| Nine Nguyen/The Daily Cougar
Students going to and from the University Center were stopped by members of the Students for a Democratic Society at their Palestinian Marketplace on Monday in the UC North Patio. The event, which was held to inform students about Israeli-Palestinian relations, is part of Israeli Apartheid week.
I wonder if the muslims in this picture have ever protested against Saudi Arabia or Iran? Because we all know that they really practice tolerance, right?
First, this is not news, highlighting this story is an editorial on the part of the Cougar.
I’ve been to Israel and have seen and spoken with Palestinians who live and work in Israel. They feel they are treated well, are considered as citizens, and have a good life. They are much safer there in Israel than in the US or other parts of the mid-east.
I suspect that it is only the Palestinians in their own territories who have difficulties; that is due to their own infighting and their own terrorist organizations trying to pick fights by launching missiles at babies, children and women, all while innocent Palestinian civilians are nearby.
The Palestinians and their Arab brethren have no shortage of money from oil. They have had hundreds of years to wander in the desert and create humane living conditions. Why is it that the Palestinians live so poorly and are so downtrodden and poor when their brethren is so wealthy? It doesn’t say much about the humanity of the Palestinians and Arabs.
In contrast, why, only in Israel, which was after all only created 75 years ago, has the desert been made to bloom, high-tech industry has been developed, and life has joined the twenty-first century?
Why do the Palestinians choose to destroy life, liberty and people’s happiness? Perhaps the Palestinians should join modern civilization?
oPalestinians are a miserable and pathetic people. They slit the throats of innocent Israeli families, then whine when Israel sets up check points to prevent this. They blow themselves up on crowded Israeli buses, then whimper when Israel prevents this with a wall. The shoot rockets at Israel by the thousands, then kvetch and moan when Israel deploys Iron Dome defenses to prevent this, too.
They forced the construction of the wall. They necessitated the checkpoints. All of their misery is their own doing. But they will never acknowledge that truth; because that would mean self-reflection and intelligence (decency and kindness) on their part– all characteristics they and their leadership know nothing about.
One thing – the people who slit the throats of innocent Israeli families were not Palestinians. They were contractors of a different nationality.
Yoyo,
Either you are a liar or you are misinformed. Those who slit the 3 month old baby was a Palestinian. So were the people who blew up pizzerias, Bat Mitzvah celebrations, college campuses, buses, and the like.
Then their brothers and sisters b*tched and moaned about the fence that Israelis were forced to build for their own protection. Then again, what won't Palestinians b*tch and moan about other than their corrupt leaders, their own narcissism, and their ability to shoot themselves in the foot?
"Allahu Akbar!" They shreiked as they cut off Daniel Pearl's head. What sort of religion condones such acts and did the Palestinians name a street after these inhumane murderers too?
I was misinformed. Sorry about that.
dont listen to the trash arafat is saying that was done mostly out of angry over what was going on in PAKISTAN NOT PALESTINE
Arafat, you sure know how to talk behind a news article. I would love to have a conversation with you in person. I would hate for a person as wise as you to be walking around spreading false, malicious lies.
Thanks
didn't the torah's abraham almost stab his own baby to death because some voice in his head told him to? i guess that makes all jews potential baby stabbers.
i mean, that's your holy book telling you to stab babies if god tells you to. i'm sure god told the palestinians to do all the stuff they're doing too, so it's all good. it falls under the "mysterious ways" clause.
the jews need to maintain conflict with palestine in order for the US to justify the billions in military aid/nukes it sends over every year, which is kind of a big F U to the whole middle east – a region systematically destabilized because its….hmm…
"the most strategically important area in the world"—"a stupendous source of strategic power" and "probably the richest economic prize in the world in the field of foreign investment," – eisenhower
Last I had heard it was a Palestinian Muslim who slit the throat of a 3 month old baby then killed the babies parents and siblings too in the village of Itamar. This happened in March 2011.
More recently a Muslim shot three 7 year old Jewish school children in their heads.
But let's not deal with the facts. OK? This seems to be your approach to life.
i already read this nonsense on the top no need to repeat ..
1 million Arabs live in Israel as citizens, the only democracy in the Middle East, where all religions, genders and life styles are accepted have equal rights and are protected …Arab citizens in Israel vote, live, work and serve in the parliament ( Knesset) and serve on the Supreme Court of Israel…why can't Jews ( and Christians) live in Arab countries as free and equal citizens…why cannot Jews live in their ancient homeland of Judea and Samaria ( the so-called West Bank) and in Gaza along with Arabs as Arabs live in Israel ….which side is practising Apartheid and racism? …..if rights for Arabs were the actual and issue ( A real, serious and laudable issue) then the Arab regimes including the Palestinian Authority , Hamas, Fatah ruled by dictators, corrupt despots, Islamist theocracies and where no one has the slightest hint of religious or political freedom or democratic rights, for anyone ,….the country, Israel, that treats all its citizens, including its Arab citizen,s far better than any Arab country or Palestinian authority treat Arabs ( let alone Jews) is the target because destroying Israel is the goal….for those of us who support Arab rights we need a Palestinian/Arab Apartheid week….
agree with you fully I don't see any arab apartheid by the way even Palestinians can petition to Israel's Supreme Court if they feel they are being abused. In arab countries if you dare criticize the regime you get killed or thrown in prison.
