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The Arabs' Anti-Colonial Delusion
(Quillette-Australia) Hannes Stein - Encouraged by anti-colonial fights all over the world - by the successes of the Vietnamese communists, the Algerian nationalists, and so on - the Arab fighters against Zionism expected an easy victory. Arab propaganda is full of this expectation: Israelis are decadent, they are weak, Israel is "like a spider's web," one strong wind and it will be gone. As soon as the colonial enterprise becomes too costly, the colonizer packs his bags and shuffles off. He has a home to go to. But the Israelis do not have another home to go to. And this is the crux of the matter. The fanatics among the Arabs still believe they are fighting a colonial war. But they are not. They are fighting against a desperate minority which has nowhere else to go. This is the reason why every war of annihilation the Arabs wage against Israel so far has ended in catastrophe for the attacker. They are not triggering the flight reflex of colonizers; they trigger the reflex to fight and defend one's life at all costs. As they are dealing with Jews, the Arab fanatics are also unleashing furies that stem from fears deep within the Jewish soul. The precondition for peace is that the Arabs give up their anti-colonial delusion. The intruder who has settled in their home is not a stranger: he has lived in this house before. And the other places where he once stayed have all gone up in flames.