<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.17063" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=383331621-07122010>very interesting articles. Lee</SPAN></FONT></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> yasmena@netzero.com
[mailto:yasmena@netzero.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, December 07, 2010 12:32
AM<BR><B>To:</B> Undisclosed-recipients:<BR><B>Subject:</B> Fw: [wvns] Uri
Avnery': "Islam is the Solution"<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><BR><BR>---------- Forwarded Message ----------<BR>From: "WVNS"
<ummyakoub@yahoo.com><BR>To: wvns@yahoogroups.com<BR>Subject: [wvns] Uri
Avnery': "Islam is the Solution"<BR>Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:50:02
-0000<BR><BR><SPAN style="DISPLAY: none"> </SPAN> <!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStartT|**|-~-->
<DIV id=ygrp-mlmsg style="POSITION: relative">
<DIV id=ygrp-msg style="Z-INDEX: 1"><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlEndT|**|-~-->
<DIV id=ygrp-text>
<P>"Islam is the Solution" <BR>Uri Avnery<BR>Gush Shalom - Israeli Peace Bloc
<BR><BR>FIRST, AN apology: I am not going to write about the Wikileaks.<BR>I
like gossip as much as the next (wo)man. The leaks provide a lot of<BR>it,
interspersed with some real information.<BR><BR>But there is nothing really new
there. The information only confirms<BR>what any intelligent person could have
worked out already. If there is<BR>anything new, it's exactly this confirmation:
the world is really<BR>managed the way we thought it was. How
depressing.<BR><BR>Four hundred years ago, Sir Henry Wotton, a British diplomat,
observed<BR>that "An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the
good<BR>of his country." Since then, nothing has changed except that
the<BR>ambassador has been joined by the ambassadress. So it is
quite<BR>refreshing to listen to what they say in secret messages home,
when<BR>they don't have to lie.<BR><BR>That said, let's move on to more
important things.<BR><BR>THIS WEEK'S ELECTIONS in Egypt, for
example.<BR><BR>Years ago, the story goes that a Soviet citizen went to the
polling<BR>station on election-day and was handed a sealed envelope to put
into<BR>the ballot box.<BR><BR>"Aren't I allowed to see who I am voting for?" he
asked.<BR><BR>"Of course not!" the stern-faced official retorted indignantly,
"In<BR>our Soviet Union, the elections are secret!"<BR><BR>This could not happen
in Egypt. First of all, because Egyptians are a<BR>very humorous people. If told
that their elections were secret, they<BR>would burst out
laughing.<BR><BR>Second, because they so obviously are not.<BR><BR>On one of my
visits to Anwar Sadat's Cairo, I had the chance to<BR>witness an election day.
It was a jolly occasion, more a medieval<BR>carnival than a solemn fulfillment
of democratic duty. Everybody was<BR>happy.<BR><BR>Visiting a polling station in
a village near the Giza pyramids, I was<BR>struck by this atmosphere of jolly
cynicism. No one even pretended<BR>that it was serious. Good-humored soldiers
guarding the locale<BR>volunteered to help old women in choosing the right
ballot and putting<BR>it in the envelope.<BR><BR>I am not sure whether this good
humor has been retained under the<BR>Mubarak regime, but the results are the
same. Media editors, all<BR>appointed by the government, prevent any criticism
of the government.<BR>Opposition activists are arrested well before election day
(if they<BR>are not in prison already). The government party is a sorry joke.
No<BR>one seriously pretends that the country is anything but a<BR>dictatorship.
The upper classes like it that way, not only out of<BR>fondness for their
privileges but also out of a genuine fear that<BR>under democracy, their country
would elect a fundamentalist religious<BR>regime, with burqas and
all.<BR><BR>ALL OVER the Arab world, this is a real dilemma. Free elections
would<BR>bring fundamentalists to power.<BR><BR>During the last century, secular
nationalism was in vogue. In many<BR>Arab countries, nationalist movements
sprang up. Their model was the<BR>great Ataturk - a revolutionary renovator as
no other. He suppressed<BR>Islam, forbade the fez for men and the hijab for
women, replaced the<BR>Arabic with the Latin script, fostered Turkish
nationalism instead of<BR>the Ottoman Islamism.<BR><BR>This, by the way, was a
model for many of us, who aspired to replace<BR>the Jewish religion and Zionist
pseudo-nationalism with a healthy<BR>Hebrew territorial secular nationalism. The
son of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda,<BR>the renovator of the modern Hebrew language, also
proposed replacing<BR>the Hebrew script with a Latin one.<BR><BR>In Turkey, the
Ataturk revolution is now threatened by the upsurge of<BR>a rejuvenated Islam.
