Posted on 04/21/2004 5:01:57 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
For the last five weeks I have been traveling through the Middle East, meeting diplomats, officials, policy experts, military leaders, students and ordinary citizens. I learned something very important: the greatest single cause of anti-Americanism in the Middle East today is not the war in Iraq; more surprisingly, it is not even American support for Israel, per se. Rather, it is a widespread belief that the United States simply does not care about the rights or needs of the Palestinian people.
"The Palestinian issue is really what discredits the United States throughout the region," a senior Western diplomat with years of experience in the Middle East told me. Or, as one student after another put it after the university lectures I conducted across the region: "Why do Americans have to be so biased?"
In Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and other countries, the large majority of people I spoke with are ready to tolerate the Jewish state — most even understand that the final boundaries of Israel will include some of the heavily settled areas beyond the pre-1967 borders. They also understand that few if any Palestinians will return to the homes they lost after the war that erupted when Israel declared its independence in 1948. And they are prepared to accept, though not to relish, America's close relations with Israel. Beyond that, they want increased American support for their domestic political reforms and for initiatives to enhance regional cooperation for economic growth and fighting terrorism.
But one thing sticks in their craw: Why doesn't America care more about the Palestinians' future?
They have a point. America's Middle East policy is unnecessarily zero-sum. We can be more pro-Palestinian without being less pro-Israeli. Indeed, to the degree that American policies help create support for compromise among Palestinians, pro-Palestinian initiatives can help Israel too.
Take compensation. United Nations resolutions call for financial compensation for Palestinians who cannot return to their family homes in Israel. Israel's position that it cannot accept millions of refugees and their descendants is reasonable enough, and the Bush administration's support of it is nothing new. But we should be equally clear about compensation.
Many questions need answering: where can Palestinians go to have their claims for lost property adjudicated and certified? What tribunal will hear these claims? What principles will guide its deliberations? Where will the money come from to pay the claims when peace is finally made?
The United States can and should take the lead in building an international consensus on the compensation issue and, working with allies in Europe and elsewhere, help raise money to ensure that it is more than a pious wish.
There is more we can do. Millions of Palestinians are now stateless. (Jordan has integrated the refugees within its borders; other countries have not.) When peace comes, all Palestinians should be citizens of some state with full economic and social rights. The new Palestinian state will need financial help to absorb many of these refugees; and neighboring states who agree to integrate Palestinians should also receive international aid.
In addition, while many Palestinians are well educated, many others are poor and lack skills. They depend on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for basic services and support. Who takes the agency's place when peace comes and the Palestinians aren't refugees anymore?
Taking the lead on these and other issues vital to the Palestinians would not bring quick progress toward peace in the region, nor would it undo overnight the consequences of decades of suspicion and resentment. But it would help to reduce anti-Americanism in the Muslim world and beyond, as well as to advance the cause of peace.
Walter Russell Mead is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of "Power, Terror, Peace and War: America's Grand Strategy in a World at Risk."
You sir are correct, nothing else needs be said. The author has an ethical system that allows those who participate or support the killing of innocents to be held equivalent to the United States or Israel both of whom would resolve simple issues like food and housing if the killing would stop. It doesn't and the author knows it, but he hates America enought to write this cr*p.
Act like wild animals and expect to be treated like human beings? They're nuts! And subsidized nuts, at that.
They have the right to remain silent. They need to grow up.
See, some of us care about their rights and needs.
Well, I am one person that doesn't care. Maybe that isn't accurate. As long as over 60% of Palestinians support terrorists, I do care. I care that they no longer have an opportunity to live in peace. I care that they no longer have a homeland. I care that they deserve a simple fate: death. A people so evil to support the killing of women and children does not deserve to be part of the community of nations in the 21st century. They need to go back to 7th century, get closer to Mohammad, and find themselves. Opps, I got that wrong - they will just find the roots of terrorism all over again. Push them into desert. Rebuild the Temple.
It has a couple of meanings to me. First, on the surface (literally), the Dome of the Rock (El Aska Mosque) stands on the site of the original temple. It is one of the longest standing, intact Muslim buildings in the world. To rebuild the temple would mean that the El Aska Mosque must be destroyed. I am an advocate of that, and of every other Christian and Hebrew place of worship that Muslims have built on top. Second, it has more subtle meaning. For the second coming of Christ to occur, the temple needs to be measured. In the Rev. 11:1-2, “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told: ‘Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2: but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months.’”
So, in a way, you are right. Bring it on Anti-Christ. You can guess what I think about Islam - the religion of peace.
Hey, I'm in a generous mood. Why can't he be both?! John Derbyshire said it best- Why Don’t I Care About the Palestinians?
Also, to make it easier on your fellow FR readers, instead of just placing the text to a web site that you want to refer to in a message actually make an HTML link so that it may just be clicked on to view. For example, one of the best freeware replacements for the basic Microsoft Notepad with great HTML editing support is a product named NoteTab Light currently version 4.95, by Fookes software. Notice how much easier that is for a reader to access instead of just "www.notetab.com" which the reader has to cut/paste into the IE address bar.
Best of luck...
dvwjr
Maybe they can go to Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other pro-Muslim countries who collectively expelled more Jews and appropriated more Jewish property than the Pallies ever lost as a result of their refusal to share the traditional Jewish homeland.
Maybe they can take some of the jobs the Saudis prefer to import more docile infidels from south Asia to perform.
Maybe they could thank their lucky stars for living in the only non-despotic country in the Middle East and accept the rights Israel grants to Israeli Arabs, which are far more than the rights granted to Pallies by any other Arab regime in the region. Maybe, just maybe, they could give up their psychopathic goals to finish what Hitler started. Americans have a real problem with genocide. We're funny that way. Try to understand.
Also, every post ever I've screwed up was because I didn't use the "preview" option.
1) Give the Palis a $h*t load of money, for homes they 'lost' in '48. No mention of parallel reparations for Jews who fled Muslim controlled areas.
2) Give poor Palistinians permanent welfare, to replace the UN programs (we already pay the lion's share for these anyway).
And this will make the Palistinians eager to form a democratic state and live in peace right next to Israel buy more automatic weapons, mortars and bombs to continue their war of extinction against Israel.
Speaking for myself, I really could care less about them.
Im angry that my government sends any money at all to these corrupt savages so they can buy explosive suicide belts for brainwashed teenagers and keep Suha Arafat living a life of luxury in Paris, France.
It is NOT the responsibility of the United States to support these people.
Our only responsibility is to take care of our own people.
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