Palestinian sheds light on who's right in Middle East

Palestinian sheds light on who's right in Middle East

By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary HeraldMay 27, 2009

Khaled Abu Toameh gives the lie to all the incendiary rhetoric about Israel that is heard in Canada --the call to boycott Israeli products, the rants about Israeli apartheid, the campus protests against Israel's supposed oppression of the Palestinians. You know how the protesters insist that it's about Israel, and not about hating Jews? After you've heard Abu Toameh talk, the only conclusion to draw is that it has to be about hating Jews.

"I see more sympathy for Hamas on campuses than I do in Ramallah, more hatred for Jews on North American campuses than in Palestinian areas,"Abu Toameh said during a visit with the Herald editorial board Monday. "The people I've met on campuses are not Arabs and not Palestinians. They haven't been (to the Middle East) and they don't know what they're talking about. I saw signs saying 'Death to Israel' on campuses here. I can't remember the last time I heard this in Ramallah."

Abu Toameh, 46, is a Muslim, an Israeli citizen and a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, specializing in Palestinian affairs. Yes, he works for a Jewish-owned newspaper. No, he is not told by the newspaper's owners to say the things he does. He says them because, as an Arab-Palestinian citizen of Israel, he sees the truth --and as a journalist, he has an innate obligation to tell that truth. "People say, 'You work for a Jewish paper, why should we believe you?' If I worked for a Hamas paper, you'd believe me more?" he says, adding, "I said all the same things when I worked for a PLO newspaper."

Here are snippets of what he has to say. On being an Arab living in Israel: "Israel can be a Jewish state for all its citizens . . . I would choose to be a third-class citizen in Israel than a first class citizen in Cairo or Amman."On the security barrier Israel built to keep out suicide bombers, a fence which has stirred ugly cries of "apartheid" among Canadian protesters: "I don't believe in walls. I wish it weren't there. But if I were Israel, I'd go write on it, 'Made By Hamas and Yasser Arafat.' Jews didn't wake up one morning and say, 'We're bored. Let's spend billions of dollars and build a wall' . . . For three years I was scared to take my children to the mall, afraid to stop at a red light next to an Israeli bus. More than 50 Arabs have died in suicide bombings in Israel. They (the suicide bombers) don't care (who they kill)."

....

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Palestinian+sheds+light+right+Middle+East/1634580/story.html

He says that before the wall went up, if someone had asked to meet him in downtown Jerusalem, he would have replied, "Are you crazy?"

There's more. On Hamas and Fatah: "Hamas is in a power struggle with Fatah, which makes it impossible to talk about Palestinian stability . . . 2,000 Palestinians have died in this power struggle between Hamas and (Fatah)."On Hamas's hatred for Israel: "If anyone thinks Hamas is going to wake up in the morning and sing Hatikvah, that's not going to happen . . . . Why are we begging Hamas to change? Change should come from within the Palestinians. We Arabs and Muslims allow ourselves to be intimidated by a minority of thugs who call the shots . . . Fatah and Hamas are both suppressing (the emergence of) third-way parties."

Abu Toameh sees himself as a proud Israeli who is pro-Palestinian. That's not a contradiction. It's a recognition of who the Palestinians' real oppressors are. Pro-Palestinian does not equate to anti-Israel; it means being in favour of the Palestinians tossing out their corrupt, thuggish leaders and putting in place a government that will help them to become more like Israel.

"I meet many Palestinians in Ramallah who say they wish the occupation would come back; it was better under the Jews. Some want the Jordanians back," he says.

Palestinians have "always admired the freedom of expression in Israel" and they say "we hope we'll have a free media like the Jews have."

This yearning for democracy is a theme that runs through Abu Toameh's revelations about what ordinary Palestinians want. They envy Israel and they "want to build something like what the Jews have." Under the occupation, the Palestinians got a taste of "democracy, prosperity and stability. We were exposed under Israel to all these things."He adds: "We Arabs are trying to become like the Jews. We see how much they've achieved. The Jews are moving forward and we're moving backward." Moreover, the ordinary Palestinians know who's responsible for their miseries: "They know the Jews did not prevent Arafat from establishing good government."

Listening to this soft-spoken man, you can't help thinking of Sid Ryan, Naomi Klein and the rest of the Canadian crowd who loudly condemn Israel.

Abu Toameh's quiet words, drawn from the well of lived experience, show them up for the fools they are. If only they'd shut up for two minutes and listen to him, their eyes would be opened. Or maybe they prefer to keep them closed to truth.

He is right about evil, the forms of hate and violence just want to increase suffering, they don't care who suffers.

On the topic of the rest of the article.

I have a hard time believing a university would tolerate the type of signs the guy mentioned. I would guess much of the support for a Palestine state is because of the visible suffering people in Gaza and other areas of the region have suffered.


Here are snippets of what he has to say. On being an Arab living in Israel: "Israel can be a Jewish state for all its citizens . . . I would choose to be a third-class citizen in Israel than a first class citizen in Cairo or Amman."On the security barrier Israel built to keep out suicide bombers, a fence which has stirred ugly cries of "apartheid" among Canadian protesters...

This is illogical, he starts by saying it would be better to be a third class citizen, but then says their is no Apartheid. His original comment shows that somehow in some way there is a difference in how he is treated.

This seems to be the playing of the antisemitism issue on comments about the actions of some policies of the Israeli government. Which is not a prejudice issue for most people. There are probably some people that look at the issue through a bias or prejudice lens on both sides.

