This Conflict Is All About Israel |
Sarah Whalen, Special to Arab News
War is raging in Iraq. This war is not about Armageddon, or even about oil. It's all about Israel.
US President Bush, on the eve of invading Iraq, posited a "new" plan for peace in the Middle East that proposes a Palestinian state. One aim bandied about is to convince Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders. Israel's response is that it is entitled to continue its absolutist reign of carnage against Palestinians and, literally, over anyone who dares to cross its path or question its actions. It is after all forever under siege by those who deny its right to exist. But if US ground troops are in the Middle East, Israel's protection is assured, and Israel logically will have to back down. The United States believes that it can use this militaristic opportunity to come into the Middle East, but establishing a United States of New Iraq is hardly its most important aim.
New buildings will go up, of course, to replace the ones we have bombed into rubble, but the aim of ground troops is to bolster Israel's government, and through this, bolster secularism and secular governments generally in the Middle East. "Be more like Turkey used to be" is the new motto for peace in the Middle East. Especially in Islamic states. Because as Osama Bin Laden proved unequivocally to a doubting West, few things are more powerful than a powerful idea.
And few ideas are more powerful than Islam.
It is Islam's all-pervasiveness that alarms the West and pushes it toward this pre-emptive war. What the West wants now, the United States included, is a Middle East where Islam is shorn not just of obstinate leadership, but of its sometimes explosive, primal force. An Islam relegated to a Friday congregational sermon and communal exchanges of goodwill is what the West is looking for.
The Shariah of course will be the first thing to go, Western culture having totally stripped the law of its power to cause fear and instill obedience. No more of those "barbaric" punishments. The West has spoken.
Islam will soon exist throughout the Middle East only in the way that Westerners find most palatable ‹ stripped down to its ornaments. The new Islam will consist of poetry, architecture, and voluminous costumes that Arabs will occasionally put on for weddings or state occasions, recalling how modestly they used to dress in obedience to God's will in the days before the last Iraq war, much as Swedes and Danes and Germans now throw on the occasional traditional costume. A few presents for Eid and perhaps a few days off every few years for the Haj will round out the religious calendar. Once in a while, you can get a permit from your city council to barbecue a goat or a sheep.
(Sarah Whalen teaches at Loyola University School of Law, New Orleans; she is an expert in Islamic law and taught Islamic law at Temple University School of Law.)
Arab News Features 24 March 2003
War is raging in Iraq. This war is not about Armageddon, or even about oil. It's all about Israel.
US President Bush, on the eve of invading Iraq, posited a "new" plan for peace in the Middle East that proposes a Palestinian state. One aim bandied about is to convince Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders. Israel's response is that it is entitled to continue its absolutist reign of carnage against Palestinians and, literally, over anyone who dares to cross its path or question its actions. It is after all forever under siege by those who deny its right to exist. But if US ground troops are in the Middle East, Israel's protection is assured, and Israel logically will have to back down. The United States believes that it can use this militaristic opportunity to come into the Middle East, but establishing a United States of New Iraq is hardly its most important aim.
New buildings will go up, of course, to replace the ones we have bombed into rubble, but the aim of ground troops is to bolster Israel's government, and through this, bolster secularism and secular governments generally in the Middle East. "Be more like Turkey used to be" is the new motto for peace in the Middle East. Especially in Islamic states. Because as Osama Bin Laden proved unequivocally to a doubting West, few things are more powerful than a powerful idea.
And few ideas are more powerful than Islam.
It is Islam's all-pervasiveness that alarms the West and pushes it toward this pre-emptive war. What the West wants now, the United States included, is a Middle East where Islam is shorn not just of obstinate leadership, but of its sometimes explosive, primal force. An Islam relegated to a Friday congregational sermon and communal exchanges of goodwill is what the West is looking for.
The Shariah of course will be the first thing to go, Western culture having totally stripped the law of its power to cause fear and instill obedience. No more of those "barbaric" punishments. The West has spoken.
Islam will soon exist throughout the Middle East only in the way that Westerners find most palatable ‹ stripped down to its ornaments. The new Islam will consist of poetry, architecture, and voluminous costumes that Arabs will occasionally put on for weddings or state occasions, recalling how modestly they used to dress in obedience to God's will in the days before the last Iraq war, much as Swedes and Danes and Germans now throw on the occasional traditional costume. A few presents for Eid and perhaps a few days off every few years for the Haj will round out the religious calendar. Once in a while, you can get a permit from your city council to barbecue a goat or a sheep.
(Sarah Whalen teaches at Loyola University School of Law, New Orleans; she is an expert in Islamic law and taught Islamic law at Temple University School of Law.)
Arab News Features 24 March 2003