|
|
|
|
'Even
if you give up all the land, it won't solve the problems in the
Mideast'
|
An interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
author of "Infidel" • "From the perspective of the Arab leaders, reaching a
two-state solution is to betray God. If you want peace and not merely a process,
you must make peace with the people. The negotiators themselves are of no
importance."
Dror
Eydar
Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
author of "Infidel"
There is
something dignified in the quiet, determined manner of Ayaan Hirsi Ali as she
rises from the audience and walks towards the podium to deliver her lecture.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali's intricate history starts in Somalia, where she was born to a
Muslim family. At the age of five she underwent female genital mutilation. By
her teens she was a devout Muslim. In her early twenties, upon learning of plans
for an undesirable arranged marriage, she made her way to Holland, where she
applied for asylum. Hirsi Ali studied at Leiden University and began publishing
critical articles about Islam, the condition of the Muslim woman, and so forth.
She wrote the script for the Dutch
movie "Submission" for director Theo van Gogh, who was subsequently murdered by
a Muslim assassin. Hirsi Ali joined the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
and in 2003 was elected to the Dutch parliament. A few years later she moved to
the United States, where she became a researcher at the American Enterprise
Institute. She published some books; notably, an autobiography titled "Infidel"
that became an international bestseller. Already in 2005, Time magazine named
Hirsi Ali among the 100 most influential people in the world. The internet
abounds with information about her, with articles and videos of her lectures.
She is doubly courageous: in her
stand against Islam, leading to threats on her life, and vis a vis the Western
liberal elite, which disapproves of criticism of multiculturalism and the
blindness afflicting Western society in grasping the strategic threat to its
existence as a free society.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was visiting Israel for the recent Presidential Conference in
Jerusalem.
Israel Hayom: In your lectures you made numerous references to the situation in the
Middle East. You claim that people in the West do not understand that what is
taking place in the Middle East is not a dialogue.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: More than one issue is at stake here. Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian
context, the main problem is that you may speak of a peace process, but what you
get is a process, not peace. And why is this process so prolonged? Because for
the Israelis this issue is a territorial problem. For the Palestinian
negotiators, on the other hand, it is not a territorial problem but a religious
and ethnic one, It is not only about Palestinians but about all Arabs. Most of
all, it is a religious problem.
From the perspective of the Arab
leaders, reaching a two-state solution is to betray God, the Koran, the hadith
and the tradition of Islam.
Israel Hayom: Even though they are portrayed as secular?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The presumption that the Palestinian negotiators are secular is not
supported by facts. Were they secular, there would already be a settled
territorial agreement of some kind. But there is no agreement as of today,
because on one side it has become religious jihad of all or nothing, while on
the other side it is still a territorial issue. Of course I know that there are
Israelis who also perceive this as a religious problem; but their numbers pale
in comparison to the Muslim side. Reaching a settlement that brings about two
states is a religious betrayal -- not only for the leadership but for most
Muslims today. The West does not understand this.
Israel Hayom: Why? After the many years you have lived in the West, how can you
explain this?
Ayaan Hirshi Ali: The conception of religion in the West in the 20th and 21st century
differs from that of Middle Eastern Muslims. The West successfully separated
religion and politics, but even in places in the West where there is no distinct
separation, still the concept of God and religion, even in the 13th or 15th
century, differs to the current reality in the Middle East.
Islam is an Orthopraxy, Islam has a
goal. So if you are a true Muslim, you must fight for that goal. You can achieve
a temporary peace or truce, but it is not ultimate, not everlasting. It is not
just about the territory. Because the territory does not belong to the people;
it belongs to God. So for a Palestinian leader -- even if he is secular, even an
atheist -- to leave the negotiating room with the announcement of a two-state
solution would mean that he would be killed the minute he walks out.
Israel Hayom: Many wise people come here advising us Israelis to act rationally. Do
you think this dispute has anything to do with rationalism?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Europeans and Americans -- and I do not refer merely to the leadership,
but to people in general -- when they have a problem, they think there must be
some kind of compromise on the table. What they cannot accept is that one party
would say "the only rational outcome is our complete victory." If you put aside
the Israeli-Palestinian situation, you see components of this culture in the
events in Syria, in Lebanon. You've seen it with Mubarak. There is a winner and
there is a loser. But there cannot be two winners.
