Interesting Times: Which occupation?

[...]

This week, Hamas and Fatah were busy killing each other, despite the Mecca deal and the "unity government" that emerged from it. Nine members of Mahmoud Abbas's security forces were killed by Hamas on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Hamas accuses Fatah of "waging war on the new government."

Of course, Hamas also blames all this on the Mossad and the CIA. If only Israel were not stirring things up, there would be tranquility in the Palestinian realm.
The Arab world's penchant for blaming others for its predicament is well known and in striking contrast to the West, which often blames itself for "rage" aimed in its direction. The Arab Human Development Reports, written by Arab scholars for the UN and which frankly highlight Arab backwardness in most categories of development, governance and human rights, are the exception that proves the rule.

[...]

Self-esteem is one thing, delusion and megalomania another. We see in Gaza what this "development model" means in practice: returning to the Muslim golden era not through education, enlightenment and creativity, but by the sword, through jihad. And to justify jihad, above all, Israel and the West must be blamed for the Arab predicament.

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