Reply #24: Those who believe that their God sent them . . [View All]

[msmcghee]

. . to destroy their enemies have a difficult time believing that their God would set them to fighting and killing and dieing for a "dumb dispute". I don't think "smart" and "dumb" are boxes on the Arab Jeopardy wall.

It's my impression that people on the left sometimes have no real appreciation for the strength of religious-like beliefs to dominate a person's mind. Remember that Arab children are taught from pre-school age that Jews are the devil who killed Muhammad's prophets - and that dieing in the struggle to kill Jews is the highest way to honor your family and Allah. Simply compare the number of left Arab-support organizations in Israel (many) with the left Jewish-support organizations in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, etc. - zero.

That is why very few Arabs in the ME will ever come to the reasonable conclusion that making peace with Israel might make logical sense and be in everyone's best interest. IMO - it is not a conclusion that their minds could produce. (Some Arabs have overcome the worst of that programming, however I think they moved to Dearborn.)

It's my experience that people at DU tend to be secular and typically have no experience with such powerful messianic belief systems (unlike FR). That's a difference between the far right and the far left IMO. This causes them to think that if the Arabs have such a deep-seated and complete hatred of Israel - such a state of enmity could logically only be the result of extremely unfair/deceptive/brutal treatment by Israel. They are looking for a logical explanation.

IMO - the sad truth is that there is nothing Israel could ever do that would cause those Arabs in the ME to want to make peace.

Note that this is only my opinion of the matter and I could be wrong. I'm sure many here will think that I am wrong. I just ask that you consider the possibility.