Posted 7/07/2003 09:28:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Mission Creep, Arab Style

More, More, More..... As if they haven’t been given every benefit of the doubt, as if they were NOT the ones who invaded Israel in its infancy to begin their war to destroy the Zionist entity. I re-read the text of the Road Map, and no where did I see that releasing palestinian prisoners is an obligation for the Government of Israel (GOI).

Meanwhile, the Arabs’ continued failure to live up to their obligations is being ignored, and Israel continues to offer concessions beyond their obligations. The hudna is being used exactly as the Arabs wanted, and we, in the west continue to misunderstand its meaning.

Hudna is an ancient Arabic term used commonly by the followers of Islam over the centuries to denote a temporary truce called by the weaker party in order to garner additional strength for a future offensive. Hardly the kind of deal Israel was looking for.

Update: It looks like Charles beat me to it, he posted yesterday on the same topic. One manifestation of American arrogance is the way we impute our values and cultural mores on the Arabs. We assume they want the same peace and same liberties that we enjoy. The connection between cease-fire and hudna is one minor example of the differences in our cultures. It's not that we don't see the warts in Arab culture, we simply ignore them.

The tolerance that is inherent in our culture is anathema to most of the Arab world. We accept cultural differences and refuse to make moral judgments, because of a false belief that all cultures are equal. We should not accept attrocities begin committed simply because the guilty culture accepts them... but we do. Events like these barely raise an eyebrow as long as it happens in the Arab world... they're completely excused if not ignored.