In Israel, the new Hebrew nation is under siege<BR>by a fundamentalist,
aggressive Judaism. All over the Arab world, the<BR>situation is
worse.<BR><BR>To put it bluntly: secular nationalism has not delivered. It
has<BR>brought no real independence, no freedom, no economic
and<BR>technological breakthrough.<BR><BR>In the economic sphere, no Arab
country has succeeded in doing what<BR>has been done by Japan, South Korea and
even Malaysia, and what is<BR>being done now by China and India. The successful
Israeli example is<BR>near at hand and increases the frustration.<BR><BR>The
dream of a secular pan-Arab union, as envisioned by Gamal<BR>Abd-al-Nasser and
the original Ba'athists, is in tatters. So is the<BR>dream of Arab independence.
Almost all Arab countries are backward<BR>American clients and dance to the
American tune. A whole generation of<BR>Arab leaders has spectacularly
failed.<BR><BR>The most recent example was Yasser Arafat. He created a
Palestinian<BR>national movement that was proud of its non-sectarianism.
Christian<BR>Arabs played a significant role in the Palestine
Liberation<BR>Organization. George Habash was a Christian physician from
Ramallah,<BR>the Christian Hanan Ashrawi is one of the most articulate
Palestinian<BR>spokespersons.<BR><BR>Arafat himself was a practicing Muslim.
Often, even in private<BR>conversations, he would excuse himself, disappear for
a few minutes<BR>and return unobtrusively, while his assistants would whisper to
us<BR>that the Ra'is was praying. Yet he never tired of assuring
everyone<BR>that the future State of Palestine would be free of any
religious<BR>domination.<BR><BR>As long as he was alive, political Islam
remained a minor influence,<BR>and not because of any repressive
measures.<BR><BR>ALL THIS is history. The Sunni Hamas ("Islamic Resistance
Movement")<BR>and the Shiite Hezbollah ("Party of God") are becoming the models
for<BR>masses of young people all over the Arab world.<BR><BR>One of the major
reasons for this is Palestine.<BR><BR>If Arafat had succeeded in founding the
free and sovereign State of<BR>Palestine, the texture of Arab politics would
have changed, not only<BR>in Palestine itself but in all Arab
countries.<BR><BR>The rise of Hamas in Palestine is a direct result of this
failure.<BR>Secular Palestinian nationalism has been given a try, and has
failed.<BR>The Islamic revolutionaries are appealing to a people deprived of
all<BR>national and human rights, with no alternative in sight.<BR><BR>As the
Wikileaks show (here I go, mentioning them after all) not one<BR>single Arab
regime gives a damn about the Palestinians. That is<BR>nothing new - indeed,
Arafat created his movement, Fatah (`Palestinian<BR>Liberation Movement"), in
order to liberate the Palestinians, first of<BR>all, from the cynical Arab
regimes, all of which exploited the<BR>"Palestinian Cause" for their own
ends.<BR><BR>But the depth of cynicism revealed in these conversations between
Arab<BR>potentates and their American masters borders on outright
betrayal.<BR>This will increase the already massive frustration not only
in<BR>Palestine, but in all Arab countries. Any young Egyptian,
Jordanian,<BR>Saudi or Bahraini (to mention only a few) must be acutely aware
that<BR>his country is led by a small group for whom the preservation of
their<BR>personal power and privileges is vastly more important than the
holy<BR>cause of Palestine.<BR><BR>This is a deeply humiliating insight. It may
not produce immediate<BR>results, but when hundreds of millions of people feel
humiliated, the<BR>effects are foreseeable. The older generation may be used to
this<BR>situation. But for young people, especially proud Arabs, it
is<BR>intolerable.<BR><BR>I am very sensitive to this kind of feeling, because
at the age of 15<BR>I felt the same and joined the "terrorist" Irgun ("National
Military<BR>Organization"). I just could not stand the sight of my
leaders<BR>kowtowing before the British rulers of my country. Putting myself
in<BR>the shoes of a young Arab of similar age now in Jeddah, Alexandria
or<BR>Aleppo, I can just imagine what he feels. Even Ehud Barak, that<BR>veteran
Arab-fighter, once said that if he were a young Palestinian,<BR>he would join a
terrorist organization.<BR><BR>Sooner or later, the situation will explode -
first in one country,<BR>then in many. The fate of the Shah of Iran should be
remembered by<BR>those who speak - in secret documents - about the "Iranian
Hitler" who<BR>is on the verge of obtaining a nuclear bomb.<BR><BR>THE
FRUSTRATION about Palestine is the immediate cause of this<BR>humiliation, being
