The Middle East? Scary!

by Colson on Mar. 12, 2009, under politics

From the perspective of the majority of Indonesians the essence of the  drama of the Middle East seems to be the presumed unfair Western  support for Israeli oppression of fellow Muslims. On the other hand the most appalling aspect of the situation in the eyes of the majority of Westerners, the Dutch included, is the presumed lack of human rights in the Arab world.

Two small items on the same page in the miscellaneous section of my favorite newspaper illustrate the contrast.  They are not directly connected to the Israeli – Palestine conflict, but to me they seem to be characteristic for the hopeless relation between the Arabs and Israel.  The first one was on the Jewish Lobby in the US and the other one on the Saudi Arabian legal practice.

The first example may explain why  it should be hard, except for the diehards,  to be pro Israel.

Chas Freeman, who in the past criticized the Israeli oppression of Palestinians, was bound to be the new president of the National Intelligence Council.  The NIC is an organization with considerable influence on the US foreign policy.

Now Freeman has  been forced to withdraw his candidacy. He did so after the famous/notorious Israeli lobby had successfully launched a character assassination campaign against him.

That is scary.

The second example may explain why it should be hard, except  for the diehards, to be pro Arabs.

A seventy five year ( 75 !) old widow has been sentenced by a Saudi Arabian court to four months imprisonment and  forty lashes with the whip. The crime she committed was having contact, without chaperon, with two men who were not her relatives.

That is scary.

Both incidents do probably confirm the existing, overwhelming mutual distrust and prejudices. Both also probably contribute  to the wish of third parties to turn their back on the problem – which in its turn would be at the expense of the victims.

Wavatar Calvin
Mar. 12, 2009

Saudi Arabia… the country where woman is put into prison because they are raped by men.

Wavatar Diny
Mar. 16, 2009

It must be really hard to live in Saudi Arabia as a woman, as a human being. It is scary how a person -just because she doesn’t have a penis and labeled as ‘male’- is treated like an animal.
Yet nobody give a damn about this. Talking about oppression to your fellow Muslims…

Wavatar Finally Woken
Mar. 19, 2009

It’s tiring to see people always affiliate the Middle Eastern countries with Islam. Even though they declare Islam as their official religion, the way they practice Islam is based on their tradition, not by Islam law.

We are all stupid human being, full of prejudice. When are we going to start growing up and think clearly that the earth is tired of us? When are we going to start thinking to actually try to make peace happen once and for all for the sake of our children?

Wavatar yunir@Finally Woken
Mar. 20, 2009

well said!

Wavatar santi d
Mar. 20, 2009

I just read two of the Princess trilogy (author Jean Sasson)…. it’s scary how women in Saudi Arabia are still treated like animals and commodity, just like 2000 years ago. Last year after her tongue was cut, a woman was legally killed by her own father (a moral police) because she converted to Christianity …. and they (most men of Saudi Arabia) think they will go straight to heaven by killing other human beings.

Compare to the West, women in my country are also oppressed, example, rape victims prefer to keep their mouth shut because most of the time justice turns away. With the growing number of fanatic religion groups in Indonesia, which mistakenly think that Middle East = Islam, I’m worried for the well-being of my fellow countrywomen in the future.

Wavatar mouse
Mar. 24, 2009

Sometimes I prefer to ignore the news because its just one thing after the other.. the absurdity of mankind and their need to be righteous. But then again there are certain items on the news that makes you think there’s hope for us afterall.

Wavatar mare
Mar. 28, 2009

I think that is just one place like any other place on earth,
that’s just the way they lived for hundred of years and I think it’s inappropriate to think that it’s wrong.
It’s hard for some people but maybe it’s easier for them than facing problems like high rate of divorce or prostitution,STD etc..

Wavatar tikno
Mar. 28, 2009

Complexity between moral and “untold story”.

Wavatar michaeljubel
Mar. 30, 2009

Both example you’ve mentioned above are indeed scary but for some reason I perceive that the latter is scarier. The first example is full of political interests and though it might look scary but it seems normal in this world. Well, let’s face it. It’s politic.

But the second example is simply just out of my mind. It’s even beyond out of my mind.

Wavatar colson
Apr. 2, 2009

@ calvin: The extreme inequality of women under the law is one of the causes why the Arab foreign policies are usually looked upon with a lot of suspicion in the public opinion in Washington and Brussels; though such a generalization isn’t rational and an unfair generalization, it is a constant handicap to get more Western support for the Arab position in the Israeli – Palestine conflict.

@ Diny: I agree: every Saudian women who wants to live an independent, free life, really must have a hard time. I guess not only women, but men as well must get mentally damaged while they try to cope with such a regime.

@Finally Woken: For one reason or another the call for peace quite often is smothered by a belligerent mood. It’s for sure not typically an exclusive Arab phenomenon however; for instance recently the Israeli scientist ( of Dutch origin) Martin van Creveld published “The Culture of War” – which is a pretty cynical apology, even glorification perhaps, of war.

@ yunir: well said!

@ santi: Ideologies and religions ( and even more so combinations of the two like Wahabism or Zionism) have the hazardous tendency to abuse their Utopian philosophy to create a new, better mankind by force. They define, whether they are communists of fascists or religious zealots, their perfect person and the others have to comply or will perish.

It is an interesting question why all three monotheistic religions, in their extreme variations, pick women as deviant from their ideal of mankind and therefore as target and try to keep them in a subservient position.

As for Indonesia: I’m rather optimistic – at least those young Indonesian women I met ( and those whose texts I read on internet, in their blogs) are too self assured, too bright, too independent to have themselves discriminated.

@ mouse: I agree with you: news is no news unless it is bad or worrying news – reality often is not as worrying as the reality which is in the papers or on TV. We should indeed never give up hope.

However the conflict between Israel and Palestine is actually only bad news over the last forty years. All parties involved – the West and the Arab world included – have been talking about a peace process for decades now, deals have been made, agreements have been signed and UN resolutions have been adopted. And the outcome only has been broken promises, contempt of Un obligations, crimes against humanity, another Intifada, another Israeli attack on refuge camps of the Gaza strip, harassment at the checkpoints, a suicide bomber in a bus.

@ mare: I very much appreciate your comment. The best thing for an argument is a mild difference of opinion.

I will not deny that different societies and different cultures have a right of their own to have different morals and manners from ours. Yet I doubt if we should approve of and keep our mouths shut about ways and habits of other cultures and countries if these obviously violate human rights (all members of the UN are bound by them). We are living in a global village, aren’t we?

The fact that these morals and manners are hundreds or thousands of years old, to me seems not to be an overwhelmingly valid argument. In Western ( and non Western) societies torture for instance has for ages been a very common method to get confessions for instance, but I’m very glad about the outcry in all the world when the Bush administration approved of waterboarding.

@ tikno: Please explain.

@ michaeljubel: On a personal, emotional level the Saudian treatment of the old lady seems be be worse. But then, when you think of it, I’m not so sure anymore. If honesty, integrity, intellectual independency can be lobbied away, it may mean big trouble.