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JEWISH WORLD / Pro-Israel camp would be wise to heed Muslim cries for peace
By Roi Ben-Yehuda
Tags: israel, israel news, hamas 

As technology advances and televisions get flatter, bigger, and clearer, one subject will always be broadcast to the world in black and white: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The recent events in Gaza have engendered a predictable world reaction: polarization, anger, hatred, and fear. The left screams "massacre," while the right wants to get tougher.

Watching the mass protest and reading about strident calls for Israel's dissolution, we Jews can't help but get that lonely feeling in the pits of our stomachs: The world is against us. Call it a Pavlovian response conditioned by persecution on a mass scale.
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But the pro-Israel camp would be wise to pay attention not only to the bellicose cries coming from the mosques and streets, but also to the Muslim voices courageously speaking out against Hamas.

The Muslim Canadian Congress, for example, has issued a statement holding Hamas responsible for precipitating the recent conflict in Gaza.
The statement begins by condemning the recent Israeli attacks in Gaza as "disproportionate," but quickly turns its attention to censuring Hamas. According to the congress, Hamas is responsible for using the Palestinian people as "human bait," in an effort to kindle an all-out war in Gaza.

In words that would have made Alan Dershowitz blush, the statement asserts that: "No other national liberation movement in modern history has offered martyrdom as a substitute to freedom and statehood. Hamas has set back the clock for the Palestinians and it is time for all Palestinians to recognize that Hamas offers only death, destruction and a place in Paradise, not a Palestinian State."

The columnist Mona Eltahawy, to give another example, who writes for Egypt's Al Masry Al Youm and Qatar's Al Arab, published a piece in which she lambasts Hamas and the Arab world for their self-destructive addiction to Israel.

"It is difficult to criticize Palestinians when so many have died this weekend," she writes, "but the Hamas rulers of Gaza are just the latest of their leaders to fail them. For those of us who long to separate religion from politics, Hamas has given the truth to the fear that Islamists care more about facing down Israel than taking care of their people. The Palestinians of Gaza are victims equally of Hamas and Israel."

Eltahawy originally published her article on Facebook, where bashing Israel is a full-time occupation. But even on the popular social networking site, a quick glance at some threads reveals that Muslim are far from intellectually monolithic on the operations in Gaza.

"Israel is no angel among nations," writes a man who identifies himself as a secular Muslim, "but Hamas is a disgrace to the freedom struggles of countless peoples - offering its own people to die so that it can serve some sick allegiance to Iran."

And putting the matter succinctly and evenly, one young Palestinian writes, "I've never felt so angry the way I do now? F%#K HAMAS, F%#K ISRAEL."

So what can we make of all this? Why are more Muslims publicly voicing their opposition to Hamas? Is this an example of buyer's remorse? Has Hamas' gross blundering of an occupation-free Gaza finally cost them the privilege of representing the Palestinian cause?

"The simple reason we see Muslims speaking out against Hamas," says the Muslim activist and writer, Raquel Evita Saraswati, "is that the organization has proved itself to be terrorist by nature and function; and while the larger Muslim community has always stated its rejection of terrorism, we see the pressing need to make our voices louder in these especially contentious times."

Many pro-Israel readers will see this statement, along with the ones above, and feel vindicated. But that would be a mistake. These letters should not be seen as an endorsement of Israel?s Spartan policies - which most of the writers correctly see as futile and morally abhorrent - but rather as a type of self-reckoning; a kind of honest awareness that is necessary for peace to flourish.

That said, the recognition that Israel is not always the problem and that occupation is not the only reason Palestinians fight is of no small significance. It is imperative, therefore, that we do what is in our power to ensure these voices are front and center competing in the great suk (market) of ideas, because once an idea is out there, it can never be un-thought.

