Saturday, February 09, 2008
Do Arab countries really give a rat's ass about the Palestinians?
Apparently not.
I have long subscribed to the view that the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian territorial dispute would not, as claimed by transnational progressives and many in the foreign policy establishment, mollify Islamist radicals. Among the reasons to doubt that peace in Palestine would actually stabilize the region is this: Most Arabs in positions of power, from apostate secular regimes to Wahhabi royalists to Islamist jihadis, do not appear to be willing to lift a finger on behalf of Palestinians unless doing so happens to coincide with some broader agenda. The Egyptians, for example, do not take kindly to actual Palestinians coming into their country, notwithstanding their comparatively lavish consumer spending:
As the border with the Gaza Strip was being sealed off, the Egyptian state-owned media launched a campaign apparently seeking to overturn public sympathy for the Palestinians. Since Egypt started to regain control over its border, preventing Palestinians from coming in, newspapers have become harsh, with front-page news about Palestinians shooting at Egyptian soldiers, weapons smuggling, terrorism and reports of false currency in the Sinai and threats to national security.
The new content replaces headlines that showed sympathy with the Palestinians, stressing President Hosni Mubarak's statements that Egypt would not let the Palestinians starve. However, 10 days later, a change of heart has become crystal-clear. Rosa-al-Yousef, a state-owned paper known as the most vocal mouthpiece of the regime, has spearheaded the anti-Palestinian campaign. "Egypt is generous and patient but its patience has limits," warned a front-page headline that appeared after skirmishes the Egyptian-Palestinian borders earlier this week.
The paper even questioned whether Gaza had a humanitarian crisis, hinting that Gazans were well-off. "It is not true that the siege imposed on Gaza caused a serious humanitarian crisis that eventually led to the Palestinian flood [into Egypt]," wrote Abdullah Kamal, Rosa-al-Yousef's editor-in-chief and a staunch proponent of Mubarak's regime. "Each [Gazan] comer spent an average of US$260 in three days....the total spending during that period [where the Gazans broke through Egypt] reached US$ 220 million. These figures raise real questions about the financial situation in the Gaza Strip."
Well, at least now we know where all that foreign aid money is going.
One is forced to wonder whether the Egyptian ruling class feels even the slightest twinge of guilt over the "plight" of Palestinians, who would not be in the position they are in today if Egypt had pursued different policies in the last sixty years. I doubt it, either because they have chosen to deny the history or because, well, the "plight" of the Palestinians is substantially less dire than the plight of the average Egyptian.
6 Comments:
By 
Christopher Chambers, at
Sat Feb 09, 05:14:00 PM:
If they did, there'd be a new "homeland" in any one six countries. Yes, that sounds simplistic, and a homeland is a homeland and common sense tends to melt away when it comes to "home" (ask the Jews). But living in the real world it would seem that Dubai could take some that money they're using to build 100 story towers and theme parks and indoor surfing pools and literary create a place of safety and pride out of the sand.
By Purple Avenger, at
Sat Feb 09, 06:37:00 PM:
The Saudis and Kuwaitis cut the palis loose over a year ago. Nobody likes them because they poison everything they touch and wrecked anything nice that was ever given to them.
By 
, at
Sat Feb 09, 11:26:00 PM:
Plus causing two civil wars. (in Jordan and Lebanon)
Though this is not true of all the individuals, as a group they have thoroughly earned their sad position in the world.
The last Palestinian I talked to was a Christian woman who said two things to me that were memorable. 1) The other Palestinians used to tell them (the Christians) 'when the Jews are all dead, you're next.' [how's that for a repressed minority?] 2) 'The US should just use nuked to turn the entire Middle East into glass so we can see where the oil is.'
By pst314, at
Sun Feb 10, 06:54:00 PM:
"One is forced to wonder whether the Egyptian ruling class feels even the slightest twinge of guilt over the 'plight' of Palestinians"
Kanan Makiya explored this very question in his book "Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising, and the Arab World".
By pst314, at
Sun Feb 10, 06:57:00 PM:
"The other Palestinians used to tell them (the Christians) 'when the Jews are all dead, you're next.'"
Muslims often express this sentiment with the following slogan: "After Saturday comes Sunday".
Such charming people. Truly a Religion of Peace. Feh.
By , at
Sun Feb 10, 08:17:00 PM:
CC, you are slipping! You are posting a comment here that many or even most of the right-wing-nuts here agree with. You are not going to be able to harvest comments for your books if you keep that up!
