Changing Perceptions About Israel

Before anyone flies off the handle, let me say that this article here has been taken from the Saudi Arabian English language newspaper called Arab News. It was written by Abdulateef Al-Mulhim (almulhimnavy@hotmail.com)  who is a well known columnist in Saudi Arabia. Here is his picture. Nice headcloth  - reminds me of the Brauhaus.

This article is not what I am saying. Ini bukan saya cakap ok. Jangan marah saya. This is what a Saudi Arabian is saying. I have shortened the article just slightly. You can read the full article by clicking on the title :  Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy  by ABDULATEEF AL-MULHIM

Saturday 6 October 2012

Thirty-nine years ago, on Oct. 6, 1973, the third major war between the Arabs and Israel broke out. . .  On the anniversary of the 1973 War between the Arabs and the Israelis, many people in the Arab world are beginning to ask many questions about the past, present and the future with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The questions now are: 

i. what was the real cost of these wars to the Arab world and its people. 

And the harder question that no Arab national wants to ask is: 

ii.    What was the real cost for not recognizing Israel in 1948 and 

iii. why didn’t the Arab states spend their assets on education, health care and the infrastructures instead of wars? 

But, the hardest question that no Arab national wants to hear is 

iv. whether Israel is the real enemy of the Arab world and the Arab people.

I (Abdullateef Al-Mulhim ok, not OutSyed The Box) decided to write this article after I saw photos and reports about 

i.    a starving child in Yemen

ii.   a burned ancient Aleppo souk in Syria 

iii.  the under developed Sinai in Egypt

iv.  car bombs in Iraq and 

v.   the destroyed buildings in Libya. 

The common thing among all that I saw is that the destruction and the atrocities are not done by an outside enemy. 

The starvation, the killings and the destruction in these Arab countries are done by the same hands that are supposed to protect and build the unity of these countries and safeguard the people of these countries. 

So, the question now is who is the real enemy of the Arab world?

The Arab world wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of innocent lives fighting Israel, which they considered is their sworn enemy, an enemy whose existence they never recognized. 

The Arab world has many enemies and Israel should have been at the bottom of the list. 

The real enemies of the Arab world are 

i.     corruption

ii.    lack of good education

iii.   lack of good health care

iv.   lack of freedom

v.    lack of respect for the human lives and finally

vi.   many dictators who used Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their people. 

vii. Their atrocities against their own people far worse than the Arab-Israeli wars. 

..we saw Israelis attack various Arab countries. But, do these attacks match the current atrocities being committed by some Arab states against their own people. 

i.     In Syria, the atrocities are beyond anybody’s imagination. 

ii.    Aren’t the Iraqis destroying their own country? 

iii.  Tunisia’s dictator stole 13 billion dollars from poor Tunisians 

iv.   how can a child starve in Yemen if their land is the most fertile land in the world? 

v.  Why would Iraqi brains leave a country that makes 110 billion dollars from oil? 

vi.  Why do Lebanese fail to govern one of the tiniest countries in the world? 

vii. And what made the Arab states start sinking into chaos?

On May 14, 1948 the state of Israel was declared. And just one day after that the Arabs declared war on Israel to get back Palestine. The Arabs lost the war. The Arabs gained nothing and thousands of Palestinians became refugees.

And in 1967, the Arabs went to war with Israel and lost more Palestinian land and made more Palestinian refugees who are now at the mercy of the countries that host them. 

And now, with the never ending Arab Spring :

i.  the Arab world has no time for the Palestinians refugees or Palestinian cause  

ii. many Arabs are refugees and under constant attack from their own forces. 

iii. Syrians are leaving their own country, not because of Israel.

iv. the Syrian Air Force is dropping the bombs. 

v.  Iraqi Arab Muslims, the most intelligent brains, are leaving Iraq for the West. 

vi. In Yemen, the world’s saddest human tragedy is being written by the Yemenis. 

vii. In Egypt, the people in Sinai are forgotten. 

Finally, if many of the Arab states are in such disarray, then what happened to the Arabs’ sworn enemy (Israel)? 

Israel now has 

i.  the most advanced research facilities, top universities and advanced infrastructure. 

ii.  life expectancy of Arabs living in Israel is far longer than in many Arab states 

iii. they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers. 

iv. Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in West Bank and Gaza enjoy more political and social rights than some places in the Arab World. 

v. one of the judges who sent a former Israeli president to jail was an Arab-Israeli 

The Arab Spring showed the world that the Arab-Israelis are happier and in better situation than their Arab brothers who fought to liberate them from the Israelis. 

Now, it is time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for the future Arab generations. 

My comments begin here : The fact is much more could have been done for the Palestinians by their Arab brothers. For example it came as a shocker to me that after 64 years of housing Palestinian refugees (since 1948) just this year 2012, the new Egyptian President Mursi granted citizenship to 5000 Palestinians.  

And the Palestinian issue has long become a convenient whipping post for Arab dictators to stir up Arab nationalism to keep them in power.  Even the ayatollahs in Iran are whipping up the Palestine issue to keep themselves in power. In Malaysia the Palestine issue provides easy pickings for PAS. They collect thousands of Ringgit in the name of Tabung Jihad Palestine. No one knows if the Palestinians are aware that money is being collected in their name in a far away country called Malaysia.

The only person in Malaysia who has done anything tangible for the Palestinians is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed. He actually sent supplies and goods to Gaza, organised the War Crimes tribunals and helped sustain world awareness about a people who are becoming forgotten by the Arabs themselves.

The writer's points are valid : who is the real enemy of the Arabs? In the Iran-Iraq War over a million people died on both sides. In Syria now, over 30,000 people have died. In Libya  thousands died to overthrow Ghaddafi.  In Yemen people are dying too. People died in Tunisia.  It is Arabs killing Arabs.  

And the writer points out that Arabs living inside Israel today enjoy longer life spans, have more economic opportunities, politicial and social rights than Arabs outside Israel.  

Other than Arabs being judges in the Israeli courts, Raleb Majadele is the first Arab Muslim Minister in the Israeli Cabinet, appointed in 2007. Here is his picture : 

There have always been Arab Muslim members of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament). However it has taken 59 years for an Arab Muslim to become a Minister in the Israeli Cabinet. 

Raleb Majedele's appointment shows changing attitudes in both the Jews and Arab Muslims in Israel. Firstly the majority Jews in Israel are adjusting more to the Arab Muslim minority (Arab Muslims make up 20% of the Israeli population). More significantly Israeli Arab Muslims are also adjusting to Israel, the country they live in. Raleb Majedele says that since he has broken the mould, there will always be Arab Muslim Ministers in the Israeli Cabinet.

Other than politics, a surprising 20% of medical workers in Israel ie doctors, surgeons, pharmacists, nurses and medical technicians are Israeli Arab Muslims. 

  Above: Dr Rania Al Khatib 29 yrs,  the first Israeli Arab woman to become a plastic surgeon. Below : Dr Ahmad Mahameed - among many Israeli Arab doctors who saves Israeli lives including wounded soldiers 

History does not stand still. Things have to move on. People also move on in life. They cannot be fighting forever. New solutions can be found for old problems.