Mel Gibson And The War In Lebanon

The history of anti-Semitism, crowned by the Holocaust, is so odious that a mere mention tends to override other factors, and even facts. For instance, this week, Marcus Gee, in The Globe and Mail, condemned “the refusal of the Arab world to accept a Jewish state in its midst.” Yet, at a 2002 summit, the Arab world offered a comprehensive peace with Israel if it returned to its 1967 borders. He writes as if that never happened. It's as if a horror of anti-Semitism can eclipse reality itself, and Gibson-like outbursts help keep the fear active. Anticipation of anti-Semitism can also be a self-fulfilling prophecy. For years, Israel isolated and humiliated Yasser Arafat, holding him responsible for all resistance to its occupation, an implicit anti-Semite, though I think the evidence shows he was desperate to make a deal with Israel. When he died, resistance actually increased, under the leadership of Hamas, a far more obdurate foe. The “refusal” to accept Israel intensified; the fear acquired new reality. http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=51624

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