CAIRO – This was a different kind
of intifada (uprising). Having
covered the First and Second
Palestinian Intifadas (1987-1993; 2000-
2004) first-hand, for me the contrast was
stark.
The Palestinian uprisings were full
of hate, based entirely on the negation and
demise of Israel and deeply Islamic: They
chanted Allah hu akbar (Allah is greater),
as they stoned, attacked, murdered and
blew up Israelis. Simply put, without Israel,
there is no Palestinian identity.
The myth that has emerged from
this is that the Palestinian problem is
the source of all the ills in the Middle
East; resolve it and the peace-loving Arab
peoples will live happily ever after.
The Egyptian Revolution shattered
this myth and exposed the striking double
standard of the international community
and selectivity of the so-called “human
rights”” groups. They were so busy lambasting
Israel that they never bothered to
check the human rights abuses in Egypt:
the brutality of the police, the use of torture,
cronyism, and the theft of billions of
dollars by the Mubarak family while the
average Egyptian lives on $2 a day.
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