Posted on 05/26/2004 1:17:59 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Recognizing Israel has little support in the world, Arabs and Muslims who back the Jewish state are developing a new website, ArabsforIsrael.com.
Its developer, Middle East-born author Nonie Darwish, says "now is the right time for Arabs and Muslims who believe in and support Israel to do so."
"Israel has few friends at this point in history and I wish to convey to every Israeli and Jew around the world, that there are Arabs and Muslims, like us, who support them and wish for their well-being," says Dawish, a U.S. citizen.
In its statement of principles, Arabs for Israel says it can support the Jewish state and religion "and still treasure our Arab and Islamic culture."
"There are many Jews and Israelis who freely express compassion and support for the Palestinians," the website says. "It is time that we Arabs express reciprocal compassion and support."
The group says Israel "is a legitimate state that is not a threat but an asset in the Middle East."
Palestinians cannot move forward, Arabs for Israel says, because "of their leadership, the Arab League and surrounding Arab and Muslim countries who do not want to see Palestinians live in harmony with Israel."
"If Palestinians want democracy they can start practicing it now," the group says. "We stand firmly against suicide/homicide terrorism as a form of Jihad."
Emphasizing it is not anti-Islam, anti-Arab, confrontational or hateful, the group says, "We cherish and acknowledge the beauty and contributions of the Middle East culture, but recognize that the Arab/Muslim world is in desperate need of constructive self-criticism and reform."
Darwish says last November she spoke at a lecture series at Carnegie Mellon University called "Arabs for Israel," sponsored by the Young Zionist Organization of America.
In a lecture entitled "An Egyptian's Journey from Anti-Semitism and Ethnocentrism to Understanding and Support for Israel," Darwish told of her childhood in Gaza in the 1950s where she witnessed rising terrorism against Israel.
Darwish said she had to overcome years of indoctrination into hate and anti-Semitism.
After her lecture, she said, an Egyptian student objected to her calling the suicide mass murder of Israelis inside Israel by Palestinians "terrorism."
"I told her there is no other name for it, and that there is nothing honorable about it," Darwish said. "Terror is the behavior of desperate people and Arabs are not and should not act desperate."
She advised another Muslim student, dressed in Islamic attire, "to put aside the baggage we all came to the U.S. with and get to know a Jewish student as a human being and fellow student."
"I commented that this is an educational institution in the free world and this is their chance to learn about issues that are taboo in Arab culture," Darwish said.
Reaction to the speech was mixed, she said, but she discovered "many Arab students needed to hear a different message from a person of Arab origin who supports Israel."
"I believe that many went home with something new to think about," Darwish said. "Yes, it is OK to be Muslim and Arab and support Israel."
Ping
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
Lifting-my-jaw-off-the-floor bump!
ping
This just seems...too good to be True!
Does a Leopard Change it's SPOTS?
Can AMALEK stop their HATRED of Jews, Christians and Infidels?
To put it quite frankly, sadly...NO THEY CANNOT.
We must Live in the Real World, forget about the Hand Holding and Singing....Koum By Yah.
The BIBLE tells us that things will become far WORSE than they are now.
I choose to Believe in what G-D has to say in HIS WORD, and not trust in what silly, worldly men or women say and do.
And I think that you would agree that, a born-again leopard can change his spots.
Let me quote from, ex-PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat, who has since converted to Christianity and is now pro-Israel. In an interview in the Jerusalem Post, Shoebat suggested the unthinkable: “The true occupation is of the minds of Palestinians, of teaching them hatred for Jews. That is the real occupation.”
I agree with you completely on this. But IMO, any activity which takes terrorists out of the mix should be viewed as a good thing.
More information welcome.
I AGREE WITH YOU!
Your comment needs to be repeated:"any activity which takes terrorists out of the mix should be viewed as a good thing."
ALL Islamic Terrorists, their followers and supporters everywhere should be Annihilated...Wiped Off The Face of The EARTH!
That is why WE MUST VOTE FOR: BUSH / CHENEY in November.
We Must Let President BUSH Finish the WAR on Terrorism.
He had the GUTS to Stand Up to the Un-Necessary IDIOTS at the UN and he did Exactly what He said he was going to do! He NEVER Asked the UN for a Permission Slip to Defend our Country.
And for that President Bush deserves 4 more Years!
Our very LIVES depend on who it is that gets into the White House come January 2005!
Yes...You are right, I'm sorry, I totally forgot about the Druze and their very Real Loyality to Israel.
They are a one of a kind people and hold to old Arab views.
Funny story...When I was in ISRAEL in 1989, our tour group traveled through a Druze village, the people were very nice.
