Garbanzo Toons

The Paris Intifada

From Mystery Achievement I linked to this editorial at the Jerusalem Post. Here is a very large chunk:

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the US media became preoccupied with a key question: "Why do they hate us so much?" A fair-minded people, the Americans believed there must be a good, rational explanation why 19 educated, economically comfortable young men would ram planes into buildings, killing themselves along with thousands of innocents.

Among the many reasons proffered, one that appeared frequently - and drew concern in Jerusalem - was that it was all due to US support for Israel. If the US would only toe a more pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian line, this argument ran, then the Arab and Muslim masses wouldn't hate it so.

The events in Paris over the last 12 days have confirmed the vacuity of this argument.

Since the mid-1960s, France has consistently been among the most pro-Arab countries in western Europe.

Indeed, one can make a compelling argument that one reason French President Jacques Chirac was so opposed to the US war in Iraq was that he believed this would give France special status among the world's Muslims.

France, unlike the US, cannot be accused of a pro-Israeli slant. Nevertheless, its Muslim youth are rioting in the banlieues of Paris. Though it is too early to dissect this ongoing French revolution, one thing that can already be said is that these rioters hate France - otherwise they wouldn't be destroying its property and setting fire to its towns and suburbs.

And this hatred of France has nothing to do with Israel.

Why is this important to state? Because for too long much of the West, with France at the vanguard, has tried to paper over its real conflict with radical Islam with the argument that if only a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict could be found, then all would be well with the world and Islamic enmity would disappear.

Not so. The Muslim youth in France are not rioting as a sign of solidarity with their Palestinian or Iraqi brothers. They are rioting in large part because they feel discriminated against, alienated, and cut out of that great French "liberte, egalite, fraternite" pie.

The French would be wise to pay attention to the fact that these flames of alienation are being fanned and leveraged for their own use by Islamic radicals who - as the homegrown London bombers proved in July - are thriving on the streets of Europe.

Parallels can be found with our reality. At one time the Arab-Israeli conflict looked predominantly like a territorial one. Indeed, this thinking underpinned UN Security Council Resolution 242, which created the territories-for-peace rubric.

What was ignored was the religious and ideological component of the conflict. It is not coincidental that the recent Palestinian paroxysm of violence here goes by the name of al-Aksa Intifada - and not, for instance, the Gaza intifada, or the West Bank intifada.

Naming the violence after the mosque on the Temple Mount, and not one or other of the disputed territories, underlines that religious component, a component that - with the help of Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad - has made the conflict much more violent, volatile and intractable. Land-for-peace, for the radical Islamic groups, has always been obsolete.

France - yes, ironically, France - has now awakened to find itself facing a similar dilemma.

I'm not gloating about Islamic riots in France. Even though they are stupidly anti-semitic and have repeatedly bent over further to get a better grip on their ankles whenever their Muslim masters - uh - I mean allies demanded it, I don't want France to be part of the Islamic caliphate. I'm really hoping they rediscover their warrior spirit and take their country back; even if it means they have to insult the sensibilities of their Muslim inhabitants - uh - I mean invaders.

Hey France! Find your spine! It's got to be around there somewhere!

Labels: France, French riots, Muslims, Mystery Achievement

posted by Harry @ 7:27 PM