Israel Matzav

The Arab stake in the 'liberation' of 'Palestine'

Three months ago, I blogged an article by Efraim Karsh called Palestine betrayed in which Karsh proved that the blame for the 'Palestinian refugee' problem belongs with the Arab leadership and not with Israel. Last month, I blogged an article by Karsh in which he used the results of an online al-Arabiya poll to prove that the 'Palestinians' are alone in the Arab world. The latter article provoked some anguished responses in the Arab world, and as a result, Karsh has written another lengthy piece that argues that his assertion that the 'Palestinians' are alone is not based on the al-Arabiya poll, but rather on a clear and detached reading of the last century of the area's history.

But whatever the scientific merits and flaws of certain polling techniques, this issue has no bearing whatsoever on "The Palestinians, Alone." For, contrary to Zogby's claim, my contention that the Arab world has never had any real stake in the "liberation of Palestine" is not based on my reading of the al-Arabiya survey but on the long history of systematic Arab abuse of both the "Palestine Question" and the Palestinians themselves. A poll, even in the best of circumstances, can only give a fleeting glimpse into reality, which is what the al-Arabiya poll did; a historical survey, by contrast, can put current circumstances within their far wider and deeper context, which is precisely what my article did.

Since this point seems to have eluded Zogby and like minded critics, as has my plea that the Palestinians should be allowed to determine their own fate rather than be bossed around by their Arab "brothers," let me expand the argument and diversify the historical examples in the (admittedly slight) hope of convincing the unconvinced.

His expansion is rather long, but it's really worth it to read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:29 PM