Posted 8/29/2003 01:12:00 PM by Ocean Guy
News from Gaza

Why do you suppose the banners are in English and French?

"I am an orphan…Am I a terrorist?" Read one of the banners which were written in Arabic, English and French.

"Had all Palestinian children and orphans become terrorists? We depend on these frozen money (provided by charitable societies), which helps us buy our food and clothes…In doing so, the PA will create a generation of beggars," another orphan lamented.

Another generation of beggars is more accurate, and it's been the Arab world as a whole that has created the problem.

I hate to harp on it, but until I hear others talking about it I will: The Arabs have wasted BILLIONS of dollars over the last 55 years and longer while decimating the lives of millions. They have wasted aid money and allowed a few thugs to pilfer the accounts for personal gain in a deliberate, methodical manner in order to subjugate a few million of their poorest brothers. The Arabs have facilitated and encouraged the establishment and maintenance of the palestinian refugee crisis. They have been hugely successful in placing the blame for the plight of their wretched brothers on the back of Israel. The UN has been complicit.

The BILLIONS of dollars that have passed through the system as refugee aid, if used as aid to the people, could have built paradise on the Mediterranean, could have developed luxury resorts in Sinai, in Gaza and Jenin. Instead, the Arabs have produced a couple of generations of bitter, hate-filled beggars. Poor, disenfranchised people who depend on handouts from the West and from Israel. People who have been told by the rest of the Arab world that they are useless, that they need charity, people that are taught to blame their plight on their neighbor's success. Israeli checkpoints are painful to the Arabs because they can't get to their jobs INSIDE ISRAEL. There is no work in the territories because the Arabs have built no industry. Their tribal society deteriorates through its system of patronage that has grown corrupt and brutal. They've wasted their wealth in efforts to destroy Israeli wealth and Israelis.

It's WAY beyond time for the Arabs to face the realities, and to face their responsibilities. Its' way past time for them to admit their mistakes and build on their strengths. The best and brightest of the Regions Arabs have fled the territories, not because the Israelis forced them, but because their Arab brothers made life too difficult. Only a change in Arab society will change the plight of the palestinians.

The sad thing is that the Arabs know it. They realize actual peace with Israel would mean they’d have to face their own faults, they’d lose their scapegoat. It’s not likely to happen unless they are forced to. At least, today, for a short time in Gaza, Hamas is feeling the pressure.