Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' racism

The people who consider themselves the 'oppressed of the world' get furious when someone whom they think should automatically be on their side thinks for herself, and reaches an opposite conclusion. I have already noted once this week some of the racist epithets tossed at US Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice in the 'Palestinian' press. It's getting worse. And don't let anyone fool you: this is coming from the 'official' 'Palestinian Authority' and from the good offices of 'moderate Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen and his Fatah organization.

The Jerusalem Post reports this morning that Rice's visit to Ramallah last week, where she met with 'moderate Palestinian Authority President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen, was accompanied by calls for a general strike in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as articles and cartoons depicting her as a "black raven" and "child murderer." Just before Rice's heavily-guarded motorcade entered Ramallah, hundreds of 'Palestinians' marched in the center of the city, calling on Abu Mazen to boycott her, and strongly denouncing the US for its alleged bias toward Israel.

PA 'policemen' used force to disperse the protesters, some of whom carried placards featuring Rice as a raven preying on the corpse of children. A copy of that placard, from 'Palestinian Authority' daily al-Hayat al-Jadeeda is shown on the right. Yesterday, thousands of 'Palestinians' took to the streets of Ramallah in a show of solidarity with Hezbullah. The rally was organized by Abu Mazen's Fatah and other factions.

I'm actually almost surprised at this, because the ongoing war with Hezbullah has pretty much pushed the 'Palestinians' to the side if not off the map. If you look at my posts in this blog - which pretty much reflect the ratio of what the media is reporting - there is almost no mention of the 'Palestinians' since Hezbullah abducted two IDF soldiers three weeks ago. They've disappeared from the news. Every few days there is a story about how Hamas is going to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit 'soon,' but I have been ignoring those stories and taking the attitude of "I'll believe it when I see it." The 'Palestinians' are still shooting Kassams occasionally, and the IDF has conducted some raids into Gaza, but that has all taken a back seat to the ongoing war with Hezbullah up north. What makes the 'Palestinians' think that Hezbullah cares about them or is going to do anything for them (without getting an awful lot in return), or even can do anything for them, is beyond me. You will note that most of the Arab countries are taking a low profile at the moment regarding both fights.

During the rally yesterday, 'moderate Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen's Fatah officials openly expressed their backing for Hizbullah and urged the Arab countries to join the battle against Israel. Hani al-Hassan, a top Fatah leader closely associated with Abu Mazen, declared that his party had instructed all its armed men to be prepared to fight against Israel.

Calling on Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah to bomb Tel Aviv, many protesters also chanted slogans against Rice and the US. "O Condaleezza, you are a condara [shoe]," shouted a group of Fatah activists. An elderly woman yelled: "Shame on you, Condaleezza, your parents were slaves for the whites!"

"The Palestinians hate her because of her arrogance and because of the policy she represents," said a veteran Palestinian newspaper editor. "Moreover, many Palestinians are angry with her because they think that all black people should be on their side." Given that Arabs are committing genocide against blacks in the Sudan, I don't see what basis the 'Palestinians' - who are really just Arabs - have for assuming that any black people should be on their side.

The Jerusalem Post reports on why the attacks on Rice are happening now:

The PA media, which is controlled by Abbas's office, has been targeting Rice since the days of Yasser Arafat. The attacks intensified after the US decision to boycott Arafat in 2001 - a decision which Arafat and his top aides believed was taken at the behest of Rice.

In the past three weeks, the Arab media in general and the PA media in particular have resumed their scathing attacks on Rice - this time because of her call for establishing a new Middle East after the war in Lebanon is over.

Under the headline "Rice, go to hell!" the Gaza-based Donia al-Watan on-line magazine ran an article by Mahmoud Abu Nur in which he said: "Mrs. Rice, go to hell you and your smart bombs. Take your new Middle East back home and don't ever return here. The Arab people are wary of your malicious message."

This week a cartoon in the PA-funded Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda mocked Rice's hope for the birth of a new Middle East by drawing her pregnant with a monkey. The paper has also published pictures of demonstrators with posters of Rice drinking blood dripping from dead babies and saying: "I need more blood." [You may recall that the London Daily Independent published a similar cartoon by Dave Brown, that featured Ariel Sharon eating babies. The PA would apparently like 'Palestinians' to associate Rice with Sharon. CiJ] One picture showed an American flag with the words in English and Arabic "Murderer Rice go to hell!"

According to Palestinian Media Watch [the source for the Rice cartoon above on the right. CiJ], the Palestinians "seem to have a special penchant for hating Rice. Some of the attacks have included expressions of racial hatred, as in an article this week referring to Rice as a raven and a previous article that referred to her as 'the colored,' 'the dark skinned' and 'the black lady.'"

But just give them a state reichlet and all the world's problems will be solved he says sarcastically. Hopefully, after this experience, the Bush administration will stop thinking so simplistically and will recognize that the 'Palestinians' and their Islamist allies aren't interested in their own state, they are only interested in destroying Israel - and the United States.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:38 AM