Whether it's Hamas or any other Palestinian extremist group (there are others), they all seem so intractable in their hatred of Israel as to crush any hope of peace - ever.
We can't grasp what drives these people and so we've long since stopped trying. It's almost as though we've concluded they're just not like us, there's something less than human about them that drives their insatiable bloodlust. There are plenty who would like nothing more than for us to settle into that narrative.
Sorry to burst that bubble but, guess what? These are human beings, just like you and me.
One reason we're so perplexed about the Palestinians is that we don't really know the events that have run through their lives over the past hundred plus years. We don't know what's been done to them. That leaves us completely unable to grasp their collective grievance, their thirst for revenge.
Maybe you're happy not knowing. But, if you really want the background, get your ands on a copy of The Gun and the Olive Branch, the Roots of Violence in the Middle East, by former Guardian Middle East correspondent David Hirst.
Olive Branch is a long book, running to some 600 pages. In it Hirst meticulously catalogues events that have transpired between Zionists and Palestinians going back to Theodor Herzl, Paris and 1882.
Hirst isn't remotely anti-Semitic but he is a magnificent chronicler of events. He's no apologist for Arab violence, the magnitude of which he fully recognizes. Arabs are not that keen on Hirst's brutal honesty, he's been banned in six Arab countries but in today's dynamic events it would be Israelis who have most to fear from this man's truth.
Until you've been exposed to the intricate history of this seemingly unstoppable tragedy your understanding will be incomplete and therefore somewhat skewed.
Here are a couple of reviews:
"Massively documented, this book will make uncomfortable reading for many who will no doubt do what they can to discredit him. But they will find it difficult to challenge the integrity of this quizzical and caustic reporter who has an unrivalled record of offending arab Governments and being banned by them" - Financial Times
"An epic tale told relentlessly well ...a serious account of
Zionism and a sobering review of Israel's new role as conqueror and occupier." - Christopher Hitchens.
If you've read this book you'll know that the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada either hasn't read it or else is morally unfit to lead that party.
We can't grasp what drives these people and so we've long since stopped trying. It's almost as though we've concluded they're just not like us, there's something less than human about them that drives their insatiable bloodlust. There are plenty who would like nothing more than for us to settle into that narrative.
Sorry to burst that bubble but, guess what? These are human beings, just like you and me.
One reason we're so perplexed about the Palestinians is that we don't really know the events that have run through their lives over the past hundred plus years. We don't know what's been done to them. That leaves us completely unable to grasp their collective grievance, their thirst for revenge.
Maybe you're happy not knowing. But, if you really want the background, get your ands on a copy of The Gun and the Olive Branch, the Roots of Violence in the Middle East, by former Guardian Middle East correspondent David Hirst.
Olive Branch is a long book, running to some 600 pages. In it Hirst meticulously catalogues events that have transpired between Zionists and Palestinians going back to Theodor Herzl, Paris and 1882.
Hirst isn't remotely anti-Semitic but he is a magnificent chronicler of events. He's no apologist for Arab violence, the magnitude of which he fully recognizes. Arabs are not that keen on Hirst's brutal honesty, he's been banned in six Arab countries but in today's dynamic events it would be Israelis who have most to fear from this man's truth.
Until you've been exposed to the intricate history of this seemingly unstoppable tragedy your understanding will be incomplete and therefore somewhat skewed.
Here are a couple of reviews:
"Massively documented, this book will make uncomfortable reading for many who will no doubt do what they can to discredit him. But they will find it difficult to challenge the integrity of this quizzical and caustic reporter who has an unrivalled record of offending arab Governments and being banned by them" - Financial Times
"An epic tale told relentlessly well ...a serious account of
Zionism and a sobering review of Israel's new role as conqueror and occupier." - Christopher Hitchens.
If you've read this book you'll know that the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada either hasn't read it or else is morally unfit to lead that party.
1 comment:
MoS, my personal philosophy and explanation is that when you put people in a desperate and "no win and nothing to lose" situation then they will do anything and I think that is what Palestinians are all about.
Terrorists for us are freedom fighters for others and "freedom fighters" like Bush are terrorists for most of the world.
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