Saturday, February 24, 2007

Singer Finally Sings the Right Notes

Saul Singer of the Jerusalem Post has a very good article in the weekend edition entitle Interesting Times: Peace = capitulation. So good that I am sure I have read, heard and even written myself most of its premises and conclusions. In fact, I know a lot of people who have similarly written the same basic elements. Moreover, I am sure my writings and that of others, such as Shmuel Katz, for sure, have even appeared on the editorial pages of the Jerusalem Post.

Of course, that's because we were "rightwingers", "nationalists" and even "extremists".

Some articles, though, weren't and I don't know if Saul had a hand/red pencil in that decision to disallow complete freedom of expression but nevertheless, Saul has come through.

Excerpts from Saul's piece:-

It must be hard to be Condoleezza Rice. Being the umpteenth envoy assigned to bang your head against the wall called "Mideast peace" is hardly enviable...Rice is operating on a straightforward assumption: Palestinians are not embracing peace because they don't believe it is possible, or that it is attractive enough...The assumption is that both sides want the same thing, yet are too hampered by historical baggage to take the other side's yes for an answer. But what if this assumption is wrong?

This reigning hypothesis is unconsciously based on a misunderstanding of the Arab side. As hard as it is for us to comprehend, we must accept that in the Arab mind, peace with Israel - far from success - still represents capitulation, humiliation and defeat...

...it is not crazy for the West to keep trying the waters, hoping that the Arab world is ready to give up its century-old refusal to accept any Jewish state, however minuscule. What makes no sense is to forget that the Arab-Israeli peace that is a shining prize in Western eyes would be a source of shame and mourning for much of the Muslim world.

...In Western eyes, peace is so obviously desirable that the idea that it could be seen negatively is rarely considered. But try, for a moment, to look at the situation through Arab eyes. Peace would be the ultimate ratification of Israel's existence. It would be seen as an abject surrender to the West's bid to dominate the Arabs.

...Today, Hamas leaders openly say that their dreams of Israel's destruction are closer to fruition than any time since 1967. They see the struggle as not only, or even primarily, one of military strength, but of legitimacy. And if it is suddenly and increasingly more legitimate to speak of a world without Israel, why should the Arabs, at this very moment, throw in the towel?

...It may be counterintuitive, but the Palestinians' many allies who think they are promoting peace by vilifying Israel are doing the opposite. The same goes for Western governments who assume that "evenhandedness" advances peace...


Of course, taking this the one step further, that no peace is possible with the Pals. because they know theyare the negative side of Zionism, that they exist only because we do and that when, supposedly, we disappear they can then come into their own is an error becuase at that moment they will disappear as a national grouping (not that they are) and their Arab "allies", will, once again, jump in to divvey up the spoils.

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