MaxedOutMama

"What is going on now in the Gaza Strip, since Israel withdrew from it, is a clear example that exposes the faults of what we have done. The domestic infighting among brothers of the same homeland, wretched from the occupation and wretched from the yielding of their culture, is too great and too dangerous to be [just] the result of differences of opinion among the factions, or the absence of a strong central government, or even of what they call the weapons anarchy.

"It is definitely all of this. But the most dangerous thing about this, and that which the bilateral meetings between the sides, or meetings under the auspices of a third party… or even the folkloric Arab League summits have been unable to overcome, is that the all-against-all infighting and its basic code have become the mental and psychological makeup of the Palestinian people, as a natural result of the predominant discourse of hostility and incitement. [This discourse] has been adopted by Palestinians of all persuasions and in all the factions - religious, pan-Arab revolutionary, and leftist. It is a discourse whose aim was sowing hatred, having recourse to violence, and enjoying spilling blood.
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"The natural consequence of the rule of the culture and psychology of violence and its expansion is the fraternal violence we see [today], which has defied and will [continue to] defy all attempts to contain it - [violence among brothers] whom we all agree are miserable by any standard.

"The state of the Palestinian territories is perhaps the most critical in this respect… but we can give similar examples from all corners of what is called the greater Middle East - among them what is happening in Iraq among the Sunnis, the Shi'ites, and the Ba'thists as a result of the influence of the Ba'thist-Saddamist discourse…

"There are thousands of other examples, which seem at first sight less important and less acute in their level of violence, but that we assess as more serious because they indicate the expansion of the culture and psychology of violence and the rejection of discussion… This is among regular people in their daily lives…

"Violence naturally exists at all times and in every place. But we are in the midst of a striking growth in violence, not to say an increase at a catastrophic rate. In my estimation, this is the fruit that we are harvesting because we sowed thorns for over half a century.

"Thus, the crisis in the region is not the amount of disagreements in points of view or differences in interests [between ourselves] and our neighbors or the world. In both of these [cases], reason and dialogue can find solutions, whether comprehensive or partial, that are completely satisfactory, acceptable, or at least can be borne.

"Rather, the true crisis in the region is that the peoples of the region need psychological and cultural reeducation - which must necessarily be preceded by halting the discourse of violence, incitement, and hatred, in all its colors and classifications.

"But can this come about when the fires of hatred have already broken out [everywhere]?"

The Arab world birthed a radicalized version of Islam because the values of dysfunctional leaders were forced on the religion. That radicalization was nurtured because it became clear as the 20th century drew to a close, the ummah in the Arab world and elsewhere would not tolerate their marginalization from the rest of the world. They too, were entitled to a part of the future. An population that made demands of their leaders was unacceptable to Arab tyrants.

Dysfunctional leaders suddenly embraced a religion they had rejected for years and proceeded to reshape that religion into something that would legitimize their own dysfunction and evil ideologies. Aided by ‘religious leaders’ who were in fact no more than paid state employees, Islam began a transformation. The ‘radical Islam’ we see today is not a ‘religious renaissance.’ The violence and anger we see on our TV screens is not an expression of Islam. What we see is a carefully crafted reworking and redefinition of Islam, brought about by evil and dysfunctional leaders that have made those distortions a part of Arab culture.