Why Peace Can’t Work

[igloo]

Why Peace Can’t Work

Arab intransigence.

By Arnold Beichman

he latest issue of Commentary magazine leads with an article by Abraham Sofaer about the dicey future of Arab-Israeli negotiations. It is a sober recital by the State Department's former legal adviser of the obstacles that stand in the way of a permanent peace. In his article, Sofaer describes the Palestine educational system as "an abomination." He writes:

Palestinian children are taught mendacious versions of their own history as well as of Jewish culture, history and beliefs. Generations have been fed on propaganda that denies the legitimacy of the state of Israel while simultaneously glorifying intolerance, fanaticism and "martyrdom."

And not only Palestinian children but children in Syrian schools from fourth grade up are taught:

Zionism is really a form of colonialism similar to Nazism.

Zionism endangers the Arab world and prevents its unification.

Israel, an aggressive and expansionist enemy, is responsible for the backwardness of the Arab world.

When they grow up they must engage in jihad against Israel and seek martyrdom — meaning, of course, suicide attacks.

Real peace with Israel would be treason.

Arab leaders who negotiate with Israel are spies and traitors.

Even outside of Israel, Jews are a menace and should be exterminated.

If the above sentences sounds incredible half-a-century after the Holocaust, let me quote in translation from a textbook called Islamic Education for the Tenth Grade, 1999-2000, page 116:

The logic of justice obligates the application of the single verdict [on the Jews] from which there is no escape; namely, that their criminal intentions be turned against them and that they be exterminated. The duty of Muslims of our time is to pull themselves together, unite their ranks, and wage war on their enemy until Allah hands down his judgment on them and us.

What needs saying is that no peace is possible between the two adversaries — road map or no — so long as the Arab nations insist, as they have been doing for generations, on teaching their children that hatred of Jews and suicide bombing is serving Allah. If the Arabs leaders were looking forward to a peaceful, negotiable resolution of the half-century conflict would Syrian school textbooks be peddling anti-Semitism?

From textbook brain-washing to the "real world": In an interview published November 10, 1974, in the Washington Post, Yasser Arafat told Oriana Fallaci, the Italian journalist:

The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromises or mediators...We don't want peace; we want victory. Peace for us means Israel's destruction and nothing else.

That is what Arafat and his new Cabinet members believed yesterday, believe today, and will continue to believe in the unforeseeable future. Would Arafat today repudiate his quote? And if he did, who would believe him? In fact, could any Arab leader today repudiate Arafat's words?

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, with or without "road maps," with or without U.S. mediation, promise only retreat and the eventual disappearance of Israel because the demands on Israel will never end. After all, what can you expect when First Lady Suha Arafat publicly accuses Israel of polluting air and water with "toxic gases" so as to cause cancer among Palestinian women and children. Mrs. Arafat's husband and Palestine Authority official were at that moment engaging in "peace" negotiations with these well poisoners.

Is Bashar al-Assad, the new Syrian dictator, going to repudiate the anti-Israeli racism imparted to three generations of schoolchildren? Is he going to tell them everything's changed: No more jihad; that making peace with Israel is in accord with Allah's teachings? His Baathist dictatorship rests on the enduring enmity between Syria and Israel. Sofaer quotes al-Assad as saying, "Even if peace is accomplished Israel will not be a legitimate state."

Not until Egypt President Anwar Sadat made the first move after the 1973 Yom Kippur War did peace loom as a distinct Middle East possibility. Sadat was rewarded for his efforts with a return by Israel of the Sinai, three times the size of Israel, and a few years later by his assassination in 1981. And there have been three assassination attempts against Sadat's successor, President Hosni Mubarak.

Arab intransigence is the insoluble important question and it will not change. After all, the Palestinians' annual "Palestine Prize for Culture" was recently presented to Abu Daoud for his recent memoir in which he detailed how he masterminded the 1972 massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.

George Santayana once said: "All problems are divided into two classes, soluble questions, which are trivial and important questions which are insoluble."

— Arnold Beichman, a Hoover Institution research fellow, is a columnist for the Washington Times.

[sassa]

LOOOOOOOOOOL! look who wrote the fucking report before you claim this as your gospel....

[igloo]

Originally posted by sassa

LOOOOOOOOOOL! look who wrote the fucking report before you claim this as your gospel....

Are you actually saying you deny the content as fact?...Are you actually saying the educational system in the Arab world, and the mosques and religious schools, do not teach these things?

Are you saying that you, "Mrs. I want to make the world a better place" do not want to recognize this has a problem...

C'mon Sassa---ridiculous of you to diminish this

I am not saying that this is the only issue here--believe me....but it is certainly a very powerful issue that needs to be confronted if there is ever going to be true understanding and trust...

[deepak1977]

peace can work, because it has worked in the past. from 1997-2000, israel was the most secure it ever was, while the PA had the most autonomy it ever had. however, isreal kept building settlements in the west bank & the gaza which ignited the second intifada. since 1993, israel has doubled the number of settlements, violating the oslo accord which ordered israel to stop the construction of settlements.