Israel Hayom: So the proposal of compromise stems from naivety?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: You can give it any label you like. I have listened to someone like
Tony Blair, I was in two or three conferences where he spoke, and he is not
naïve anymore, he is not the same man he was ten years ago in regards to this
conflict. More and more leaders see that this conflict is not going to be
resolved Western-style, namely that all conflicts are resolvable and no-one
leaves the table empty-handed.
In a culture dictated by honor and
shame - in addition to the religious issue - defeat of any kind, accepting a
compromise, is to leave the room empty-handed. Compromise is loss in this
culture. It is very hard to explain this to contemporary Westerners.
Israel Hayom: Many liberals around the world, who support the compromise solution,
also tend to blame Israel.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Many liberals perceive Israel to be one of their kind; another liberal,
white, rational state, etc. Therefore they expect you to approach matters the
way they would. But then they approach the subject in the context of the U.S. or
Europe, or some other Western system, where there is rule of law, arbiters, an
ability to go to court in case of disagreement. There is a district court, a
court of appeals, a supreme court, and once the judges have spoken their
decision is final. You lose face, but you have to accept defeat.
What these liberals do not understand
is that we are speaking of a fundamentally different context, where such a
judicial infrastructure does not exist, and those who aspire for it are a
persecuted minority.
And yet I am optimistic, after the
Arab Spring. I see people, albeit few in number and very disorganized, but who
do want that infrastructure where religion is put aside and where compromise
becomes central. They just don't know how to go about it. They lack the
resources and the institutions to make that happen. But it is possible.
Israel Hayom: Your views are not prevalent within the liberal media or liberal
intellectual elite. Have you encountered difficulties in delivering such ideas?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Among Western liberal elites there are those who have actual experience
and those who have not. Those who have actual experience with any aspect of
Islamic culture or religion, who have really given it their all to achieve some
kind of compromise, come out -- after years of endless abortive attempts -- with
a completely different perspective. Them I do not need to
persuade.
I mentioned earlier Tony Blair, the
most-renowned liberal to change his perspective. He once believed that the
ability to always find a compromise for whoever was in the negotiations room was
an art. He no longer thinks this way. As we are dealing with a wholly different
phenomenon, we need voices like his to educate liberal Westerners on why this is
different.
I think that whoever acts on the
presumption that we are all the same and that we are able to solve this -- is
uninterested, indifferent, and inexperienced.
Israel Hayom: There is also a certain measure of idealism...
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Idealism is a good thing. But when idealism encounters reality, you
must not try to manipulate it to fit your utopia. You have to take in the
reality. 93,000 people have died in Syria because the fighting forces could not,
cannot, and will not compromise. This toll is higher than all the fatalities on
both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict!
So, to go on and on about the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict in my view is to take a tranquilizer or smoke pot.
You do it just to feel better. You cannot face reality, so you just keep on
harping about something that can make you feel better. One can also mention the
number of people who died in Libya because Kaddafi and the opposition would not
find the way to the negotiating table. This phenomenon is repeated throughout
the region, not only today but throughout history. Reaching compromise is to
lose face.
Israel Hayom: So do you think that talk about negotiations brought up by the Arab
counterparts is a game, with no real intentions behind it? We know that right
after the Oslo accords, Arafat spoke in a mosque in South Africa, comparing the
Oslo accords to the hudaiba treaty by Muhammad with his enemies. In Israel,
there were those who accepted this, as they said that Arafat had to resort to
speaking two different languages, one for his people and one for us.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: I hear this argument constantly, also in relation to the Turkey's
Erdogan and in regards to the Saudis. Do you know what is wrong with this
argument? If you want peace and not merely a process, you must make peace with
the people. The negotiators themselves are of no importance. They are a few
individuals who may tomorrow be out of power or dead. You have to have peace
with the people you are in conflict with, and as long as they do not want to
hear a different tune, you will not have peace. Until the people at large are
ready for that compromise, there is no compromise.
This is true of the domestic politics
of any nation or the external politics with foreign nations, for whom the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is seen symbolically as the biggest icon of all
foreign affairs relations with the Arab Islamic world.
There has to be a change of attitude
and a change in attitude within the culture and of culture, and I hope that we
can see this.
