I had no sooner commented on the controversy raised by the official in the Palestinian Information Ministry, who denied any Jewish connection with the wall of Al-Buraq, than the spokesman for the U.S. State Department Philip Crowley said that the Palestinian report is incorrect, insensitive and provocative. Crowley noted that the U.S. administration has always asked the Palestinian authority to resist attempts to delegitimize Israel, including denying historical Jewish connections to the land. The spokesman made a mistake. Biblical myths are not history and should not impact geographical facts. I heard my tutor at Georgetown University, which is half a mile away from Foggy Bottom, the location of the State Department, say that there are no archeological finds that corroborate Jewish claims to Palestine, and that the land belongs to the Palestinians. This professor is all-American. When Dr. Michael Hudson, one of the pillars of Georgetown University, visited London last year, I asked him about my old tutor. Hudson told me that he is still around, but that he has since retired and become a professor emeritus, giving lectures from time to time. In my next visit to the United States, I will attempt to meet with him and seek his permission to use his name, since perhaps this may be contrary to his wishes. But naturally, the issue is not about this one professor. If the spokesman for the U.S. State Department were to return as a student of ancient Middle Eastern history at any Western university, he would surely hear the same thing. They invented a religion to rob the land from its inhabitants. Their prophets have no traces anywhere in the Middle East and this is the truth, no matter what a spokesman whose job is to lie on behalf of his government, might say. I promise the readers to return to this subject whenever the war criminals in the Israeli government invoke it. But now, I will move onto a letter on the Arab situation sent by brother Abdul Hadi in Amman. The following is a selection of important excerpts that are fit for publishing. The reader said: First, I have to admit that I am repulsed by religious parties, with the exception of Hezbollah in Lebanon. I believe that invoking religion in any worldly affair, such as politics, economics or culture, makes the whole thing rotten. Second, because the “Banned Group” has a history full of violence, bloodshed, assassinations and bombings, from before Al-Nuqrashi Pasha, to the assassination attempt against the “Charismatic Leader” and the attempted coup against Hafez al-Assad. Third, you mentioned in your article today (30/11/2010) that the group will attempt to impose a one-party system on the country to render the views of the entire people an echo of its own political, economic and religious convictions. For a moment, I thought that you were speaking about our miserable Arab situation that is already in place. All Arab countries have been governed by single-party systems for a long time, and all are intolerant of dissent… I am well aware that there are differences among the Arab countries. There are countries like Monaco (UAE), countries like poor dervishes (Somalia and Sudan), and countries ruled by the likes of Pinochet (Saddam Hussein and many others). Yet, you speak of one-party systems. The Colonel has been in power for 41 years, 10 years in love and quarrel with Egypt, 10 in suspicious relationships, from Abu Nidal to Abu Sayyaf, 10 years in the Lockerbie case, and 10 years in Africa. And then there are the [slogans] “There ‘Ain't' no leader but Karim” and “The Necessary Leader”. One last thing about the “Charismatic Leader”: He was the one who lost Sinai and Gaza, since it was administered by Egypt, while Jerusalem was under the protection of the Arab Jordanian Army. I will stop at the above excerpts from a rather intelligent commentary. All I want to say is that Jordan and Syria would not have entered the war, were it not for the leadership of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who chose to threaten Israel when his army was in Yemen. Finally, I thank all Syrian readers for their comments on the subject of my endorsement of Governor Mitch Daniels, who is of Syrian origin, as the U.S. presidential candidate. The readers reminded me that Homs had sent popes to Rome and was the birthplace of one Roman Emperor. Personally, I have many friends from Homs. However, this all does not cancel those jokes about the “Homsis”, just like the late Sheikh of the Azhar did not cancel jokes about the Sa'idis [from the countryside of Egypt] although he is a Sa'idi himself. All I want to add in this respect is that the information on the governor's roots can be found in U.S. official documents, which track them since the grandfather's immigration to the birth of his father, and then the grandson who is the governor. The documents are original and are indisputably authentic. There is also the birth certificate of the governor's mother who is of British origin, the marriage certificates, and so on. I shall no doubt return to this subject if new information comes to light, or when the U.S. presidential election campaigns for 2012 begin. [email protected]
