Someone please tell me there are many more like him
Yes, there is an Arab who thinks like this. The fact is, Arabs don’t all look alike or think alike. But we are often pushed into a kind of groupthink, a kind of self-censorship that hinders our development and our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.Okay, he grew up in and lives in America, but his story tells you that many Arabs who grew up like he did still retain the ancient Middle East hatreds. But he gives me hope.
We are not a universal group. But some of us believe in a simple universal truth: that every Arab deserves to live in freedom, wherever he or she might call home. Some of us want Arab countries to be more like America and Israel, places where the individual can flourish.
Say those words to many Arabs and they are shocked and angered. Soon, words like imperialist are thrown about, and the subject turns to Israel. Always, it seems, it turns to Israel.
Why the anger when I hint that America and Israel might have something to teach the Arab world? I thought about it for the longest time, and only recently stumbled upon the answer.
It is all about Arab self-doubt. It is all tied to a profound lack of cultural self-confidence, and a deep-seated fear that maybe, just maybe, Arabs won’t be very good at the self-governance thing. That Arab nations won’t be capable of building democratic cultures that engender the flourishing of human freedom, and that these nations won’t have the ability to tap the God-given talents of their people the way Americans and Israelis do.
That maybe, just maybe, the Arab world will never measure up to America or Israel.
Better, goes the logic, to cling to anger over the plight of the Palestinians. Better to cling to international policy disputes and to a deep-seated hatred of Israel. Better to play the role of victim, and the role of self-righteous critic, than to do the hard work of lifting up the conditions of your people.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Arab blame game, Arab misery, Arab obsession with Israel, Arab paranoia, Arab treatment of women, Arab world
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:12 PM
7 Comments:
likely a xtian arab who are on the same boat as us vis a vis Muslims
Behold, the ignorance of Daniel.
Daniel probably hasn't heard of Azmi Bishara, the Christian Arab.
Daniel doesn't know that Sabeel a Christian organisation enjoys far more support in the Christian West, than Hamas Hezbollah or even the PLO do. The BDS and demonisation against Israel has Christian groups like Sabeel behind them.
Daniel is unaware that Arab Christians are more anti semitic than the Muslim ones. Even an Islamophobe like Daniel Pipes acknoweldges that when Europeans brought anti semitism and nazi memes to the Middle East the Arab Christians were the ones to enthusisastically embrace it.
Daniel isn't aware that the Christian Arabs in the USA, are at the forefront when it comes to demonising Israel. James Zogby is a good example.
Daniel isnt' aware that Al Jazeera has some specatacular Christian Arabs alwasy demonising Israel (Marwan Bishara is just one), Marwan is Azmi's Bishara's brother.
Daniel isn't aware that Suha Arafat who spread the jew blood libel in front of Clinton is a Christian Jew hater with little regard for Palestinians.
Daniel isn't aware the Arafat's SECULAR PLO had anti semitic Christians at the top, almost all were Christian.
Daniel isn't aware that Hezbollah in Lebanon enjoys Christian support.
Daniel isn't aware that Arab Christians who have no state in the Muslim Middle East, resent the Jews having one.
Daniel isn't aware that where as the Muslim anger against Israel is because of the uprooting and expulsion of natives living there, the Chrisitan one includes all the anti semitism that Christianity traditioanlly held.
Daniel isn't aware that during the Muslim Caliphates and the Ottoman ones, Christian Arabs were not permitted to excercise any Jew hate against Jews.
Daniel isn't aware that only came about after the European colonisation of the Middle East.
BEHOLD HIS IGNORANCE.
Behold the utter ignorance of Chayma,
Chayma probably has never heard of Brigitte Gabriel.
Chayma doesn't know that the Lebanese christians supported us in the Lebanese war.
Chayma doesn't know that Major Haddad was a Greek Orthodox.
Chayma doesn't know that the only middle eastern nation with a grown christian population is Israel.
Chayma doesn't know that Suha arafat who spread Jewish blood lbel in front of Hitlery is a muslim convert.
Chayma doesn't know that Justim Amash is a pro likud ,zionist congressman from Michigan who is a christian arab.
Chayma doesn't know that as stated by Martin Gilbert the Jews of muslim lands never had it as good or as bad as in christian lands.
chayma obviously does not know of the 18th century Damascus affair. I mean this is Middle East 101 and for chayma not to know this speaks for itself.
chayma doesn't know that the Jews are the natives of Israel and that the Muzzies are interlopers
BEHOLD CHAYMAS NAKED IGNORANCE.
BTW ,
Chayma , the only reason that there is no christian state is that in Lebanon (which was one) the invading muzzies had a higher birth rate.
And habeeb is a Maronite
Daniel, you are a stupid ass, the Lebanese Christians supported you in that particlar war, for their own agenda. Not yours,
Lebanons Christians are not pro Israel, neither are Mid East Christians in general. If Israel has a growing Christian community why is the Christian world against Israel? and why was Azmi Bishara declared a traitor by Israel? Why did Mordecai Vananu and Israel Shamir convert to Christianity?
You are an ignorant fool. Let me gues, you're living off a few cents that the CUFI crowd throw your way, or is that Brigette Gabriel? Stupid fool, the Armeggedon is what that crowd are after,
You can live in denial if you want, but the truth is there for you to see.
the truth is there is no Muslim activism in the WEst regarding Israel. it is all Christian. Sabeel, the Christian Churces, and even in the USA, the Evangelical churches have a formidable foe in the christian mainstream churches.
There is no Muslim activism against Israel, we do not need to do any. The BDS movement, is all Christian led.
Brigette Gabriel, of course i've heard of her, how does she benefit Israel other than fund Messianics? Despite their best attempts they havn't acheived anything for Israle. The Evangelical right wing are the poorest most ignorant illiterates in the USA. Brigette Gabriels one cent funders. As they move up the social scale they dump their faith for the left wing anti Israel crowd. Obama's election was proof of that.
