By Mahmoud Al Abed
English News Editor
Albawaba.com - Amman
The ongoing conflict in the Palestinian lands has, since Sharon’s rise to power, taken a serious turn.
Apart from diplomatically worded statements by the Arab summit and other parties involved in the conflict, including the US and the EU, warning of the devastating results of the spiraling “violence,” there is the element of deus ex machina, that is rising from the ashes. But beware, it is unimaginably dangerous.
The term, according to Britannica.com, was first used in ancient Greek and Roman drama, where it meant the timely appearance of a god to unravel and resolve the plot. The deus ex machina was so named because of the convention of the god's appearance in the sky, an effect achieved by means of a crane. The dramatic device dates from the 5th century BC; a god appears in Sophocles' Philoctetes and in most of the plays of Euripides to solve a crisis by divine intervention.
The Israelis believe in Armageddon, and the resurrection of Christ to save the Israelis from the surrounding danger, but apparently they are not in a hurry, making do with Ariel Sharon to step heroically on the upraising Palestinians, bringing, once and for good, an end to the Palestinian violence against the civilized, pacific and peaceful God’s Chosen People!!
But the notion also seems to be very applicable on the other side of the fence, among the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslims, and the reason? The Israelis’ choice of Sharon, knowing in advance what exactly he would do.
Sharon and his war government have been doing “a good job”, declaring an all-out war against the Palestinian people, assassinating and attempting to assassinate their leaders, including top Palestinian negotiators and intensifying sanctions, despite lip-service statements that they intend to ease the siege imposed on the Palestinian lands.
Then came the Amman summit, which did nothing to show there is a light at the end of the tunnel, not only because its heated statements against Israel are impotent in curbing the Israeli aggression, but due to the fact that Sharon responded arrogantly by shelling Palestinian towns hours after the summit concluded. The Arab peoples were able then to tell the exact weight of their governments.
In parallel, the third blow came from the US, which vetoed a UNSC resolution responding minimally to Palestinian and Arab demand of international protection of the Palestinians.
In times of despair, “extremism” blooms.
When Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, many protested, but many were talking about hope in a better economic future with an influx of foreign money into the peaceful region to save them from the suffering caused by stupid government policies and corrupted officials.
People were listening to Friday sermons and nodded their heads in agreement with Imams saying that the conflict with Israel is a matter of existence that will end with the annihilation of the Jewish state at the hands of an army of faithful soldiers.
However, when the worshippers left mosques and met with relatives at lunch, they were talking about the promising new era, accepting Israel as the status quo and trying to imagine the future of the region when the Palestinian state is established. Some Palestinian refugees would discuss what they would do with the money given in compensation for Israeli occupation of their lands in 1948.
But all of this has changed, and people are now listening attentively to clerics talking to them about the inevitable war prophesied in Prophet Mohammad’s traditions when the Muslims are to the east of River Jordan fight the Jews to the west, when the trees and rocks tell on Jews hiding behind them, calling on the Muslim to “come and kill them.”
They would wait for the year 2022 when Israel would be wiped out, as foretold by a Palestinian cleric, who was among other Islamists deported by Israel to Marj Zohour, south Lebanon during the first Intifada. He based his prophecy on an extraordinary interpretation of Surat Al Israa’, a chapter in the Holy Quran on the conflict between the Muslims and the Jews.
People have given up hope of achieving justice, and will wait for Al Mahdi, the leader the Prophet said would come to save the world from overwhelming injustice, to be followed by Jesus Christ who will lead the Muslim army to triumph over the world.
In the meanwhile, the Palestinians, backed by their brethren Arabs, will be fighting the Israelis in a suicidal style, in the belief that the occupiers will never be ready for peace and withdrawal from the lands they seized by force and through Western support. They can’t be blamed after all hope of leading a normal life on their national soil has been extinguished by Israeli tank, helicopter and snipers’ fire.
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
