A group of (mostly) professors, most of whom specialize in the Middle East, have penned a letter “demanding” peace in the Middle East. Curiously, they do not seem to address their demand on those who are doing the killing—namely Arabs. Instead, they direct their ire at the usual targets, the US and Israel.
https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2018/07/11/scholars-demand-mideast-settlement-now/
Excerpts:
President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the six nation nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.
. . . Yet, in spite of its unmatched military capabilities in the Middle East, its strong cultural institutions, its technological capacities, and its high standards of living with respect to the other states in the region, Israel has negotiated peace agreements only with Egypt and Jordan.
. . . The United States government has provided immense financial and military support to Israel as have American citizens and American corporations. The American-Israeli Political Action Committee is one of the strongest pressure groups in the United States on a par with corporate lobbies and the National Rifle Association. The recent decision of the American government to move its embassy to Jerusalem, done without extracting any concessions from the government of Israel and with no support from its European allies, makes clear the American government’s support for the state of Israel.
Equally important and distinctly related, perhaps as severe as the tensions between Iran and Israel, is the presence of Israel’s soldiers on the west bank of the Jordan River, with its heavy Palestinian population. The Israel Defense Force has been in military occupation of that region for five decades, making it one of the longest military occupations of modern times. The Israeli state has used its power in that area to deny statehood to the Palestinians, to oppress the Palestinian population, to dispossess Palestinians of houses and land, and has established a substantial settler population, strongly committed to annexing these territories. American political decision makers, as well as Israeli political leaders, need to rethink their political, military, economic, and cultural policies in the region. If Israel maintains its army in the West Bank and continues, with Egypt, to isolate Gaza from the outside world, surely Israel will be seen as responsible for the well-being of the Palestinian populations. It will take on apartheid-like policies.
Where is there mention of the campaign of genocide being carried out by Muslims against Christians in the Middle East? Where is any mention of the plight of the Yazidis? Where is there any mention of the Sunni-Shia war that has been on-going for centuries virtually since the death of Mohammad? Where is there any mention of Palestinian terror against innocent civilians?
It is hardly surprising that “academics” like Richard Falk, Noam Chomsky, Joel Beinin, Ilan Pappe and James Gelvin (just to mention those I am familiar with) would write such a narrowly focused letter while presenting themselves as Middle East scholars. They have a clear anti-West, anti-Israel agenda. In their world, Arabs and Muslims are always innocent, the victims of Israel and the West, and never having to bear any responsibility for their own actions.
