Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Sami Alrabaa: Hamas prefers war as an alternative to progress

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/01/12/sami-alrabaa-hamas-prefers-war-as-an-alternative-to-progress.aspx
Once again some of us Arabs are as usual in a big mess. The Islamist
extremist group Hamas, which came to power in 2006 through an un-
Islamic political process, namely democratic election, has since
hijacked Gaza, established its rocket factories in residential areas,
in bunkers under mosques, schools and hospitals. Over the past three
years, the Hamas jihadis and their affiliates have frequently targeted
their Kassam rockets at residential areas in Israel. Even during the
ceasefire brokered by Egypt in 2008, Hamas shot their rockets at
Israel. On top of all these, Hamas, like the PLO before the Oslo
Accords, rejects the existence of Israel, a UN member state. Its
ultimate aim is liberating all Palestine, which includes Israel, by
wiping out the Jewish state from the world map and possibly by
genocidal massacre or deportation of all Jewish people.
The “struggle” of Hamas is backed by Islamists across the globe, by
state-controlled media of the Arab world, and by one-eyed anti-war
campaigners in the West. Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the UN,
has condemned the latest Israeli military operations in Gaza as
“disproportionate”.
All these organizations and groups have voraciously consumed the Hamas
propaganda; they allege that the Israeli blockade has caused abject
misery in Gaza, people there are starving. Some compare Gaza to a huge
prison, to Holocaust. But who is to blame for all this calamity?
Israeli politicians have repeatedly stated that once Hamas stops its
terrorist activities and launching of missiles, the blockade would be
lifted. The Israeli cabinet even approved aid convoys into Gaza
despite Hamas’ continued shooting rockets. The Hamas leadership
ignored such conciliatory Israeli gestures and carried on the rocket-
attacks on residential areas in Israel.
We Arabs are very good at twisting facts and exaggerating them, when
it suits us. Mustafa Barghouthi, a Fatah activist, told CNN that “It
was Israel which broke the ceasefire with Hamas.” Buthaina Sha’ban, a
Syrian cabinet minister, called the recent Israeli attacks on Hamas’
military targets “the most atrocious Holocaust in the history of
mankind”
We Arabs also prefer to be mystical, wishful rather than realistic.
Waleed Al Tabtaba’i, an Islamist member of the Kuwaiti parliament,
hoped that Allah would come to rescue the Gazans as he did with his
prophet Muhammad in all his raids against the infidels.
Yusuf Al Qaradhawi, the renowned radical Islamic cleric, told the Al
Jazeera TV that “We Muslims, we are a bunch of donkeys if we do not
stand up and fight the Israelis and their supporters wherever they
are.”
Hamas and its affiliates are feeding on wishful thinking. They believe
that an escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will bring them
closer to their aim: Arabs and Muslims will take to the street and
urge their governments to take action against Israel. Islamists in
Iran and Indonesia have registered themselves to fight Jihad against
the Jews.
We Arabs have learned nothing from the two major disastrous wars
against Israel. Some of us still believe that the Israelis understand
only the language of defiance and violence. Violence is the only
“argument” we possess. Rational, realistic thinking has never been a
part of our discourse and action.
Especially Islamists, they rejoice at the on-going maiming and killing
in Gaza, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. None of those Hamas-
sympathizers has ever condemned the atrocities inflicted upon innocent
people, arbitrarily killed in these countries by suicide bombers in
the name Islam.
In Arabic we say, Ja’ja’a bila taheen” (It is all noise without
flour). We Arabs are most boisterous, shrill people, but less
effective or inclined to seeking pragmatic, workable solutions.
According to a clandestine survey by Bielefeld University conducted in
Syria and Egypt (2006), over 70% of the population in these countries
want peace with Israel. They are “sick and tired”, as many put it, of
the belligerent discourse of the Islamists and the biased and
instigatory propaganda of their national media. They, of course, don’t
dare say that openly.
