Arab and Islamic Stupidity
Published in Al Quds
(Palestine) on 17 October 2012
by M. ‘Imad abd al-Hamid al-Faluji (link to original)
We are in an age in which the wise are at a loss: The United States of America leaves no arena without confirming the size of its hostility to the Palestinian issue and the size of its support to the country of the Israeli entity. This scene, repeated to a nauseating degree, needs no investigation or examination, and no one dares to deny it. Rather, everyone is competing to emphasize it and make it personal, and everyone is searching for its reasons and motives. Why is the United States not paying attention to the anger of more than 1.5 billion Muslims and hundreds of millions of Arabs who always and in a repeated, exaggerated fashion declare that they consider the Palestinian issue their central issue? Why is the United States in return striving to gain the satisfaction and support of and not the anger or aggravation of a few million Jews? Some believe that this alliance has religious-doctrinal dimensions; others consider that this U.S. position is related to the achievement of Western interests in the region. Yet others believe that the flaw lies in the very same Arab and Islamic nation, since it is servile and content with any solution, even mere empty promises, and this defeated nation does not possess the ability to express its anger other than through empty statements.
In broad daylight, The United States is working openly so that no Palestinian achievements that would aggravate the Israeli entity are realized. The U.S.’ stance is not limited to this. It intimidates and threatens everyone who stands by the side of justice for the Palestinians, despite the fact that the official Palestinian side is not demanding more than what resolutions of international legitimacy resolutions, which stipulated the preservation of the existence, status and security of the Israeli entity, guaranteed. The Palestinian leadership accepted all the propositions responsible for reinforcing the existence of the Palestinian people as a people with rights. Despite all of those concessions, the United States is still declaring war and hostility against every Palestinian action. Faced with this unveiled and direct hostility, you’ll find no Arab or Islamic reaction paralleling or countering this hostility. Rather, the more U.S. hostility intensifies against our people and our issue, the more the calls for a humiliating and dishonorable rapprochement with the U.S. increase. I wonder if some politicians are making an extraordinary effort to market this rapprochement on the assumption that we have no other choice except more rapprochement? [For them,] there’s no other choice except not angering the U.S. president and not embarrassing him. Rather [Palestinians are to] deal with the U.S. election in ways that do not aggravate the U.S. president, even if this was at the expense of the Palestinian issue’s interests.
It is Arab stupidity and foolishness par excellence when a nation the size of the United States announces that in reality, it will neither allow the existence of a Palestinian state except with agreement from the Israeli entity nor allow any international party to support the Palestinian people if Israel is angered. Despite this, official U.S. delegations come to Arab capitals and are received as friends and allies without the U.S. stance toward the central issue of the Arab and Islamic nation shaking relations. Is this not Arab stupidity as clear as it could be?
Likewise, there’s Palestinian stupidity when some leaders are not affected by the Palestinian position and insist on retaining their diplomatic tact whenever they meet with a U.S. official and receive from him promises that are very condescending and make fools of those leaders. And when they meet, each of the sides knows the truth of each side’s feelings towards the other. But U.S. impudence accepts the deceitful, false smiles and pays no attention to and shows no interest in the Arabs’ true feelings toward it, since it considers Arabs’ hate of the United States a medal, of which it is proud. This is because in both cases, the Arabs’ feelings carry no weight; what is most important is carrying out everything asked of them, and both teams know that truth.
Some hasty people expected that the Arab Spring would re-balance relations with the United States to some extent. What is meant here is not the declaration of war or the breaking-off of relations — God forbid — but rather expressing the interests of both sides. In exchange for the United States’ achievement of its interests in the region, one should take into account the interests of the Arab and Islamic nation. The United States should feel while practicing its foreign policy that there is a nation that has started to gain its senses, feel and take action, and that the stupidity has started to diminish bit by bit. But it is clear that this feeling has not come to the United States yet — and it may not in the foreseeable future because, as it was said, "you can tell what’s written by the title."
In broad daylight, The United States is working openly so that no Palestinian achievements that would aggravate the Israeli entity are realized. The U.S.’ stance is not limited to this. It intimidates and threatens everyone who stands by the side of justice for the Palestinians, despite the fact that the official Palestinian side is not demanding more than what resolutions of international legitimacy resolutions, which stipulated the preservation of the existence, status and security of the Israeli entity, guaranteed. The Palestinian leadership accepted all the propositions responsible for reinforcing the existence of the Palestinian people as a people with rights. Despite all of those concessions, the United States is still declaring war and hostility against every Palestinian action. Faced with this unveiled and direct hostility, you’ll find no Arab or Islamic reaction paralleling or countering this hostility. Rather, the more U.S. hostility intensifies against our people and our issue, the more the calls for a humiliating and dishonorable rapprochement with the U.S. increase. I wonder if some politicians are making an extraordinary effort to market this rapprochement on the assumption that we have no other choice except more rapprochement? [For them,] there’s no other choice except not angering the U.S. president and not embarrassing him. Rather [Palestinians are to] deal with the U.S. election in ways that do not aggravate the U.S. president, even if this was at the expense of the Palestinian issue’s interests.
It is Arab stupidity and foolishness par excellence when a nation the size of the United States announces that in reality, it will neither allow the existence of a Palestinian state except with agreement from the Israeli entity nor allow any international party to support the Palestinian people if Israel is angered. Despite this, official U.S. delegations come to Arab capitals and are received as friends and allies without the U.S. stance toward the central issue of the Arab and Islamic nation shaking relations. Is this not Arab stupidity as clear as it could be?
Likewise, there’s Palestinian stupidity when some leaders are not affected by the Palestinian position and insist on retaining their diplomatic tact whenever they meet with a U.S. official and receive from him promises that are very condescending and make fools of those leaders. And when they meet, each of the sides knows the truth of each side’s feelings towards the other. But U.S. impudence accepts the deceitful, false smiles and pays no attention to and shows no interest in the Arabs’ true feelings toward it, since it considers Arabs’ hate of the United States a medal, of which it is proud. This is because in both cases, the Arabs’ feelings carry no weight; what is most important is carrying out everything asked of them, and both teams know that truth.
Some hasty people expected that the Arab Spring would re-balance relations with the United States to some extent. What is meant here is not the declaration of war or the breaking-off of relations — God forbid — but rather expressing the interests of both sides. In exchange for the United States’ achievement of its interests in the region, one should take into account the interests of the Arab and Islamic nation. The United States should feel while practicing its foreign policy that there is a nation that has started to gain its senses, feel and take action, and that the stupidity has started to diminish bit by bit. But it is clear that this feeling has not come to the United States yet — and it may not in the foreseeable future because, as it was said, "you can tell what’s written by the title."