A quick look around the world media, BBC, NY Times, CNN, etc, etc, shows that the amazing Hamas win of the Palestinian elections are the undisputed headline all over the world tonight. And the Arab blogosphere is talking too. As there are enough intelligent people reporting and anlyzing the situation, I don’t think I can add much. (I just saw our friend Akram Baker being interviewed by the BBC’s Leise Doucet to analyze the situation! Hi Akram.. Good interview).
Just makes you wonder..
Such a small speck of land. Such a relativey small election. But so0000 much coverage! Does the world really revolve around Palestine and Israel.
If you play around with Google Earth fo ra while, you realize the vastness of the earth, the multitude of its countries, cities and peoples. Yet today, and many days, the earth revolves around us.
How would a Japanese person feel about this flood of news. Or an Eskimo for that matter. What are Palestine and Israel to them anyway.
If tomorrow we woke up and found this little region of ours transported to the moon. How exactly would the rest of the world change. I mean, will this put all new media out of business? 
Anyway. Maybe all this attention isn’t so good for us, inhabitants of this region. Maybe if all the global spectators just ignored us for while (hey, there must be a good movie on tonight on TV) we would be in a better position to work something out to solve our problems and end our ongoing tragedy.
Ok.. I’m being unrealistic here. Maybe the moon option would be better.
Comments
5 responses to “The world revolves around Palestine and Israel”
I agree, but then we’d start hearing about how Israel stole the moon from its rightful owners. (That is, the space aliens.)
As a Zionist, I see this as horrid news. Most Westerners are neutral when it comes to the middle east, but find it odd that one side (the radical factions of Palestine) refuse to acknowledge the existance of the other. Far from a moral equivalency, we now see that the majority of Palestinians hold this position, and arguably always have. The religious orthodoxy of Israel that refuses to acknowledge Palestine have always been only a small minority.
The plan for peace is squarely in Palestinian hands.
To give you an idea as to how Americans view this: It is as if Al-Qaeda formed a party in the US, but did so without officially condemning or repenting of their former actions. Hamas is still a terrorist organization; balad or no balad.
Rob,
You’re painting this with too much exaggeration. The Hamas win is more like a Likud win. Part of this is a protest vote against fatah. Hamas is not just a militant organization, but they also run a lot of social, medical and educational services for the Palestinians.
It remains to be seen what they will do now that they are in power.
The ‘Al Qaeda party in the US’ analogy is totally wrong, I am afraid. A more apt analogy would be for the US’s Red Indians to go militiant and take up a fight with the US government over lands stolen from them (unlikely scenario of course). The point is: Hamas is a Palestinian organization in Palestine. Al Qaed would be an Arab/Muslim organization in America.
The majority of the Palestinians (and Israelis) support a 2 state solution last time I checked.
Let’s see what happens. This might be good in the long term.
I am not surprised at all to read this post from Rob, who identifies himself as a Zionist, at the same time says that peace is in the hand of the Palestinians?? It just sounds very contradicting…
We can also say that the Israeli people voting for Sharon, who is also called the Bulldozer, also indicates the Israelis do not want peace. I think Hamas is the right balance right now.
The moon solution would be a bit of a problem, there is only one. Maybe a transportation to the saturn moons, each country to another moon would do the trick.
I have Muslim and Jewish business associates. The topic is discussed with kit gloves and serious tact. I often wonder if we, the Muslims in South Africa (the majority anyway) are informed enough (propaganda inclusive) to represent our bretheren in discussions sorrounding Palestine/ Israel. And do you need us too defend Palestine in these debates anyway, or can our energies be better channeled to assist in another way? I agree, to an extent you need to be left alone to sought it out! I like your analogies. How can we help?