Posted on 09/27/2001 9:04:30 AM PDT by Illbay
Sept. 26, 2001, 8:47PM
DAMASCUS, Syria -- A morgue assistant pulls out drawers holding the mutilated corpses of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis. Doctors pummel the chest of a dead Palestinian in a desperate attempt to revive him. The body of an infant, swathed in bloodied blankets, is held by a grieving parent.
These raw images -- aired almost daily on Arab television since the Palestinian-Israeli clashes erupted a year ago -- haven't lost the power to touch the hearts of Arab viewers.
Indeed, they have fed a buildup of Arab anger -- not only against Israel but also against the United States, its chief ally, already resented for imposing 11 years of sanctions and carrying out repeated airstrikes on Iraq.
That anger provides a potential base of support for the militants, who can use it to keep governments from cracking down on them. The outrage has also left many Arabs grappling with conflicting emotions over the Sept. 11 suicide attacks in the United States.
Some governments -- while decrying the deaths at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania -- have echoed murmurs in the streets that the United States brought violence on itself by angering Arabs. Others have made it clear they want to be sure U.S. retaliation doesn't target nations like Iraq or groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, who are heroes to some Arabs because of their anti-Israel stance.
"We feel outraged by what happened in the United States, but we want the world to feel the same about the daily Israeli killings of Palestinians, the demolishing of houses and the humiliation of the people," said Wafa Mohammed, a shop owner in Jordan.
"If the United States had sympathized with the Arabs, the destruction that took place in the United States wouldn't have happened," said Mohammed Tohami, 22, an Egyptian frame maker.
"There's a feeling among Arabs that the United States is totally responsible for what's happening in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," said Imad Shueibi, a Syrian political analyst.
The Palestinian-Israeli clashes began one year ago Friday. The spark, the Palestinians say -- or the pretext, according to Israel -- was a visit by then-opposition Israeli leader Ariel Sharon to the holiest and most disputed site in Jerusalem, which Jews call the Temple Mount and Palestinians Haram as-Sharif.
Since then, 642 Palestinians and 177 Israelis have been killed. Many of the Israeli casualties were civilians who died in Palestinian suicide attacks against discos, restaurants, markets and train stations or shootings with machine guns and mortars.
The resulting resentment cannot be ignored as President Bush -- who has threatened to punish Afghanistan's Islamic rulers harboring suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden -- assembles U.S. forces for a retaliatory strike. Bin Laden has portrayed himself as the champion of Muslims and Palestinians.
Adding to the pressure on the mostly secular Arab governments are fatwas, or religious edicts issued by Muslim clergymen warning the governments against joining the anti-terrorism coalition.
He certainly is, but He also expects you to use the brain He gave you, and self defense is absolutely part of it. You are entitled to your opinion, I just don't agree with it. On the majority of scripture, I am sure we agree, but on self defense, we are worlds apart, and I am right, of course. Read Romans 13, and you did not comment on Israels bloody wars, fought at the direction of God. We don't go looking for any trouble, and walk away from it when we can, but when some scum bag comes into my place, looking to harm my family, he will have some new holes to breathe from. Some scum bags came into our collective house. It was called the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon. They need new holes to breathe from. I hope you will protect your family from harm, but that is between you and the Lord. Romans 13 still applies.
My ONLY point in this entire debate is that there is NO clear-cut "good guy" or "bad guy" in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Israel has a right to exist--this has already been determined.
But Israel also doesn't mind who it crushes in asserting that right. Some of the things the Palestinian Arabs claim are just so much bushwa. But some of it is legitimate.
Finally, I am tired of being told by the Israel "rah-rah" crowd that we, the U.S., has to support them no matter what. Israel is NOT a friend to the U.S. except as the we are useful to them. We have to be pragmatic and understand that.
Israel is a socialist, some might say "leftist", state. They take U.S. funds and turn around and subsidize their industry and their people, and the taking of more Arab land for settlements. They call this land "spoils of war." Maybe so, but to expect that the people thus displaced are just going to say "well, okay, I guess you won it fair and square" is a fool's dream.
If we have goals in common, great. If not, get out of the way.
Do you know of a documented instance of indiscriminate killing of Palestinians? If not, you're just making up your own information. Furthermore, if it did occur, which I am not aware of, was it as a result of a planned policy or did it happen spontaneously? To an intelligent person, that makes a big difference. But first, give a specific instance of indiscriminate killing. I'm tired of people just assuming facts into existence.
Relax, no where in the Bible does it say this. We do not have to stand by and be slaughtered. You don't need to find another faith. Everything is fine.
I don't know. What do you have in mind? Remember, it was Charles Martel, who stopped the invading Muslims from Spain, in 732 AD. Neither the U.S. nor Israel were in existence at this time, yet I assume they must have hated Europeans, or they probably would not have tried to invade them. Make sense?
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