Circus Palestine

The Jerusalem Post ^ | June 3, 2007 | Reza Zarabi

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June 03 2007 The Persian Abyss: Circus Palestine by Reza Zarabi

The recent flare up of violence in Gaza and Northern Lebanon is just a symptom of the disease that Palestinians have been living with for the better part of 100 years. From time to time, the vacancy of at least sub-par leadership manifests itself with events like this past week, however, since their legislative election in 2006, the ruling Hamas party has truly outdone their predecessors. They have somehow replaced the shackles of inefficiency and corruption that symbolized Fatah’s rule with their own delusional and ideological cage, all the while heaping unneeded additional suffering upon the average Palestinian.

Because Palestine’s leadership has utterly failed in building a viable political and economic infrastructure for their people, the average Palestinian has become solely dependant on international aid. For decades now, jobs in Israel, along with donations from charity organizations and aid packages from sympathetic countries funneled through the usual Arafat-corrupt channels have been the only mechanism that kept ordinary Palestinians from starving. Yet after Hamas’s election, the perceptions towards the Palestinian question shifted dramatically. The world found no further reason why they should keep investing into a black hole that not only has an ideology based upon lunacy but has policies that would eliminate the chance of peace altogether. This new reality has not only decreased the chances of an independent Palestine in the near future, but also increased the likelihood of a sub-Saharan-like failed state in the heart of the Levant.

Even from the sympathetic Arab World, frustration with the Hamas government is now clear. The Palestinian dilemma has become more than just a nuisance to the Arabs. The current clashes between the Lebanese military and the Palestinian radical elements in Tripoli are clear indications of this. Weak Arab governments like that of Lebanon have been hostage to the Palestinian delusion for decades now. Under certain “agreements” between powerful Arab regimes and their weaker counterparts, Palestinian camps such as the ones in Lebanon are to remain “untouched” from the authority of their host governments. This inefficient policy, in turn, fuels sectarian divisions in the host countries and undermines non-radical governments, like the Saniora government of Lebanon, and their attempts to carve out some type of hopeful future for their own people. Palestine’s ineptitude is slowly but surely crippling the economic aspirations and the future progress of other Arab countries.

The growing Arab apathy towards the Palestinian cause has also invited the Shia government of Iran as the acting surrogate of the “resistance”. The IRI has made the strategic decision to fill the void that was created after the 2006 Hamas Legislative victory and broaden their financial support to the Palestinian Leadership. In their ill-fated attempt to be the leader of the Muslim “World”, the IRI decided many years ago to rally behind the Palestinian cause in order to obtain favor from their incredibly hostile Arab neighbors. So far, that has failed. However, for the Iranian government, this has been a domestic nightmare that has caused a severe internal backlash. Iranians themselves live under a government with dismissal economic vision, growing inflation, and futile leadership. For their government to insist upon being more Palestinian than Palestinians themselves is one of the primary sources of outrage and public dismay towards the regime.

For years, the IRI has siphoned money away from the needs of their own people and given it to the Palestinian leadership. Yet to what purpose and to what end? Iranians have no stake in an independent Palestine and at the end of the day, the Shia/Sunni (Persian/Arab) divide will always exist. To the average Iranian, who has absolutely no contact with Palestinians and nothing in common with them whatsoever, the notion of more financial support for Palestine is lunacy. To them, Palestine has become that intoxicated homeless vagabond on your street corner- forever stumbling along, babbling to himself, tripping over his own two feet- tired, pathetic, hopeless… Palestinians are not the only outcasts of the Middle East. Kurds have been fighting for an independent Kurdistan for decades now, and in the past engaged in the same type of barbaric violence against innocent Syrian, Iranian, and most notably, Turkish citizens. Yet now they have largely abandoned those policies, understanding that the killing of innocents will not only deter them from having their own homeland but also risk another generation being lost to a hopeless delusion.

For Kurds, their hope now is Iraqi Kurdistan. Although Kurds are spread out throughout Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, and even Azerbaijan, their leadership has focused solely on Iraqi Kurdistan, understanding that now is the most critical time in their history. With the daily bloodshed that perpetuates in the streets of Baghdad, there is relative safety and development in the Kurdish North. This is due to the fact that the Kurdish leadership has devoted their time, energy, and resources into economic development, social, and political progression, laying aside past violent tendencies. In all probability, the Kurds will never obtain the southeast portion of Turkey, parts of eastern Iran, southwest Syria or any other region that they have hopes for. Yet with the ongoing development of Iraqi Kurdistan and with the ever-increasing foreign investment that the Kurds are advertising for, an independent Kurdistan in the north of Iraq can be only a few years away.

The Kurdish people have obtained a small portion of what they wished for and probably will never achieve their full objective, yet they are still engaging in development, building schools, and courting foreign investment. Palestine should take notice. However, today the Hamas leadership is more concerned with firing rockets at Israel than bringing economic viability to Gaza and the West Bank. Today the Hamas-led government prepares their children for Jihad, sacrificing them for an unattainable cause. Rather than preparing their children for a hopeful future, they prepare their children for death, despair, and humiliation - but at what cost? Where is the Sadat of Palestine? Where is their Mandela? Only when the Palestinian leadership puts the future of their people above their ideology can there be something worth living for in Palestine.

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for your consideration

[pabianice]

[Proud_USA_Republican]

If the Iranian leadership loves the palestinians so much, let them move to Iran.

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ok

[Fee]

Israel has an opporunity to finish the Palistinians in Gaza. Few more rocket attacks, just cut off the water and electricity and let the famine/disease begin.