Why Do They Support The Terrorists?

Analysis and Comments

Browsing through the internet, reading and watching the media, and talking to people, it is clear where the hearts of most Arab peoples are in the current situation in the Middle East: they are not with their own governments.It is also clear to me why this is so.

Why do the majority of Arabs on the street support, sympathize with, admire, and root for one group or another of what we call 'terrorists'? Why does the average Arab today go against the wishes of his unsavory rulers and supports unsavory organizations like Hizballah and Hamas, two groups that recently crossed international borders and kidnapped Israeli soldiers, thus bringing punishment raining on their own supporters?

In order to understand all this, let us start by looking at what they do not support:

Did you know that in the Persian Gulf monarchies the most important half of all cabinet positions are occupied by members of the ruling families? The government roster reads like a list of who’s who of Al-Something-or-the-other. The Arab on the street knows that.

Did you know that President Assad of Syria inherited the office from his father, who ruled for 25 years? Or that our ally President Saleh in Yemen, in power for 28 years, has just ‘consented’ to run again at the 'urging' of his people? And that he is assured to win? Did you know that our ally President Bin Ali of Tunisia has been in power for 20 years, ever since overthrowing his predecessor, with no end in sight? Did you know that our ally President Bouteflika of Algeria recently appointed a new prime minister whose plans for reform include allowing the president to run for an unlimited number of terms? The Arab on the street knows that.

Did you know that our ally President Mubarak of Egypt has been in power for 25 years? And that he refuses to appoint, or allow the election of, a vice president in case something happens to him (he is 78 years)? Or that the only man ever to run against him in an election is now in prison? Or that most Egyptians believe he is setting up his own son to inherit the presidency in the ensuing chaos? The Egyptian on the street knows all that.

Did you know that even in westernized Lebanon parties and political movements are inherited, where a Jumblatt has inherited the Druze Party and a Gemayel inherited the Falange Party, and a Hariri is seeking to inherit his father's supporters? Even the average poor Shi’a in Southern Beirut knows that.

Did you also know that Hizballah and Hamas, no matter how abhorrent some of their actions and absurd their goals, are organizations based on a system of meritocracy and not on a system of birthrights? That even in hostile and flawed and theocratic Iran, the main supporter of Hizballah and Hamas, the head of state is elected every four years and cannot serve more than two terms? The Arab on the street knows that too.

Did you know that Hamas rose in the shadow of a corrupt PLO elite that could not grow beyond their own rhetoric of the 1970s but plundered the foreign aid given to the Palestinian people, and that Hamas provided the basic services for the people in Gaza that the Arafat government would not? The average Palestinian knew that when he voted in Hamas.

Did you know that Hizballah grew popular in Lebanon not just because it successfully opposed the Israeli presence in the South, but mainly because it provided the needed health, education, and welfare services to the poor Shi'as- services that the government of elites in Beirut failed to provide?

Did you know that no Arab army or armed group in half a century has ever held Israel to a near-stalemate the way Hizballah seems to be doing up to now? Did you know that after spending hundreds of billions of dollars on arms purchases, and the consequent exorbitant commissions paid to members of the ruling families, not a single Arab government today is in a position to defend its territory against an external threat? The Arab on the street knows that.

Did you know that the average Arab is smart enough to know that his rulers are now mere helpless spectators, at best cheerleaders without the pompoms, to events forming the fate of the Middle East, his fate and that of his children? Did you know that the abilities of these Arab rulers to shape or influence regional events are taken much more seriously in Washington than by people in their own capitals? The average Arab also knows that Israeli leaders are elected and un-elected every few years, and he knows that the average Israeli Jew, and Israeli Arab, can speak his mind without fear?
Is it any wonder that the average Arab, the proverbial man on the street, feels contempt for his rulers and desperately looks toward these violent groups for something different, perhaps something that he can admire, at least something he cannot feel ashamed of?

Cheers
Mohammed