Anyone familiar with the simplest basis of deals in the Middle East knows
well that the moment one of the parties shows that it is facing pressure,
the price tag goes up, and the greater the pressure is, the higher the price
tag.
A people that has no patience, and that wants everything now without the
ability to suffer the pain of living in the poor, deprived, hungry, thirsty,
sick, split, and radical environment that surrounds us, cannot survive in
the oh-so-old Middle East, where the Shiites are still fighting for
supremacy in Islam, 1,400 years after it was taken away from them, and where
terms such as democracy, human rights, minority rights, freedom of women,
freedom of religion, and freedom from religion are but a distant dream, much
more distant than our impatience.
Mideast survival guide
We need patience, ideology, and endurance to survive in Middle East
Mordechai Kedar YNET Published: 07.19.08, 14:45 / Israel Opinion
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3570169,00.html
Our enemies read us, hear us, and understand us better than we understand
our own self-liquidation process, which we are engaging in with our very own
hands.
Our enemies see before them a people that is panic-stricken, emotional,
prone to tears, corrupt, hedonistic, reckless, and individualistic; a people
subscribing to a grab-what-you can mentality, lacking historical roots,
lacking ideology, devoid of values, lacking a sense of solidarity, wanting
everything now, and willing to pay any price without taking into account the
results of its reckless behavior.
Our enemies see media outlets that took sides, invested endless broadcasting
hours and limitless newspaper pages in order to produce a media melodrama
out of a wife's tear and a mother's sigh, thus creating public opinion with
the sense that we should pay any price for an immediate achievement. Yet who
appointed the media to determine our national priorities like that? Who
determined that it is appropriate to secure the return of two fallen
soldiers in exchange for a living murderer? Did anyone in the media think
about the future implications of the pressure exerted by the media on our
submissive government?
Anyone familiar with the simplest basis of deals in the Middle East knows
well that the moment one of the parties shows that it is facing pressure,
the price tag goes up, and the greater the pressure is, the higher the price
tag. Our media and public conduct every time we are facing our enemies -
those in Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip - shows them that they greater
the pressure they exert, the higher the price we shall be willing to pay for
easing the pressure, whether it is missile pressure or psychological
pressure.
Our media and public panic created a situation whereby we, with out very own
mouths, are boosting the price of any deal to the point we cannot accept it.
This was our foolish conduct vis-a-vis Hamas in Gaza, vis-à-vis Hizbullah in
Lebanon, and vis-à-vis Syria, as every day we hear in the media the "sages
of Zion" reciting like a parrot the mantra: "Everyone knows what's the price
of a ceasefire/return of the hostages/peace with Syria," and when our
enemies hear it, why should they demand less than what that fool says
"everyone knows"?
Our clock is different
Besides that, our clock is different than that of our enemies: Around here,
an average government serves for three years, and therefore it wants to do
something in that time and operates out of a sense of pressure that the
other side quickly recognizes.
The Muslims, in line with the Koran, believe that Allah is on the side of
those who have patience, and patience is found here on two levels: Time and
suffering. Allah helps those who do not rush and patiently wait for their
dreams to be realized, and in addition, are willing to patiently contend
with the suffering inherent in the struggle and expectation for the victory
that shall come, God willing. Nasrallah taught all of us some lessons, big
time.
A people that has no patience, and that wants everything now without the
ability to suffer the pain of living in the poor, deprived, hungry, thirsty,
sick, split, and radical environment that surrounds us, cannot survive in
the oh-so-old Middle East, where the Shiites are still fighting for
supremacy in Islam, 1,400 years after it was taken away from them, and where
terms such as democracy, human rights, minority rights, freedom of women,
freedom of religion, and freedom from religion are but a distant dream, much
more distant than our impatience.
Only a people that is instilled with ideology, possesses a sense of mission
and confidence in the righteousness of its path, and feels it is part of a
historical process and is willing to suffer and pay the price of
survivability in blood, sweat, and tears - only such people can survive in
the Middle East. This region is no place for post-Jewish spineless people
who are necessarily, sooner or later, also post Zionists.
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Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a member of the Arabic-language department and
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University
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