The idea of giving someone’s own life for his land has been injected in my heart since childhood. The feeling of sacrificing is honorable. I have always wondered whether if a real war happens I would be a man enough to fight and give my life to protect my land or not. The idea used to scare me, but I have always knew that I would push myself and most probably do it.
I have grew up in Jordan. Since childhood they stamped in our minds that Palestine has been stolen from us by the Jews. Coming from Palestinians origins, it has even a bigger impact on me as a child. I became aware that I have a land that have been taken from my grands by force. My job is to take it back. At childhood my dream became to work hard in order to get my land back.
They never taught me the other side of the story. All what I grew up to learn is that Jews are evil. In my brain, I didnt use to percieve them as human beings as us. The daily news of the activities of the Israeli soldiers towards Palestinian civilians only helped increase my rage. My source of news has only been our side of the story. I have never thought of why would they do this to us. They were inhuman and immoral to me.
In 4th grade, the idea of having a one big arabic nation became my second dream. Grouping the forces of several small countries would only lead to a strong force that would free my land and put us back on the top of this world. They claimed that Imperial forces divided our nation to make it weaker. I didnt know at that time that our nation was even weak under the Othmanian occupation inspite of being one big land. It was one big land under occupation. BUT the conspiracy theory ideology has been injected in my blood since then. The world is conspiracing on us ‘the Arabs’ (wonder why!), they want us divided and weak, that is why they planted Israel in the middle of the Arab Land -This is what my teacher told me-.
1990, I was in 6th grade. Saddam hussen invaded Kwait. I couldnt comprehend why he did that at that time, I percieved it as a way to bring Arabs togather, as of it not being an invasion but somekind of a union between 2 Arabic countries. I was so naive back then. With some couple of missiles Saddam shoot on Tel Aviv, he won my heart. I couldnt comprehend why other Arab countries would fight Iraq back then. I believed the lies of the Iraq force, and dreamt that he (we) would win the fight.
Fortunatly he lost, I thought of it unfortunace back then, I cried. My dream has evaporated. With time, I learnt more about the division between the Arab countries. It wasnt a union. It was a conflict of interests. Iraq occupied Kwait the same way Israel occupied Palestine. Our Arabic ties between coutries are even worse than between other coutries around the world. I learnt more and more about Saddam’s regeme opression, and how his people were suffering under his rule.
I became more and more aware about the opression of the leaders of the Arab countries. Israel seems to give its people more freedom and human rights than any other Arab country. We are so much consumed of fighting each other.
My perception of the world matured as I grew up. I have learnt that you can’t judge people based on their race, country or origins. I have much differences with my fellow Arab people around me. My ideology and mentality matches some and differs with many here in my country, amd it does matches some and differs with some in other countries as well.
Fundamental religious and terrorist groups seem to threaten my way of living and existance more than what I learnt to be my enemy of Israel and its allies the US. Being against my enemey doesnt mean that you are my friend. The delimma between me feeling of patriotism and being faithful to my values teared me up.
I became to value human life anywhere. A life of a human became more important to me than any land. The war between us and Israel has last long. Many Arabs and Israeli have died. I dont want to hear about more death. I want people in west bank and Gaza to start living a decent life. I know that they can do that. There are good people in Israel as there is in the Palestine. We can work togather in peace.
We ought to stop this cycle of violence. We are humans regardless of our races. Sure we can live togather if we played it smart. Let us push those extremists of authority on both sides, they only lead us to death and destruction, let us rule with love and compassion.
Fadi Zaghmout فادي زغموت 
<>I became to value human life anywhere. A life of a human became more important to me than any land. <>That, pretty much, is why Israel exists in the first place. Because Jews learned that whether they existed in Europe or in Arab lands, their lives were not valued very much. So they established – quite legally, through purchase and transfer of sovereignty endorsed by the U.N., not as “theft” – a land where Jews and Arabs could co-exist. Not everyone liked the idea of a land where Arabs didn’t dominate non-Arabs, so these people fought for dominance, and upon losing, many fled. Over a quarter made their peace with Israel and < HREF="http://solomon2.blogspot.com/2005/11/response-to-hareega.html" REL="nofollow">returned<>. The bitter and prideful remainder never acknowledged any mistake or wrongdoing on their own part and taught Jew-hatred to their children, if only so they would respect their parents, I guess.
