Posted on 07/10/2002 5:45:07 AM PDT by SJackson
Hanna Nasir
People in the area used to joke that President George W. Bush's long awaited speech on the Middle East conflict was delayed because it was being translated from Hebrew. Unfortunately the joke turned out to be a reality - or at least very close to it.
Bush insulted the Palestinians. He slandered their leadership - an elected leadership of their own choice. He gave the Palestinians very little hope for an end to the Israeli military occupation and as such his speech will probably inflame terror rather than subdue it.
Occupation came before terror. Without condoning terror, one has to understand that the violence witnessed on the ground is simply a reflection of a cause and effect situation.
A call for an end to the occupation should have been the operative term in a speech of a leader who understands the situation and is truly interested in an end to violence in the region.
Israeli leaders stress the issue of terror while intimidating the world into ignoring the root causes of it. It suits them not to talk about the occupation, the illegal building of settlements on Palestinian soil and the confiscation of lands or the grave violations of human rights that have been going on for more than 35 years.
Unfortunately, in his speech, Bush seems to have succumbed to this intimidation. While the world was waiting for the speech of an honest broker or a leader of a superpower to pave the way for peace in the Middle East, Bush found it convenient to reiterate a biased Israeli point of view which essentially allows the military occupation to linger. This is a point of view that compromises American ideals of justice and human rights. Oh Shame! The American people really deserve a better leader.
NOTE: (Hanna Nasir)
In response to the campaign of the United States of American has launched against the Palestinian people and its leadership, I sent my letter to the editor of the International Herald Tribune and he published it on June 28, 2002. The letter was published in full excluding the title and the last sentence and so it lost its content. This proves that censorship also reaches the international papers.
Hanna Nasir is the President of Birzeit University.
" ... an elected leadership of their own choice ... "
The lesson is, that to be free and prosper, a people must be determined, and they must be self-determined to sacrifice their lives to establish justice which adheres to the rule of law and to the peoples' soverign authority. Once established, or at least in formation, the benefits of capital investment will bear out through dedication.
What America has that is so fleeting to the rest of the world, is our living democratic-republic and rule of law; though what the world sees is wealth.
We have been giving away some of our wealth, when we should have been instructing, not as much about money markets, but about the business of such foreign peoples' helping each other to establish and enforce their own democratic-republics.
It's not as simple as achieving a popular vote; communist countries have a popular vote. A choice from among a barrel of rotten apples, is still a rotten apple, especially when all you have is a choice ... you are without the many avenues of petition and redress, and very much destitute the authority to fix things.
The success of a democratic-republic is more complex; and understanding the formula, and knowing how to teach it --- that is what we have to offer, and in my humble opinion we should.
Yeah, maybe we should import one of the exemplary leaders from the Middle East to come over here and make us proud.
This disinformation continues to be repeated and as a result will one day become the truth. What these Jew-hating Arabs will not admit is that historically when one country attacks another country and loses, the winner quite often ends up with a portion of the attacking country's territory. When countries repeatedly attack and lose, they should consider themselves lucky to only lose a little territory. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are not "occupied territory", they are Israel.
"Palestinians" is a made up nationality just to have a pawn to use against Israel.
I have a fair idea. The Palestinians don't have to give the US money until we elect a leader they like, and we don't have to give them money until they elect a leader til we like.
Better yet, let 'em elect a real leader or not, but let's not give them any money anyway.
Note to Hanna Nasir--Yasser Arafat gives the Palestinians less hope than the Israelis and the Americans do, IMHO.
Perhaps he would do better seeking a 'family home' amongst those who share his 'values' and methods?
You're right, he should have been praising you for your ability to dance and howl like monkeys when the WTC fell (and I'm talking about Palestinians in NEW YORK).
his speech will probably inflame terror rather than subdue it
And you poor, helpless Palestinians will the be ones perpetrating it.
Occupation came before terror.
Learn how to fight like honorable soldiers and you wouldn't be occupied, coward.
Without condoning terror, one has to understand that the violence witnessed on the ground is simply a reflection of a cause and effect situation.
That is analagous to saying to your neighbor "your dog crapped in my yard, so I killed your entire family. It's just a cause and effect situation."
or the grave violations of human rights that have been going on for more than 35 years.
ROTFLMAO, I think you are talking about how ARAB countries treat Palestinians.
Oh Shame! The American people really deserve a better leader.
I think you meant "Oh Shame! We can't buy this leader with our oil money like every leader in Europe."
Hanna Nasir is the President of Birzeit University
Let me know how well your university does without oil money or US aid being pumped into it, Hanna. I'd also like to see a list of students that have gone onto promising and successfull carreers (murdering innocents).
Yadda, yadda, yadda Bush...
Some sh!t, different day.
Nevermind the indoctrination of their children in palestinian school. Open up any book to see why they hate Isreal. HATE IS THE REAL ROOT OF TERRORISM. This author thinks it can all end at the stroke of a pen. It will take a least a generation to purge this indoctrination.
Barbra Streisand.
Why on earth would we help people get a state until they've shown that they are capable of running a state.
They can do what they want, and we'll help them if they make a decision to elect someone who won't steal from them. If they decide they want leaders who are not corrupt, if they want a legal system that actually MEANS something. If not, they're on their own.
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