Yup. But for the left (which, of course, includes all university campuses) the facts are meaningless. The only thing that matters is guilt.
Arab countries along with the UN maintain 'refugee' camps and refuse to allow fellow Arabs as citizens….850,000 Jews expelled by Arab countries , where they lived for centuries, were absorbed and never placed in 'refugee camps' facing the countries where they had lived, and without perennial victimhood and endless grievance….in Arab and Muslim countries the thought of human and civil rights ( including for woman, minorities and gays) is considered a blasphemy and counter to Shariah law….where those publishing books or cartoons can be sentenced to death along with the stoning of women accused of adultery or the honor killing crime for disobeying a husband or having been raped….rights for Palestinians and Arabs is a great idea….starting that campaign with where the abuse occurs….
thats a hella alot of shit right there not all Arab countries run that way coz countries like Egypt, Syria, Lebanon dont not have any of the shit that ur stating please—talk is cheap when u witness/vist these countries then talk smack all u want ….once again ur speaking of PAKISTAN!!
When I can walk in safety in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon I'll believe you.
Well thats not the point of Arthur argument & yes we dont want any jews coming to Egypt, Syria, or Lebanon ya'll did enough damage in the middle east —also when I get to enter MY homeland safely then we'll see if u can come vist
What if I'm a tourist? Paying money to see the sights? No? Then you are simply deeply antisemitic, a jew hater if there ever was one. You would be the first to openly admit it on this incredibly tolerant campus.
You are also openly admitting that Zionists = Jews, which organizations like the PLO prefer to avoid, seeing as how they changed their slogan from "Drive the Jews into the sea" to "Drive the Zionists into the Sea" after the war of 1967.
For a people espousing a higher ethical and moral religion we sure get a lot of subconscious crap thrown at us.
also condolences to the Egyptian people for the passing away of THEIR Pope Shnouda. whom BOTH CHRISTIANS & MUSLIMS mourned over
That's interesting, Ben.
So while Egyptian Muslims burn down Coptic churches, kidnap Coptic women, and kill Coptic men they also mourn the passing of their spiritual leader.
No doubt the Copts – as they are being brutalized and ethnically cleansed from their ancient homeland by Muslims – notice the two-faced irony which apparently escapes you.
I take exception to the editor's headline, "Israeli Apartheid week raises awareness on campus." That's like saying "KKK rally raises awareness on campus." Some hard-line leftists and a few Palestinians that they brown-nose held a small gathering. Israel does not practice apartheid, but rather is an imperfect democracy. It's far more democratic than its neighboring states in the Middle East. What kind of awareness did this gathering raise, according to the reporter or the headline writer? You can say they had a gathering, but it didn't raises awareness of any false claims by its supporters.
Pg 1.
Islamic Awareness Week”
Let’s organize an annual “Arab Apartheid Week,” which would highlight the decrepit state of human and political rights throughout the Arab world.
There is a solid case to be made that the Arab states remain the last great outpost of despotism and tyranny on earth, and people need to be reminded as much. Indeed, the Arab world today is a living encyclopedia of outmoded forms of government, from sultanates such as Oman and emirates such as Qatar, to thuggish dictatorships such as Syria and dynastic monarchies along the lines of Jordan. It may be a political scientist’s dream, but it is a nightmare for the hundreds of millions of Arabs chafing under oppression and tyranny.
Basic and fundamental freedoms such as personal autonomy and individual rights are routinely trampled upon, and ethnic and religious minority groups suffer extreme discrimination and
intolerance. Just ask Coptic Christians in Egypt, Baha’is in Iran or Shi’ites in Saudi Arabia for starters.
Pg 2.
This was borne out most recently by a report issued by Freedom House, the independent Washington-based group that advocates for freedom worldwide. Its annual survey, “Freedom in the World 2010,” would make for eye-opening reading for all those who cry “apartheid” whenever they see a flag with a Star of David.
Consider the following findings:
Of the 18 countries in the Middle East that Freedom House surveyed, only one is considered to be “free.”
And just who might that be? Yep, you guessed it: Israel.
Not a single Arab country – not one! – did Freedom House consider “free.” Three Arab states – Morocco, Lebanon and Kuwait – were labeled “partly free,” while 13 other Arab states as well as Iran merited the dubious distinction of being branded as “not free.”
In effect, then, this means that of the approximately 370 million human beings currently residing in the Middle East, only 2 percent enjoy true freedom – namely those who live in the Jewish state.
So much for “Israeli apartheid.”
Pg 3.
NOT SURPRISINGLY, in a press release announcing the report’s publication, Freedom House concluded that “the Middle East remained the most repressive region in the world.” It is this message that Israel and its supporters need to begin highlighting. By casting a spotlight on the subjugation, oppression and tyranny that typify nearly the entire Arab world, we can open some eyes out there and educate the Western public as to who really shares their democratic values.
As Prof. Bernard Lewis has written, the Arab states are little more than “a string of shabby tyrannies, ranging from traditional autocracies to new-style dictatorships, modern only in their apparatus of repression and indoctrination.”
An annual Arab Apartheid Week, held on campuses and at community centers, could be an effective vehicle for driving home this fundamental truth.
Doing so will reframe the debate. More importantly, it will help Westerners to finally begin recognizing the Arab regimes for what they are: a dangerous mix of despotism and dictatorship.