The Arabs, by contrast, are fully energized. They see the pathetic dance of Israel's army into and out of the Arab terror-towns like Jenin and Nablus, the lack of spine in Israel's Knesset, the treason of Israel's leftist extremists, the lack of unflinching American Jewish support and the appalling anti-Semitism in Europe. And, alas, they hear Israel's old lion flailing and sputtering and promising them the culmination of the first stage in the destruction of the Jewish state -- a surrender of Jewish sovereignty in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

Thanks to Israel, Arafat has already accomplished Stage One in the destruction of Israel. He and other PA officials have announced they are looking beyond a two state solution (which thanks to Bush and Sharon they now take for granted). They are returning to the old formula of a one state solution -- a secular democratic state of Palestine (in which, according to the never-abrogated PLO Covenant, only descendants of Jews who lived in Palestine before the 19th century ad- vent of "Zionism" will be allowed to remain). Although the Arabs make no secret of their grand design, Israel's leaders as well as Israel's ostensible allies persist in turning a deaf ear and a blind eye.

What is the alternative, you ask? As a beginning, here's Israeli writer Naomi Ragen's platform for an Israeli leader worthy of the name:

1) The collection of all illegal weapons in the West Bank and Gaza, with mandatory jail for all those found in possession, and the destruction of their homes and exile of their families. A one week deadline to turn in weapons before arrests and house to house searches begin.

2) The shutting down of all terror-supportive Palestinian institutions: radio, TV, newspapers, mosques and schools. The jailing of all public figures who incite to hatred and encourage terrorist acts.

3) The disbanding of the Palestinian Authority terror network. The deportation of all Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Izzedine al-Qassam, and Hezbollah operatives and their families.

4) A zero tolerance policy for those who plan, execute, and incite to terror, including the death penalty.

Ruth King is a member of the executive committee of Americans For a Safe Israel.

The Culture of the Arabs

Natalie and Gerald Sirkin

A book on the culture of the Arabs published a dozen years ago attracted little attention. Not many Americans thought it was a subject they needed to know about. The terrorist attack on the United States has changed that.

It is time to recall The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs (1989) by David Pryce-Jones, whose long interest in Arab history and culture began with his childhood in Morocco. The closed circle is the Arab cultural tradition which has bound Arab societies to their harsh conditions for a thousand years and more.

A key element in the culture is tribalism. The tribe is the organizational unit of society. Loyalty to the tribe is imperative. The division into tribes with fierce tribal loyalties produces conflicts and blood feuds which are never settled.

The tribe has no method of choosing leadership, like elections. Power is gained by seizing it and is maintained by whatever ruthless measures may be thought necessary. Power invites challenges. Violence, murder, cruelty, are endemic in tribal society.

"What remains remarkable [Pryce-Jones writes] is the conformity with which throughout Arab history the power-challenge dialectic has absorbed external influences that might have threatened it, dealing with them on its own terms, apparently resistant to reform and preserving intact the ancient tribal structure."

Islam was initially a unifying force that threatened the tribal culture, but in a short time tribalism absorbed it. It split into mutually detesting sects, Sunni and Shia, and into subsects. The power-challenge dialectic went on.

A second crucial element in Arab culture emphasized by Pryce-Jones is the shame-honor motivation. Avoidance of shame and acquisition of honor constitute the central theme of the Arab behavioral code. Honor in a man depends on courage, masculinity, wealth, position, dignity. In a woman, honor depends on chastity and modesty. Shame is inflicted by anything that diminishes honor.

"If honor so demands, lies and cheating may become absolute imperatives."

Shame and honor do not have the sources they do in the West. Pryce-Jones puts it bluntly:

"Lying and cheating in the Arab world is not really a moral matter but a method of safeguarding honor and status, avoiding shame, and at all times exploiting possibilities, for those with the wits for it, deftly and expeditiously to convert shame into honor on their own account, and vice versa for their opponents. If honor so demands, lies and cheating may become absolute imperatives."

The shame-honor characteristic freezes Arab societies, preventing change. Mistaken policies cannot be corrected because admitting error would result in

Outpost               - 10 -               December 2002