[Peace-discuss] Response to Fred Gottheil

[David Green]

Editor:

	Fred Gottheil’s lazy “Anti-Semitism, Middle-Eastern
Style” relies on one long quote that he lifted from
MEMRI, a translation propaganda service run by a
former Israeli general. I have no doubt that the quote
is accurate, but how does it help us understand the
Middle East, the origins of Arab anti-Semitism, and
“anti-Americanism”? Just what does it explain?

	The quote is from an Egyptian newspaper. Does it
explain why Egypt has been at peace with Israel since
1978, and is no military threat? Does it explain why,
after the Egypt-Israel peace process, Israel invaded
Lebanon without serious provocation, first in 1978,
again in 1982? Does it explain that the 20,000
Palestinian civilians killed in 3 months of Ariel
Sharon’s ruthless 1982 invasion of Lebanon roughly
equals all Jews and Israelis, whether soldiers or
civilians, killed in all military conflicts or
terrorist attacks in over a century of the Zionist
movement?

	As recounted in Noam Chomsky’s 1993 The Fateful
Triangle, a group of Israeli journalists are told by
an Egyptian editor—and find out for themselves through
interviews on the street—that “advocates of peace with
Israel feel defeated, deceived, and scorned. I (the
editor) perceived the peace with Israel to be the
cornerstone for a comprehensive peace in the Middle
East. But for you (Israel) peace was merely a trick to
neutralize us so as to more easily strike at the
Palestinian people.” This statement is historically
and painfully accurate.

	Since the Oslo Accords of 1993, the Palestinians have
been more directly subjected to Israeli “diplomacy.”
They thought they were being promised a viable state
after recognizing Israel’s right to 78% of Palestine
in 1988. What they got were more checkpoints, more
settlements, more settler violence, and a devastated
economy. Israel’s “generous offer” at Camp David in
2000 is pure mythology. And while Israel violates U.N.
resolutions with impunity, the U.S.—with plenty of
Israeli and Israel Lobby encouragement--brazenly uses
the Security Council to threaten prostrate Iraq.

	Does “anti-Semitism, Middle Eastern style” explain
any of this? Or is it explained by any of this?
Clearly, Fred Gottheil is not the least bit interested
in a more complicated reality, in open-minded
education, self-criticism, and mutual understanding
that could save lives on both sides. His identity is
rooted in the eternal righteous Jewish victim, now
identified with the eternal righteous American victim.
He wants to go to war with your sons, daughters, and
tax dollars, and kill enough Jew-hating Muslims to
make him feel secure in his righteous victimhood. But
rest assured he will not be satisfied for long, as the
Bush-Likudniks are already urging us on to Iran,
Syria, and beyond. Are you ready?

David Green


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