Roi Ben-Yehuda is a writer based in N.Y. He regularly writes for Jewcy and France 24. His blog, RoiWord, can be read here.
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  1.   Facebook 17:24  |  KevinS 31/12/08
  2.   Who`s Crying For Peace? 17:25  |  massaraksh 31/12/08
  3.   wise to heed Muslim cries for peace 17:39  |  Amer 31/12/08
  4.   2 state solution still the only way;J-Street 17:51  |  steve 31/12/08
  5.   EQUAL RIGHTS is all that the public is demanding, 18:35  |  Kris Lazar 31/12/08
  6.   Sad well said 18:48  |  moderates 31/12/08
  7.   One state solution 18:55  |  BN 31/12/08
  8.   Who are they? 20:00  |  Ali Khan 31/12/08
  9.   There are now THREE sides - 2 Palestinian 20:18  |  GZLives 31/12/08
  10.   Muslim cries for peace 20:20  |  Abigail 31/12/08
  11.   ??? Why didn`t Muslim organizations condemn Hamas before 20:25  |  Boris 31/12/08
  12.   Good intentions don`t stop terrorists 20:26  |  Nathaniel 31/12/08
  13.   Hamas and 2009 23:24  |  Ted 31/12/08
  14.   Still, Despite All Short-Comings ... Very Positive 02:02  |  Brad 01/01/09
  15.   Hamas leadership? 03:44  |  Bob 01/01/09
  16.   The Antichrist is Great 04:24  |  Shimon Cleopas 01/01/09
  17.   The wider world 04:40  |  Vishnu 01/01/09
  18.   The difference between Jewish World and dreams of conquest 05:47  |  Mark Lincoln 01/01/09
  19.   Where are Muslim cries for Peace in forgotten Darfur 08:31  |  Genuine Tosefta 01/01/09
  20.   #16 Shimon Cleopas 14:12  |  Marcion 01/01/09
  21.   Veritas Vos Liberabit 14:41  |  Motic 01/01/09
  22.   peace 14:50  |  Jason Paz 01/01/09
  23.   Rocket attacks from Gaza daily 15:45  |  igco 01/01/09
  24.   maybe some points are right 15:50  |  abraham 01/01/09
  25.   Interesting article 16:36  |  sara 01/01/09
  26.   IGCO 16:41  |  sara 01/01/09
  27.   i only hear .. 16:57  |  Tina 01/01/09
  28.   Great And On the Mark Article 17:08  |  Brian Freund 01/01/09
  29.   Wise muslims lack influence 17:13  |  Daniel 01/01/09
  30.   #18 Mark Lincoln...they just want the rockets to stop 17:14  |  Lynn 01/01/09
  31.   they would be wiser to heed Israeli tots cries for please 17:36  |  Dennie 01/01/09
  32.   No Peace 17:53  |  John 01/01/09
  33.   re 23 igco get this 18:03  |  alan the real one 01/01/09
  34.   re 11 they did boris 18:10  |  alan the real one 01/01/09
  35.   Lynn on stopping the rockets 20:05  |  sh 01/01/09
  36.   Israel and Palestinian future 20:22  |  Marco Sbandi 01/01/09
  37.   another leftist "intellectual" journalist 20:25  |  Mark 01/01/09
  38.   #35 sh 22:00  |  Boycott 01/01/09
  39.   Erasing utopia or palm reading 00:33  |  allang 02/01/09
  40.   The enemy of your enemy isn`t necessarily your friend 03:33  |  Simha 02/01/09
  41.   Gaza blockade 03:39  |  Ricardo 02/01/09
  42.   #30 That statement is simply untrue, Lynn 04:08  |  Johnboy 02/01/09
  43.   Why the Palestinian resistance will continue? My simple answer 05:19  |  Palestinian 02/01/09
  44.   RE: Palestinian 07:16  |  Reddie 02/01/09
  45.   #43 Your numbers are incorrect 10:43  |  5th generation 02/01/09
 Read & React
Palestinians: Mother, four children killed in IDF Gaza offensive
Responses: 256
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff: Now IDF is getting personal with Hamas
Responses: 84
Aluf Benn: Int'l community giving Israel time to weaken Hamas
Responses: 15
Gideon Levy: Whose blood is being spilled in Gaza, and why?
Responses: 40
Bradley Burston: To win in Gaza, all Israel has to do is survive
Responses: 54


More Headlines
01:50 Sarkozy: Hamas to blame for Gaza suffering
00:12 Israeli soldier killed as IDF deepens Gaza ground operation
01:00 'I'm going in,' IDF soldier told mother hours before he was killed in Gaza
22:42 Livni rejects Russian offer to pass messages on to Hamas
20:28 Four lightly wounded as 50 Gaza rockets pound southern Israel
22:23 Dick Cheney: Israel didn`t seek U.S. okay before Gaza invasion
20:28 Palestinians: Mother, 4 children killed in IDF Gaza offensive
19:39 WATCH: Amid Gaza violence, Israeli and Palestinian doctors save baby's life
19:23 Get up to the minute coverage of the warfare in Gaza directly to your email
19:24 Rocket alert sends New York's Bloomberg running for cover in Sderot
15:03 ANALYSIS / Israel's aim in Gaza is to break Hamas resistance
00:13 Greek demonstrators set banks on fire to protest IDF operation in Gaza
20:57 Knesset panel okays call-up of tens of thousands of IDF reservists
17:59 Peres: No Gaza truce right now, Hamas needs a 'real lesson'
01:32 Madoff victims selling memorabilia of disgraced financier on eBay
01:48 Foreign journalists vie for the few slots to get into Gaza
20:02 Iranian military commander: Cut oil exports to Israel`s supporters
21:01 Shin Bet Chief: Hamas has eased its demands for Gaza truce with Israel
18:08 Report: Hamas holding 2 Israeli soldiers; IDF: No knowledge of report
10:30 ANALYSIS / International community giving Israel time to weaken Hamas in Gaza
10:29 ANALYSIS / Solution to Gaza crisis requires pan-Arab effort
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