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Loading ...Besen: The mess in the Middle East
As long as we refer to the Middle East as the “Holy Land” there will be war. For peace to prosper, extremists, on both sides, will have to he marginalized. This will require courage from Israeli and Palestinian leaders, who have failed to take aim at the religious roots of this festering fiasco.
The first step to a brighter future is crushing Hamas. This cowardly terrorist organization indiscriminately fires rockets into cities and then hides behind human shields when Israel’s military rightfully responds. Hamas’ charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the forming of a radical Islamic Republic that would fly, “the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.”Unfortunately, many “liberals” are infuriated that Israel is targeting these illiberal and violent theocrats. They mysteriously don’t seem to be concerned that the rights of women and other minorities, including gay people, would be greatly eroded if Hamas lorded over a Palestinian state.
By protesting Israel, these well-intentioned individuals in the West are actually prolonging the pain of the Palestinian people. Israel, obviously, cannot make peace with an entity determined to destroy it. The longer Hamas remains viable, the longer these problems will be protracted. As the weaker party, the Palestinians will almost always be on the losing end. A cease-fire with Hamas does little but provide a band-aid solution that ensures future bloodshed.
The fact is, eliminating Hamas would pave the way for reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Having seen the radical alternative, the Israeli government would be favorably inclined to seek common ground with Abbas – expediting the possibility of a Palestinian state.
If this scenario plays out, Israel should move swiftly to empower Abbas by tearing down all illegal Jewish settlements. Nothing has done more to harm Israel in terms of world opinion and done less to improve its security than these outrageous outposts on Palestinian property. Someone has to tell these deluded settlers that the Messianic dream of a greater Israel is over.
Speaking of fantasies, the Palestinian people are going to have to give up their Jihad – which hasn’t exactly been a success. In 2006, they voted for holy war by electing Hamas – a group which pays the families of suicide bombers $5,000. If you are going to choose terrorism over tourism as your main industry, don’t cry to the world when bombs are dropped on your doorstep.
If the Palestinians face occupation, as they claim, they don’t need “martyrs” – they need leaders who will tell them the truth. In 2004, more than 200,000 Palestinians marched at the funeral of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, after he was assassinated by Israel.
That’s fine, but where are the massive non-violent demonstrations that don’t call for the demise of Israel? Such protests would do wonders to further their cause and help undo the image of the suicide bomber. The Palestinian people have to understand that there will be no state – nor should there be – until the average Israeli citizen feels peace will not come at the expense of safety. If the Palestinians fail to offer such reassurances, they will remain stateless and mired in deprivation and poverty.
Checking the powerful and entrenched interests that undermine Middle East peace will not be easy. In America we certainly know how a well-organized minority of ideologues can infect the political process. GLBT equality, for example, has been stymied for eight years under the oppressive Bush Administration. We have seen a concerted effort by social conservatives to hurt our families and legislate our marriages – particularly in election years.
And, we saw John McCain place America’s future in jeopardy by selecting the unqualified Sarah Palin as his running mate to appease his extreme base. It is still unthinkable that she was nearly a breath away from the Oval Office.
Still, the battle in Gaza is an opportunity to move forward. The Hamas gunmen that Israel is targeting are self-righteous thugs that intimidate moderates who favor peace. Those in Israel who think God commands Jews to have every inch of land – even if it belongs to Palestinian families – are the same types who believe God wants gay pride marchers in Jerusalem to be stoned.
If Israel’s true goal is security and the Palestinians genuinely want to secure a state, then I believe peace can occur and both groups can prosper. But, if negotiating is a way for Israel to stall so they can change facts on the ground through new settlements, or for Palestinians to replenish stocks of lethal rockets, God’s people will continue to turn this disputed land into a hellhole.
While you can never fully separate religion from the region, the “Holy” must be detached from the actual “Land” if peace is ever to be realized. It is time to return the fanatics to their rightful place on the fringe, so good people on both sides of this divide have a chance to live normal and peaceful lives.
Another excellent article Wayne. Such a shame that more people with common sense don’t hold political power in the Mid East.
Sorry to be so flip, but, Wayne, you’re out of your depth. You should have at least linked to a responsible other viewpoint as to why those awful “liberals” are aghast at the Gaza incursion by Israeli forces. For starters see:
http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/node/14942
Any time the body count is 200 to one, you have to ask questions about who the good (or less bad) guys are. Bringing up gay rights in this context is not helpful. Do you think ANY arab government would sponsor gay rights?
I agree with the radical leftist argument that Israel’s response to Hamas is “disproportionate.”
In order to be exactly proportionate, Israel should deliberately fire random rockets at civilians in Gaza, just as Hamas as done to Israel.
I really get riled when I see gay people
actually defending the Palestinians. Are
some of them so dumb, so intent on being
politically correct that they don’t
recognize the only real friends we have
in that region of the globe? Absolutely
mindboggling.
Don’t bash leftists, I am a leftist and a strong supporter of Israel and Zionism. Israel is a secular jewish homeland, where gays and lesbians have civil rights even if not complete equality. Hamas is and has always been an Islamofascist terrorist organization hell bent on the destruction of Israel and implementation of Shariah law. The Palestinian territory is damned near hell for gay Palestinians, but Hamas controlled area is worse than hell. Gay Palestinians do what they can to flee to Israel, many of whom live illegally in places like Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Gay people who support Hamas are as stupid as Jewish people supporting the Nazis.
I had a lover who was half Palestinian, his dad was from Ramallah and his mom was Bulgarian from a town called Plovdiv. Even he thought the Palestinian cause had been hijacked by Islamic fanatics.
