This cartoon is of Ariel Sharon killing Palestinian children (or so says this website http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/ArabCartoons.htm). It was created in 2002, and run by Arab News, a newspaper in Saudi Arabia.This cartoon shows the obvious anti-Israel sentiment felt by most in the Arab world. by showing Sharon brutally killing children, this cartoon is painting a negative image of Sharon and Israel that is common in the Middle East, but not so common here. In the cartoon, Sharon's weapon of choice seems to be a swatsika-shaped axe, implying that Israel's actions are equivalent to those of the Nazi's during the Holocaust, and also perhaps that Israel uses the horrors that happened during that time to justify their acts against Palestine now.
The very strong anti-Israel sentiment throughout the Arab world is a definite hurdle for the Gaza Strip conflict. I think that international pressure on both Israel and Palestine to come to a peace agreement is necessary, but that becomes near impossible when the pressure for peace is not there in the surrounding region. Many Arabs do not want an Israeli state (ie. as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once famously expressed for Israel to be "wiped off the map"). If a two-state solution were to be created, would neighboring countries allow it?
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I think that the neighbouring countries would not have too much say in it, anyway. Israel exists whether they want it or not, and they have already had a war and lost. Actually, twice. I do not think they are even considering attacking Israel because they know that Israel is technologically and militarily superior to them.
ReplyDeleteAnd to go along with the cartoon depicting Israelis as Nazis, here is a link from the UK-based "Palestine Times": http://www.ptimes.org/main/default.aspx?xyz=BOgLkxlDHteZpYqykRlUuI1kx%2fVDUOFofozWWA1rTF8WmkDSbMTn0T8NGBFg9CTyzWz9f1I6zZmEdGGUkBrEg4eicrfmL1Q1qhJZtG9gXc6JZp1Mkz3c75vTicxUYI6%2fTssPbfHY1DE%3d
It is very interesting how they interpret Israeli actions in Palestine...
I wrote a post about the correlation a lot of the world is drawing between Nazi Germany and the Holocaust compared to Israel and its actions regarding Palestine and Palestinians. This cartoon sums it up quite nicely. As far as the reaction of neighboring Arab countries to a two state solution, my guess is that there would be some backlash, but nothing serious. Arab nations have gotten used to using the Palestinian people as a pawn in their political games. They have painted the Palestinian cause as the Arab cause and used it to verbally and physically attack Israel. But only one of these Arab nations as given Palestinians citizenship. The rest let them live as refugees, unwilling to give them a homeland. Perhaps, not necessarily, but perhaps, if countries such as Egypt, Lebanon and Syria had welcomed Palestinians with open arms as new citizens of their established countries, the Palestinian discontent outside the borders of the PA and Israel wouldn't be so large and so hateful. The Palestinians living in Palestine, who experience the checkpoints and the curfews and the bombings as part of their daily lives, would jump at the chance for a two state solution, because it is a chance to improve the status quo, which is failing miserably. The rest of the Arab countries can step aside, it isn't their nation or their experience.
ReplyDeleteIt would be really interesting to see the Israeli response to these correlations being strong. I can't imagine how upsetting this would be, especially for those who are survivors of the Holocaust. In a class a took last semester, there was an account of an old women who survived Auschiwitz who now lived in Israel and was ashamed of the actions of her people. She too saw paraells between Israeli and Nazi actions. The generation that lived through the Holocaust won't be around next longer, and it's important for them to voice these views to the younger generation so that they are remembered.
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