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Solomon, for arabs, it wasnt the idea of a land where Arabs didnt dominate non-Arabs, it was the idea of some foreigners coming from everypart of the world to take over their homes.At the time Israel came to existance, I can understand my grandparents situation. They were living in some kind of peace among people who they were used to, and in a land that their ancestors lived in for ages. When Jews started to come back, it was normal not to accept them. Imagine that some other race would just come now to Israel and start building their own state. How would people of Israel feel? and how would they act? Jews has been teaching their descendants the dream of coming back to what they believed their home for centuries. I wouldn’t blame Palestinian parents for teaching their children about what they lived in as their homes.For me, I have never been to Palestine, while my grandparents lived their childhood and most of their adult hood their, and my father lived his childhood their. I have never been there. I dont feel like I have more rights to the land than an Israeli who was born and lived there (many Arabs would hate me for stating this), but I think that I can accept the situation on the ground if we can stop killing each other and live in peace.
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I agree that we must remember that we are all humans after all, but the sad part that both parties of the crisis have hidden agendas. The only victims here are the innocent civilians. All the Peace treaties and Peace conventions called for 2 states, but I call for 1 State (Jews, Christians and Muslims) living hand with hand in land not larger than Long Island in NY. One last point, the Israelis can’t get rid of the Palestinians, and the Palestinians can’t get rid of the Israelis, it’s about time we all live together.
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The question is why Arab think that the Arab world belong to them orignally. there are many civilization lived before “few Arabs”, even Jews exists before Arab.So we better imporve an develop ourself so at least the land that we live on deserve us.
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<>When Jews started to come back, it was normal not to accept them. <>What an intolerant attitude. How can Ali’s hope – which was also the hope of the early Zionists, back when the Ottomans ran the country – be fulfilled under such “normalcy”?
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<>Imagine that some other race would just come now to Israel and start building their own state. How would people of Israel feel? and how would they act?<>Hmmm. Hasn’t that already happened in Gaza and Sinai? Still, Arabs didn’t rule over Palestine a hundred years ago, it was the Turks, then the Brits. It simply seems to be implicit in Arab thinking that they SHOULD be ruling over others, just like the Assyrians were massacred and kicked out of Iraq soon after independence. Israel doesn’t feel that way and kept the welcome mat out for Arabs for decades.
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solomon, for years, people of Palestine welcomed the Jews when they start to come over from around the world in the late 19th century and early 20th. What isn’t normal is to accept the people you welcomed into your home to take over and rule over you which is what the Jews did when they gained ground. They have planned it for years, and managed to achieve their plan. Poor Palestinians had to pay the price.As of the race in Gaza and Sinai, what are you referring to? What race and what time?Arabs in Palestine were contend under the Othmanian ruling for 400 hundered years, because they percieved it as the inheritance of the Islamic emperor. Othmanian were muslims. It didnt matter to the Arabs till the beginning of last century where things changed in the ruleing of the Othmanian emperor.Solomon, my intetion of my post was never intended to argue who has more rights to be in Palestine. Believe me, I have been taught much ar school about our rights, but still believe that a person who was born and lived their has more rights to the land than me. My grandparent had more right to live their than your grandparent, but if you have born and lived there, I think you have more right to the land than me. I have never been there, at all. I just want peace to those Palestinians under occupation. Wish you can do something for humanity from your side…
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It’s hard to think what there is left to do “on my side”, so to speak.
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solomon, well my dear, you can start by keeping hope in peace and realize that the other side are humans as well.
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Observer, this is a fantastic blog and this post is so honest and deep. I thank you for your fiem belief in the values of human life. I wish our friend Solomon here would have the same appreciation since he sees things from one perspective only. The presence of the Israel in this region meant that thousands of innocent people died, and the Israeli total belief in force has not brought them any closer to peace.I hope you will continue blogging for along time and would like to warn you that once your blog becomes more exposed you will have more traffic and more Arab people who will never accept your ideas and will consider you a traitor. I think you have the guts and knowledge to respond.
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hey batir, thanks for your encouraging words. It makes me happy, especially that it is coming from you 🙂My best friend called me a traitor -jokingly- after he read this post. As you know, he knows as well how other people here think. Hope I will always have the guts to stick to my believes. I know that there are a lot of Arabs and Israelis who wants to have peace. We need to start acting. No more silence. No more extremist and fanatics leaders. We have to work both sides togather…
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<>realize that the other side are humans as well.<>It is difficult to do so when “the other side” talks about the joy of killing and even eating Jews – and teaches this to their children.
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Solomon, If you are sane enough, you wouldn’t consider it as difficult. Do you really believe that we are not humans? Do you think that we have the right as well to de-humanize your side for the pictures of Israeli childrens signing those misslies sent to kill Lebanese kids? They taught me to hate Jews for kicking my parents of their homes, but they never taught me to kill or even Jews with joy. You are exaggerating. I would never believe that a smart person by this. Despite all the killing Israel inflicted on Arabs, I have never believed the accusations that some soldiers enjoy their killing, and I have never de-humanize entire race of people if some really did it.
