Sectarian Disagreement
This is not an unfortunate difference of opinion between kin and clansmen. Didn't think it was. Looks and sounds more like war. From a fractious parliament to an all-out war. So much for stated commitment to the security, health and economic needs of the people they pretend to govern responsibly. Old tensions born of old resentments, born of old tribal grievances lead invariably to the kind of jihadism the antagonists seem to revel in.In other countries, among other cultures, traditions and social mores, that ancient primitive impulse to take up sword and cudgel against one's perceived enemy is subdued, gentrified, more civil if not less passionate, but certainly less deadly. There, the attention turns to aggressive team sports and even that can get out of hand, but never quite so egregiously as to turn into a remorseless battlefield.
Adolescents in advanced countries take to dressing like commandoes, engaging one another in simulated combat, using paintball guns to ensure the designated enemy knows whether and when he has been mortally wounded, or killed. Score-keeping is so much fun. And the kind of testosterone-impelled highs that are produced are almost like the real thing. But no one dies. The thrill-seekers can race cars, clamber the tallest peaks in the world and in that way tempt the grim reaper.
Not in the Middle East, though. They're proud of their code of honour, they cleave to the tribal wisdom that informs their daily lives, points out whom to mistrust, whom to target, whom to hate - upon whom to lay the guilt for their misfortunes and shortcomings. Mass acceptance of tribal instruction lays the handy groundwork for sticking one's humanity high up on a shelf seldom dusted.
They are committed, these opposing militias, Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to the mad concept of mutually assured destruction, defying reason to deter them. Not for them the nebulous, un-honourable concept of peaceful dissent, disarming themselves. Where's the challenge to one's manhood in defying the geography's feudal love of hate, revenge - the beautiful choreography of delivering death?
Ordinary Palestinians, civilians - men, women and children huddle in terror in their homes, fearful of venturing into the open lest they too die in an unavoidable crossfire of bullets. For some even remaining indoors will not help; bullets penetrate protecting walls and seek their hapless victims. "This is a disaster for all the Palestinian people," said Gaza City aid worker Mohammed Abu Najela.
Gangs of masked and heavily armed men roam the streets. Anarchy, total chaos, a convulsion of hate. Children killed in a crossfire of bullets. Hospitals are frantically attempting to treat untold numbers of wounded, appealing to Gazans to risk the streets and donate badly-needed blood.
And elsewhere? Quiet for the time being in Lebanon, after they suffered their own internecine battles, Hezbollah's terrorist militias capturing the streets, the citizens embattled, seeking comfort and safety in their homes, hoping the fighting will soon subside; Shia versus Sunni, murder on the minds of all. Sheik Nasrallah triumphant, the ordained of Allah.
Iraq? A simple misunderstanding, an aggrievement between residents. Sunnis seeking revenge, patrolling the streets, targeting Shia populations. Mosques blown up, shrines brought to ruin, neighbourhoods devastated. Shia militias following the orders of Muqtada al-Sadr preying on Sunni neighbourhoods, destroying forever the hopes of future reconciliation between the solitudes.
Daily, hundreds of innocent Iraqis die. Suicide trucks posing as innocent purveyers of goods, blowing up dozen of innocents assembled to find work, to purchase market goods. Suicide bombers blowing themselves into Paradise and their targets into hell. Suicide car bombs striking neighbourhoods killing haphazardly. All in the name of the Most High.
They remain as always eager and oh so willing to succumb to the infantile, beloved tyranny of feudal strife, stealth strike against both the region's intruders and tribal counterparts. Long live the iconography of terror!
Labels: Middle East
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, February 04, 2007
<< Home