Flag burning, calling for cutting off relations - ie communication, and sporadic protesting without true activism is useless to everyone. Jordanian officials and any Arab official who care about the Palestinians and peace in general need to truly get their act together and step up, stand for something and sincerely and diligently take action towards it.... every waking moment of their life until resolution is achieved.
The burning of the Israeli flag in our parliament achieves nothing other than an outburst of emotion. What a farce this kind of action is. Calling to cancel the Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement is an even bigger joke. Wanting to expel the Israeli ambassador solves nothing. That is not diplomacy, and it's certainly not a conversation for peace. Then what? Does anyone calling for such ridicule ever ask that? Do they stop to imagine what's next after they kick up a seasonal tantrum?
Perhaps using our best strategic minds and communicators to find new solutions to this old problem would serve the Palestinians, and humanity, better. Perhaps an active and continuous commitment towards effective negotiation and creative forward looking plans would serve better.
It's time to wake up from this slumber. Time to remain alert and active every moment of every day until a Palestinian/Israeli solution is established. It's time to stop the anesthetic in our air and the delusion in our water.
Compassion is a way of life rather than a momentary fad.
The woes of our world today require minds, words and a whole new conversation for effective achievements. Until then, the blood will continue to flood the streets.
12/29/2008
While Gaza is being annihilated....stop the charade and get to work
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16 comments:
So true Nadine. We are arabs are so emotional and are good at doing emotional things.
Arab leaders are hypocrites and Jordanians calling for breaking ties with Israel are idiots. Jordan is the only way in with aid you fools!!!
This claim is not "emotional" and it is reflected, accurately, from the strategic interests of the State of Jordan, which has become one of the most urgent and at the same duty to put an end to free peace with Israel ...
I agree about the flag burning and so on, but kicking out the ambassador and cutting economic ties is a legitimate and effective form of protest.
DUHHH!
It's not this or that. It's all of the above. It's flag burning, it's calling for terminating the "peace agreement" with Israel, it's sending humanitarian aid, it's protesting, it's writing about it, it's talking about it, it's crying over it, it's doing it all or some of it.
What's wrong with you people. Stop getting in the way if you don't like all of this outpouring of emotions. Go home and shut the doors behind you and stop raining on our parades with your cynicism camouflaged as pragmatism.
You are the kind who needs to have a heart. You are the kind who is trying to justify her inaction by talking down at those who do.
You are the kind who would probably dismiss the enthusiasm of caring people as some sort of rabble rousing. I know your kind and you are a dime a dozen. You care fo rnothing and for now one. You just want to be visible. And if you can't be at the front, you start hurling stones at those who are to slow them down.
take two compassion pills and one solidarity pill and see us in the morning.
I must agree with Nadine. Its not about forgetting your emotions and not having a heart. Its about strategic reactions and taking consequences for your actions.
Its one thing to try and show your support against all the lives shed, its another to just show anger and call against a peace agreement. To achieve justice we need more than emotional support, we need effective conversations and mature negotiations.
"its another to just show anger and call against a peace agreement. "
AHA! that's what's bothering you. Why don't you say so all along instead of letting us guess your intentions.
Now that we have established that you care for israel's interests, we can discuss this rationally.
In any peace agreement, which means end of war, refugees go home. That's what the Forth Geneva Protocols state clearly. But years after Peace with Israel, over 1 million registered Palestinian refugees still struggle in Jordan most are still stuck in ghetto-like refugee camps. They are now forming some of Jordan's' largest and most economically and socially depressed regions. Hundreds of thousand of non-registered Palestinian refugees still live in Jordan. It's been 60 years of ethnic cleansing for them.
Jordan and the Palestinian refugees got scammed by the US and Israel with the Wadi Arab peace treaty. We got back small swaths of land but the most critical problem facing Jordan (and Lebanon) which should have ended after the peace treaty with Israel is getting worse and worse, the refugee population.
The US threatened to cut US aid to Jordan and to destabilize the Kingdom and to turn it into a "Palestine" to force the late King Hussein to sign a peace treaty with Israel that screws Jordan and the Palestinians. If peace with Israel means Jordan suffers while Israel keeps squeezing the palestinains into Jordan on top of the hundreds of thousands that were expelled in 48 and 67 then i say FUCK THE PEACE TREATY.
And in case you have selective memory about what peace means, please read the 4th Geneva Convention.
"Persons thus evacuated shall be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased."
