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An Alternative Reading of the Muslim World

[National Review] David Pryce-Jones - As Hamas took over in Gaza, hundreds of local Palestinians sought refuge in Israel. Among them were Fatah members now being hunted down. A few who had been wounded were admitted to Israeli hospitals. In Gaza hospitals, they knew, they would be murdered, but in Israel they would be treated. Covering the civil war in Jordan in 1970, I had seen this phenomenon before, when the terrified residents of Baqaa refuge camp outside Amman had set off for Israel. Hundreds of Arafat's gunmen fled to Israel from King Hussein's army, as now they flee Hamas. Thousands of refugees from genocide have been fleeing Sudan. Many went to Cairo, where the police have scandalously harassed, beaten and scattered them. A thousand have found safety in Israel. These people, it is clear, are well able to reject a lifetime of hate propaganda, and recognize the reality that Israel will be more humane than any Muslim country. In my view, the huge majority of Muslims know that the U.S. and Israel could offer them freedom, peace and prosperity, but for the sake of keeping power their own Muslim leaders stand in the way of it, and whip up a hate which the mob doesn't really feel but to which in these police states it is obliged to pay lip service.
2007-06-29 01:00:00
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