Posted on 05/30/2002 5:22:00 PM PDT by KLT
The Real Conflict
By Naomi Ragen
Like most people in the world, for years I assumed that the conflict between Arabs and Israelis was a conflict about land. I assumed that this conflict had something to do with people losing land, wanting land, feeling disenfranchised, deprived of rights…
Recently, I began research into terrorism, Saudi Arabia, and Islam which has given me some startling evidence that everything I’ve believed in the past couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
The fact is, the conflict between Arab and Israeli is a conflict between Muslim and Jew. Moreover, it is only a tiny part of a much wider conflict between Muslim and all other religions, and those countries that treasure freedom of religion. It is the conflict between fanatical and intolerant and ignorant hordes bent on converting the world to their vision of the one and only true faith: Islam.
The first inkling that this was the case were in the books I read on Saudi Arabia. Did you know that it is a crime to own a Bible in Saudi Arabia, and that people have been jailed for it? Did you know that no one is allowed to celebrate Christmas or Easter there, and that no churches of any denomination can be built there (let’s not even talk about synagogues…)? Did you know that Jews are not allowed into Saudi Arabia, and that all things Jewish are a crime? Did you know that even those who practice Islam according to the Shia tradition are also considered criminals and are persecuted?
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia has been using its American-provided oil wealth to build elaborate mosques in places all over the world which have very few Muslims. This is what Peter Theroux (certainly no friend of Israel) wrote in his book Sandstorms: “Even the least observant Muslim in Saudi Arabia measured power and influence in religious terms—why else did the kingdom spend vast fortunes on palatial mosques in places where there were almost no Muslims? It was a subtle and informal way of marking territory. When the city of Rome decided in 1984 to grant a building permit for a mosque near the Holy See, the reaction of the Riyadh press [was] jeering articles [that ] applauded this “tanazul”, relinquishing or surrender, on the part of Rome and the Vatican…Europe and all Christendom were gloatingly shown to have caved in to Islamic machismo.”
Unlike the shrines of almost all other religions who welcome visitors of other faiths, the Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina are forbidden to anyone who does not practice Islam.
The deisre of the Islamic world to take over Jerusalem has one reason and only one: Islamic intolerance. Before Israel took over the Old City in 1967, it was closed to Jewish worshippers. The outbreak of violence in Pakistan , Indonesia, and parts of Africa are also being portrayed as territorial disputes by the press. But anyone with eyes in his head can see they too are Muslims against Hindus, Muslims against Christians. Muslims against anyone who isn’t Muslim.
Of all the freedoms we hold dear in the West, none is more precious than freedom of religion. Muslim immigrants are using that freedom and Saudi petrodollars to build an Islamic empire that will threaten religious tolerance in the West. We can already see the results with the rise of antiSemitism in Europe, led by Muslims who attack Jews, burn synagogues, and target religious schools. In Israel, the turnover of Christian Bethlehem to Muslims led directly to the destruction of the Christian community and the desecration of one of its holiest shrines, the Church of the Nativity, which was defiled by Palestinian gunmen, raped of precious artifacts, and then trashed.
When the West urges Israel to allow Muslim fanatics to mark more territory, it is rewarding Muslims for their crimes against humanity. Already, Muslims have lowered the standards of decency and brought all of the civilized world to new lows, convincing so-called intelligent and moral people to accept the outrages of supermarket killings, playground bombings, school bus bombings, flying baby carriages, murdered grandmothers, blown up Seder nights as a legitimate part of some moral equation in which the Muslims are always the ones with the understandable grievance that one can accept. “The Israelis murdered my brother,” they’ll explain after killing the baby, forgetting to mention that their sibling belonged to Fatah, or Islamic Jihad, or Hamas. And that is the way the press will present it. The Israeli or settler (baby in the carriage) against the idealistic young freedom fighter willing to risk his life for…you name it…any word that falls easily on Western ears and sensibilites. By allowing this propaganda to succeed, barbarous acts become palatable with the help of their journalistic apologists, helping the West to engage in its own brand of moral suicide, preparing itself for the day when the norms of Saudi Arabia will soon be the norms of us all.
