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There They Go Again, Those Arab Racists
By Ariel Natan Pasko
There they go again. The story is so old already. Arab militia or Arab
army or Arab terrorist attacks non-Arab. Or was that Muslim fanatic
attacks non-Muslim? This time it's happening in Sudan.
While we're sitting and talking probably a few hundred more black Africans
in Sudan have starved to death, or been brutally killed, raped, enslaved,
or simply pushed off their land by 7th century Arab imperialist invaders,
or more rightly "Arab Settlers".
Oh yes, that's right "Arab settlers"...
Like the ones Saddam Hussein brought into Kurdistan - i.e. the Kurdish
areas of northern Iraq in the 1970's - to displace the indigenous Kurds,
during his forced Arabization campaign. Forcibly relocating many Kurds
from the Kurdish heartland in the north, he razed all Kurdish villages
along a 1,300-kilometer stretch of the border with Iran.
Now Sudan is doing the same thing.
While Arab militiamen known as the Janjaweed, rape, slaughter and drive
out over a million black Africans from their homes in western Sudan, the
government in Khartoum turns a blind eye. The Janjaweed have killed about
30,000 people and left some 2 million in desperate need of aid, or there
will be humanitarian disaster. The Janjaweed has been described as an Arab
Islamic group that has targeted mostly black Christians. According to some
reports, the Sudanese government itself armed and paid the militia of Arab
raiders, and authorized them to slaughter and drive out members of the
Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur tribes.
This has all taken place under the watchful eye of Kofi Annan, the UN,
Colin Powell, the US, the European Union, and 20-something Arab League
states. I can understand the Arab states turning a blind eye to the ethnic
cleansing campaign underway (or impending genocide?), it doesn't look good
having "Arab Settlers" butchering people. But why haven't Annan and
Powell, sons of the African continent, gone ballistic? After all, it is
their black brothers who are getting it, from the Arabs this time. And
what about the Europeans who are always so "human rights" oriented when it
comes to Israel, why not on the African continent?
Sudanese President Omar Bashir pledged to US officials to disarm the
Janjaweed and other militias, but he's promised that before...
Jan Egeland, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, complained that the
United Nations was slow to act in Darfur, where aid workers say about
350,000 people could die this year of disease or malnutrition. He also
blamed Khartoum for lack of action in aiding the refugees.
A typical UN do-goody, Egeland seems to have overlooked the fact that the
Sudanese government might have deliberately caused this problem. It's a
typical Arab/Muslim land grab. It's happened in Iraq, it's happened in
Lebanon with Syria occupying Lebanon and persecuting the Christians there,
and it's happened in Israel, where 7th century Arab imperialist invaders
and 20th century Arab squatters have tried to displace the indigenous
Jewish population.
Arab Settlers, and they're violent at that...
Describing the pogrom-like atmosphere, one woman told how the Janjaweed
entered the village. She said, "The Janjaweed shouted, 'We will not allow
blacks here. We will not let Zaghawa here. This land is only for Arabs.'"
Another woman described how the Janjaweed took her and her two sisters
away on horses and gang-raped them. The raiders shot one sister, and cut
the throat of the other, they then discussed how to mutilate her. "One
Janjaweed said, 'You belong to me. You are a slave to the Arabs, and this
is the sign of a slave,'" she recalled. He slashed her leg with a sword
before letting her hobble away, stark naked.
"First the planes were flying over us and bombing us. Then the Janjaweed
came," a third woman described. "They started to shoot and burn. They took
all our belongings. They took men and slit their throats with swords. The
women they took as concubines."
The situation is so horrendous, that the former editor, Abd al-Rahman Al-Rashed,
of a prestigious Arab daily "al-Sharq al-Awsat" (London), recently
published an op-ed titled, "The Death of 300,000 People." In the article,
al-Rashed decried the Arab media's apathy to the violence in Sudan.
al-Rashed wrote, "They are not the victims of Israeli or American
aggression; therefore, they are not an issue for concern...Is the life of
1,000 people in western Sudan less valuable, or is a single killed
Palestinian or Iraqi of greater importance, merely because the enemy is
Israeli or American?"