manifest for all to see, but the feeling itself<BR>goes beyond one single
cause.<BR><BR>Secular nationalism has signally failed the Arabs. Communism has
never<BR>taken root in the Islamic world, being by its very nature inimical
to<BR>the basic tenets of Islam. Capitalism, while attractive to some,
has<BR>also failed to solve any of the basic problems of the Arab
world.<BR><BR>The Islamic revolutionary movement in its many forms promises a
viable<BR>alternative. It is no fluke that the Egyptian dictatorship forbids
the<BR>use of the slogan "Islam is the Solution" - the simple and
effective<BR>slogan that unites the Islamic opposition in all the countries.
There<BR>is a gaping vacuum in the Arab world, with no one there to fill it
-<BR>except Islamism.<BR><BR>FOR THE US, this is a huge challenge. Obama seemed
to have perceived<BR>it, before he was swallowed - head and body - by the
American<BR>political routine.<BR><BR>Everybody seems to be talking about the
Decline of the American<BR>Empire. It's all the rage. What's happening in the
Arab world may<BR>accelerate or slow this process. The creation of a sovereign,
free and<BR>viable State of Palestine - with the electrifying effect this
would<BR>have throughout the Arab region, indeed the entire Islamic world
-<BR>would slow it considerably.<BR><BR>Judging from these leaks, this seems
very far from the minds of<BR>American statesmen and stateswomen, such as they
are.<BR><BR>For Israel, the outlook is even grimmer. The prospect of
a<BR>fundamentalist Arab world, with a completely new and popular set
of<BR>leaders, surrounding us on all sides, with the power of America
(and<BR>its Jewish lobby) declining ever more, is a frightening
prospect<BR>indeed.<BR><BR>If I were responsible for Israel at this moment, I
would worry about<BR>this much more than about the Iranian
bomb.<BR><BR>Fortunately, this is not an inescapable danger. Israeli policy can
do<BR>a lot to avert it. Unfortunately, we are doing the exact
opposite.<BR><BR>To those who chant "Islam is the Solution", our answer should
be: "A<BR>just Peace is the
Solution".<BR><BR>*********************************************************************
<BR><BR>WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE <BR><BR>To subscribe to this group, send an
email to: <BR><A
href="mailto:wvns-subscribe%40yahoogroups.com">wvns-subscribe@yahoogroups.com</A>
<BR><BR>To leave this list, send an email to: <BR><A
href="mailto:wvns-unsubscribe%40yahoogroups.com">wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com</A>
<BR><BR>NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW <BR><A
href="http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/">http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/</A>
<BR><BR>Please consider contributing to WVNS today. <BR>Email <A
href="mailto:ummyakoub%40yahoo.com">ummyakoub@yahoo.com</A> !<BR><BR></P></DIV><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStart|**|-~-->
<DIV style="COLOR: #fff; HEIGHT: 0px">__._,_.___</DIV>
<DIV id=ygrp-actbar
style="CLEAR: both; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; COLOR: #666; PADDING-TOP: 15px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">
<DIV><A style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"
href="mailto:ummyakoub@yahoo.com?subject=Re%3A%20Uri%20Avnery%27%3A%20%22Islam%20is%20the%20Solution%22">Reply
to <SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: 700">sender</SPAN></A> | <A
href="mailto:wvns@yahoogroups.com?subject=Re%3A%20Uri%20Avnery%27%3A%20%22Islam%20is%20the%20Solution%22">Reply
to <SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: 700">group</SPAN></A> | <A
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxaHZiNnZvBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzg3MTA3NjkEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MjEzNTI5BG1zZ0lkAzEyMjQ3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTI5MTY1MDY0MA--?act=reply&messageNum=12247">Reply
<SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: 700">via web post</SPAN></A> | <A
style="FONT-WEIGHT: 700"
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlN25yOTc4BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzg3MTA3NjkEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MjEzNTI5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cGMEc3RpbWUDMTI5MTY1MDY0MA--">Start
a New Topic</A> </DIV><A
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/message/12247;_ylc=X3oDMTM2Y28yaDkyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzg3MTA3NjkEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MjEzNTI5BG1zZ0lkAzEyMjQ3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTI5MTY1MDY0MAR0cGNJZAMxMjI0Nw--">Messages
