Palestinian Angst

For a long time I have suspected what the West Bank and the Gaza Strip needed was a deployment of psychiatrists rather than peacekeepers or soldiers. Ynet News carries this report.

Palestinian security forces have been seeking emotional counseling, following "internal infighting in Gaza". Dr. Riad al-Aqra, the director for the Gaza hospital for mental health, said that "although the occupation is a major cause for emotional depression for Gaza residents…Palestinian infighting plays a striking role in the increase of shock, tension and depression, present in previously unseen amounts."

Dr. al-Aqra cited the Palestinian website Dunia al-Waran, stating that these phenomena were seen primarily among wives and mothers of Palestinian security force members, but also among the troops themselves.

"One member of the Hamas security force came to me suffering from high tension, which was causing physical problems. He said he felt fear from the fact that he would burn in hell forever if he fired even one bullet at someone," the doctor said. He told of another case, in which a member of the security forces arrived with similar symptoms. "He said he couldn't fire at another Muslim, and that he felt pain and bitterness," al-Aqra said.

I wish I could a pull a Bill Clinton and suggest I feel Hamas’ pain, but the Hamas pathology has never been mine - so they are SOL from me.

Apparently, Hamas has another front to their existential angst (Ynet News):

Hamas members were troubled by an additional issue this week: an altercation with the Egyptian branch of the hitherto supportive Muslim Brotherhood. The rift occurred after a senior leader in the organization, Abd al-Munam Abu al-Fatouh, announced that the Brotherhood supports the creation of a secular Palestinian state and a bi-national presence in Palestinian, as a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Hamas members were so incensed by al-Fatouh's announcement that the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammad Mahdi Akef, had to release a special statement refuting it.

Akef said, in his statement, that the Muslim Brotherhood believes that "Palestine is Islamic and therefore, holy to Muslims and, thus, belongs only to Palestinians." "No Palestinian has the right to refute this…The Zionists have no choice but to live under the rule of a Palestinian nation in which they will be free to worship their God and enjoy full rights of citizenship," Akef added.

"If the Zionists do not agree, our Palestinian brothers will have no choice but to resist and undertake all actions that are consistent with holy principles that were given to the Palestinians and that are in accordance with their national interests," he said.

I hope no one missed 'the Zionists have no choice but to live under the rule of a Palestinian nation'….yeah right. I betcha an IDF says different.

Anyway, I guess this is what passes for progressive in Arab political circles - the old 'push the Jews into the sea' rhetoric is missing, though personally, I could imagine very little worse than being a Jew under the rule of the Palestinian Authority. Talk about angst and not the existential kind. Frankly, I haven't ever met a Zionist who would ever chose to aspire to do so.