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Neither have I. The ones who act as I described are the ones one has to worry about. Unfortunately, not enough people actively oppose them…I note that the scene you’re referring to had kids scribbling something on a shell marked “to Nasrallah” – the one man responsible for all this mess. Nothing “racial” about it.
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I guess that we dont have to point fingers solomon, you too, have people would do enjoy killing and torturing Arabs. Unfortunately, not enough people actively opposing them as well! Why dont we work on opposing them at both sides? Me, and you, and many silence others who wants peace…
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<>you too, have people would do enjoy killing and torturing Arabs.<>When we find such people they get prosecuted, like the reservists who abused (can’t really call it “torture”) prisoners in Abu Gharaib. Can’t ask more than that, so there isn’t more for me to do.
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solomon, I am confused now, are you Israeli or American? Prisoner in Abu Ghriab, just abused?!?!!! Oh man! You really dont believe it was torture??! Ewwww!
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I’m an American. Abused, yes. Torture, no. (“Torture” implies that the Abu G prisoners were subjected to physical pain.) Nevertheless, such abuse was wrong and the perpetrators discovered (by other U.S. soldiers) and prosecuted.
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American? Are you Jewish? I thought you are an Israeli in the way you are taking sides here. So there was no physical abuse towards thie Abu Graib prisoners? Wasn’t there any rape cases?
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Yes, I’m Jewish. Although the “Israeli side” is a worthy one, I have a “side” all my own which isn’t quite the same…No rape cases at AG. Sexual misconduct convictions were consensual soldier-to-soldier and had nothing to do with the prisoners. Physical abuse of prisoners consisted of various forms of undress and suggestive sexual positionings for the purpose of taking photographs. I admit I haven’t followed it for a long time now, so there may have been more convictions, but I never read anything that really stood out as “torture”.
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I admit that I havent followed the trail closely as well. It is that just those savage images are still sticking to my head with the rage of media calling it torture. I dont want to go and do my research, but don’t several human rights organizations condemns the tortureing happening in AG and Guantanamo?
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Sure they do. But they seem to be compromised by the leftist agenda or by the abundant petrodollars of the oil countries. Their claims don’t add up, or don’t meet the usual definitions of “torture”. They just <>accuse<> the U.S. of torture without being specific. You must understand how it works: all these non-profit groups need to raise money. They can best do this by making reports that draw a lot of press coverage so they become well known to the public. Actually doing a good job is meaningless if it doesn’t bring in the money. Hardly anyone checks to see if non-profits are actually doing a good job. There’s no money in it, and it isn’t the government’s business, either.I don’t know think there was <>any<> “torture” at Guantanamo. Sure, many of the Al-Qaeda guys who are released describe horrific tortures, yet they seem to show no evidence of the procedures they describe on their bodies. This is how they are trained and they know that only the accusations matter, not the evidence. The same pattern is emerging in a terror trial in Canada: everyone in the courtroom can see that the accusations are lies, but the defendants know that only the words will get out.Trick is, Muslims are supposed to believe other Muslims over stuff said by non-Muslims. And for a Muslim, lying is supposed to be O.K. if it advances Islam, is it not? This makes for a powerfully deceptive and destructive combination, especially if you are one of Islam’s potential victims of mob violence.
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No it isn’t true. Lying is prohibited in Islam even if it is for advancing the religion. Whenever one of those international human rights organization issue a report condemning someone’s behaviour, they react by questioning their credibility. You can do this a much as you want, but for me, I do have faith in those organizations. They are non-profitable and non-governmental. Their cause is humanity and human rights. They have no hidden agendas. Why do we have always to trash good things?