Every inch of land Israel surrenders, gives that Muslim vision a new victory, infusing new strength into its megalomania. Every compromise Israel is forced to make by the world, or its own foolish leadership, strengthens the cynical resolve of the Muslims to expand the theatre of their conquests, and to turn the world into the hateful prison that is Riyadh and Jeddah, places where women walk like black ghosts, unable to work, or drive, or go out without permission from their husbands and fathers; a place where music is outlawed, and movies, and theatres; and where the worship of Jehovah or Jesus is a jailable crime.
Should Israel cease to exist, there would be no peace. It would simply whet the Muslim appetite to gobble up the next country and the next and the next, until they achieve their vision of one God, One Prophet; that is the Muslim God, Allah, and the one Muslim prophet, Mohammad.
Those of you urging Israel to compromise, should look out your own windows and think of the morning after.
Enjoy, all. Eh.
While living in Saudi (business) we had a humble but sincere Christmas in our villa.
As for "all things Jewish are a crime", well, maybe in some eyes. Saudi is well aware that American military weapons in Saudi inventory, and operated by Saudis, have Israeli components. Not a problem.
I stopped reading at that point.
So what about the Israeli components...they probably have Chinese and Russian components as well...give me a break!
What an incredible leap you made there!
My point is that the author mades statements that don't match personal observations. Live with it.
To make a similar leap to a bizarre conclusion, I'll assume from your statement of location that you chose, and support, the concept of a socialist republic of New York. So, if you support socialism, I now have another reason to put low value on your statements.
Voted with your feet, eh? Happy with Senator Clinton? She's yours!
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Because it is so clear, thoughtful and intelligent, it is also sure that it will never be read by a single liberal.
This much is exactly true. But Islam is not fully defined by Saudi Wahhabinism. Christianity is not fully defined by Protestant Fundamentalism.
There is a war on, a conflict between the currently-powerful fundamentalist Islam against Jews and Judaism. But it would be a mistake to tar all Moslems with that brush, just as it would have been a mistake, 60 years ago, to tar all Germans with the "rabid Nazi" brush. (But yes, they get to pay the price along with the rest for failing to be self-policing. Such is the way of the world.)
What an incredible leap you made there!
My point is that the author mades statements that don't match personal observations. Live with it.
To make a similar leap to a bizarre conclusion, I'll assume from your statement of location that you chose, and support, the concept of a socialist republic of New York. So, if you support socialism, I now have another reason to put low value on your statements.
Voted with your feet, eh? Happy with Senator Clinton? She's yours!
Well, well, well....you lived in Saudi Arabia on business...had a nice Christmas you said...So I assumed you are a Saudi expert....Did you meet any of the 14 Saudi terrorists who blew up my WTC and the Pentagon (14 out of 19 were Saudis)...Were you there when our 200 some odd marines were blown out of their barracks....
Why should your personal observations be more accurate, then someone who lives in the Middle East for years and years, and researches and writes daily for several newspapers?
As far as my Socialist Republic of New York, Hitlery and her Chappaqua friends should move to your state....or perhaps Saudi Arabia...Yes, most New Yorkers are stupid as walls, but those of us on FR...are part of the vast rightwing conspiracy....
Unfortunately, our 'leadership' lacks the stones to make them pay the terrible price that is their due. As a result, between the corrosive nature of he Gramscian Left and the evil midevalism of the Islamic worldview, Western Civilization may not survive the 21st century.
it's funny the NIS told us there was a high threat and yet we were required to wear uniforms on liberty...
my advice if you ever go to Israel, don't drink Bud, drink the local Macabee...
the Bud has formaldehyde in it and it only becomes apparent when you try to wake up...
I was a pretty talented drinker and I can tell you the formaldehyde Bud brought me to my knees...
I was ready to put a .45 through my skull!!
If by the word "all", you mean every single Muslim in the world, then I have no argument. However, if by "all" you mean an overwhelming majority, then I disagree. I don't see Muslims protesting homicide bombings or any other violent actions against the Jewish State OR actions against Jews in other countries. That doesn't mean they don't exist, but they're not making enough of a stink to get into the newspapers. And, based on the Muslims that I have seen, I suspect the reason I haven't seen these "peace-loving" Muslims is because they don't exist in meaningful numbers.
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