I believe that true emancipation
cannot exist without the freedom of the individual, without the individual's
space and voice. The fact that individualism is not given a chance in the Arab
Muslim world is related to belonging and the collective. If you want to belong
and be part of the collective you have to be a winner. If you are not, then you
are a source of shame.
So you have to ask yourself why the
Syrian regime and its likes are incapable of putting an end to the bloodshed
after killing ten, or 1,000, or 10,000 people. Why not? It is not caused by
Israel, the Americans or any outsiders; it is part of the culture. And for the
culture to grow out of such phenomena, change has to come from
within.
Israel Hayom: If so, do negotiations have any meaning when we talk about peace while
the Palestinian Authority use anti-Israeli school books, which do not even
mention Israel by name in their geographical maps?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Not now. Not as long as a majority of the people do not want peace. An
Arab leader who genuinely wants peace has to convince the Arab people first,
must get their endorsement and then go and get peace. That is why the first
thing that needs to be worked out is not so much the relationship with Israel
but changing the culture, Islamic and Arab. This process does not depend on you,
though you can help it, facilitate it, be a catalyst; but it does not depend on
you, on America or the rest of the world.
Israel Hayom: In reference to Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" theory,
is there any sense that Europe is awakening to the threat it faces? We have a
feeling that Israel is a scapegoat of sorts for the rest of the world. Do you
not think that Europe is overcome by a quiet conquest of the Muslims there?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Yes, but it is no longer quiet, ever since 9/11 and the terrorist
plots. Because the countries of Europe and the U.S. are democracies, their
citizens enjoy freedom of speech. The more we listen, the more discernible is
the extreme cultural divergence between the civilizations, as Huntington claims.
One must first face it before blaming Israel or scapegoating others, otherwise
things will not change. And the Europeans are waking up to
this.
I visited Israel for the first time
in 1998 or 1999, and saw people in uniform with guns in buses, in the market, on
the streets. My European friend who came with me found this so strange. You
would never find this in Holland. Now all airports in Europe and the U.S. have
security men, all wielding machine guns, just like I saw in Israel at the time.
After the Boston marathon bombings, I think that on the Fourth of July this year
there will be more security than spectators.
So, as these liberal Western
democracies are beginning to face the same challenges as Israel, or at least a
tiny fraction of them -- you see attitudes changing.
Israel Hayom: Do you perceive attitudes changing towards Israel? An understanding of
Israel?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Well, some people get hardened. I do not understand Stephen Hawking's
refusal to come to Israel. There is a boycott on Israel by the intellectuals.
Yet, the people in Boston are the most liberal in the United States, maybe short
of San Francisco, and they were really quite happy with people in uniform
patrolling the streets, which compromises their civil liberties. But people
would rather face reality than lose limbs.
Israel Hayom: What would you like to say to the readers of Israel
Hayom?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Exactly what I say in my lectures. You have to be a realist and
acknowledge that Israel is not the problem, though neither is it the solution. I
also speak of the signs of hope, of [Muslim] women who aspire to improve their
lives, of homosexuals, of religious minorities. If anyone in Israel, including
ordinary people, wants to be an activist, they need to forge relationships with
those individuals in the Middle East who have developed something closer to what
the Israelis want.
Israel Hayom: And you think that it will be a huge mistake to give away territory
before a cultural change occurs?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: I will just say that Israel is not the problem nor is it the solution.
Even if you give up all the land, it will not solve any of the problems in the
Middle East. It will not obliterate despotism, it will not liberate women, it
will not help religious minorities. It won't bring peace to anyone. Even if
Israel does not give up an inch of land -- the result will be the
same.
If you want a process, continue the
way you are. If you want real, lasting peace, then things have to change first
within the Arab Muslim individual, family, school, streets, education, and
politics. It is not an Israeli problem.
You must learn to take advantage of
opportunities. Due to technology, things can develop quickly. Look at the
Iranians; what took the Iranians thirty years could take the Egyptians five or
ten.
Israel Hayom: To become secular?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: No, just for the majority of the people to stand up to Shariah. This
is what I want to say about Muslims in general: Muslims want Shariah until they
have it...
For cultural change to transpire we
need one hundred years and more to pass.
You can pick any number you want. I
am speaking of a lengthy, bloody period. But it is going to
change.
No comments:
Post a Comment