| Saturday, July 29, 2006 |
| The miseducation of the "Great Satan" |
People often ask me where I get the information I give out on the radio show, and in columns and such-like, particularly regarding the Middle East -- a region I'm fascinated by, but where I have never been. The answer is, I get it by reading -- a lot. And I'm happy to share information on sources whenever asked.
If you're interested in a more complex answer to the question "why do they hate us," you have to dive into the complicated history of the Middle East, including such unpleasantries as the Irgun and Stern gangs and the history of Jewish terrorism against the British in the period just before Israel's founding, the forcible expulsion of some 800,000 Arabs from more than 360 towns and villages in what had been the British Mandate of Palestine (and the revival of the expulsion idea in modern day Israel...) the atrocities committed against European Jews by the German Nazis and the searing memory of the Holocaust in the minds of present day Israelis (and the denial of such by some groups, including the leaders of Hamas and Iran...) the atrocities against Palestinians in the early days of Israels founding (not to mention in Lebanon during the early 1980s) and the development, in the aftermath of Israel's founding in 1948 and its decisive victories in the 1967 defensive war, of an expansionist, militaristic Israel, to understand why so many Arabs and so many Muslims despise both Israel and its patron, the U.S.
Otherwise, you're left with pretty stupid answers like "they hate us for our freedoms." And good luck even gettting a coherent answer as to who they are. (The link is to a good Mideast glossary, btw.)
I've just been digging around on the 'net for information for next week, and having read so much about the emerging "Shia Crescent" from Iran to Iraq to Lebanon, I thought it interesting that such a development is taking place with the participation of distinctly Sunni groups, including Hamas, and the Ba'athist Sunni/Alawite governmetn of Syria. If what is emerging is a sectarian war between Sunni and Shia, as in Iraq, then why the continued complicity of Syria? And how does Syria continue to wield what Condi Rice and others claim is such strong influence over Shitte Hezbollah? The answer could be the Syria is engaged in big time realpolitik, deciding that its regional partner, Shiite-led Iran, is emerging as the clear winner following the mess the U.S. and Britain have made out of Iraq. And so Syria is drawing closer to Iran, and sticking with Hezbollah. But what about Hamas? The coordination between the Palestinian offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the Party of God (Hezbollah) is just as interesting, and it proves that it ain't all about sectarian hatred "over there..."
If you're interested, Rotten.com has as good a history lesson on Hamas as I've read on the web.
And PBS' Frontline did a very comprehensive history of Hezbollah from the bullet to the ballot box, as it were, that's worth reading, too.
Also, colunist Shmuel Rosner has a good roundup of intelligent discussion on the matter of Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Israel on his Ha'aretz blog.
And Jonathan Cook penns this must-read piece on the five myths that in the minds of their supporters, sanction Israel's bombing of Lebanese civilians.
To get the Israeli side of the story, here is a good source with maps... My caveat would be that I think that this post, and those who agree with it (like radio "progressive" Ed Schultz) are in deep denial about the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs in 1948-49, and about the existence of Jewish terrorism against the British. But that's my opinion... they clearly have their own.
Tags: Lebanon, Middle East, Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, History |
posted by JReid @ 2:31 PM   |
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