|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.hudson-ny.org/2586/palestinian-victimhood-narrative
The Narrative of Perpetual Palestinian Victimhood
(Hudson Institute New York) Shelby Steele - The Arab-Israeli conflict is really a war of the Arabs against the Jews. The Durban conferences, the request for UN recognition of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, and the general animus in the Middle East and elsewhere toward Israel and toward the Jews, what are they really about? Their real interest is to situate the Palestinian people within a narrative of victimization. Supporters of Israel are up against a poetic truth that no facts and no reason can ever penetrate. We keep hitting it with all the facts. We keep hitting it with obvious logic and reason - but it never has an impact. Who would the Palestinians be if they were not victims? This narrative is the source of their power. It is the source of their money. The idea among Palestinians that they are victims is the centerpiece of their very identity. It is not an idle thing. Our facts and our reason are not going to penetrate easily that definition. The writer is a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.