Subject: Palestinian opinions on US foreign policy
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 06:07:11 -0700

Hi, another quiet day. A friend from home has asked how people here
feel about the US invasion of Iraq, WMDs etc.
Bearing in mind that i'm not trying to speak for anyone here, i'll tell
you my perceptions of Jenin opinion, based on hundreds of conversations.
First, everyone, literally everyone that i've talked to here, Hates
Bush, regardless of their background, education, life experience. Many
express a fondness for Clinton. They all despise Bush, and for a number of
reasons. First off, he called Sharon a "man of peace" during the Jenin Camp
Massacre, second he obviously supports Israel blindly, at the expense of
Palestinians. They see him as a rich boy who never had to get his hands dirty, and
doesn't place value on human life, just on $$$. He probably shouldn't
take me up on the invite i offered yesterday, to come here, in short. They
talk alot about his oil connections, and express genuine shock that the
American people accept and or believe his views/actions. In regards to Iraq,
they are quite sure its all about oil, and are deeply upset at the civilian
casualties caused by our military. And i do mean deeply, they feel it
very strongly and are pissed off about it. They inform me often that the US
military is made of the poorest sectors of US society, and he sends
then into wars that won't benefit them, and that he doesn't much care what
happens to them. For sure, there is no acceptance here of Bush's
public reasons for going to war. Alot of them think we are pretty dumb or
naive to have accepted the war. They also are aware that America gets different
news than the rest of the world, and in that realization lies much of our
{yours and mine} cushion with these folks. Like its not necesarily our fault,
but the sooner we figure things out the better.
There is some variance in opinion about our invasion of Afghanistan.
Most see it as colonialist in nature, a masquerade for the pipeline, under a
pretense of human rights. But many if not most are glad to see the
Taliban gone, they didn't like that extremism much at all, nor do they express
any interest in a holy war against the west. They resent our invasion there
overall, and are quick to point out how quickly we've abandoned it.
But again, are glad to see the Taliban removed from power. In Gaza you
might find more support for Islamic extremism, i've heard and read, thus
Hamas.
I think that most folks here think US foreign policy is imperialist,
out of control and incredibly destructive. They like America though, mostly,
and most would like to visit. they differentiate between the gov't and us
folks, better than the average Yank does. There is no reciprocal here
for the "Bomb the towel heads" crap you hear at home. Thats not to say
however that they necasarily respect us intellectually a whole lot, most don't.
Kinda like we've swallowed alot of lies and propagandha fed us by oil
companies and our gov't, so that doesn't make us malicious participants
aimed at hurting people, but it also doesn't make us that clever or
shrewd. Sorta like naive rich kids who don't quite understand how things happen
on the streets, back home. Make sense?
For sure, the main thing here and across the Islamic world in
particular, and the whole world in general, is blind US support of Israel,
including our use of our security council veto everytime the world tries to help
Palestine. They hate Sharon, with darn good reason, and we call him an
ally. So there ya have it. we aren't givin them much choice but to
look at us suspiciously. Go read about Sharon's past, read about Sabra and
Shatila, read about how he regards Arabs. He hates them, straight up. If he
could magically erase the existence of every Palestinian, i think he would.
Palestinians don't feel that way about Jews, at least none i've met.
And you shouldn't think thats because they wanna put on a pretty face for
me, and act different than they feel, because they aren't afaid to
figuratively tear you a new one in a political discussion, or present views they
know you won't like. Oh, yeah, i forgot something. Before i came here i didn't know that
most Palestinians {at least in Jenin} despise Arafat too. He is seen as a
sellout, power hungry etc. However, they do resent attacks on their
elected government. Its a sovereignty issue for them, not one of supporting
Arafat.
So, when America and Israel talk about "removing" Arafat, those are
definitely fighting words. Not because folks here like him, but
because its not for us to decide.on the whole, most Palestinians are very politically conscious, know
more about the world than we do, including acknowledgements of the true
nature of global political power that most Americans fail to grasp, e.g. IMF
World Bank, WTO, et al.
So, theres some info on how people here feel about our political
landscape. The ball is in our court, largely. They're ready to be friends,
especially if we get our gov't under control. That would take about one tenth of
the effort that these folks are forced to put into simply staying alive.
Yours In Struggle, Ben , Jenin , Palestine