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<>No it isn’t true. Lying is prohibited in Islam even if it is for advancing the religion.<>I can wish that more people who profess to be Muslims follow that principle.<>They are non-profitable and non-governmental. Their cause is humanity and human rights. They have no hidden agendas.<>Excuse me, I live and work in the Washington, D.C. area, practically the NGO capital of the world. There are NGOs that profess “humanity and human rights” yet have hidden agendas. Shucks, there are NGOs that profess <>animal<> rights and have hidden agendas! Sharp questioning of their representatives can often expose these agendas so one can tell the good from the bad, but if all you have to go on is newspaper stories or press releases – and for most people, that’s all that is available – you might never know the difference. Let me give you an example. I used to work for a government commission responsible for monitoring the safety of a particular industry. One of these anti-industry NGO people comes to a committee meeting (they are open to the public), dragging newspapermen and TV reporters with her. For most of the meeting the reporters were quiet. When it was time for the NGO “activist” to speak, the media woke up to film and record her rant. When she was finished, so were the reporters. They didn’t even bother to record the reasoned response of the commissioner.So on TV that night, viewers saw a film of an attractive young woman forcefully presenting arguments, without being contradicted, “for the public good” and that she was from XXXX organization. Lo and behold, money from the public and NGO-supporting foundations rolls in. How is anybody supposed to know that ALL the arguments were specious?For the worst thing was that her “open” agenda – what she was supposed to be there for in the first place – could have been argued successfully, but she and her organization didn’t bother to collect the facts. They were incompetent. That was not a “good thing”.They cared mostly for their “hidden” agenda, which I later pried out of her upon questioning. But the TV cameras weren’t around to film that, just a newspaperman who laughed and reported that I “questioned her credibility” but didn’t supply his readers with the details.The human-rights NGOs, however, are generally easy to exponse, if one digs in to the details of human rights law and the particular history of the situation. When they aren’t flat-out wrong, one has to wonder why they pick on certain situations in one spot when there are truly horrendous situations that are glossed over or ignored elsewhere. The answer seems to be that there is more money to be made by criticizing some parties (like Israel and the U.S.) than others (like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, or Germany).
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I guess that some people beside the Arabs believe in conspiracy theories as well! ;PYou know solomon, everything in this world can be argued upon, and everything can be seen in a good or bad light. You can trash anything even Gods! and you can raise everything by words to be in Godly level. It goes down to someone’s personal believe. You can see that watching the news on different TV channels. Just go watch Al-Jazeera and then watch the CNN. Two different views that almost appear they are not talking about the same thing.Having said that, I choose to stick to my faith in those Human rights NGO’s. Whether your story has credibility or not, it doesn’t mean that all of those NGO’s have hidden agendas, and certainly not all of their reports are fake. Usually when they issue a report, governments take it seriously into consideration and further investigations take place. I don’t think that they do gloss on certain issues in any part of the word. Go to Human rights watch websit or Amnesty Internation website, you can see reports on countries from all over the world. If Israel and the US have more share of those reports, it only indicates that they violate humans rights more than other countries. “Ican wish that more people who profess to be Muslims follow that principle.”I guess that you don’t know many muslims. I am not going to defend Islam here as I am not. I have born to a Christian family, but grew up to be not much of a believer. But I have a duty to be honest and give credit to what I see in people around me.
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<>Whether your story has credibility or not, it doesn’t mean that all of those NGO’s have hidden agendas<>If you wish, my story can be checked. The event was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing for the final operating license of the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant in 1985. Transcripts are available. The opponents of the plant totally missed the fact that Fermi 1 experienced a partial core melt a decade earlier, and that the same management was still running things.<>If Israel and the US have more share of those reports, it only indicates that they violate humans rights more than other countries.<>No. Quite the opposite, probably, as I’m trying to explain.Would it kill you to try to discover that your faith has been a blind one and may have been utterly misplaced?<>I guess that you don’t know many muslims. <>I have muslim co-workers, muslim classmates, muslim employees, muslim neighbors, muslim grocers, muslim contractors, and muslim neighbors. They are Americans, Pakistanis, Malaysians, and Arabs. That doesn’t mean I <>know<> them, of course…
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Oops. A bit repetitive, that last post. Beginning should read, “I have or have had -“
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“Would it kill you to try to discover that your faith has been a blind one and may have been utterly misplaced?”Not at all, in fact, I do always question my beliefs. Can you prove to me that Amnesty Internation for example issues more reports for Israel and the US to gain more money? where that money goes? You have all of those muslims around you and say that you don’t know them? then claim that they are ready to lie to advance their religion?
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<>Can you prove to me<>Not I, no. Funding sources for NGOs and their employees are not entirely transparent. I believe that their choices are consistent with my accusation. I no longer believe that NGOs deserve the benefit of doubt. I know other stories that point out the relationship more directly, but not for Amnesty International. If it is important to you, why not look into it yourself?<>You have all those muslims….then claim that they are ready to lie –<>Not all, no. The ones that try to hurt non-Muslims or manipulate others, yes. As one West Banker put it when I discussed different interpretations of Islam, inconsistencies, and falsehoods of political leaders with him: “The Egyptians are not Arabs. This is our religion, and we’ll do with it what we want!…you Jews have had thousands more years to get things right than we have.” Such people count on the fact that Muslims are supposed to believe other Muslims over the accounts of non-Muslims. Heading towards the middle of the spectrum, some Muslims excuse these co-religionists on the grounds that they aren’t any better or worse than people from other religions – a self-serving and ignorant generalization that says there is no room for self-improvement in anybody, anywhere. Then there are those Muslims who are positively embarassed at the conduct of their militant co-religionists. Such people try to live quiet lives and stay Muslim. I wish they could do more to make this planet peaceful.At the furthest end of the spectrum are those who laugh and tell me they are proud to be “bad Muslims”. I didn’t know what that comment meant for a long time.