He continued, "It is a grave matter that government-sponsored forces or
militias should be allowed to carry out the annihilation of people in
order to achieve quick or decisive victory...As for Arab intellectuals who
see nothing in the world but the Palestinian and the Iraqi causes, and who
consider any blood not spilled in conflicts with foreigners to be cheap
and its spilling justifiable, they are intellectual accomplices in the
crime."
What does all this have to do with Israel?
Well, as I wrote back in March 2004, (Israel Should Support the Kurds
Against Syria):
"As the discussion of democratization of the Middle East continues, an
important point that must be made time and time again, is the importance
in building structures that liberate the minorities of the region from
oppression.
Non-Arab and Non-Muslim minorities live throughout North Africa and the
Middle East. Contrary to the propaganda that the region is Arab/Muslim,
these minorities are remnants of the indigenous peoples, before the great
Arab imperialist wars of the 7th century, and "Islamicization process"
that followed. Non-Arab Muslims like the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and
Iran; the Berbers - known as Amazighes - in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and
Libya, have all resisted Arabization for over 1,000 years. Non-Muslims
like the Christians in Iraq - who argue that they are not Arabs - the
Copts in Egypt, Christian Lebanese - many who claim not to be Arab but
Phoenician - the Christians in Sudan, and other Christians throughout the
region, have been persecuted minorities, since the rise of Islam. Others
like the Druze and Jews have also been persecuted by Arab/Muslim regimes
throughout history..."
"Only Israel, the Jewish State, has fully liberated itself - in the
political sense - from this Arab/Muslim oppression, although it still
suffers from physical violence against her people. Israel should take the
lead - in it's foreign policy - to support democratization and regime
change throughout the region. Israel shouldn't wait until countries of the
region reform, but should pro-actively support the legitimate aspirations
of the oppressed minorities of North Africa and the Middle East, and build
alliances with them."
Since writing those words, news of Israeli security cooperation in the
Kurdish areas of Iraq has leaked out. Although denied by all involved, I
can only hope that it's true and that the Mossad is listening. It should
begin to branch out to work with other minorities throughout the region as
well.
I haven't yet mentioned the so-called "Palestinians," and I won't beyond
saying, that they are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Aren't they an oppressed minority? No, as Arabs, they are part of the
greater Arab Nation who since the 7th century has conquered, oppressed,
and occupied everyone else in the Middle East and North Africa. As radical
Muslims, everyone can see that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the other terror
groups are continuing down the same path as Bin Laden. In fact, not long
before his assassination, Hamas "spiritual leader" Sheikh Yassin had begun
speaking about the "Global Jihad" in Bin Laden and al-Qaeda type terms.
Hezbollah has also been working in the "Palestinian" administered
territories for a while already, as evidenced by Israel's recent capture
of a Hezbollah cell in Gaza. So, they are part of the regional oppression
network, not the future liberty and freedom alliance that Israel should
work to build with other minorities in the area.
Like that Arab murderer in Sudan who said, "This land is only for Arabs,"
the late Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi said not long before his demise,
"We will continue with our holy war and resistance until every last
criminal Zionist is evicted from this land. By G-d we will not leave one
Jew alive in Palestine. We will fight them with all the strength we have.
This is our land, not the Jews." Most of the so-called "Palestinians"
agreed with him.
Arab racism marches on...
Israel should speak out strongly against the ethnic cleansing and
potential genocide taking place in Sudan today, just as I've urged it do
about the atrocious Syrian occupation in Lebanon. Israel should support
the rights of the Kurds to an independent state and encourage other
indigenous peoples and their liberation movements.
A major element of Israel's strategic foreign policy should be based on
supporting the rights of minorities in the area. Only that way, based on
democratization, liberation from oppressive regimes, and encouraging
freedom, will the Middle East and North Africa be transformed into a
region worthy of its millennia old history.
A pre-Arab and pre-Muslim history I might add!
Ariel Natan Pasko is an independent analyst & consultant. He has a
Master's Degree in International Relations & Policy Analysis. His
articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites,
in newspapers, and can be read at: www.geocities.com/ariel_natan_pasko |
