Mahmoud Abbas in the New York Times, 17th May, starts off:
- SIXTY-THREE years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home in the Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees. Though he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights. That child’s story, like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine.
Tugs on the heartstrings, right? The picture you’re supposed to get is of the “cruel Israelis” driving out the Palestinians from their homes.
But this was war. Abbas’ family was a wealthy one, and fled from their homes at the urging of Arab armies, who promised them they could return when they had retaken “their homeland”. That never happened, and they were left in limbo. Blame the Arabs who encouraged them to leave their homes? Nah. You’ve got the jews to blame.
But this was war. Abbas’ family was a wealthy one, and fled from their homes at the urging of Arab armies, who promised them they could return when they had retaken “their homeland”. That never happened, and they were left in limbo. Blame the Arabs who encouraged them to leave their homes? Nah. You’ve got the jews to blame.
In 1947, had the Arab League, the Arab nations accepted the state of Israel as a matter of self-determination, by a population in the new state that was majority Jewish, there would have been no need for his family to flee. His crisis, his family’s flight, his story, “like that of so many other Palestinians”, was one created by the blind stupidity, the blind adherence to a doctrine that would not allow Muslims to have as political leaders any other than Muslims, that was all created by their own leadership, the leadership of the Arab world.
Israel then won that war, against the odds. And then the victor, Israel, is the one supposed to sue for peace? In the annals of the world, that would be a first.
When I read Abbas’ first para above, it jumped out at me. Clearly the whole story was not being told, was what I thought. I didn’t ring true. Or it rang, at least, as something that could be interpreted in various ways, but encouraged readers to read in one special way – and one that the readers of the New York Times, would only be happy to: that the Jews had driven out his family. That they were being denied their “basic human rights” and that it was all the Jews’ faults. But the writing smelled fishy to. And indeed that’s what it was, on further investigation: fishy.
There are others who’ve thought further along that line, and come up with an alternative version of his speech from “the elder of ziyon”, who writes rather well on Middle East issues. And indeed, who has written a piece rather more sympathetic to Obama’s speech than I think warranted. Not a right-wing nutjob, in other words. Here is What Mahmoud Abbas would have written had he told the truth.
When I read Abbas’ first para above, it jumped out at me. Clearly the whole story was not being told, was what I thought. I didn’t ring true. Or it rang, at least, as something that could be interpreted in various ways, but encouraged readers to read in one special way – and one that the readers of the New York Times, would only be happy to: that the Jews had driven out his family. That they were being denied their “basic human rights” and that it was all the Jews’ faults. But the writing smelled fishy to. And indeed that’s what it was, on further investigation: fishy.
There are others who’ve thought further along that line, and come up with an alternative version of his speech from “the elder of ziyon”, who writes rather well on Middle East issues. And indeed, who has written a piece rather more sympathetic to Obama’s speech than I think warranted. Not a right-wing nutjob, in other words. Here is What Mahmoud Abbas would have written had he told the truth.
In any doubt about where “moderate” leader Abbas is on the issue of Israel? That in the end he, like Hamas, want the destruction of Israel? See this quote from the same article, in the open, in the public, in the “paper of record”, mind, the New York Times:
- It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.
That pretty well says it all, right? Forget the thought that giving any concessions will stop the pressure, the unrelenting pressure, on Israel, until she exists no more.
Later still: the full text of Obama’s speech to AIPAC, Sunday May 21. The "elder" rather likes it...
Later still: the full text of Obama’s speech to AIPAC, Sunday May 21. The "elder" rather likes it...
