Nakbar Demonstrations A Fight for Public Sentiment

Today’s 63rd anniversary of Nakbar may go down in history as the day Israel began a desperate public relations battle for public sentiment, not to mention a potential 3rd Intifada. 

Today’s Nakba demonstrations – commemorating “the catastrophic day that Israel was created 63 years ago – are erupting all along Israel’s borders with Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and in the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip, into violent clashes with the IDF. The ‘celebrations’ this year are being fueled by the call for freedom and turmoil in the Middle East, and a much larger participation in the event than in previous years. The IDF forces are being confronted with masses of emboldened Arabs, the likes of which we have been seeing in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Lebanon’s ‘Spring Fever’ for Freedom.

Reports coming in:

• At least 45 youths hurt by IDF fire along Gaza fence;

• In West Bank, troops attempt to disperse protesters;

• Firebomb hurled at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.

• Thousands protest at Rafah crossing at Gaza-Egypt

• UN calls for calm at Lebonese-Israeli border

• IDF confirms firing on infiltrators at Syrian border

• Protestors gather at Ezra near Gushon Etzion settlement

• Israel deploys 100’s of security forces at northern border

• Palestinian police disperse hundreds trying to approach Israeli settlements in West Bank

• 4 protesters killed, 11 hurt in shooting incident at Lebanon-Israel border

• Hamas PM in Gaza tells thousands of worshipers that Palestinians have ‘right to resist’ Israeli occupation, reiterates that the Islamic movement will not recognize Israel.

As the various reports are coming in, we continue to see that the demonstrations do contain violent components with some of the protesters pushing thru border fences, throwing rocks at Israeli security forces, are infiltrating from Syria. At the same time we also see a rush for leaders of this ‘movement’ to hit the media outlets with politically charged information and misinformation aimed at ‘owning the truth’. History has shown us that the first to speak are the first to be believed, even if it is not the truth. A so-called first-hand witness is a hard act to follow and this is how lies become truths. (For confirmation on that just check out the recent recant by Goldstone of the UN Goldstone Report.)

It is early in the reporting of this huge ongoing development, but I am witnessing the different stories coming across the wires, on TV and on the InternetNews websites and the commentary attached to it. For instance, the first reported fatality in East Jerusalem of a Pro-Palestinian was blamed on an IDF soldier, but the bullet was later found to be from a gun of a locally employed security guard. 

As the news events hit the media, we will be hearing more and more Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israeli representatives speaking out in their own defense as they engage in the public relations battle for public sentiment. The Israeli speculation expressed today by Afikhay Adrai, representative of the IDF, is: “The Syrian regime is intentionally attempting to divert international attention from their brutal crackdown of their own civilians” and are instigating the demonstrators in the Golan Heights, and the northern border to take focus off of their issues. Meanwhile, the Palestinian National Initiative spokesperson, Mustafa Barghouti, is accusing members of the IDF of not being dressed in army uniforms and pretending to be part of the demonstrations. “They are the ones throwing the rocks.”

The truth is that this Nakba Anniversary weekend has been in the planning stages for several months. The organizers have chosen to keep a low profile by not using the MSM outlets, but have been organizing on Pro-Palestinian websites like http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/palestine’s-‘refugee-revolution’-set-for-15-march-«-arab-revolt-الثورة-العربية/ and have rallied the Muslim world behind this event.

The timeliness of this anniversary has put it in the midst of chaos in the Middle East. There are dictators fighting for their lives and rebels fighting for ‘democracy; flotillas planning to sail in convoys with the intent to break the Gaza Port blockade; there is a growing global Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semetism movement; a new unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas; radical Muslims calling for revenge for Bin Laden; and a Pro-Palestinian attempt to delegitimize Israel and its right to exist and defend itself. Israel is clearly being ganged up on from all sides.

Americans and Jews around the world have to be wondering how the Obama administration will deal with the big message that is coming from Hamas’ Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who told 10,000 worshipers in the Gaza City Mosque on Sunday that Palestinians have a “right to resist Israeli occupation,” and he reiterates that the Islamic movement “will not recognize Israel.” Obama better get it right…so much is at stake.

Commentary

It appears that the world, including the US, is strategically becoming more focused and polarized on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, rather than the broader struggle of Western democracy vs. Islamic ideology. For some, it may be because they are just worn down from the fighting between the two, or wonder why Americans have to be involved at all. They want this issue to be over and are frustrated by the obvious repeat of history, over and over again, without any resolve. They may in fact, be willing to stop the fight.

But, it is the bigger picture that is even more troubling and leaves one with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness and a greater sense of danger. Israelis face this everyday, realizing it could be their last day. Palestinians do not need to feel this if they stop shooting rockets into Israel, stop bombing buses, stop martyrs from blowing themselves up along with others in shops and restaurants, and stop killing people while they sleep just because they are Jewish.

Israelis only defend themselves and the land of Israel as their homeland. Peace would happen if Arabs were willing to accept Israel as the only Jewish State in the world and find a homeland for the Palestinian people in the vast lands they already occupy. However, it seems that will be impossible as long as the Qu’ran is the word of the Arab lands and killing Jews is justified. Until that day, people around the world must recognize that Israel is still the only true democracy in the Middle East and no ‘revolution’ will make an Arab country ‘westernized’, or really like Americans.