A reader has
sent me an essay (Amir Taheri, “Forget the Palestinians: Arab states have too
much else to worry about”, New York Post, July 12, 2015). Take a look at
it. I have edited it:
‘Hi there!
Any news from Palestine?”
This is how
a prominent Arab writer, Walid Abimerchid, started his latest newspaper column
last week, going on to describe a “growing fatigue with the whole Palestine
issue.”
He notes
that the so-called peace process has run into sand. President Obama is focused
on forging an alliance with the mullahs of Tehran; no other major power seems
interested in touching the issue. The international peace-broker Tony Blair has
quietly resigned amid general indifference. French President François Hollande
made some noises about “a new initiative” but quickly thought better of
becoming involved in “something no one is interested in.”
The Arab
columnist’s concern reflects the current mood in the Middle East. For the first
time in decades, Palestine has been shut out of the news in favor of Syria,
ISIS, sectarian wars and the growing aggressiveness of an Iran encouraged by
Obama’s grand strategy of retreat.
Most of the
foreign press in Israel has moved to Beirut and Istanbul to cover the sectarian
wars in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq….
[One
important reason the ‘Palestinian’ issue has lost much of its luster] was cited
the other evening by a Jordanian businessman, Abu Furas, at a Ramadan
fast-breaking dinner in London. “Today, no Arab feels safe in his country,” he
said. “Ironically, the sole exceptions are Palestinians in the West Bank
because they know Israel will defend them if ISIS attacks. Even in Gaza, most
people secretly believe that Israel is their ultimate protection against ISIS
fighters trying to strike roots in the Sinai.”
Though the
idea of Arabs being saved by Israel from massacre by their own brethren sounds
fantastic, events on the ground lend it some weight.
Palestinians
living in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria have been massacred both by Bashar
al-Assad’s troops and throat-cutting mujahideen from ISIS. The massacre of
Christians, Yazidis and Druze minorities by Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq
contrasts with the safety those groups enjoy in Israel.
For weeks,
Jordan has been bracing itself for an attack by ISIS on Zarqa, a
Palestinian-majority city near Syria. Such a move would bring ISIS close to the
West Bank and Israel proper, in which case, some Jordanians believe, the Jewish
state would stop its spread.
“Today,
Arabs see that their own house is on fire,” says a Dubai businessman. “In such
a situation one could hardly think of burning someone else’s house.”
Eyad
Abuchaqra, a prominent Lebanese commentator and TV personality, cites another
reason for dwindling interest in the Palestinian issue. “One might call it
Palestinitis,” he says. “Arabs realize that there are many other issues that
affect their lives, indeed their existence.”
The idea
that it is now Iran and not Israel that poses an existential threat to Arabs
receives almost daily confirmation with outlandish statements by Khomeinist
leaders in Tehran. “Iran is trying to create a Persian Crescent as the core of
its empire,” claims Lebanese Interior Minister Nihad Manshouq. “That now
represents the principal threat faced by Arabs.”
“Today, it
is Iran and not Israel the Arabs ought to worry about,” says Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, leader of the Afghan Hizb Islami (Islamic Party) who was sheltered,
financed and armed by Tehran for decades.
Not
surprisingly, Iran’s leaders try to keep the Palestine issue on the front
burner by casting themselves as the “liberators of Jerusalem.”
That was the
theme of the “Jerusalem Day” events last week presided over by President Hassan
Rouhani and inaugurated with a message from “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei. Both
men promised to “liberate Palestine” and wipe Israel off the map.
But their
show attracted less attention than at any time in the past 30 years. The
Khomeinist regime’s TV station in Tehran complained that global media had
ignored “Jerusalem Day” but could hardly restrain its jubilation when reporting
a small pro-Iran gathering in Jerusalem itself, where some posters of Khamenei
were distributed among visitors to the Al Aqsa Mosque.
The
Khomeinists missed the irony of Israel being the only government in the Middle
East, outside Iran itself, to allow such a demonstration.
---
My comment:
The ‘Palestinian Cause’ is built upon the lie that Israel is both Apartheid and
brutally Nazi-like in its treatment of ‘Palestinians’. This essay tells a
different story. It tells you what many of us in Israel already know: Arabs are
safer in Jewish Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East.
You might
want to remember this essay. It’ll come in handy the next time you read another
‘hate-Israel’ article, news story or commentary.
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