Jewish World Review April 1, 2003 / 28 Adar II, 5763

How the Arabs outsmarted the West --- and have no reason to stop

By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen

http://www.jewishworldreview.com | I get it now. The Palestinian Arabs don't really want a state of their own.

They're just yanking our chain.

This finally dawned on me after the latest suicide attack in Israel.

The United States and Great Britain have made it clear that once Saddam Hussein is deposed, our next order of business in the region is to help create a Palestinian state in parts of what was originally intended to be Israel (and not to include parts of Transjordan where it should be, but that's another story).

So naturally, another suicidal murderer decides this is the perfect time to blow itself up in an Israeli shopping mall killing itself and, it hoped, a bunch of innocent civilians. This was done, the responsible organization claimed, as "a gift to the heroic Iraqi people."

Nothin' says lovin' like charred body parts, I guess. Someone ought to let these maniacs know that most people give candies or a nice houseplant. But maybe there's a method to their madness. The Arabs believe the U.S. and Israel are, in some strange, esoteric way, the same entity ? that if you cut one, the other bleeds. And they're right in the sense that the U.S. and Israel both treasure freedom and truth, and value and honor human life --- something foreign to the suicide/murder crowd.

Also, since the last and only positive thing the Arabs produced for mankind was algebra or something, and there's some question that that wasn't stolen from some conquered people, they may feel they have no other gift to give, and decided to "say it with death."

Most "peoples" have something uniquely their own to give the world ? something they produce that represents their nature.

The Germans, for instance, make a fairly reliable car and can usually keep the trains running on time. The Swiss produce a decent watch and nice chocolate. The French do an acceptable wine and tasty cheese; the Jews produce scientists, doctors, entertainers and all sorts of Nobel Peace Prize winners in every conceivable field; and the Americans provide the world with nearly everything. The Arabs have given the world the suicide killer.

It occurs to me there won't be much call for those once a Palestinian state is created.

I mean, the Palestinians have no other obvious talents. They produce nothing else. They subsist entirely on donations. Yasser Arafat has grown extremely wealthy on the charity of others, and that would presumably stop once the Palestinians achieve their stated goal. But since Arafat and his minions know they have no clue how to run a successful country, they don't really want one. Even if they were to achieve their ultimate desire - to wipe Israel out entirely - they wouldn't be able to make effective use of what the Jews have created there, and they know it.

It's a scam.

Otherwise, this latest suicide attack in Natanya makes no sense. The Palestinians must know they have no hope of achieving statehood without support from the U.S. and England. Knowing that, why would they announce they have hundreds of suicide killers inside Iraq, ready to murder American and British troops? How do they expect us to respond to that? By redoubling our commitment to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state where this kind of thing can go on totally unchecked? Does it make sense to antagonize the people you need to achieve what you say you want? Either these people are not the sharpest nails in the bomb belt, or they don't really want to get off the gravy train.

Palestinian statehood would kill the goose that lays the golden egg, and Arafat knows it. Maybe they're actually more clever than we give them credit for.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

To forward this column -- and we are certain you'll want to! -- PLEASE copy and paste this URL: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0403/zrihan_outsmarted.asp

Comment on JWR contributor Rachel Raskin-Zrihen's column by clicking here.