April 25, 2004

Middle East Myths

Another excellent Hanson column, this time on popular myths on the war and the greater Middle East. One of those myths holds that U.S. problems in the Arab world stem from Israeli intransigence. Of the recent West Bank demonstrations, in which some Arabs currently living in Israel object to being repatriated to any proposed Palestinian state, while others argue for the "right of return", Hanson makes this observation:

Notably absent were the relatives of the hundreds of thousands of Jews of Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and other Arab capitals who years ago were all ethnically cleansed and sent packing from centuries-old homes, but apparently got on with what was left of their lives.

The Palestinians will, in fact, get their de facto state, though one that may be now cut off entirely from Israeli commerce and cultural intercourse. This is an apparently terrifying thought: Palestinian men can no longer blow up Jews on Monday, seek dialysis from them on Tuesday, get an Israeli paycheck on Wednesday, demonstrate to CNN cameras about the injustice of it all on Thursday — and then go back to tunneling under Gaza and three-hour, all-male, conspiracy-mongering sessions in coffee-houses on Friday. Beware of getting what you bomb for.

Priceless. Read it all.

Posted by dan at April 25, 2004 10:43 PM