Khaled, who wants to be identified by his first name only, told me,
“Our leaders and their affiliates suffer from some kind of personality
disorder. They keep us busy with Israel to distract from their failure
to establish democracy and remove poverty. They also support radical
organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah as tools to keep that
distraction alive.”
Fatima said, “Israel left South Lebanon and Gaza. Yet, for Hezbollah
and Hamas this is not enough. What do these people want? They are
making the life of their people and ours miserable. We feel hijacked
by these murderers. We want peace.”
Hamas and its affiliates are among the bloodiest in the history of
mankind. They do not value human life. They deliberately provoked the
Israeli offensive and were aware that that would cause death to
hundreds of civilians living in areas where Hamas had stored its
rockets. Hamas leadership has been banking on images of death and
destruction as a means to rally support in Arab, Muslim, and Western
streets.
According to a recent opinion poll, conducted by Emnid Institute in
Germany, more than 80% of the German population blame Hamas for the
high toll of deaths among civilians in Gaza. One interviewee put it
this way, “Hamas is acting like armed criminals who have barricaded
themselves among innocent civilians and arbitrarily fire at people
around them. As the criminals adamantly refused to stop shooting, the
police had no other choice but to storm the area to catch the
criminals, or kill them. Unfortunately, several innocent people were
killed. You can not blame the death of innocent people on the police.
It is the criminals to blame for all this.” Israel must carry on its
offensive until the Hamas leaders surrender. There is no peace without
sacrifice. All Israelis and decent Arabs would be grateful to the
Israeli army if it rids us from those thugs. We want to live in peace.
In view of the fact that Kuwait and Lebanon allow relatively higher
freedom of speech, columnists like Ahemd Al Sarraf, Ali Al Baghli,
Hasssan El Essa, Fouad Al Hashem, and Khaleel Haidar in these
countries have blasted Hamas and the Islamists for the calamity in
Gaza.
The Arab world has never experienced any semblance of political
freedom and stability. Since independence over the last half of the
20th century, the Arabs have been ruled by despots, either military or
hereditary. Demonstrations are basically forbidden; calls for
political reforms are ruthlessly squashed. But when people demonstrate
against a foreign powers—Israel or the USA, for instance—they are then
most welcome.
The Syrian regime even allowed a hand-picked group people to protest
against the Egyptian embassy for not opening the border with Gaza. The
Egyptian government also allowed demonstrations against the Israeli
strikes against Hamas, while the authoritarian regime of Husni Mubarak
deals with demonstrators for political reforms ruthlessly. The Arab
regimes have always projected the “Palestinian cause”—the “Wound of
all Arabs” or the “Nakba” (calamity) as some Arabs prefer to call it—
as a pretext to keep the people distracted from calls for political
and economic reforms at home. The occupation of Iraq and the rise of
Islamism have provided Arab regimes with new opportunities to defer
socio-political reforms.
Besides, Arab regimes, such as the Egyptian, Syrian and Saudi
governments, have appeased Islamists by antagonizing the same enemy,
namely Israel and the USA, at least in the media. The radicals have
stopped their arbitrary attacks in these countries; instead, they
cross borders to wage Jihad against the foreign infidel enemy: in
Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
All that being said, the road to democracy, freedom and liberty in the
Arab world will yet be long one; the Arabs will still have to wait for
decades before they can enjoy these basic rights of man.
In the meantime, the name of the game in the Arab world remains
demagogy, irrationalism, political schizophrenia, defiance and
violence.
Dr. Sami Alrabaa is a  professor of sociology and an Arab/Muslim
culture specialist. Before moving to Germany he taught at Kuwait
University, King Saud University, and Michigan State University
----
"la signature che tanto ti preoccupa non è mai stata usata su
icrc" (Luca Logi / rodewalder / Golda Meir)
http://raionim.blogspot.com/2008/12/mai-stata-usata.html

 Once again some of us Arabs are as usual in a big mess.
Indi per cui, bombardateci.
Così, tanto per mettere ordine.
F.