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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E. T. who wrote (2926)	1/29/2003 6:56:49 AM
From: zonder	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 15987

Maybe a good start to finding peace is to not negotiate with a despot like Arafat and to find or promote a more moderate voice to speak for the PA. Great. The problem with that is that Arafat was elected. And there is serious support for him among Palestinians. This is not to say I believe he is a great leader. Just that he is the elected leader of the Palestinian people and we cannot do much about it, unless you are advocating a forced government on Palestinians, which does not sound very "moderate" to my ears. By the way, I think Sharon is to thank for the popularity that Arafat enjoys. Not only does a nation unite behind its leader when faced with an oppressive force, but Sharon's obvious enmity towards Arafat, personally, has increased support for the guy. He speaks in English that he's against suicide bombing and in, whatever language it is he speaks, hails the martyrs. I don't remember hearing Arafat encouraging suicide bombings in Arabic. "Martyrs", on the other hand, are another matter. "Shahid" is anyone who has died in battle, or even in military service in peace time. In the context of Isr/Pal conflict, I have frequently seen the kids dead under their crumbling homes from an Israeli bomb dropped from the sky being called "shahids". This is just to say that "martyr" does not refer directly to "suicide bombers". Besides, consider how normal it is for a nation in occupation, under poverty, daily threat to their lives, and no hope for the future, to be glorifying in death the loved ones they lose to this senseless violence, along with the deliberate attackers to their "oppressor". There is something about giving up one's life to hit the big bad guy that arouses admiration in the Middle Eastern person. I am not really surprised they glorify their dead in this struggle.