I live in a college town and I've some astonishingly hateful things said about Israel and the Jews. Said by people who would never say anything of the same level of venom about another group or nation.

i have been heartbroken to see the left's confusions so well co-opted; and then, those co-opted eating it up so ferociously!

i realize it is a voracious hunger to 'justify'(/sublimate) deep-seated(/denied) antisemitism, and i am heartsick.


peace and solidarity

would you ask that?

and that a two state solution be reached and just what is Israel being so viciously accused of?

boycotted durbin, which shows sufficient understanding.
that's what matters, versus knee-jerk regurgitation.


now i should say that i posted in supprt of shira. i am off now, so i won't be able to debate this. i hope you, as everyone, will look further, deeper....


thank you.


peace

Like, I support a two-state solution, an end to the occupation, and strongly believe that the human rights of both Palestinians and Israelis must be protected. So there's no way I'd post that I was posting in support of a poster who for example supports the settler movement, believes the occupation should continue, and doesn't think Palestinians are deserving of even the most basic of human rights. That's why I tend to read people's previous posts and get a feel for their views, not that I tend to post in support or anything else of anyone else at DU....

Okay, so it's an abjectly silly article that tries to make out this one man's opinion is the be all and end all, but posting a ridiculous article doesn't make any DUer brave. I'm not sure why anyone on the left would embrace an article from a man who has a history of trying to justify the occupation continuing. Is it antisemitism to point that out, I wonder? Y'know, it could be so deep-seated that those of us who do realise that just like everyone else, Palestinians have their share of right-wing tools like the guy who wrote the article, just aren't seeing how darned antisemitic we're being by being incredibly unimpressed with conservative twaddle being posted under the guise of being progressive or left-wing...

Okay, so clearly you don't want to explain why you think posting at DU is a thing of bravery. That's fine, coz it's clear it's over the top exaggeration. Either that or *bravery* is yet another word that's been butchered in the US into something not recognisable by those of us who speak English...

And suggesting that opposition to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is evidence of anti-semitism is simply foolish. It's less innaccurate (although still silly) to suggest that failure to condemn Israel is evidence of anti-Palestinian or anti-Muslim bigotry.

If Khaled Abu Toameh is happy to live as a third-class citizen in Israel then that's his business, but he has no right to demand that anyone else makes the same decision, and it's clear that the vast majority of Palestinians do not want to be third class Israeli citizens.

"Abu Toameh sees himself as a proud Israeli who is pro-Palestinian." He is clearly wrong to see himself that way - he's strongly, bigottedly anti-Palestinian.

"The only conclusion to draw is that it has to be about hating Jews." Of course not - the only conclusion to draw is that Toameh is an idiot who, if he were Jewish, would be branded "self-hating" in a heartbeat.

Just because he is from the same ethnic group as other Palestinians does not mean he speaks for them.

you just need to pay better attention to the Palestinian voices speaking out against Hamas and Fatah.

read this and then click the link to see more....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=273584&mesg_id=274340

see #114-115 here too...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x255450#256706

narrative killers, aren't they?

===============

as for the rest of your post...

If Khaled Abu Toameh is happy to live as a third-class citizen in Israel then that's his business, but he has no right to demand that anyone else makes the same decision, and it's clear that the vast majority of Palestinians do not want to be third class Israeli citizens.

click the link above and check it out for yourself.

"Abu Toameh sees himself as a proud Israeli who is pro-Palestinian." He is clearly wrong to see himself that way - he's strongly, bigottedly anti-Palestinian.

yeah right, and you probably think the "anti Israel" contingent here is pro-Palestinian when they could care less how average Palestinians are treated under Hamas/Fatah (as human shields, child combatants), how refugees suffer terribly in Lebanon and elsewhere, and human rights orgs (the media< UN, etc.) grossly under report and fail to condemn most of it.

Pal'n supporters here (the hostile critics of Israel here) can't be bothered to espouse outrage over Hamas' systematic abuse and slaughter of Palestinian children because it appears they only care about children killed by Jews. This kind of empathy is psychopathic.

"The only conclusion to draw is that it has to be about hating Jews." Of course not - the only conclusion to draw is that Toameh is an idiot who, if he were Jewish, would be branded "self-hating" in a heartbeat.

:eyes:

Of course it's about hating Jews.

It's about irrational, hostile hatred and outright defamation (not mere 'criticism') against the only Jewish state in the world. It's about bogus conspiracy theories and supernaturally powered jewish "lobbies". Or accusing pro-Israel jews of having dual loyalties. It's about ignoring, suppressing, or brushing aside hostile Arab anti-semitism or present-day threats of genocide (eg. Iran's Ahmanutjob, Hamas media) against Jews, repeating the tired mantra of settlements and occupation while ignoring Arab violence against Jews in Israel dating back to the 1920's, or ignoring the influence of the Oil lobby. Or pretending that a big bloc of 3rd world UN countries doesn't use Israel very effectively as their scapegoat (and the media covers for them). Or equating Israel to Nazi Germany.

There's nothing "progressive" about any of the above....in fact, it's as far RW as anything David Duke or Pat Buchanon have to offer. This demonization campaign against Israel is every bit as bad as the rubbish typed out daily by Islamophobic warmongering haters at JihadWatch or Eye-on-Islam.

Just because he is from the same ethnic group as other Palestinians does not mean he speaks for them.

Of course not. Hamas speaks for them. We can trust Hamas state-sponsored media to give us an accurate representation of Palestinian opinion.

after all, Palestinians have nothing to fear from speaking out and criticizing their leadership.

:eyes: