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Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=10309
"Israel Is Not the Problem in the Mideast, Nor Is It the Solution" - Dror Eydar Interviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali
(Israel Hayom) Somali-born Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch parliament, said during a recent visit to Israel: "Why is this [peace] process so prolonged? Because for the Israelis this issue is a territorial problem. For the Palestinian negotiators, on the other hand, it is not a territorial problem but a religious and ethnic one. It is not only about Palestinians but about all Arabs. Most of all, it is a religious problem. From the perspective of the Arab leaders, reaching a two-state solution is to betray God, the Koran, the hadith and the tradition of Islam." "Reaching a settlement that brings about two states is a religious betrayal - not only for the leadership but for most Muslims today. The West does not understand this." "Islam has a goal. So if you are a true Muslim, you must fight for that goal. You can achieve a temporary peace or truce, but it is not ultimate, not everlasting....So for a Palestinian leader - even if he is secular, even an atheist - to leave the negotiating room with the announcement of a two-state solution would mean that he would be killed the minute he walks out." "Europeans and Americans...when they have a problem, they think there must be some kind of compromise on the table. What they cannot accept is that one party would say 'the only rational outcome is our complete victory.'...You see components of this culture in the events in Syria, in Lebanon. You've seen it with Mubarak. There is a winner and there is a loser. But there cannot be two winners." "93,000 people have died in Syria because the fighting forces could not, cannot, and will not compromise. This toll is higher than all the fatalities on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....One can also mention the number of people who died in Libya because Gaddafi and the opposition would not find the way to the negotiating table." "In a culture dictated by honor and shame - in addition to the religious issue - defeat of any kind, accepting a compromise, is to leave the room empty-handed. Compromise is loss in this culture. It is very hard to explain this to contemporary Westerners." "An Arab leader who genuinely wants peace has to convince the Arab people first, must get their endorsement and then go and get peace. That is why the first thing that needs to be worked out is not so much the relationship with Israel but changing the culture, Islamic and Arab. This process does not depend on you...on America or the rest of the world." "Israel is not the problem nor is it the solution. Even if you give up all the land, it...won't bring peace to anyone. Even if Israel does not give up an inch of land - the result will be the same....If you want real, lasting peace, then things have to change first within the Arab Muslim individual, family, school, streets, education, and politics. It is not an Israeli problem."