C hinga tu madre, hijo de puta! If you speak Spanish you know how deeply I just insulted
you and you probably want to hit me. I’m hoping you don’t speak Spanish, so I can tell you
that not only would I never dream of insulting you, I just warmly wished you a wonderful
life of health, wealth, and happiness. It’s the duplicitous sort of thing that Yasser Arafat
does all the time, only the language he hopes you don’t understand is Arabic.
He’s got it down pat. He fooled me for a long time. He even fooled the people who vote for the
Nobel Peace Price. He stopped fooling me when he turned down a deal that would have given
the Palestinians a recognized state, virtually all of the West Bank, and jurisdiction over the Arab
neighborhoods of Jerusalem. He stopped fooling me when one of his ships was seized with over
50 tons of weapons aboard. He stopped fooling me with his lugubrious yearnings for peace in
English when I found out that in Arabic he’s encouraging war and the bloody martyrdom of
Palestinian children?
I’m not fooled anymore because I believe him. I believe him when he says in Arabic, “one of our
cubs or one of our flowers (Palestinian children) will wave the flag of Palestine, Allah willing,
over the walls of Jerusalem, its churches and mosques, whether someone likes it or not and
whomever doesn’t like it can drink the water of the dead sea.” I believe him when I see that his
school textbooks state, “know my son, that Palestine is your country…that its pure soil is
drenched with the blood of martyrs…(and then asks the question)...Why must we fight the Jews
and drive them out of our land?” Want to be even more disgusted? That quote is from a book
taught to 5th graders. Check for yourself what Arafat and other Middle Eastern leaders really say
at http://www.memri.org or http://www.edume.org. You’ll be shocked.
I’m not fooled when he says he can’t control terrorism. I’m not fooled because somehow he can’t
seem to stop terrorism, but he can stop the joyous demonstrations in honor of the murderous
attacks on America on September 11, 2001. Did you see those celebrations? Women passing out
candy, men giving the “V” for victory sign, and children giggling. Arafat was able to control that
within a couple of days. Even the Foreign Press Association, certainly no traditional friend of
Israel, had this to say, “The FPA expresses deep concern over the harassment of journalists by
the Palestinian Authority as police forces and armed gunmen tried to prevent photo and video
coverage of Tuesday’s rally in Nablus where hundreds of Palestinians celebrated the terror
attacks in NY and Washington.”
We keep hearing that Islam is a religion of peace and frankly every Arab or Muslim person I’ve
met in America or Israel has seemed to be a fine person, but let’s see a little peace. Instead of
Saudi Arabia complaining about the American troops on their soil and restricting their religious
expression, the same troops who died for their freedom, let’s see a little peace. Instead of Saudi
Arabia bankrolling and Pakistan instructing the Taliban, let’s see a little peace. Instead of an
official Egyptian weekly paper printing, “the Jews are blood suckers” and discriminating against
Coptic Christians, let’s see a little peace. Instead of an official Palestinian TV and radio station
referring to Jews as, “the sons of pigs and monkeys,” let’s see a little peace. Instead of Hizbollah
blowing up the U.S. Marine barracks and American embassy in Beirut, let’s see a little peace.
Instead of a cleric at the mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem imploring his flock to,
“eradicate the Jews,” let’s see a little peace.
Certainly there has been terrible violence against the Palestinians by some Israelis. No one
reasonable is claiming the opposite. The difference is, those acts are generally condemned not
celebrated by the masses in the streets. Unbelievably enough, there is still an active peace lobby
among Jews and Israelis who desperately desire peace at almost any cost.
Where are the moderate Arabs who will truly join them? Where are the moderate Arabs who see
violence as counter productive? Virtually every Israeli agrees that there should be a Palestinian
state. But is convincing a hopeless kid to explode a bomb packed with bolts and nails in a pizza
place crowded with young mothers and kids the way to achieve it? Where is the Dr. Martin
Luther King of the Arab and Muslim people who is willing to risk being ignored or killed by
saying peaceful protest is the only way? By trying love and not hate.
If even for tactical reasons, you’d think that the Palestinian people would try non-violent protest.
Violence certainly isn’t working. If a thousand Palestinians just walk and sit at the front gate of
an Israeli Gaza Strip settlement, world and Israeli public opinion would force their recognition.
And if a thousand Palestinians do it a thousand times, I’ll be happily writing a vastly different
essay. Unfortunately, it seems that too many Palestinians hate Israelis more than they love
themselves.