April 20, 2004
THEIR BALFOUR:
Jordan's Snub to Bush Is Tip of Iceberg (Jonathan Wright, 4/20/04, Reuters)
When the king of Jordan postponed this week's meeting with President Bush, the snub revealed only a fraction of the humiliation felt by Washington's Arab friends. [...]Arab commentators have called a Bush letter to Sharon last week a new Balfour Declaration -- a reference to the British promise in 1917 to allow a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The declaration, written by then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, lingers in the memory of Arabs and Muslims as a symbol of colonial powers giving away another people's land.
"The Balfour Declaration is a deep scar in our psyche. If someone like me is angry, imagine what it does to religious people and the fundamentalists," said Mohamed al-Sayed Said.
The comparison is quite apt. As the Balfour Declaration made an Israel inevitable so too have Mr. Bush's declarations made a Palestine inevitable. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 20, 2004 1:35 PM
And that's why they hate him, eh?
Get real, Orrin.
Posted by: Barry Meislin at April 20, 2004 1:42 PMA snub by Jordan's president hurts as much as the Nobel committee's "kick in the leg" a while back...
Posted by: brian at April 20, 2004 1:43 PMHeck, everyone hated Balfour for his declaration too.
Posted by: oj at April 20, 2004 2:00 PMSince when did the Arabs do anything to help the Palestinians? Since never.
Posted by: jim hamlen at April 20, 2004 4:06 PMHumiliation is what Arabs need most. They live in a psychotic state (in both senses of the world) and, borrowing from 12 Step lore, they need to hit rock bottom before they can start recovering.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at April 20, 2004 6:41 PM