Hamas and the myriad of other fanatical terrorist groups operating in “Palestine” explicitly and deliberately target Israeli civilians. The IDF(Israeli Defense Forces) take extraordinary pains to avoid civilians, because they know how the Arab media(ie Al-Jazeera, the Fox news of the Arab world) will exploit every dead child, woman, kitten and puppy to stoke anti-semitic hatred.
Ask yourselves, when was the last time a Jew, in Israel or America opposed gay rights(other than Joe Lieberman)!?! When has a Jewish organization spent millions of dollars on denying us our civil rights? Israel is not perfect, they have their own issues between the religious and secular, but at least in Israel, if you’re married in a civil marriage in another place(ie South Africa, Canada, Quebec, Massachusetts, Conn., Norway, Spain) and you come back to Israel, they recognize you as married. Israel has no Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, nor a DOMA, they enforce non-discrimination and Israel has plenty of openly gay members of the Knesset and Tel Aviv city Council. What Arab or Muslim country even bans discrimination against gays or lesbians? NONE!!
My fellow leftists who support the poor oppressed Palestinians, should be protesting Hamas and Fatah not Israel.
Let us all hope that Israel does not succumb to the pressure to stop this fight. Hamas has to be eliminate or destroyed.
Their terrorism and tyranny has no place in a civilized world.
Just what is needed.
Another long, whiny, nasally diatribe against religion.
If only religion didn’t exist we would all live hopey changey unicorn lives…
Religion doesn’t kill people.
People kill people.
Although we don’t have complete equal rights in Israel, there is no other place in that part of the world where we are not being persecuted or decapitated for living our lives as openly Gay people.
Therefore as a non-Jew Gay man I’m going to stand with Israel one hundred percent.
No Ifs, Ands, or Buts!
The officially secular republic of Turkey and republic of Azerbaijan(bordering on Iran, Georgia and Armenia) are two Islamic majority countries where homosexuality is not illegal. Not favored, but not illegal. Lebanon was the only Arab country I believe where gay was not officially illegal, but I would not go to Lebanon.
Turkey is a fairly large and modern country that has gay bars even near Islamic mosques. I read that the gay bars are usually full. Turkey is a safer neighboring country where Iranian gays try to escape to, as even though they are not allowed to work in Turkey, they are not executed in Turkey unlike in Iran, But still a difficult place for a gay refugee with no work, cold, snowy winters and as Turkish language and Persian language (Farsi) are from very different language families
and not at all related.
I personally know and am friends with a gay male couple who went to Istanbul, and a few other places in Turkey. They said that most of Turkey is safe. And they were on the European as well as on the Asian side of Turkey.
Turkey is the only country I would go to in the region. That and Israel. I met a Jewish family from Haifa who were staying in San Francisco. Husband said that Haifa is beautiful, hilly and a coastal city like San Francisco but with the Meditarannean Sea close by.
Paul. I read that article. I dont think it really seems to gives any support for its claim that Israel lacks a strategy. In my opinion it was a strawman argument against support for Israel. Perhaps you should consider where YOU are getting your information. Wake up, Hamas is anti-gay…have you forgotten what kind of site you are on ???
Jeff, I think I read the same article? It wasn’t anti-religion, Mr. Besen laid out the argument for how grave religious differences in the area are causing tensions, but he didn’t attack religion, even though it probably was tempting.
Imagine no religion: Where would this conflict be? Would there be a need for a Jewish state? Would we cling to this holy land concept or just see it for what it really is: an interesting collection of ancient sites with human interest.
But I post for another reason, I have to disagree that religion doesn’t kill people, people kill people.
Actually, people created religion so that they could use it to justify killing people.
Slight change, but very enlightening.
That’s kind of what Israel is doing. You think their “smart bombs” are solely killing Hamas terrorist. No, as they’ve done before, they’re systematically destroying the infrastructure, health care, safety and economy of the Gazan people. Israel’s done this time and time again. How does this violence not embolden terrorists and foster a growing hate of Israel? When you have nothing to live for, you have everything to die for. If Israel built schools, roads and didn’t cripple the Gazan economy, Hamas wouldn’t have such a grip over the people of Gaza. I don’t understand how people can be so insanely biased in their views. Violence is rarely the answer to solve the world’s problems. EVER.
When you look at these pro-Hamas rallies in New York, San Francisco, and other cities, you’d notice that more than half of the protestors are middle-class white people. I wish I could say this was an unusual occurence, but it certainly isn’t. And quite frankly, the meddling phenomenon has always annoyed me. If you’re one of these perpetually outraged activist busy bodies, please go away.
Your tired “White Man’s Burden” cliche of charging to the rescue with token protests isn’t really helping anyone. You’re not an expert on Tibetan Buddhism, Zimbabwean Politics, Marine Biology, or Gaza. If you were, you’d be advising Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama right now, instead of playing terrorist dress up in the middle of the street. Besides, within a few weeks, you’ll have some sort of new “pet project” you want to promote. So, lets not pretend that you actually care about the Palestinians. Or the Dalai Lama. Or the whales.
This is about leftists being “trendy” and “counter-cultural” (in an alarmingly conformist sort of way). Nothing more.
“Religion doesn’t kill people. People kill people.”
Yes, this is true. But radical versions of religious allow these people to justify murder.
thank you for this article which puts things into perfect perspective. I am also glad and relieved to see most gays siding with the only place in the region where gay pride marches could even be fathomed, let alone occur, instead of being caught up in the Gaza hype that tends to lend support to a regime that would squander human rights instead of fostering them as Israel does. I am also glad and relieved to see some leftists like me who side with Israel, as too many times I am confronted with virulent and often unnecessary anti-Israel libel when with my leftists comrades.
again, thank you.