Some Arabs are
beginning to rethink the whole suicide bombing thing.
Like President Bush’s demand for democratic change and new leaders, the criticism of suicide bombing cuts to the heart of competing Palestinian visions for statehood, of the proper means for achieving it, and of the deference that should be paid to Israeli or American public opinion.
"You have to appeal to people’s self-interest, in terms of what works and what doesn’t work,’" said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian legislator from Ramallah.
Dr. Ashrawi was among 55 Palestinian politicians and intellectuals who published an unusual appeal to fellow Palestinians on June 19 in the Arabic-language newspaper Al Quds. It called for a reassessment of "military operations that target civilians in Israel" and urged those behind them to "stop pushing our youth to carry out these operations."
The letter said the attacks were not `"producing any results except confirming the hatred, malice and loathing between the two peoples" and endangering "the possibility that the two peoples will live side by side in peace in two neighboring states.
Naturally enough, something this breathtakingly humane and logical has met significant resistance from the Islamofascists.
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, a leader of the Islamic group Hamas, bitterly denounced the signers of the first petition, which he called "the appeal to declare war on the Palestinian resistance." Despite such strong criticism, none of the original petitioners have reported any threats.
It appears that the Islamofascists are starting to lose their chokehold on Islamic thought. Perhaps we are on the verge of an Islamic Reformation that will sweep aside the iron fist of a singular dominant theology as the Protestant Reformation did for Christianity centuries ago.
The thought of an Islamic reformation is a lovely one, but I think it’s wishful thinking at best. While I have great respect for the Islamic intellectual and mystical tradition (e.g. Sufism), the mainstream of the religion all too frequently makes our nation’s Christian fanatics look like libertarians. As long as the governments of the middle east are in the control of traditional Sharia-based regimes, there will be no real progress towards real freedoms, rights, and economic development.