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2001-12-12 | 3:56 p.m.

Argh! Now here comes Patrick saying "Arafat is irrelevant. It's not that he can't control his own; they are not his own. He's not elected, he doesn't even seem to be recognized by the majority as a legitimate leader. They seem to be listening to Hamas leadership now. And do not forget to mention the equally intractable Israeli leadership."

I know that it's true that many Palestinians had lost faith in Arafat as of the first Intifada and after; though they had once supported him. I don't know what they think of him now. Are they really listening to Hamas? Am I projecting my own hopes and fears and desires on Palestinian (and Israeli) mothers? Are there cultural differences that make it impossible for people the U.S. to accurately interpret events, or are cultural differences superficial? I wish I knew the answers to these questions, though they are themselves irrelevant. It matters to me, more than it should, that I get things right.

The cultural differences business is part of the argument between Patrick and Rita. Cripes, I just want to get through my day without having to do research! I've already researched all this stuff once, but it was a decade ago, and in the meantime I've forgotten it all (except a lingering sympathy for the Palestinians) and everything's different now anyway. The same, yet different. I feel obligated to start digging again but it makes me furious, too, because I feel like it's the great time-sucking maw and even if I managed to sort everything out and even devise a solution, which is not just unlikely but statistically impossible, nobody would listen to me anyway. I'm not Cassandra, I'm a glorified housewife and it wrecks my schedule to dabble in political economy and development theory.

It would help me keep my head in the sand if Patrick weren't so bloody inflammatory. What he says sounds more or less true, but it's infuriating to hear it (even when I agree with him). He goes on:

Your attachment to Israel is purely emotional; we just happen to recognize who they are and we are familiar with their way of life. There's nothing logical about picking a side. Yes, it's probably true that the Palestinian suicide bombers want to annihilate the Jews, just as West Bankers want to annihilate the Arabs. But you can't expect the average Palestinian not to succumb to hairbrained conspiracy theories when their lack of education and vulnerability to such ideas have everything to do with their status. Before their displacement, Palestinians were among the most educated people in the Middle East. Again, like Rita, you don't see our part in this. In fact, you may, like Rita, mistake any suggestion that we have a part in it for an apologist's position. If you say, "Fine, write or wrong, it's self-defense," I might buy it (I said might). But you seem to want to present your position as ethical.

Do you see what I mean? Everything he says is true, I believe, yet it sounds really insulting. Maybe it doesn't to you without additional context. I can't even tell anymore. He just freaks me out and he has since the first moment he joined the mailing list. He was the only person I had never met, but it was important to my friend Christopher that he participate, so I gave in despite my misgivings. And then he very quickly alienated three of my best friends and they left. I felt horrible about it but I didn't say anything, because, you know, what was I going to say? It's my ball and you can't play with it anymore? Besides, he does grow on you. I've seen him flip-flop on issues, which proves his own point that he really enjoys debating for its own sake. That's why he's so bombastic. But he has pretty much singlehandedly changed it into a list about politics, which is not what it was intended to be. (It was supposed to be a list for procrastinating writers!)

Oh well, what the hell.

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