Suha Arafat is not a Muslim, she went through the motions to make herself acceptable to the Palestinian people, but she is about as Muslim, as Brigette Gabriel is Jewish, By the way you fool, those who genuinely care about Israel would convert to Judaism not Evangelism like Gabriel did, but that's not the point,
Suha was having an affair in France with one of Arafat's Christian aides, that suited Arafat, because Suha wanted his money (she is living off stolen PLO funds) and he wanted an open marriage. Suha is not Muslim, though she pretends to be.
if you didn't know that the 18th century Damascus affair was Christian, it was a blood libel, then you need to get out of your shtetl and learn history.
As for Martin Gilbert, is that the best you can do? You are aware that he discredited himself with the book that you are lauding. His peers have given him a lot of flak, and called for his book history revising. That is UK, not USA. Do your homework, you dolt.
As I said, you can live in denial, but as the next election will prove when Obama is re elected, it is the anti Israel churches that rule the roost. The Tea potty (your Brigette Gabrielle crowd) is only good for throwing a few cents your way.
They won't move the embassy to Jerusalem, and you'll have to get a life and a job, because you can't live as a 'schnorrers' for ever, from the likes of Brigette Gabriel, who only support you for a Christian Israel.
Daniel
You're quite the hypocrite,
Chayma doesn't know that the only middle eastern nation with a grown christian population is Israel.
I do know that. I also know that is because Israel is secular, not Torah abiding.
I don't get your point.
Are you a not a 'schnorrer' then living off xtian handouts in the settlements?
Are you a secular Israeli? in that case tell me if it became a theocracy, or even had basic Torah law as the law of the land, do you think Christians would emigrate or not?
By the way, you're quite the hypocrite, in one line above you said the Muslims are interlopers in Israel, and Jews are natives, in that case, what are Jews doing in the diaspora, but more importantly, if Jews are native, they were so conditionally, upon the laws of the land, not secular law. After all you only got the land by genocide of the natives Canaanites.
You have it conditionally not unconditionally. There is no reason, another conqueror, China or Russia, or the USA cannot invade and occupy, that is aside from the Muslims.
300 nuclear warheads won't stop another conquest.
Again, you are ignorant. In a year or two the demographs of the Middle East will change when Iran and Saudi ARabia go nuclear.
Daniel, said:
Chayma , the only reason that there is no christian state is that in Lebanon (which was one) the invading muzzies had a higher birth rate.And habeeb is a Maronite
I already told you Maronites are supporting Hezbollah. They are NOT pro Israel and certainly not pro Jewish.
You are a liar about the demographics, and a typical low life ignoramus Islamophobic Zionist.
------------------
Demography and Democracy in Lebanon
http://www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0801/0801_2.htm
Nevertheless, two major demographic trends can be discerned.
Emigration
The first trend is a disproportionately high rate of Christian emigration from the mid-nineteenth through the twentieth century, particularly during and after eruptions of civil strife in 1860, 1914-1918, and 1975-1990.[16]
Over 900,000 Lebanese emigrated between the outbreak of civil war in 1975 and 2001 (about 45% during the last decade of Syrian tutelage).[17] Although it was once assumed that a majority of these recent emigrants are Christian, one study estimates the percentage departure rates within each confession as 22% of Sunnis, 21% of Shiites, 21% of Maronites, 23% of Greek Orthodox Christians and 15% of Druze.[18]
A 2006 study conducted by the Lebanese Emigration Research Center at Notre Dame University (in Lebanon) found that emigration is equally sought by Muslims (59.7%) and Christians (61.3%), and for virtually the same socio-political reasons.[19]
The available data thus raises questions about the longstanding assumption that the large majority of Lebanese citizens living abroad are Christians. This is politically relevant because a number of Christian politicians have called for the inclusion of absentee ballots in elections, believing that this would favorably alter the confessional profile of the electorate. Hoping to expand the prospective pool of expatriate Christian voters, MP Nimtallah Abi Nasr has gone further in campaigning for a (re)naturalization of second and third generation Lebanese abroad. Hezbollah has reportedly encouraged first-generation Shiite emigrants to register their children as citizens for much the same reason.
Fertility Rates
The second major Lebanese demographic trend is higher Muslim fertily rates. In 1971, Shiites showed the highest fertility rate of 3.8, followed by Sunnis (2.8), (Maronite and non-Maronite)
Catholics (2), Druze (1.8) and non-Catholic Christians (1.7).[20] By 1988, according to one projection, the percentage of Shiites in Lebanon had risen to 32%, while the number of Maronites had dwindled to 17% .[21] Until very recently, projected estimates of a Shiite plurality as large as 40% were a staple of Western media.
However, data published by the Lebanese government in 1996 suggests that Sunni and Shiite fertility rates are now roughly equal. While the more cosmopolitan Sunnis of Beirut tend to have small families, the cumulative fertility rate (the average number of children born to married women) in the predominantly Sunni muhafaza of North Lebanon (4.2) is higher than in largely Shiite Nabatiyye (3.6) and the Beqaa (3.9).[22]
In any event, projections based on fertility (and emigration) rates ignore a host of intervening variables. Lower infant and child mortality rates among Christians, for example, have counterbalanced higher Muslim birthrates to some extent.[23] Most significantly perhaps, the highly controversial 1994 naturalization of over 160,000 Syrians and Palestinians tipped the sectarian balance in Lebanon in favor of Sunnis[24] (which was one reason why the late Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri supported it).[25]
Proxy Measures
Analysts have pursued other methods of estimating the waxing and waning of Lebanon's sectarian communities.
Post a Comment
<< Home