The men were wearing baggy pants that had a special "Messiah" pouch in the front...just In Case they were Chosen to give Birth to the "Messiah".
They had regular housing and buildings, their places were kept neat and clean, however, on the outskirts of their town we saw about a dozen Tents...with Satellite Dishes and Antennae on the top of the Tents...ahhh...The Ancient meets Modernity!
May G-d Bless the Druze People.
Hello Simcha,
No worries. May G-d bless the Druze indeed.
Why? There are Israeli Arabs, and even Muslims, who regularly fight and die for their country.
As my previous posts indicate, I am aware of that. (I probably also should have mentioned the Bedouin.) I also know that the Egyptian Copts are sympathetic to Jews. I was surprised because these are by far the exceptions, and this is the first organization of its kind I have encountered in my lifetime. I hope a thousand more start.
Also the pro-Democracy protesters in Iran often chant slogans that are supportive of Israel, or at least indicating to the mullahs that they recognize the regime's pro-pallie/anti-jew rants as a b----s--- tactic to divert attention from it's own tyranny and misrule. (Even after it was Islamicized, up until the mullahs seized power in `79, Jews generally had more freedom and security in Persia than in the Arab world. Persian Jews had frequently taken up the cause of Persian/Iranian nationalism and were respected for this.)
Then, of course, there is the open Turkish military alliance with Israel, and the semi-open one with Jordan.
But between us, that pretty much covers the overt support for Israel in the Islamic World, I think. I suspect, however, that there is much more quiet, would be support. I can't help but believe that there are many who admire Israel's achievements and her democracy and civil society, but can't give voice to that because of the thugocracies they are subject to.
Ariel Sharon has, for a decade or more, expressed a conviction that Israel will one day have real and enduring peace, but that will only happen, and only can happen, when the majority of her neighbors are free societies. Of course the left, and the putatively "mainstream" establishment/intelligentsia, doesn't get this. They prattle on about the "cycle of violence," and idiotically intone that we must push through an Arab/Israeli "peace process" before we can even hope for real reform in the Arab World.
This is entirely backward, as the most cursory examination of the last seventy-five, or even the last dozen, years of history will attest. It's an astounding testament to the left's naivete (or perversity) that they are incapable of understanding this, given their alleged obsession with fascism. The Arab/Islamic Tyrannies foster and indulge in Jew Hatred for the same reason the Nazis did.
Judenhas is about much more than just hating Jews. Deeper down it's about opposition to liberalism.
By "liberalism" here I mean not the opposite to "conservatism," but rather the broad philosophy of governance and social order that grew out of the European Enlightenment and came into fruition in the 19th Century, including ideas such as liberty, human rights, limited government, the rule of law, equality under law, property law and markets, patriotism and the nation-state (versus loyalty to tribe/blood/religion]) and all that. In this sense most conservatives are liberals. Most non-extremist left-liberals are also liberal in the same sense (even if we conservatives think know they are dangerously misguided as to the nourishment and preservation of liberalism).
Fascism was explicitly, consciously and fanatically anti-liberal -- in the broad sense of the term -- and this anti-liberalism was much more central to fascism than Jew Hatred. Jew Hatred came naturally, however, because somehow (leaving the causes aside for now) the Jews had come to be symbols of liberalism. They remain so to this day, especially for the Islamists. Arabs hate Jews, in large measure, because it's fostered by their leaders, and it's fostered by their leaders because they want to retain their power and perks, which they cannot do in a free and liberal society.
The Arab tyrannies presently retain the ability to thwart peace with Israel, and will always do so, and will always sow hatred and strife, because peace would ultimately mean an end to their rule. In the context of a comprehensive peace, Israel's ties with more moderate Islamic states like Turkey, or more moderate rulers, like Jordan's Hussein, would immediately deepen. Less immediately, but inevitably, liberals throughout the region would be strengthened and emboldened, and tyrannies would fall.
But that'll never happen, and can't unless the tyrannies fall first.
He really left an impression on me, and almost gave me cause to be optimistic about the future of the Mideast.
I've always enjoyed reading Darwish's work; though she could stand to improve her grammar a little bit.
Reply to some of the above posts:
Egyptian Copts are NOT Arabs, they are the genuine descendants of ancient Egyptians that became Christians and never subdued to Islam. The same is to be said about the Assyrians, a people in exile (the ancient Assyrians, that became Christians in the 1st century CE), they are pro-Israel (and anti-Arab).
Druzes are not fully Arabs, but they are a remnant of ancient pre-Arab cultures.
Other people that Israel must pay a little more attention because they may be good allies are the Kurds, and, even though a little far away, India.
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