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:), solomon, if you are the one who claimed the hidden agendas of the NGO’s can’t prove, how can I? Where shall I look about it? I am not saying this to make your accusation sound false, but I truely don’t know a way to do so. I can just promise you to keep my mind open about a potential discredibility in their reports. As of all of those different Muslim people you described. I would say that it is true, you can find these kind of Muslim people and many other kinds as well who differ in their approach and relationship with their religion. It isn’t something upnormal, you can find the same between Jews, Christirans and any other faith. Someone should’t generalize to make bad judgement on a group of people following certain religion. There is always a human part in all of us no matter how drastic our ideology seems to be.
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😦 You asked me a specific and difficult question to prove, even if I had access to the organization’s records. Don’t blow that up into an unjustified generalization. Examining an organization’s choices and omissions pursuing its stated mission, its twisted logic and lies, its blindness as to cause-and-effect, its ignorance of the situation on the ground, and its choices what to pursue and what not to is more revealing. The behavior of key officers outside an organization’s umbrella is also highly suggestive: See < HREF="http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/201" REL="nofollow">this<> report. But for the ACLU, discover what is wrong with this organization yourself. Start by examining the organization’s own reports. < HREF="http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE010022006" REL="nofollow">Here’s<> a typical example. And if you are still at a loss to determine what is right, I can at least ask that you withhold your financial support from them.<>It isn’t something upnormal, you can find the same between Jews, Christians and any other faith. <>No, not the same, or at least not to the same degree, and the degree makes the difference. How many Jews and Christians do you know who make it a practice to hide behind their own women and children when fighting? Only Arabs hide behind their own, knowing that Israelis aren’t comfortable killing non-combatants, whereas Arabs are. Yet Amnesty Int’l doesn’t mention this, and equates the moral conduct of the two belligerents at best, and comes down unjustifiably harshly on Israel at worst. Plus Amnesty, failing to find a single law of war or international conduct that Israel could be violating, nevertheless says that its conduct “amounts” to doing so. Hizbollah is not singled out for its undeniable commissions of war crimes at all – AI only implies that <>both<> Hizbollah and Israel are doing so. You would never know from reading a report like this that Hezbollah is both the aggressor and the <>sole<> confirmed violator of human rights as defined under international law including the Geneva Convention, or that Israel is the defending party whose actions conform to the same laws. That’s how bad they are.<>Someone should’t generalize to make bad judgement on a group of people following certain religion. There is always a human part in all of us no matter how drastic our ideology seems to be.<>You are avoiding making difficult moral choices. One can avoid doing so when there is peace between peoples, but when there is conflict, “someone” is forced to make moral judgments.
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“Examining an organization’s choices and omissions pursuing its stated mission, its twisted logic and lies,…etc”I have read the what that guy on the blog you sent the link said, and have read the report of Amnesty International. The first one, I can say that is a pure personal opinion where 2 people collide that has nothing to do with a hidden agenda of the organization. The latter Amnesty report seems to me to be a fair one.It is just that we refuse to believe facts when they are thrown in our faces. There isn’t anything illogical in Amnesty report. They condemned both Israel and Hezbollah for targerting civilians, and asked other countries not to supply weapons to both parties. “How many Jews and Christians do you know who make it a practice to hide behind their own women and children when fighting? Only Arabs hide behind their own”Wait a minute here, you are comparing Jews and Christians with Arabs??! You can’t do that, Arab is a race, Judism and Christianity are religions. I am a Christian Arab. Know what I mean?But answering your question, no I am not seeing Jews and Christians hide behind their women, but I don’t see Muslims hide behind their women and children as well! If you know much about Islam, you can tell that this isn’t an acceptable behaviour. Even in the Arabic culture, it isn’t acceptable at all. It is considered a coward behaviour. Who ever do that can’t consider himself to be a true Arab or Muslim. “You are avoiding making difficult moral choices. One can avoid doing so when there is peace between peoples, but when there is conflict, “someone” is forced to make moral judgments.”No Solomo, no one is forced to make wrong judgements. Even in conflict time, we can still have some voices of sanity.
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