Thaths,
I think it's useful to distinguish between "Arab countries"
and the "Arab world". They are very different.
Governments exploit the sentiments of their people, but in the
end don't necessarily do their bidding. Even in democracies,
this is often the way things are.
Backing away from religion/nationalism for a moment, just look
at the rhetoric in the United States around the Bush-Clinton-Bush
"ownership society": the bottom 80% only own a total of 16% of
this country's wealth. Does the average person think this is just?
Certainly not. The American public talks about the economic
injustice in our system all the time, but the official story in
our corporate-run mass media "conveniently forgets" whatever
it pleases. The underpaid workers typically do remember.
Defenders of political Zionism often point out the hypocrisy of
Arab governments. It's more than just a way to take attention
from Israel's wrongs. The ploy is to characterize someone who's
shocked by war crimes as a person who singles Jews out for
criticism. This blurring of Zionism-the-fascist-agenda and
Jewishness-the-ethnicity (and/or Judaism-the-faith) is dangerous
in exactly the same way as not distinguishing between the
words & deeds of Arab governments, and those of the people
(the "Arab world"). One injustice does not excuse another.
The broader "Arab world" hasn't conveniently forgotten that Egypt
kept its border closed to the sick and dying in Palestine as Israel
cluster bombed Gaza -- not for a moment. Memories are very long
in the Middle East; people don't move around in the way that they
do in the West. Stories are handed down between generations, families
are extremely close, and people know your business, your father's,
and your 3rd cousin's, twice removed. *That* is the Arab world.
They remember.
-Jon
* Thaths ([email protected]) [090126 06:07]:
> On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Deepa Mohan [26/01/09 12:02 +0530]:
> >> I am Israel
> >> By Hashem Said
> > This is all true. Just as true is that most of israels neighbors wanted to
> > wipe it off the map the instant it was formed .. and combined to do it. Got
> > whipped so badly that they lob rockets into the place every so often, while
> > others write articles and still others march in the streets. Great.
>
> Also, memories in the Arab world seem to have conveniently forgotten
> the other occupation - the occupation of Palestinian lands by the
> their Arab brethren - the likes of Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
>
> Thaths
> --
> "You'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel." -- Homer J. Simpson
>
