]"Inaccurate portrayal" is a term we are used to in this part of the world. The Arab-Israeli conflict has been portrayed for decades by US media as a one-sided story with the Israeli side being always right and the Arab side always wrong. Even when an incident occurs between Palestinians and Israelis where, to the Arab mind, both aggressor and victim are clear for all to see, when the incident is shown on your media it is the other way around. So, if Mickey Mouse would like to file an unlawful death complaint he would have to take a number and wait behind thousands of Palestinian children and pregnant women.
You hardly need tell me about the Palestinians. For years I was a passionate supporter of their cause, but no more. What changed? Many things. I’ll give you just one example.
In 1990 when Saddam Hussein-quite unprovoked-invaded and annexed Kuwait (a big country invading a very small country and killing its people) what did the Palestinians do? They backed Saddam! Surprise surprise! The Kuwaitis had been friends to the Palestinians for years, but the Pals backed Saddam!
After the USA gave the Kuwaitis their country back the first thing the Kuwaitis did was kick out every last Palestinian. And did the Saudis complain? They did not. It was at that time that I begin to see the Palestinians as the architects of their own misery, a people who had long since abdicated their claim to moral superiority.
So what about the poor Palestinian children being killed by Israel? Glad you asked. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents all moved in search of a better life for their children. They crossed continents and oceans, learned new languages and adopted new nationalities, all to obtain a better life. If someone offered me grandpa’s old cold water flat in Brooklyn and told me it would be just like 1938, I’d say, no thanks. I’m happy living in California. But if I felt that my children might live a better life in New Zealand or in Canada I’d move. I’m an American, but if someone offered me my dream job and it was in London I’d take it. Who says I have to live my entire life within a hundred miles of my place of birth?
I’ll admit that the Palestinians got a raw deal, but you’ll have to admit that they are fools too stupid to realize they have lost. They dream of the day that they will reclaim villages that have not existed since 1948. That’s not going to happen, that world is gone. Anyone who is old enough to have adult memories of Palestine before Israel would be older than the faces on Mt. Rushmore.
As a Saudi you see the Palestinians as hapless victims and nothing more. As an American I see the Palestinians as a people so stuck in the past that they will not move on and if that costs them their children’s lives so be it.
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najdier
14 years ago
"people so stuck in the past that they will not move on". That description equally befits someone other than the Palestinians. Are you sure you want to go there?
GMT+3, no DST
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reade-1
14 years ago
"people so stuck in the past that they will not move on". That description equally befits someone other than the Palestinians. Are you sure you want to go there?
Sure, let’s go there. Clearly you don’t like the Israelis and to tell the truth I’m not exactly crazy about them myself. For thirty years I never missed an opportunity to tell anyone who was willing (or not so willing) to listen that Israel was a completely rotten and raciest country.
But what did that get me? The answer is nothing. Opposing Israel didn’t win me any friends, it didn’t make me any taller or any handsomer or any richer or any smarter. In short, opposing Israel got me nothing. My time could have been better spent on other pursuits.
The Arab and muslim nations have been fighting Israel for more than sixty years and what do they have to show for their efforts? Has fighting Israel improved Arab schools or Arab industry? It has not. The Arabs have nothing to show for it at all. Why not let the Israelis have their tiny little slip of land? Why not leave them in peace?
Yeah I know, I’ve heard all the arguments. The Arabs are right and the Israelis are wrong. But I just don’t care anymore. This bitch of a war has been going on such a long time that I no longer care who’s right and who’s wrong. I’ve made my peace with the Zionist and I’m all the happier for having done so.
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