Earlier in the month, the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche published an interview with Ahmed Sheikh, editor-in-chief of Al-Jazeera. The entire interview is worth reading but the final exchange is especially interesting.
It reads:
Sheikh: In many Arab states, the middle class is disappearing. The rich get richer and the poor get still poorer. Look at the schools in Jordan, Egypt or Morocco: You have up to 70 youngsters crammed together in a single classroom. How can a teacher do his job in such circumstances? The public hospitals are also in a hopeless condition. These are just examples. They show how hopeless the situation is for us in the Middle East.
Heumann: Who is responsible for the situation?
Sheikh: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.
Heumann: Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?
Sheikh: I think so.
Heumann: Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?
Sheikh: The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.
Heumann: In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?
Sheikh: Exactly. It’s because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West’s problem is that it does not understand this.
7 comments ↓
That has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.
Enough is enough, the Arab people cannot continue to go on using the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as an excuse for all their woes. THAT’s that problem with the Arab world, not Israel.
Till when is the west and israel the cause of arab incompetence and backwardness?
“Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million”
That just shows the danger Israel is in doesn’t it? 350million Arabs waiting for a chance to destroy it.
No wonder Israel is always on the offence. It is their best and most reasobale defence.
Here is the musical version.
The Muslim world (and its esteem) had been on the decline long before 1948 when Israel was formed.
I’d say that Arabs thinking that Israel is the cause of its stagnation leads to stagnation
pfff! is that realy the editor-in-chief of Al-Jazeera ? i just can’t believe that he can think and say something stupid like that!
israeli-palestinian conflict has a psychologic impact on people, that’s true, and it’s an alibi for politicians, dictators, islamists… but palestinian’s rights have nothing to do whith education or hospitals !!
that’s gross.
This is a horribly simplistic assessment of what’s wrong with the Arab world. It’s not terribly reassuring that Al Jazeera’s editor in chief uttered it.
The problems in the Middle East are so wide-ranging and different regions have unique issues to contend with. Jordan and Lebanon have “problems” in relation to the conflict in, say, refugees, but even then, it’s the refugees themselves who are experiencing social problems, are particularly facing economic challenges, are living in ghettos and slums, and seem to have very dim prospects for the future. Even then, none of this has anything to do with “losing to Israel”.
No doubt there is a collective impact on Arabs when it comes to what is happening to Palestinians — it’s in the public mind. But it’s not the cause of economic and social strife.
Errr .. does that mean United Arab Emirates
(a) is not Arab, and/or
(b) is not interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and/or
(c) has no feelings of self-esteem?
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