The Arab American Mirror http://www.alif.com/mirror
Since Oslo, a new class of Arab apologists has emerged and would throw fits at displays of anti-Israeli sentiments no matter what the circumstances are. We have to appear better, they argue, ignoring in their quest for a polished image the inability of a tormented human being to sound "sophisticated."
These Arab apologists simply have no right to criticize or to offer an excuse. Such emotional expressions are genuine signs of human suffering or distress and should be placed in the right context. The burden is not on the victim to demonstrate sensitivity to the offender's sensibilities, the burden is on the offending Israelis to right all the wrongs and eliminate the roots of human anguish they have caused for millions of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrian refugees living in a cycle of deprivation created and sustained by Israel. To shift the burden on the victim is wrong.
Ever since the Arab-Israeli conflict, the pro-Israeli media and politicians have quoted time and again infamous remarks by Arab leaders and laymen demonstrating the ill-will of Israel's neighbors. Even today, the Israeli PM and his supporters in the US seem obsessed with tracking and sharing anti-Israeli clippings from the Arab press with US policy makers and anyone willing to listen. Such anti-Israeli interviews and columns nowadays send Arab apologists franticly denouncing the unkind language not inline with the nomenclature of peace.
The Israelis are claiming Arab grassroots, in spite of their leaders’ lip service to peace, are not flocking in droves to embrace peace with Israel. The Israelis are not mistaken in their impressions and bear the burden for bruising their own credibility as a viable partner in peace. What Arabs see is a cynical Israel maneuvering under the guise of peace to legitimize occupation while further depriving Palestinians of their rights.
The Arab media is simply echoing the frustrations of millions whose lives have been ruined by such Israeli tactics. In that sense, some in the Arab media have taken it upon themselves to oppose “faking” the impression of peace at a time when some Arab governments are clamoring to reap the so called peace “dividend” at the expense of closing an eye to the refugee issue and the continuing Israeli seizure of Arab territories. If there were ever valuable lessons discovered from the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is that an ounce of miscalculated concession brings about a ton of setbacks. From historical Palestine to the West Bank and Gaza, to less than 1% of historical Palestine.
The facts on the ground as dictated by Israel simply do not support the existence of a peace process. To the contrary, Israel is simply dictating the terms of Palestinian surrender. And many Arabs who jumped on the Oslo bandwagon undoubtedly feel betrayed in their quest for an increasingly elusive New Middle East.
When expressing hate from a position of power and total control, it is a sign of bellicosity and intolerance deserving of condemnation. When expressing hate in response to the distress brought upon by the loss of life, liberty, and property it merits sympathy not scorn. To equate both is to ignore the distinction between culprit and victim. To deny the victim the right to anger and indignation is to worsen the tragedy. To equate hate statements by a Jew living under the safety of Israel’s nuclear umbrella to that of a beleaguered refugee whose only shot at life has been reduced to a daily exercise of poverty and deprivation, this comparison simply does not hold.
With the Israeli right using its coercive and lethal powers to silence political opposition and with the Israeli left waving the Peace Baton and the threat of withholding brotherly love, most voices of reason in the Arab World have been neutralized leaving the refugees alone to fend for themselves and for extremists to take up their cause. And never forget that both Israeli right and left are in agreement on their denial of Palestinian victimhood. No official apology was ever contemplated and no one is in sight. The price Israelis demand of the Palestinians in return for a promised peace is to accept the role of the defeated villain so Israel can continue to play that of the underdog turned generous victor. To put an end to the conflict, many Palestinians have accepted this bitter barter. Now Palestinians find themselves deprived of both peace and the right to freedom of expression.
Even the Palestinians' attempt to erect a memorial for the fallen in Gaza was denounced and blocked by Israel's Labor, the party of the New Middle East. The Israelis remind us they shall forgive but never forget. But they turn around and demand the Palestinians forget to be forgiven. This is not the spirit of peace.
Israel’s resume today earns it an honorable place at the Who's Who of the international fringe. Now Israel can boast a number of “accomplishments” including legalized torture of prisoners, tolerated killing of demonstrators, institutionalized theft of property, use of foreign hostages for bargaining, sanctioned political assassinations, breach of signed agreements, flaunting of UN and other international laws, etc.
But all of the above seems perfectly acceptable to an Israel which feels hurt by neighbors who just won’t buy into the New Middle East. What Israelis don’t realize, or choose to ignore, is that their culture is a mere derivative of the Old Middle East. In that sense, Israel has demonstrated that it does belong but in an unflattering sort of way. While their outer shell may seem enlightened and Western, their practices prove otherwise.
While we recognize the victim's right to freedom of expression is hardly a counterbalance to Israel’s de facto freedom of action, it is the victim's last hope of telling their story with all the pain and emotions that goes with it. To them, what Oslo has ushered in is the birth of Palestinian Ghettos. To pretend otherwise is an exercise in self-deception. To censure those whose emotional pleas and show of frustration we do not approve of is inhumane. Victims have a right to feel victimized. This could be the last right they may ever possess. But some Arabs seem willing to exercise and promote senseless self-censorship to seem “enlightened” and "impartial" to gain acceptance to the New Arab Mainstream specially crafted to leave even reasonable voices of opposition out on the fringe and move the Arab-Israeli discourse in a direction favoring Israel.
Bottom line, the truth is in numbers. Counting destitute refugees and annexed acres and listening to the cries of pain of suffering millions brings life into the most overworked cliches of human suffering: oppression lives, destitution lives, brutality lives and all in the name of Israeli security. Until then, let's call the victim a victim and uphold their only and most cherished possession: the right to tell it as it is no matter what they say and no matter how they say it. Let's make no apologies or excuses until wrongs are righted.
