View From Cairo

 Anna Ghonem

To all those who are interested in peace:

I feel mentally exhausted just living in the Middle East  during these very tragic days.  I am hoping for an end to the madness  --  but with Hamas and Sharon in charge (It seems really clear to me that they have identical goals : Maximum destruction) ,   I do not see an end in sight.

 I have read many newspaper articles and impassioned e-mails from the people in Ramallah and other places currently under siege, that compare Israeli tactics to those of Nazi Germany.  I and lots of people feel that comparisons of Israeli tactics to those of Nazi Germany are wrong and misleading. I do know that Palestinians currently in Ramallah right now find it hard to see why this comparison is so disturbing to people .  I think rather than labeling them or accusing them of the conscious sort of misinformation you find among Holocaust deniers, gentle correction would be a good thing as well as sympathy for what they are going through.

So here is my stab at why I find this metaphor to be unhelpful:
a) The German situation is not really similar to the current one and

b)  it just seems that there is nothing positive to be gained by insisting on the metaphor, except of course causing your own little waves of conflict within the greater conflict.

As we are supposedly trying to find peace, I  just fail to see why starting our own little mini-waves of conflict is helpful.  I think it's detrimental.  That's why I shy away from and feel uncomfortable with the current insistence  of many parties involved or observing, to use this exaggerated metaphor  to make rhetorical points.

I  also  would  really  like to see an outpouring of Arab anger against the cynical preachers that are encouraging our young kids to strap dynamite to themselves and blow up shoppers and commuters. I am American and not Arab, but my kids are half Egyptian and are subject to the sort of glorification of war in general and suicide bombing in particular that seems to be the norm among our mosques.  I think this attitude is not only horrendous, non-Islamic and morally repugnant, but I also think it is heading us towards regional war, of which I think there has been enough.  I see clearly that there is already a lot of visible  -- and understandable -- Arab anger about Israeli war crimes, but not enough  -- or any at all -- about th e destruction inherent in the suicide bombing tactic .  I can understand why a lot of Israelis who have been in the peace camp are becoming frustrated and angry.  Don't the Palestinians and the demonstrators in the Arab countries see  the inevitable chain of events that takes place after every single suicide bomb?

1.  Kid blows self up; a bunch of innocent people, including sometimes children,  and definitely
usually non-combatants, get killed.

2.  The young person him/herself gets killed and has no way to do something constructive with his/her life which was a gift from God (if you are not a believer sorry about that, disregard it).

3.  Ariel Sharon and the hawks in the  Israeli government promise swift retribution.

4.  Ariel Sharon and the hawks and the IDF etc. deliver swift retribution, which is indiscriminate and ends up killing  many other innocent people, usually more than the original incident.

5.  The Palestinians and their sympathizers worldwide condemn Ariel Sharon  and those around him in the Israeli government.  However, rather than  also condemning the suicide bombing that started this particular cycle they say  something that really is practically condoning this nihilism; such as "given that Israel does a, b and c you cannot blame these Palestinian kids for doing x, y and z."

While this  sort of statement may not be the same as glorifying the kids and calling them martyrs  (which is also happening too often here in Arab countries especially from the pulpits of the mosques) people seem to be unable to move towards condemnation of the act and especially of those cynical  fanatics who incite the poor ,  simple ,  desperate kids to go do this.

6.  Another kid goes and blows him/herself up and kills a lot of innocent people. Does not anyone see that this has become inevitable?  The cycle will continue unless someone breaks it.  If Israel is not going to,  then why don't the religious people in Palestine start changing their tactics?   It seems to me that they want war.

I am hoping for peace here in Cairo.   May we recognize that all of our religious and cultural traditions include the idea that life is sacred and taking it voluntarily is wrong. 

Anna Ghonem,

Cairo

Middle East Historical Documents