This is only the beginning of the show

“The Opposite Direction”, Al-Jazeera political discussion show (الاتجاه المعاكس). The topic of the episode is “Palestinians between importance and neglect”

The debate featured in the show is whether or not the “Palestinian Issue” deserves high priority in the Arab world. Among the introductory questions are “Don’t millions of Palestinians prefer to live outside of Palestine? So then why do the Palestinians want from the Arabs to fight for their country if they are asked to do it?” and “Is there not a Nakba (calamity) in each Arab country which exceeds the importance of the Palestinian [calamity]? Do not hundreds of Arabs die of hunger and poverty and oppression in other countries and no one hears about them so why does it become prime news every time an Israeli kills a Palestinian”
And the opposite direction part…they ask
“Is not the path of the people, all connected to Palestine? Is not what happened in Iraq tied to the Zionist plan, which began in Palestine?”

Regardless of what would seem like a lively in-house debate about why the Arab world focuses so intently on the Palestinians and Israel, when there are so many other internal issues on which no light is shed…the numbers, my friends, speak for themselves:
“Should Palestine remain the Arab’s primary cause? 91.9% yes, 8.1% no”, the host begins, directing these statistics towards his guest.

The first guest, Karim Badar, gives greeting and very soon provides this very interesting quote:
“The biggest crime that has been committed in modern history is the theft of the Palestinian cause from the hands of its lawful owners and placing it on the political table and converting it into numbers in the bank and an [idol] in the name of the central Arab cause”

From my own opinion, the Arab world seems to have a love-hate relationship with the Palestinian cause. In fact, if described in terms of a “relationship”, it is a rather abusive one. It reminds me of one story about Saddam Hussein where, in order to protect himself from being targeted, he invited a castle-load of Iraqi citizens to “spend the night”…some slumber party huh? They were his human shield. Well, then, the Palestinians are the political shield, held firmly into the “oppressed martyr” billet, by their own Arab brethren. Greeting the “Palestinian resistance” at the beginning almost every Al-Jazeera political talk show is almost like a password to prove you belong. Need I mention who it was that gave Palestinian refugees the cold shoulder in 1948, and in ensuing events? Not their “great enemy”, but their Arab neighbors…in the same vein of those who told them to flee in the first place.

I say Karim Badar has a point. These people have been converted to numbers in a bank, a bank of excuses, a bank of rhetoric…what these people need is opportunities for education, and improved living conditions, and leaders who don’t buckle under pressure of fanatics (Hamas, Hizbullah)…what they don’t need is pages of inciting “solidarity” to create the next generation of terrorists and extremists. It’s almost like a parent (the Arab world) telling their child (the Palestinians) “well, you poor thing, you’ll never amount to much, I pity you. Don’t worry we’ve found someone to blame”. Feel free to look in the mirror حبيبي.