Arab Writers Group Syndicate

Hamas kills civilians, but not as many as Israel
By Ray Hanania — Reuters, which is slightly more objective in covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict than most of its other Western counterparts, conservatively estimates that Israel’s military has killed “more than 100″ Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip during the past four months of this year. Palestinians put the number higher, at more than 250. B’tselem, the besieged Israeli human rights organization ostracized by fellow Jews, reports that Israeli soldiers have killed a total of 323 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year. When it comes to counting Palestinian lives, the numbers are always fast and loose, often dictated by Israeli control and a pro-Israel Western news media that hesitates to criticize Israeli policies too harshly. Read more »

At 60, Palestinians and Israelis must apologize and speak against their extremists as one voice
By Ray Hanania– The Hebrews fled Egyptian persecution more than 5,000 years ago, and yet their modern day ancestors continue to live in “da-nile.” Palestinians are often described as the most educated people in the Arab world, and yet they allow reason and common sense to be occupied by emotion. Israeli denial and Palestinian emotions stand in the way of peace and fuel the extremists on both sides. Neither side will acknowledge the pain they bring to the other nor will they stand up and silence the loud but small minority of extremists among their own people who exploit the conflict and have helped work against peace. What else is new after more than 60 years of conflict? Read more »

Hamas peace is an oxymoron
By Ray Hanania – Former President Jimmy Carter was sincere in his efforts to bridge the current conflict by bringing Hamas into a role as a participant in peace negotiations. But he is naïve is believing Hamas wants peace. Hamas is an extremist Islamist group that has succeeded in outdoing Israel’s government in committing violent acts and that has one goal, the creation of an Islamic Republic in Palestine. Hamas doesn’t want peace. It wants Israel’s defeat, something it will probably never have, at least not before wreaking a holocaust on its own people through escalating violence and conflict. Read more »

Prisoners of the past as the Palestine-Israel conflict hits 60 years
By Ray Hanania – Arabs and Jews share one trait: They master the art of selectively remembering the past, especially the tragedies. For Jews, it is the Holocaust. For Palestinians, it is “al-Nakba,” an Arab word for “the catastrophe.” But the biggest problem has always been the manner in which each side has championed their suffering while ignoring their own guilt. Jews mastered the art of public relations and communications, while Arabs mastered emotion, anger and hate. In more than 60 years, little has changed. Read more »

Read more »

Arabs driven by biases that mirror Israeli biases
By Ray Hanania – Last month, Hamas terrorists fired rockets into Israel and killed an Israeli girl. The attack provoked a massive response from Israel which claimed to target Hamas militants but ended up killing dozens of Palestinian civilians. Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs roundly condemned the Israeli attacks, but made no mention of the murder of the Israeli girl. Israelis were no different, condemning the murder of the little girl and then excusing away the murder of scores of innocent Palestinian civilians. As the back and forth escalated, the partisanship increased with Palestinians ignoring their attacks against Israel and Israelis ignoring their attacks against Palestinians. And people wonder why peace has been elusive so far in the Middle East. Read more »

Facebook defines a policy of fairness in an unfair world
By Ray Hanania – In this age of Israeli domination of the news media, and most of the political debate in the American dominated world, it is refreshing to find an objective face in the crowd. That objective face is Facebook, the popular Internet social networking site that began as a place for college students to gather in Cyber Space, but that has fast transformed into one of the most popular of online gathering places for people of all ages, even surpassing the more political MySpace. No longer restricted to college students, Facebook is open to the entire world. As a result, the “entire world” now has a say in terms of how that “entire world” should be portrayed on the Internet. Read more »

Don’t let violence prevent push for peace
Ray Hanania – If there is one certainty in the Middle East, it is violence. When the Arabs and Israelis have been at war, and when they have been at the peace table, violence takes place. The goal of the violence is to prevent a peaceful compromise because the extremists believe that if they can prevent compromise, they have protected their extremist belief that they can have it all to themselves. Read more »

Sharon’s Terror Child: How the Likud Bloc Mid-wifed the Birth of Hamas
By RAY HANANIA – Hamas is considered one of Israel’s greatest threats, but the Islamic terrorist organization found its beginnings in the misguided Israeli effort to encourage the rise of a religious alternative that would undermine the popularity of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Yasir Arafat. The strategy resulted in the birth of Hamas which rose from these Islamic roots. Read more »

Gaza killings fault of Hamas and silent Palestinians, too
By Ray Hanania – Hamas is a terrorist organization that is as dedicated to the destruction of Israel as it is to the destruction of the secular Palestinian society and the elimination of Christian Palestinians and secular Muslims. The organization has never advocated rights for secular or Christian Arabs in Palestine and have always embraced violence as a means of creating an environment in which they hope to one day achieve their fascist goals. You cannot blame Israel for the deaths without speaking out even more forcefully against the terrorist policies of Hamas. Read more »