Cinnamon Zone

This is an email I received today, from Mohammad Omar, Palestinian journalist and photographer, reporting from Gaza. I'm not going to comment on this, you just try to put yourself in his place as an eye witness to the horrible situation there, not as a hero, not as a defender of the right, but as a human being...

Dear friends,
I'm scared, i was almost killed or at least bleeding
till death. three militants were closing all roads and
they sudden, they said to me stop during the curfew, i
stop and then the masked-men open fire under my feet
hitting the ground under my feet. i thought I'm
killed, and i could not explain or scream as the
shooting was louder than my scream, so I said, :" No,
don't do that, stop stop, please" oh, i was in tears,
this is the first time I'm begging someone not to kill
me, and then the other guy who's also militant was
standing in my side and said, we don't want to kill
him, lets shoot him in his legs and leave him bleed. I
said, what? why? and then he said, your ID, I show it
with the press card and then they let me go. I was
scared that they would shoot at me once I turn my
back, but alhamdllah this didn't happen, I was scared,
scared, scared to death. this was not pleasant
experience, and they were doing this, as I got stuck
and could not find transport back home, so I went
walking in the streets. I'm scared to death. those are
just evil and terrible people. I don't wish to be in
that position again. i can't stand in my feet
anymore, I feel pain and scared. those are working for
preventive security, which is working closely with
Israelis. I was wearing my bullet proof vest, but this
didn't protect me enough. today, more than 10 were
killed and tens were injured, many by Israelis, but
still some by Palestinian clashes between Hamas and
Fateh. they don't want this to be reported. I didn't
tell about this to my mother, she will be scared
again!

sad greetings!
Mohammed

The other day I was listening to the BBC Arabic, they were discussing something about the Middle East crisis. At one point, they started talking about minorities and their rights, and someone suggested that "Israelis are a minority in the Arab world" and they are being "abused" by the majority. The discussion went on and on, are Israelis (more specifically, Jewish Israelis) a minority? If so, I really wonder, what is a minority?

I looked up the definition on the net, and the results were fairly satisfying, look at this:

mi·nor·i·ty (mə-nôr'ĭ-tē, -nŏr'-, mī-)
n., pl. -ties.

1.  
   1. The smaller in number of two groups forming a whole.
   2. A group or party having fewer than a controlling number of votes.
2.  
   1. A racial, religious, political, national, or other group thought to be different from the larger group of which it is part.
   2. A group having little power or representation relative to other groups within a society.

If you look at the definitions 1-a, 2-a, you will realize that Israelis can absolutely be considered a minority, no need for further explanation I guess.

But, looking at definition 2-b, you can see that it doesn't apply to Israelis in anyway. This definition deals with status rather than number (quality not quantity). 5 million Israelis (including 1,7 million Arabs, which makes the "minority" around 3,3 million only) versus an estimated 291 million Arabs. Leaving populations aside, the influence of Israel on shaping the international policies is no mystery to anyone, given that the Jewish lobby is the most influential party in the United States, the most powerful country in the world today. This is politics, but this is not all, have a look at these interesting facts:

Israel Military Power

Military branches:
Army, 134,000
Navy, 9,000
Air Force 32,000 troops
Reserves, 430,000

Primary military equipment

Ground forces: 3,800 tanks, including U.S.-built M1A1a, M-60A3a, and native Merkaavas; 1,500 large artillery pieces.
Sea power: Four diesel submarines, three missile corvettes and a fleet of about a dozen fast missile patrol boats.
Air power: About 2,000 combat aircraft, mostly U.S. F-16 and F-15 variants, plus 25 nuclear capable F-15Es; about 80 older F-4 Phantoms.

Military expenditures: $8.7 billion, fiscal year 1999
Military expenditures, percent of gross domestic product: 9.4 percent, fiscal year 1999

Seems like some terms need to be redefined! Or at least some definitions should be more referred to/widespread and used by people. You can't call Jews a minority in the Palestine, in the same sense you call Cercassians a minority in Jordan or Syria or wherever… I think the real minority is us, with our puppet governments, wappenschawing our obsolete, second hand weapons, watching Israelis killing Palestinians everyday then calling them terrorists for second-striking them. In fact, I think we've just made a record, the largest minority in the world! A minority of roughly 291 million Arabs, Way to go!

 

Bon appetite... I'm afraid!

In the first day following Saddam's execution, People's reactions varied between those who celebrated the execution and rejoiced in it, others who saw that it carried a very dark implications, and others who had nothing but confusion and ambivalence.

Leaving all his deeds aside, we can't deny that Saddam's hasty execution sent a very insulting supplemented message: If you're not some U.S puppet, then you have to bear the consequences. And this was reinforced by Israel's declaration that they consider Saddam's execution "the ultimate justice". So here's the equation: Israel thinks Saddam's execution serves their interests, so there's no way it could be to our advantage, for it's universally acknowledged: Arab + Israel = Zero Sum Game. So, you do the math.

Like any other leade, Saddam had a good side and a bad side. As for the bad side, no need to mention anything because it's being rubbed in our ears every day. So let's try to be objective and focus on some of his positive points.

For example, Saddam was the only Arab leader to win the UNESCO award for eradicating illiteracy. He provided free college education for everyone, and provided very encouraging incentives for people to continue their high education, such as giving anyone who finishes their M.A  a car, and a brand new Mercedes for those who finish their PHD. In fact, my incle even told me that when he was studying in Europe, he had some Iraqi colleagues, and while he received $100 from his parents in Amman every month, Iraqi students received $600 dollars monthly from the Iraqi embassy.

Moreover, Saddam is the only Arab leader who didn't have any accounts in foreign banks; no matter they tried no prove that he did to defame his reputation. He also facilitated the ownership and investment of lands in Iraq for Iraqi people. He facilitated loans to buy lands, and other loans to build on them. And whoever finishes building his house, was exempted from the land loan. 

I'm not saying that any of this justifies the crimes Saddam has committed against humanity, but I'm saying that there are many other leaders in the civilized world who committed crimes against humanity and are continuing to do so. The only difference is that they are left unpunished. To top them: George W. Busch.

Again, I'm not justifying what Saddam did, but I insist that we must look at his both dark and bright side, like we do with other leaders who are even worse than Saddam... just take a moment before you start cussing out and congratulating people on Saddam's death, this could reflect badly on us, very badly.

P.S: remember when Isaac Rabin was killed in 1995? Didn't we all rejoiced and celebrated his death? Did it occur to anyone how bad that was for us? We should've known it since he was killed by Israelis themselves; I told you it's a zero-sum game. Again, you do the math.