Ghada Karmi: The Strength of Palestinian Narrative in the Face of Violence

Re: Stuka # 44

No, it does not justify the act. I was not seeking a justification of the act, but an examination into what causes it. A more acute question is not whether this is right or wrong, but why does this behavior occurs.

The ``why`` is never answered and that is a problem, because, whether we agree or disagree with the causes, the causes, which led to this behavior have to be understood in order to address this problem. It is very to easy to rationalize an opinion or a answer to this problem, but that not suggest an understanding. Rationalization does not always led to reason and the reasons, in this case, have to be acknowledged and understood, before we can think of solving this phenomena.

Ciao

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If there is one thing I have seen in life and business on a personal basis, and international politics and conflict on an academic basis, it is:

Every man (or woman) for himself/herself and survival of the fittest. The weak will be conquered, ruled, occupied, killed. And the strong will be able to get away with murder. If you cannot stand up for yourself, if you cannot defend yourself against a hostile takeover in business or a military occupation in politics, if you yourself aren`t strong, then it doesn`t matter how moral your cause is, you will never win.
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Jathedaar sahib, did not some one say the same thing long time ago? :-)

FerozeK:

I was being sarcastic. I do not think Pakistan has oppressed its citizens to the extent that they need to blow themselves up. I do believe that if the culture of death becomes glamorous, emotional people will blow themselves up.

Do I think Israel ahs a lot to answer for? Yes. Do I think it justifies blowing up innocent citizens sitting in a cafe reading a paper? No.

Re: Stuka # 36

To quote you...

``After all, the Pakistani government must have done something truly horrible to these people to make them lose all sense of hope.``

Yes, and the same applies to the Palestinians. It is called a lack of political representation, lack of economic empowerment, lack of justice, lack of basic rights - life, liberity and security from harm. The government of Israel has a lot to answer for its policies. Suicide bombings are a recent phenomena. Israel was created in 1948. Israel and its Arab neighbors fought three wars; 1956, 1967 and 1973. Why was there no suicide bombings in the past, why now? If it was a religious obligation as claimed by some, then why it did become a common occurance only in the last decade? Where did the idea of jihad come from; where was it resurrected? Was it religious or politically motivated?

Stuka, you also said in the context of Pakistan, ``It is easy to condemn such terrorism but law enforcement is not enough; the demands of these suicide bombaers should be met to prevent terrorism in the future.``

Does this not apply to the Israel government also?

Yes, Stuka, you are right, when you suggest that it is easy to condemn terrorism. That is the problem. We condemn terrorism, but we do not seek or are not interested in finding what makes these people blow themselves up.

Why?

It is time the world moves beyond the rhetoric of its hypocricy!

Ciao

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Aamir: I was referring specifically to suicide bombings. Usual lawlessness does not warrant the same amount of sympathy, yet suicide bombing is held up as something really special. There have been suicide bombings in Karachi in the last 6 months. Why are they not looked upon with the same amount of sympathy and understanding that is extended to similar bombings in Israel or India?

Aamir: I was referring specifically to suicide bombings. Usual lawlessness does not warrant the same amount of sympathy, yet suicide bombing is held up as something really special. There have been suicide bombings in Karachi in the last 6 months. Why are they not looked upon with the same amount of sympathy and understanding that is extended to similar bombings in Israel or India?

Nasah: The reverse could also be true then. Maybe Sharon is the fifth columnist planted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to prevent secularization of the Palestenian people.

re: stuka #36

...hahahahah....good one...

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I believe that there have also been some suicide bombings in Karachi. Instead of calling it terrorism, why is the Pakistani government not doing more to find out what motivates such people? After all, the Pakistani government must have done something truly horrible to these people to make them lose all sense of hope.

The Pakistani establishment must do some introspection to understand the root causes of such suicide bombings and give a reason to hope and live for the future to the would be terrorists. It is easy to condemn such terrorism but law enforcement is not enough; the demands of these suicide bombaers should be met to prevent terrorism in the future.

