by rockdoc123 » Thu 31 Aug 2006, 15:07:56
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ace it, Miki, nobody likes the Palestinians. Nobody cares about them. It's true of the Lebanese and the Jordanians as well.
Now you may well dispute the above assertion - but note well that despite the often published difficulties of the Pales., no one does anything to change their lot. They don't help themselves - neither Arafat nor anyone else has uplifted them. Their Arab neighbors do not - they clearly don't want the Pales. in their respective countries.
I have to disagree on that point....the entirety of the Arab World and the non-Arab/Persian part of the Middle East do care. I have spent a considerable amount of time throughout this part of the world over the last 25 years or so and I don't think I have ever met a Saudi, Qatari, Emirates, Iraqi etc that, after you got to know them a bit, was quite vocal in their opinion of how the Palestinians have gotten the short end of the stick. I have met Palestinians who have emigrated to parts of the Middle East or Arab North Africa, sat beside one on a recent flight from Europe who had moved to Libya,....this is no different than the US approach to countries such as Sudan, you offer the availability for southern Sudanese to emigrate to the US but you make it difficult and limit the numbers.
If there is anything that has the potential to blow up in the US collective face it is this misunderstanding of how big of an issue this is for Arabs/Persians. If you understood this part of the world you would realize it is quite factious...the Persians disagree with Arab neighbours on most things, the Saudis disagree on religion and other issues with their neighbours in Bahrain, Qatar and UAE. But when it comes to the Palestinian issue they are all in total agreement....Israel is in the wrong and needs to adhere to UN resolutions, without question.
If there is going to be all out war in the Middle East it will start with the Israel/Palestine issue and I believe we came pretty darned close just recently.