Last nigh I have watched the the last section of Simon Schama's Story of the Jews. He shows in that the letter Emir Faisal, king of the Arab KIngdom of Syria wrote to Felix Frankfurter, leading American Zionist. In that Faisal said: 'We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together. ... We are working together for a reformed and revived Near East, and our two movements complete one another. I look forward, and my people with me look forward, to a future in which we will help you and you will help us, so that the countries in which we are mutually interested may once again take their places in the community of civilised peoples of the world.' If only Arabs of Palestine would have listened to the canny Emir who knew what was best for his people, the whole of the Middle East would have developed differently. The Middle East would now be a prosperous, peaceful part of the world, a powerful economic block with vast oil reserves and a great store of intellectual talent as well as advanced technology. But the myth of nationalism that captured both Arabs and Jews undermined the vision of both Faisal and Weitzman. In an age when after tremendous wars and bloodshed the countries of Europe have largely moved on from nationalism, Jews and Arabs still fight over imagined borders and are deluded by myths about the past. I wonder where the next Faisal, the next leader who puts the self interest of his people ahead of empty words and dreams of revenge will come from.
The more people would read this and share the sentiment the better the world would be.
ReplyDelete