Hamas is a FIFTH COLUMN planted by the likudi Israelis among the moderate secular Palestinians –

Sharon goals and Hamas goal are ONE and the SAME -- no statehood for Palestinians

Is Sharon afraid of Yasin – absolutely not -- Yasin is his friend -- Sharon`s sworn enemy is Yasser Arafat a secularist moderate -- not Yasin the Islamist extremist.

have you ever heard Sharon`s diatribe -- against Hamas or Yasin -- because he knows Hamas guarantee that Sharons `Judea an Smaria` will never become -- a free Palestinian state -- an Independent Palestine --

Sharon is hell bent on destroying the Palestinian Authority -- because it is that institution and its head -- that he despises the most -- because he is scared stiff of both.

On the Palestinian side – in creating a total chaos and lawlessness -- Sharon`s ally Yasin -- is also hell bent on destroying Palestinian Authority -- he has turned the territory into a totally unaccountable, ungovernable piece of sh#t –

And Yasin is doing it -- through his pathetic, self-destructive, immoral, irreligious, unislamic, totally Satanic concept of -- “martyrdom operations”.

If there are TWO absolutely immovable, irrefutable TRUTHS -- about Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution – they are as follows:

There is no POWER on earth or in heaven that will ever succeed in providing the Palestinian people with an Independent Palestine -- in the West Bank and Gaza – as long as that crummy concept of “Suicide Bombing” continues.

There is no POWER on earth or in heaven that will ever succeed in --denying -- the Palestinian people an Independent Palestine -- in the West Bank and Gaza – as long as their fight is political -- directed against the the evil occupation – not against the innocent common people.

The Palestinian State is as inevitable as -- the day after the night -- it has TO BE -- if not today -- TOMORROW -- it WILL BE --

despite the TWO MONSTROCITES doing their best to prevent it –

the one from the Israeli side -- Sharon -- and the other -- from the Palestinian side -- Yasin.

hasan

If there is one thing I have seen in life and business on a personal basis, and international politics and conflict on an academic basis, it is:

Every man (or woman) for himself/herself and survival of the fittest. The weak will be conquered, ruled, occupied, killed. And the strong will be able to get away with murder. If you cannot stand up for yourself, if you cannot defend yourself against a hostile takeover in business or a military occupation in politics, if you yourself aren`t strong, then it doesn`t matter how moral your cause is, you will never win.

So step one in any struggle is to make yourself strong. There is no point in fighting someone, if you cannot win - regardless of how much you have been wronged.

It doesn`t take a genuis to see that the Palestine cause is correct and moral. Someone came and took their land. Plain and simple. Doesn`t matter how the Israelis did it, doesn`t matter if they think God gave it to them, it is wrong. But yelling, screaming and telling this to the whole world is not going to solve the problem for the Palestinians.

Israel is far far stronger than people realize. It hasn`t even unleashed a fraction of its firepower at the Arabs. People tend to state that Israel, Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons. That is like saying Shoaib Akhtar, and two school kids who play cricket are fast bowlers.

If one studies Israel`s arsenal of missiles and nuclear weaponry, they will realize that it is second only to the USA and USSR. It is decades ahead of Pakistan and India. They can target the capitals of every Muslim country in the world, other than perhaps Indonesia (and that is a big perhaps). Israel`s Air Force is larger than Pakistan`s and carries more firepower than India`s. Israel has a multi-billion dollar hi-tech armament exporting industry.

No doubt terrorism is from both sides. It is always more from the occupying army than from the occupied civilians - due to the larger firepower of the occupiers. And there are countries that have won their independence through attacks on civilians of the occupiers - Algeria comes to mind, Bangladesh comes to mind also. Nehru wanted a militant struggle in India, etc.

However, in all those cases, the occupiers were from a distant land. In the Palestinian case, the occupiers live on the same land, and have no where else to go. The occupiers will obviously not give it up, even if they could be forced to do so. They will fight till the death, and will unleash all their nuclear might, before being defeated, i.e. they are in a state of MAD with the whole Arab world.