I THOUGH HOSTILITIES BETWEEN JORDAN AND ISRAEL WERE OVER. WHAT ARE THE REFUGEES DOING IN JORDAN AND NOT BACK IN THEIR HOMES? Any one who defends the any peace treaty with Israel that does not abide by international law supports the slow destruction of Jordan and Palestine. The refugee problem is far far far far worse than few worthless kilometers of land Israel returned "and rented back for 99%, and that's another scam all by itself."
and by the way, I am a Palestinian refugee in Jordan.
http://www.cicr.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/380-600056?OpenDocument
Nadine, well said. It is time to act in a way that builds rather than destroys.
Youmna. What's wrong with "us people" is that "you people" scare me. When someone agrees with you're great, once someone disagrees you become fascistic: "Go home and shut the doors behind you and stop raining on our parades". Next we become "traitors".
Anyhoo, I like protests. They let the government know what the people want in a very clear way.
But for me shouting "blood blood blood" is just dumb!
i agree that emotinal reactions are not the solution to the conflict, but calling for diplomacy while hundreds are being massacred is as problematic as burning a flag...
what's next, begging them to stop killing us? and then beg to make peace? and then keep begging to stay alive and be able to breathe?
yes emotinal reactions are not the way to go, but seriously, you sound just like the western (and Arab) leaders: we ask both sides to refrain from violence and resume talks! (350 palestinian dead and one israeli dead, yet we ask hamas to refrain from violence!)
Normalization in the jordanian spher meant there was going to be a ‘warm ‘peace :that jordan and isreal were going to be more than just neighbors.this is a view that was expounded upon in the ideas surrounding the concept labeled “the new middle East” promoted by shimon peres for one. it held that economics would break down political barriers and that over time a new middle east based on economic unification would override the old middle east of warring boundaries.
Today the ‘vision’is obviously not realized and is not held by the jordanian public or ,in a general sense, by the jordanian regime itself.there are exceptions,in that israel and jordan have maintained a certain degree of security cooperation-some above board some not talked about at all- but at a limited level. in its real sense though. normalization is dead
nadine, eyad: you slammed every form of civilized protest that Jordanians have chosen to express their refusal of Israel's violence. Last time i checked, demonstrations, flag burning, calling for diplomatic action is civilized, when compared to dropping bombs on congested civilian areas. Actually not doing any of the above would have shown a distributing loss of compassion. heck even non-Arabs expressed as much anger. that's human.
so what do you propose? can you please outline your plan of action.
BTW, i love your choice of title, blaming those who obviously care for the annihilation of those they care about. shows a higher form of malevolence ;)
All of this just to say keep the Israeli embassy open. Did you forget what the international community did to end Apartheid? Remember sanctions and cutting off diplomatic ties. Do you think that was counter productive or not in the interest of peace? Do you think the allies were wrong to shut Nazi embassies during WW II?
I have to keep reminding myself that a western liberal education does not necessarily produce liberal or educated Arabs.
أناعندي أقترح ثاني
أولاً،،،طرد أوحتى أعتقال السفير الصهيوني في عمان
ثانين,,حشد لقوات الاردنيه على الحدود
ثالثاً،،دك المستعمرات الصهيونه من جبال السلط على مدار الساعه كما حصل في غزه
رابعاً،،،قطع الممر البحري علي خليج أيلات
خامساً،، تقديم المساعده لمن يريد الذهاب الى داخل فلسطين من عتاد وطعام
خامسا،، بحلم بيك بيك،،التخلص من كل العرب الصهاينه الى الأبد
I have to wholeheartedly disagree with you Nadine. Potests are the epitomy of activism. Please do not discount the importance of the Arab street. Demonstrations are shaping official Arab reaction. Arab regimes would love to condone what is going on in Gaza if it weren't for Arab public opinion manifested by these protests. Look at official discourse changing as it edges towards what the people on the street are saying. In the absence of true representative democracy, demonstrations are what carries the voice of the people to their own goverments and to the world. So please do take to the streets; if you can't then support it with your words!
My comment is on the actions of our gov and parliament. Jordan did not take a stand on this horrific crime. What a shame! The job of public servants is dialog and strategy and commitment for a better good. Their job is not to burn a flag and call to stop dialog and flutter about emotionally!
The voices and actions of civil society are needed and urged to continue - every single choice civil society wishes to express themselves thru is vital if we are to deliver on hope and change.
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