Understanding Our Hypocrisy

One major theme of Harper Lee's classic "To Kill A Mockingbird" is that you never truly understand people until you walk in their shoes and view the world from their perspective. To understand Middle Eastern attitudes, we must not only understand their point of view but also understand our own hypocrisy. For instance, we condemn Iran for wanting nuclear power and ignore the fact that Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons, never has allowed international inspections, and jails its citizens who divulge these secrets. Also, when the UN resolved that Syria should end its occupation of Lebanon, (which came about in order to end a civil war whose underlying cause was Israel's expansionism), Syria promptly withdrew. Contrast Israel, whose occupation of Palestine, parts of Syria and Lebanon, has persisted despite UN resolutions calling for withdrawal, cessation of illegal colonization, etc. When Israel attacks those in the occupied territories, we say Israel has a right to "defend itself," yet we say that Iran, Syria, and Palestine must not support freedom fighters who resist occupation. We support the occupier but not the occupied. The Muslim world understands our hypocrisy but we do not. It is no wonder that Iran has kept its nuclear program secret: more that 20 years ago, Israel preemptively destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor. Many nations in the world now have nuclear power and are of no concern to us. If we had an even-handed Middle East policy and strongly supported the Arab League peace initiative, Iran's nuclear power would be of no concern, because there would be two nations, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace.