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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (51023)6/21/2004 2:17:02 PM
From: carranza2  Read Replies (1) of 793999
 
Thanks for bringing the piece here, Nadine. I've only recently been reading Rubin. I'm very impressed.

I think that his conclusion that the post-Arafat era will be marked by a lack of moderation as the various personalities and factions battle for supremacy is on the mark. How can it be otherwise in view of the romantic place given to violence by the Palestinians? I quote from Rubin's piece below:

Arafat as tactician of violence. The legacy of justifying violence without limit is a devastating part of the post-Arafat heritage for Palestinians. Many movements throughout history have used violence, but few have so thoroughly justified and romanticized it as has the Palestinian movement. Even worse, "appropriate" violence has been defined to include the most brutal terrorism and the targeting of everyone defined as belonging to the enemy camp, including even children. After the rationalizations and apologetics (mainly oriented toward the West) are weeded out, the prevailing Palestinian doctrine is basically a pre-justification for genocide.

This problem will not go away when Arafat does. How can someone with less legitimacy than Arafat escape this justification of violence? It is not merely a theoretical problem. Entire groups—Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades—and their leaders owe their power to their willingness to kill Israelis. This has become the ultimate measure of political virtue. Only if the security forces are ready to put down these sectors by force, which in itself would intensify the use of violence as a social norm, would there be hope for a change.
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