Arab World - Different Voices
Posted on March 27, 2008
Filed Under Israeli-Muslim Conflict, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Media, Middle East, News, Politics, Stupidity, Terrorism
We are used to hatred, war mongering and calls for annihilation of some non-Muslim nations coming from the Muslim world in general and Arab world in particular. These are main stream opinions and it will remain so for a very long time. Western main stream media doesn’t really help changing the situation, but rather fueling it by ignoring other voices coming out from the Muslim world - not only from common civilians, or bloggers, but from the top officials and columnists. Here are few quotes (source - MEMRI):
Palestinian Information Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki at Ramallah press conference following the Israeli military operation in Gaza:
“As the force in charge of Gaza, Hamas must bear the responsibility for its citizens’ [wellbeing], and must not give Israel an excuse [to attack] by launching primitive rockets from Gaza. These rockets do not kill Israelis [but] accidentally hit Palestinians. They achieve the opposite of what is intended, causing hundreds of Palestinian civilians to be killed.”
Hilmi Al-Ghul, political advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayadh, speaking on Hamas boasting of “victory” over Israel
“What victory are they talking about? Do the massacre of [Palestinians] and the destruction of Gaza’s vital infrastructures count as a victory? Where is the victory in that? Over 120 [Palestinians] have been martyred, and over 300 have been wounded, while [on the Israeli side] only two or five have been injured. Is that a victory? Why doesn’t the Hamas leadership do a [simple] cost-benefit analysis?…
Massacre of Palestinians? Right…
“Oh leaders of the useless [Gaza] coup! The aggression is not ceasing, and the blood continues to flow from the Palestinians’ veins - so will you stop shouting [empty] and deceptive slogans? Will you return to your senses and to your people, and give up the wretched notion of establishing an [Islamic] emirate [in Gaza]?”
Kuwaiti reformist Dr. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi writing in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa
“Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks, triggered by the launching of a few Hamas rockets that [did no more than] wound one or two Israelis. [This prompts us] to ask: Is there anyone rational in this insane movement called Hamas?… How long will this madness last?
“I do not say this out of compassion or empathy for the Palestinians, for they are paying for the folly of following Hamas, which rules Gaza with funds [that come] from the Gulf… The Palestinian people, whom Hamas has placed under siege in Gaza, have been reduced to begging Hamas for charity. Due to the moral laxity of its members, this movement [Hamas] is not above stealing food from the mouths of the Palestinian people - food donated by the Gulf states…
“The truth that the Palestinians refuse to see… is that their daily suffering - the deaths and wounding, the unemployment, and the power outages - are mostly [the result of] the arrogance of [Isma'il] Haniyya and his movement. [Haniyya] controls this movement by means of a gang that does nothing but terrorize the Palestinians, brutalize them on a daily basis with [the help of] its gunmen… and [provoke] ongoing Israeli attacks.
“If the Palestinians [really] support Hamas, as they claim, they should stop complaining about what Israel is doing. Do they expect the Israelis to shower them with flowers rather than missiles? Hamas - whose leader appears only at rallies, like [Hizbullah Secretary-General] Hassan Nasrallah… - bears sole responsibility for the death of Palestinians [which is occurring] on a daily basis… In light of their insane insistence on launching improvised rockets [into Israel], they bear sole responsibility for the destruction of Gaza… “
Lebanese columnist Jihad Fadhel writing in the Qatari daily Al-Raya
“The harm that Hamas is causing Israel (through its rocket attacks on Sderot and Ashkelon) [is negligible] compared to the harm caused by Israel to Gaza… But [Hamas] harms the Palestinian cause even more by its negative attitude towards the [peace] agreement that Israel and the PA are trying to advance.
Kuwaiti columnist Nasser Al-’Utaibi wrote in Al-Siyassa
:…”In an obvious and deliberate move, Syria and Iran are pressuring [Hamas political bureau head] Khaled Mash’al and Hamas to escalate the [fighting] with Israel prior to the Damascus summit. This [move] has two goals: first, to divert the summit’s attention from the main issue [on its agenda, namely] Lebanon’s rights, its independence, its sovereignty, and its freedom to elect its own president without pressure from Iran and Syria… and second, to force the Arab leaders to attend the summit because Israel is perpetrating a massacre against the Palestinians…
“The Arab nation is tired of regimes, groups, power centers and self-interested [parties] exploiting the Palestinian cause as a pretext for [waging] wars… All peoples are familiar with this exploitation of the [Palestinian] problem, and with the harm these forces have done to the Arab nation in the past 50 years. They do nothing but [shout] high-flown slogans, issue statements that are never put into practice, and spend huge sums of money on weapons at the expense of the people’s wellbeing and quality of life. Can anything be worse than the conditions in which the citizens of Syria and Iran are currently living?
“We feel sorry for the Palestinian people, which fallen prey to the leaders in Damascus and Tehran… It pains us that innocent Palestinians are dying because of the stupidity of their leaders, who cleave to their positions [of power], pursue their own interests, and succumb to the [pressures of the] Iranian and Syrian regimes instead of looking after the interests of the Palestinian people…”
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