Mirror function of Israel
Reader comment on item: Pro-Israel Palestinians

Submitted by Werner (United States), May 11, 2005 at 10:19

Israel as the western fortress in the arab world has a mirror function for Arabs and Palestinians in particular. They look over the border and then compare their own daily lives with those of Israelis.

When Arabs see in this mirror it is very painful for them. What they see is a thriving country, scientifically advanced, modern technologies, wealth, educated and productive people, a society based on human rights, a people which plans, acts and thinks.

The Arabs got their first wake up call with the defeat by Napoleon's armies. By that event they knew they are backwards, disorganized, fragmented, lacking in technology, lacking admitting the truth and finding the truth, favoring emotions over rationalism, are restrained in their development by a backward adaptation of religion and so on.

Arabs know to what level they have to develop (if only it is for the sake of defeating Israel) but the question is do they develop?

The USA confronts Arabs' backwardness even more. Iraq (I know it is not completely Arab) will be a state with a strongly influenced western culture. That is going to be a bigger mirror to the Arab nations, and which is already influencing the neighboring countries.

As a reaction to seeing themselves, they try to destroy the mirror. They can't stand to see their mistakes. Smarter ones learn from their enemies. Hopefully this learning will also diminish the hate they feel.

Napoleon defeated the Arabs 200 years ago, the French colonized Tunis, Algiers and Morocco, the Brits the Ottoman empire, but did that really change the arab mentality? I doubt that, at least it is a very very slow process.

Let's see whether the USA and Israel can do better.

Greetings

Werner

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