Violence is an industry. All industries employ people with a view to profit. Profit is not just monetary it can also be political. When people invest in violence it is because they hope to reap some benefit. US ordinary people (you and I) are just pawns manipulated by those who wish to use violence as a means of control and subjugation.
The issue of the Palestinians and Arabs/Muslims in general with Israel is something that has now generated its own life and path but I believe that the time has come for US the ordinary man and woman to stand up and proclaim that we ALL have a right to LIFE, LIBERTY & THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
Let us also look at how we are being used by peoples and organisation to advance their own interests. That there is brutality in the Middle East and between Arabs and Jews is no secret but is anyone telling me that the violence is just one sided?
The Palestinians have become the subject matter used to express wider disenchantment about a lot of issues in the wider region. The Palestinian is a human being who craves life, peace and the pursuit of happiness and is also incredibly resourceful and hard working. But if I am employing you a Palestinian and your friends, neighbors, colleagues or relations come to my town to kill and maim people and sow terror for whatever reason, do I owe you an obligation to continue to employ you? Or why should I make it easy for you and others to be able to cross over into my town with the potential to pursue such hatred.
I see a lot of indignation about what Israel does and some of that indignation is deserved but I scarcely, if ever, hear Palestinians in the Gaza strip or in the West Bank openly criticise the perpetrators of violence especially Hamas. This tells me that those who live under Hama are NOT all free. They are not allowed the freedom of expression to protest against their 'so called' elected officials. And so long as the people are not free to express themselves I cannot believe that Hamas represents ALL the people.
For both sides of the conflict, it is important to understand that you cannot talk peace while you pursue terror. Any progress will be under the guise and perception that terror pays. I have also heard about how Hamas helps ordinary Palestinians in the provision of health care, housing and basic support. I think the Palestinian people deserve more than that. Can Hamas provide more health care than the rest of the world or more education than the rest of the world? I will believe Hamas works for the displaced, impoverished and long suffering Palestinian people when I see doctors, engineers, teachers, academics being created as a result of Hamas policies than teaching boys and girls to kill themselves as political instruments. If killing one’s self to achieve autonomy worked why do Hamas officials go into hiding and do not ride the streets in defiance of the enemy and challenge them to be killed? It is because they want your brothers, sisters and parents to die in THEIR cause to pursue POWER! The rhetoric is just that rhetoric!
And when peoples’ lives are so cheapen by their own political representatives why should your enemy value that same life that you do not value? So Hamas will give money to Palestinians whose homes and property have been destroyed to rebuild them. What about those whose lives have been wrecked? Those whose childhoods have been stolen from them? Those whose minds and well being have been damaged beyond repair? And all this because Hamas believes in conflicts of posturing which it knows it can never win. Not in the short term anyway. I do not call this love. What sort of love is it that seeks to repair what is material and almost irrelevant but does not care about what is the most relevant and most important which is the sacred life?
The Palestinian people have a right to life, dignity, LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness but I doubt very much that they will get it through the use of mindless violence and terror perpetrated in their name by so-called leaders. And for those who sing about how brave Hamas are but very conveniently live outside Hamas control and do not suffer the consequences of their policies, I say shame on you!
There are those who will interpret my comments as being pro Israeli; far from it. My criticism of Israel is even harsher than this. But I fail to see how Hamas can reach the end gold it seeks by sacrificing the Palestinian people or bring undue hardship upon them by seeking to not only fight but pledging to destroy an opponent it cannot conceivably stand toe to toe with.
The time for peace has come. There is change; GENUINE change in Washington. I urge all Arabs, Muslims and true lovers of peace to embrace what this new American President has to say. It is the best HOPE in a generation and let us all pray to our God, our Allah, that we embrace him without the internecine rhetoric and demagoguery so we can ALL sleep peacefully at night and OUR children can grow to be older than we are and pursue their dreams.
The world; our world is the poorer when Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhist and non believers cannot come together to share in each other's knowledge and understanding so that we may propel the world towards true human peace and endeavor to harness the true potential of the human being and enjoy the abundant fruits of creation.
Please let us look forward and not backwards. Let us extend our hands to each other in true friendship and respect and see the true extent of creations wonders that await us in that sea of tranquility and peace here on Earth.
Salem aleikum.
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