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Middle East Glossary: Language and Politics in the Middle East Contributed To Bookpleasures.com By Michael Curtis
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/5168/1/Middle-East-Glossary--Language-and-Politics-in-the-Middle-East-Contributed-To-Bookpleasurescom-By-Michael-Curtis/Page1.html
Michael Curtis

Michael Curtis is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Rutgers University, and author of Should Israel Exist? A Sovereign Nation under attack by the International Community.

 
By Michael Curtis
Published on July 17, 2012
 

When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in Alice in Wonderland, “it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.  Can you make words mean so many things?”


When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in Alice in Wonderland, “it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.  Can you make words mean so many things?”

For some time now, a combination of international organizations and a considerable part of the media have accepted Lewis Carroll's challenge; they inhabit a linguistic Wonderland of their own in their abuse of language and  their willingness to accept and repeat misleading information if it can be used to criticize and condemn the state of Israel. Their utterances, whether fashionable, thoughtless, ignorant, or part of a deliberate campaign, epitomize the famous remark of George Orwell: “ political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

To understand the Middle East societies and politics, it might be helpful to examine some of the language frequently used in the relentless non-military campaign of trying to destroy Israel through diplomacy. Here are the authentic definitions of words and phrases.

Disproportionate…Any action taken by Israel in its defense.

Blasphemy …Any criticism of Islam or of the Prophet.

Extremist Arabs….Throw journalists who tell the truth in Jail

Moderate Arabs…. Throw journalists who tell the truth in jail

Post-Zionism…Elimination of the state of Israel.

Catastrophe (Nakba)…We should not have attacked Israel in 1948.

Palestinian refugees…Great-great grandchilden of people who left Israel in 1948.

Jewish Refugees…Forgotten 850,000 Jews who left Arab countries in 1948.

Arab States…Ethnic groups with flags.

Arab Spring…Assertion of ethnic and tribal identity.

Arab "Peace Now" Group…Non-existent.

Turkish foreign policy…Let’s take Cyprus.

Power sharing in Arab political systems…Maybe tomorrow.

Palestinian Textbooks… Antisemitic propaganda.

Muslim Heroes…Suicide bombers.

Goliath and David…Mighty, treacherous seven million Israelis confronting courageous half a billion Arab and Muslim victims.

Barrier in West Bank…A provocative, insulting attempt by Jews to make it more difficult  to blow them up.  

Jihad …Striving for either the conversion or elimination of the infidels.

Arab Suicide Bomber…Someone who loves death more than you love life.

New York Times…Don’t let sleeping dogmas die.

BBC interview…All the criticism of Israel time will allow.

United Nations Human Rights Council…Prejudice without pride.

United Nations General Assembly… A Majority of Tyrannies.

Boycott… War by other means

Deplore the violence in Syria…No need for action.

Deeply disturbing…Any Israeli defensive action.

Goldstone Report…Retracton to follow.

Occupation…Chinese control of Tibet. Turkish control of half of Cyprus.  

Spanish control of Andausia.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks…Appeasing the West.

West Bank…invention of Jordan.

Jordan…Invention of Winston Churchill.

Moment for moral clarity…When the fighting stops.

Israel as a State… Illegitimate if Jewish;.

Small disturbance in Syria….Houla Massacre of 108 civilians, May 2012.

Hour of Redemption”…Muslims must fight until they kill all the Jews.

Shabiha fighters for Assad…Syrian militia killers.

Muslim honor killings… Murders of women suspected of befrieding non-Muslim men or being "too Western."

Human Rights Watch…Seeking funding from oil countries with which to     batter Israel, under the halo of  "upholding human rights."

Palestinian Authority (PA)…Professional Victims: Big Business.

J Street…Undermining Israel "for its own good."

All options are on the table…Before the American election.

Let diplomacy work on the issues…Do nothing.

Multilateral contact group…Blame someone else.

6- point plan…Details to follow

Cease-fire proposal…A pause to rearm.

Russian proposal for peace…Quick, arm Syria!

Russian conscience will be shocked…Bring back Dostoevsky.

The United Nations will help …Protracting war.

Hamas Report on Palestinian Abuses 2012… None.

UNESCO …No Jewish cultural heritage in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron,  the Tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem, or anywhere else in the area.

International Law…Weapons permissible if used against Israel.

The Big Lie…Israel is an apartheid state.

Protocols of the Elders of Zion…A fraudulent book that provides proof that the Jews are trying to take over the world.

Caliphate…….Proof that the Muslims are trying to take over the world, but that is all right.

Jewish provocation of May 1948…Five Arab states attack the new state of Israel.

Most influential  interest group…“The Jewish Lobby,” the only one with no vested interest.

Most under-reported interested group…"The Arab Lobby" of oil intersts.

Prime Minister Netanyayu insults President Obama in the White House…they disagree on the Middle East.

Kurds…inconvenient Turkish minority.

Balanced, or even-handed, even-handed U.S. policy in the Middle East…U.S. pressures Israel to make concessions.

Justice in the U.S….Khalid Sheik Mohammed is read his Miranda rights.

Intifada…A spontaneous uprising after the television crews arrive.

Jewish racism…The grandson of boxer Muhammad Ali  bar mitzvahed in Philadelphia, June 2012.

Jewish Treachery….Defending themselves from attacks.

Gaza tunnels to help starving citizens…Arabs smuggle in weapons.

Syrian democracy…Bashar Assad gets 70% of the vote of  the terrified Syrian public.

Perfect world…Israel to be “uprooted” or “wiped from the map.”

Combating intolerance….Combatting criticism of Islam

Human Rights -- in accordance with the wishes of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

Peace policy of President Gamal Abdel Nasser…”I announce on behalf of the United Arab Republic that we will exterminate Israel.” (1959).

Jewish and Israeli control of the media…Welcome to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN,  PBS , London Review of Books, The Independent, and The Guardian.

Arab Tolerance…Persecution of Jews and Christians in the Middle East: 'First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people."

Women…Koranically, worth less than half a man.

Israeli discrimination….The Certificate Law, 1982, requires all Israeli nationals over the age of 16, whether Jews or Arabs, to carry an “identity certificate.”

Israeli Arab Discontent…The index of Arab-Jewish Relations for 2011 states that 63.3% of Israeli Arabs polled said they preferred to live in Israel than in other countries.

No room at the Israeli Inn…Israel has 250.000 foreign workers, half of whom are illegal. Israel has integrated 350,000 non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and 120,000 from Ethiopia. Over 120,000 Arabs have citizenship, 20% of the population.  

Zionist Aggression…Arab leaders rejected the 1947 UNGA Partition Resolution, and began the 1948 war against Israel, as well as four subsequent wars.

Israel Is Economically Isolated…Warren Buffet is the largest investor in Israel, with an 80% share of Iscar.

Jimmy Carter…Biased wanderer abroad in the Middle East.

Roadmap for Peace Talks…No exit.

Treaties…Are they worth the paper they’re written on? .

International tennis tournament…We’ll play Israel, but not in public.

Allahu akbar…Run for your life.

President Ahmadinejad of Iran…President of the International Conference of Holocaust Deniers.

President of J Street…Some of my best friends are Jews.

Al Jazeera…Islamist Outreach.

European Left…Hamas is good for you.

Borders of 1967…Who threw away the yardstick?

Mixed Marriages…Environmentalists and non-governmental organizations join with Islamists.

The Peace Process…The War Process.

Osama bin Laden…You gain martyrdom by suicide, but not me.

The cause of terrorism…terrorists.