in this topic</A> (<SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: 700">1</SPAN>) </DIV><!------- Start Nav Bar ------><!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| --><!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| --><!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<DIV id=ygrp-vital
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; FONT-SIZE: 10px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 10px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e0ecee"><SPAN
id=vithd
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #333">Recent
Activity:</SPAN>
<UL
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; LIST-STYLE-TYPE: none">
<LI
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; DISPLAY: inline; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; FONT-WEIGHT: 700; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><SPAN
class=cat><A style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJmcnRmMjZpBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzg3MTA3NjkEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MjEzNTI5BHNlYwN2dGwEc2xrA3ZtYnJzBHN0aW1lAzEyOTE2NTA2NDA-?o=6">New
Members</A></SPAN> <SPAN class=ct style="COLOR: #ff7900">4</SPAN> </LI></UL>
<DIV style="CLEAR: both; COLOR: #1e66ae; PADDING-TOP: 2px"><A
style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns;_ylc=X3oDMTJlYm1wNm9mBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzg3MTA3NjkEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MjEzNTI5BHNlYwN2dGwEc2xrA3ZnaHAEc3RpbWUDMTI5MTY1MDY0MA--">Visit
Your Group</A> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=ft
style="CLEAR: both; PADDING-RIGHT: 2px; MARGIN-TOP: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 11px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
style="FLOAT: left"
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJka25rZDdkBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzg3MTA3NjkEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MjEzNTI5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxMjkxNjUwNjQw"><IMG
style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px"
height=15 alt="Yahoo! Groups" src="http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/yg/logo/us.gif"
width=137 NOSEND="1"></A>
<DIV style="FLOAT: right; COLOR: #747575">Switch to: <A
style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="mailto:wvns-traditional@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change Delivery Format: Traditional">Text-Only</A>,
<A class=margin-rt style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="mailto:wvns-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email Delivery: Digest">Daily
Digest</A> • <A style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="mailto:wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe">Unsubscribe</A>
• <A style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">Terms of Use</A></DIV></DIV><!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| --></DIV><!-- ygrp-msg --><!-- Sponsor --><!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<DIV id=ygrp-sponsor
style="CLEAR: none; BACKGROUND: #fff; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 25px; WIDTH: 160px"><!-- Start Recommendations -->
<DIV id=ygrp-reco></DIV><!-- End Recommendations --></DIV><!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<DIV style="CLEAR: both; FONT-SIZE: 1px; COLOR: #fff">.</DIV></DIV><IMG height=1
src="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=8710769/grpspId=1705213529/msgId=12247/stime=1291650640/nc1=1/nc2=2/nc3=3"
width=1 NOSEND="1"> <BR>
<DIV style="COLOR: #fff; HEIGHT: 0px">__,_._,___</DIV><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlEnd|**|-~--><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStart|**|-~--><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlEnd|**|-~--><!-- end group email --><BR><BR><FONT
color=#000000
size=2>____________________________________________________________</FONT><BR><A
style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href="http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL3242/4cfdd510babd75dda3cst02duc"
target=_blank><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#004080 size=3><B>AIU Online®
Official Site</B></FONT><BR><FONT color=#000000 size=2>90% Of Students are
Satisfied With Their Experience at AIU. See Why!<BR></A><A
style="COLOR: #000000"
href="http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL3242/4cfdd510babd75dda3cst02duc"
target=_blank>AIUonline.edu</A></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>