An SC&A Refresher Course On The Middle East

As tension in the Middle East escalates, SC&A have determined that we would offer a refresher course on the Middle East. Some of the material we will present may seem familiar, some of the material is new. We will be posting throughout the day. We want to extend our appreciation to Hugh Hewitt, for acknowledging our efforts. In addition to Mr Hewitt’s exhaustive roundup on the situation, Euphoric Reality serves as an excellent clearing house of links, opinion and insight (including our own!) on the rapidly developing situation. Part Two of An SC&A Refersher Course on The MIddle East can be found here.

This is important, folks.

As events unfold at breakneck speed, we are somewhat perturbed at how history is being ‘spun,’ so much so, that even the most basic of facts as they relate to the Middle East are being lost or rewritten by media pundits.

We will not attempt to opine on history or it’s after effects. We will only provide the facts as they are, all documented and verifiable.

In 1967, Egypt kicked out UN peacekeepers from the Sinai Peninsula. They massed troops on israel’s borders and threatened her destruction. Radio broadcasts at the time, monitored and recorded, exhorted Arab troops to an orgy of destruction, rivers of blood and rape- literally, saying these was Islamic destiny. Syria followed suit, massing borders on Israels northern flank. The Gulf of Aqaba was blockaded (an act of war in itself) and despite pleas from Israel to Jordan’s King Hussein, he too was to enter the fray.

In response, Israel called up it’s armed forces and reserves and on June 5, 1967, launched a preemptive strike against Egypt, Syria and Jordan. It was over in 6 days. By then, Israel has crossed the Suez Canal and had taken Gaza (Dayan said, “Give me 12 hours and I can be in Cairo.” Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed). Syria lost the Golan Heights (their soldiers were chained to their positions, literally) and Jordan lost the West Bank and Jerusalem. We’ll skip around a bit, time-wise.

Israel offered the land back, for peace, secure borders and mutual recognition. The Arab countries said no and ratified that ‘No’ in The Khartoum Declaration of 1968. There it was decided that violence would not cease until Israel and her inhabitants were destroyed. Their words, not ours.

Back to the time line. What Israel found in the West Bank and Jerusalem was appalling. Despite repeated promises and agreements, Jordan had never allowed Jews to their holy sites and Houses of Worship. There was a reason for that. Every single Jewish House of Worship was destroyed- all of them. The tombstones of the Mount Olives Cemetery, millennia old, were desecrated. Many were used to line latrines and as sewage conduits by the residents and the Arab occupants of Jerusalem. The area in front of the Wailing Wall, the most sacred of Jewish holy sites was a garbage dump, some 60 feet deep, by some estimates. Yes, there are photos and other documented evidence of these realities.

This should not be a surprise. Amin al Husseini, mentor to Yasser Arafat was an unabashed supporter of Hitler and the ‘Final Solution.’ He once bitterly complained that the Jews weren’t being killed fast enough. Ever the true believer, his most treasured possessions were the photographs he had taken with himself and the Fuhrer. For Husseini, it wasn’t only a theoretical exercise- he arranged for thousands of Muslim Bosnians to volunteer to serve the Reich. As an aside, Arafat on more than one occasion related his admiration for Husseini.

Much has been made of Israeli treatment of Palestinians, so let’s examine that. When the Israelis entered Jerusalem, they found the few Christian schools forced to teach the Quran. The found unreliable electricity, schooling (girls were forbidden to go to school), virtually no health care and a non existent economy. While we do not wish to get into lists, the Israelis provided to the Palestinians- the very ones who tried to destroy their ancient and proud history with deliberate malice- schools and universities, health care, sanitation, electricity, an economy and an infrastructure they had never known.

Don’t think the Palestinians don’t know it. Daniel Pipes has an interesting article called “The Hell of Israel is Better Than the Paradise of Arafat.” While some of you may not like Pipes, his piece is interesting and accurate.

In point of fact, the Israeli ‘occupation’ has been the most benign occupation in history.

Remember, the Israelis were willing to give all the land back for peace and hade made that offer for over 30 years. (which they did with Sadat of Egypt, and King Hussein of Jordan- who promptly turned over the West Bank to Arafat).

