to the Palestinian victim narrative, all this virtual imprisonment has nothing to do with th [...]
“the west is producing people who will do anything to avoid thinking, because they dk how and it’s hard; they have no independent, critical thinking capacity and no notion of the importance of knowledge”
what is noteworthy is just how accurate that summary statement is and what a vast expanse of critical territory it covers. But there are meta-issues subtending even such a primary statement. Something positive needs to supplant all the negatives, the corrosives and abandonments, and that positive is reflected in the need to address ultimates.