Palestinians need to get their own act together before they do anything else. Fifty years of fighting has only gotten more land for Israel and not for them. And they need to realize that it is survival of the fittest. In this world, might is still right, and right is still not might (unfortunately). No one has nor will they listen to the moral claims argument, even though it is accurate - least of all Israel and USA.

The PLO needs new leadership. I think they should appoint a Christian as the head of the PLO. Many people don`t realize the fact that the Christian Arabs are on the receiving end of the Jews also, and want an independent Palestine. A Christian leadership of the PLO will put organizations like the Christian Coalition in the USA and the US Christian population in a moral bind. A maulvi getting beat up by a Jewish soldier (which happens), on US television, is one thing. A Christian priest getting beat up by a Jew (which happens also), on US national television, is a completely different can of motzah balls.

The PLO then needs to work out a long-term (planned out over decades) agenda of slowly building up their strength - in Arab countries, in the USA, in Europe etc. They need to slowly start isolating Israel in a planned manner, much like Israel has done to them. They need to stop relying on Muslim countries for support. These countries can barely take care of themselves, and the Palestinian leadership has itself never spoken up much for their causes. Why would they speak up in a practical manner for Palestinian causes. When India parked its army on Pakistan`s borders, not a single Muslim nation made any noise - the Palestinians actually sent a delegation to Vajpayee during those days.

Very few countries have lost a freedom struggle if they have the following four things going for them: 1) They are recognized as the occupied (and hence the moral owner of their land) by the world 2) They have individuals amongst them who are willing to die for there freedom struggle 3) They have a geographically continguous country ready to provide them with full support. 4) They are the overwhelming majority in the land they are a part of. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, USA, India and Pakistan (had the British not left voluntarily) etc. are good examples. The freedom struggles have taken time, and many precious lives, but eventually the occupier has lost.

Palestinians have the first two in their favor, but they do not have the last two. Hence, their freedom struggle has only resulted in their lands being even more occupied then when they started.

Everyone has to fight their own battles (unfortunately). And one the greatest qualities of a good leader is to know when to strategically withdraw from conflicts, in which he/she is losing, and rebuild. The Palestinians need to carry out a strategic withdrawl from their conflict with Israel.

If the Palestinians are intelligent, they will appoint Hannan Ashrawi as their leader (I am speaking as a distant viewer, not knowing the exact details, and hence not as an expert). She is a Ph.D in English from the University of Virgina (I think). She speaks and argues beautifully well (unlike Arafat, who is a bumbling idiot when it comes to debating). I have seen her hold her own against any pro-Israeli commentator in the USA. She writes well, and her book(s) is a must read. She is a woman. And most of all, she is not a Muslim. That last part will give her the most points in the USA.

I have seen so many young Palestinian-Americans, in their twenties and thirties, debate their cause so eloquently on TV, but I have yet to see any official leaders of Palestine say something without putting his foot in his mouth (except Ashrawi, who makes up for all of them).

I had co-written an abstract for a book my friend is writing. And in that book, the leader of the Palestinian struggle is actually a Christian female Palestinian.

There is no excuse for suicide bombings. It gives a putrid name to the word freedom struggle. Anyone who gives justification for it , I think needs to have his/her family, friend blown to simtherines to realize what crap they are talking about. pakistan was born not through suicide bombings but through a struggle ont he highest political level.
The Palestians and Arabs need to to learn to be civil, and as for us emotionally labile pakis, islam is not synonomous with arab and neither are they our brothers.....I can assure you no arab thinks a pakistani to be his brethern.
So here is how it is.....we support injustice everywhere, wheather it be the holocoust or todays Palestine, we do not need to however charge ourselves up to the point of selfdestruction. We have too many of our problems, the one we thankfully dont have is that of not being free. So lets make use of this, and not stand aroudn and wait for the rest of the muslim world to help join hands and move ahead together....total crap...islam has been defaced beyond recogniton by us muslim brethern ..... god have mercy on our ignorant souls......damn u man how can anyone out up a rationale for suicide bombing!!

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