[cintron]

that seems to be a recurring theme in the middle east:

blaming everyone else for one's own problems.

there's a reason that third world nations are third world nations, and it all starts with the quality of the citizens.

[normalnoises]

Originally posted by sassa

LOOOOOOOOOOL! look who wrote the fucking report before you claim this as your gospel....

A zionistic jew. who else???

[kramadas]

Originally posted by cintron

that seems to be a recurring theme in the middle east:

blaming everyone else for one's own problems.

there's a reason that third world nations are third world nations, and it all starts with the quality of the citizens.

I respect a lot of your opinions, but dude, thats one of the most ignorant things I've ever read!

[igloo]

Originally posted by deepak1977

peace can work, because it has worked in the past. from 1997-2000, israel was the most secure it ever was, while the PA had the most autonomy it ever had. however, isreal kept building settlements in the west bank & the gaza which ignited the second intifada. since 1993, israel has doubled the number of settlements, violating the oslo accord which ordered israel to stop the construction of settlements.

So, Israel is solely responsible for the violence after 2000, and ignited the second intifada solely based on increased settlements?....that's what this WHOLE "thing" comes down to?..wow

Those bastards!....here I was thinking the PA, FB, Hamas, Hezbellah (spelling?), and their state sponsors (i.e. Iraq, Syria, Iran) had something to do with this as well......

[cintron]

Originally posted by raver_mania

I respect a lot of your opinions, but dude, thats one of the most ignorant things I've ever read!

well, think about it for a second.

1.) a LOT of arabs hold Israel responsible for strife in the arab world. But why? Israel hasn't really done much aside from repel hostility generated by its neighbors. So how are they at fault for the "backwardness" in the arab world? Just looking at the war on Iraq and a few of the characters: Iraqi information minister being one of them, you can see what i mean by how some people will do everything they can to skew and hide the truth, especially to others.

2.) Third world nations are third world nations for a reason. It's not like some magical figure went around the world and assigned each nation an economic status. I even look at my island of PR. As advanced as it is for a carribbean island, it's still in poorer shape than most of the US states and why? Because too many of the people on the island aren't concerned enough about education, preservation of neighborhoods and decent moral values. It USED to be a great place to live, now it's becoming a gateway for drug traffic and a high crime, low-income area.

The same thing can apply to other countries. It's all about the quality of the people living there and what they do with their environment.

there's my reasoning.

[kramadas]

Originally posted by cintron

well, think about it for a second.

1.) a LOT of arabs hold Israel responsible for strife in the arab world. But why? Israel hasn't really done much aside from repel hostility generated by its neighbors. So how are they at fault for the "backwardness" in the arab world? Just looking at the war on Iraq and a few of the characters: Iraqi information minister being one of them, you can see what i mean by how some people will do everything they can to skew and hide the truth, especially to others.

2.) Third world nations are third world nations for a reason. It's not like some magical figure went around the world and assigned each nation an economic status. I even look at my island of PR. As advanced as it is for a carribbean island, it's still in poorer shape than most of the US states and why? Because too many of the people on the island aren't concerned enough about education, preservation of neighborhoods and decent moral values. It USED to be a great place to live, now it's becoming a gateway for drug traffic and a high crime, low-income area.

The same thing can apply to other countries. It's all about the quality of the people living there and what they do with their environment.

there's my reasoning.

1) Progress is based on education. Most Arab leaders keep their people in the dark and mislead them - that has nothing to do with the "quality" of the people themselves. For example, look at the Inquisition - the church pointed fingers at "witches" for many of the misfortunes of the day, thus leading many innocent people to be burned at the stake. Now, these "third world" practices were perpetuated by none other than ancestors of Americans. ANother more recent example - the exploitation and slaughter of the thousands of the indigineous Native American population a couple of centuries ago by none other than this country's founding fathers.

Thus, to say, that third world countries remain third world countries because of the quality of their people is wrong - its the quality of the leadership.

2) Where are most third world countries located? What do most, if not all, "developed" countries have in common - right, at some point in the previous two centuries, they were conquerors. And ended up colonizing most of what are now "third world" countries. If you read a bit about the colonization of Africa and Asia (and even America), you'd realize that the colonists stole quite a bit of wealth from these colonies. Most of these people were leading perfectly ordinary lives before the colonists arrived. Now, I'm not saying that this is the ONLY cause, but to say that this did not play a large role in the problems of third world countries would be foolish.

THe majority of these countries only got independence the middle or latter part of this century.

LIke I said, progress can only be made through education. Now, if most people can barely get enough food to stay alive, then where are they going to get an education.

Progress needs education needs money.

[igloo]

Originally posted by raver_mania

1) Progress is based on education.........

Progress needs education needs money.

Then based on the orginal article on this thread, how do we get, say, the Saudi's to use their enormous wealth for real education?