Palestinian terrorists are not the IRA. The IRA wanted a political settlement, the Palestinians see this as a religious fight, a Jihad to eliminate the ‘Jews.’ Weekly mosque sermons, some broadcast on ‘secular’ PA TV drive home that reality. They end with calls of ‘Itbach al Yahudi!’- ‘Slaughter the Jews!’ Often, followed up with calls to ‘Slaughter the Americans’ or ‘Slaughter the Kafirs! (non Muslims) Again, this all a matter of public record.

In age of destruction that is unparalleled in history, the Israelis have been remarkably restrained. If they really wanted to kill Palestinians, they have the firepower to do so. The Israelis would appear to be most inept when it comes to genocide.

The rest of the Arab world never gave a damn about the Palestinians in the past, and they don’t really care about them now. In Saudia Arabia, Imams talk about how it is incumbent on Muslims to rape and take as slaves, Jewish and Christian women and girls. Darfur is ignored as tens, if not hundreds of thousands die at the hands of the Janjaweed, the Arab militias- not before the women are raped as the Janjaweed women sing in joy.

For the most part, the Arab world had nothing to do with the Holocaust- yet every day, they attach themselves to it and worship the evil doers. They have the chance to take the moral high ground vis

The obsession with Israel as a moral failure is absurd. If it weren’t for the Israelis, the Palestinians would still be in the dark ages, without heath care, education or even sanitation. One has to ask oneself, what is the obsession with Israel all about? Well, if you say you don’t know, think again. At least be honest with yourself. A transparent sheet is still a sheet.

Further, let’s get real about who we are dealing with. The PA, past and present, rival the UN in it’s level of corruption. Arafat squirrerled away billions while Israelis provided health care. Since the Oslo Accords, the PA did not build one hospital or school- not one. They did however, manage to build a casino- for themselves.

Lastly, we are going to talk about the (in)famous settlements. Have you ever wondered why there were never any demonstrations against the building of the settlements? Can you imagine the PR value of a hundred little blue eyed school girls, sitting in the road, shaking in terror as they blocked bulldozers? The reason those images never materialized is because PA ministers own the construction companies that build the apartments. It’s been going on for years and only recently, has the matter been discussed in the Arab press. Sadly, ‘Cementgate,’ as it was called, is no longer on the Arab press agenda. Israeli settlements are being built by Palestinian companies, owned by PA ministers and big wigs- including Hamas bigshots. They are in no rush for a peace deal- the Israelis pay, other Arabs don’t.

The Arabs call the creation of the State of Israel the Naqbah, the ‘Catastrophe.’ As one Arab friend bitterly said, ‘The real

Lastly, but no means least, Shrinkwrapped highlights- and puts into perspective, exactly who it is the Palestinians consider heroes. Here is an excerpt:

I emphasized the joy and hatred in their voices for a reason. It is hard for anyone with normal sensibilities to comprehend how someone can feel joy and hatred while smashing in the head of a 4 year old child. What kind of pathology can cause a society to celebrate such evil? The myth of the poor, wretched Palestinians, driven to suicide bombings by despair, persists among the foolish of the West. For Palestinians, murderers are not wretched, they are heroes…

A Palestinian grade school teacher was interviewed on BBC radio this morning and the interviewer asked if perhaps it was a mistake to elect Hamas, considering the hardships the teacher was facing. He has five children, there is no food in his house, and he doesn’t know when he will be paid because the donor countries have cut off funding for the PA until Hamas gives up their dream of murdering Jews. His response was that Hamas represents the Palestinians highest aspirations; they are willing to give up their lives for freedom. Noble sentiments; however, the freedom they seek is the freedom to murder, not to build, and no one should mistake their goals.

The post is a must read.

As we noted yesterday,

We are all too willing to attach ‘root causes’ to immoral behavior and actions only after the bad acts and immoral behaviors. Before they occur, we are told the perpetrators are ‘just like us.’ Well, you can’t have it both ways. Either the perpetrators are ‘just like us’ or or they are dysfunctional. The Palestinians are either ‘just like us,’ people from whom we can expect civilized behavior, or they are dysfunctional. While poverty, child abuse and politics may influence a person or society, in the end, the ‘root cause’ of most ugly and immoral acts is an immoral character.

Welcome to the real world, ladies and gentlemen.