Steve E. (who pointed me at Daniel Pipes in the first place) replies to other feedback on Daniel Pipes:
Joe, your approach reminds me of someone I once knew in grade school. While she was drawing a picture on a piece of paper, she would stop and press her finger firmly on the center of her paper and then spin the paper around the axis of her finger. When I asked her why she did that, she simply said she needed to see the picture from every angle. 🙂
Joe, I’ve done alot of research on the Middle East have travelled to both Israel and Egypt.
I’ve personally met Daniel Pipes and liked him.
Before anyone “decries” Daniel Pipes I recommend that they spend some serious time researching the issues.
A good place to start is the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting, http://camera.org/
“Founded in 1982, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East. CAMERA fosters rigorous reporting, while educating news consumers about Middle East issues and the role of the media. Because public opinion ultimately shapes public policy, distorted news coverage that misleads the public can be detrimental to sound policymaking. A non-partisan organization, CAMERA takes no position with regard to American or Israeli political issues or with regard to ultimate solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
Then ask themselves a few questions:
“Whatever the root causes of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, there are certain tragic cultural facts and differences that stand in the way of peace negotiations between the people of Israel and the Palestinians. No Israeli child has ever strapped a bomb to his back and gone off to kill civilian Palestinians, and yet the Palestinian leadership does too little to dispel the notion among its more extreme citizens that killing Israelis with a suicide bomb is the surest route to heaven. How can Israel deal with a population of parents that stand aside or even encourage their children to become martyrs?”
“How can Yassir Arafat, whom Forbes Magazine says is worth more than three hundred million dollars, claim to be a leader who understands and represents an impoverished people when he has become rich at their expense?”
“Is it too much to ask that the Palestinian leadership not sponsor terrorists? Is it unreasonable to insist that they stop killing innocent Israeli children before Israel jeopardizes her security and make concessions for peace?”
“Why do Palestinian schools have pictures of suicide bombers hanging up in the hallways of their schools or celebrate them as martyrs? Why do they name sports teams in the West Bank after suicide bombers? How can Israel make peace with the Palestinian people when their leaders instill a culture of terror against the Israeli people?”
“How can the Palestinian people end their impoverishment if their leaders continue to steal precious resources from them, which are then used to support terror?”
“Why has Yassir Arafat been in power for so long, and yet made so little progress towards a peaceful resolution? If he were truly committed to peace, would he not have made a sincere effort to achieve it by now?”
“When will the Palestinian people themselves have a voice at the peace table?”
Very good points. Thanks Steve!
And yes, I do like to draw on all points of view. I’ve been lucky to have great points of view to draw from.
