Erward Said article about the attack, in the Observer.

September 18, 2001 4:03 AM

Erward Said article about the attack, in the Observer. Reposted on Znet: No cause, no God, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents, most particularly when only a small group of people are in charge of such actions and feel themselves to represent the cause without having a real mandate to do so.
posted by talos (14 comments total)

Rational understanding of the situation is what is needed now, not more drum-beating. George Bush and his team clearly want the latter, not the former.

their mandate comes from the angry public.
posted by elle at 4:32 AM on September 18, 2001

We do need rational understanding, but we're not going to get it from Edward Said. The Columbia professor's rock toss at an Israeli military post and fulsome praise of a Hezbollah leader do not distinguish him as one of the calmer voices in this crisis.
posted by rcade at 5:25 AM on September 18, 2001

Said is a distinguished lit critic and great writer. But he hates even Arafat for not going back to some time in the past to re-establish boundaries with israel. Said wants, seemingly , more than even Arafat. His carefully worded and mush y stuff often masks what he is after and it takes a close reading of the guy.
As for the stone tossing: he gave as an excuse that he wea merely tossing stones with his son. Christ, why not come out and say what you believe in.
posted by Postroad at 5:31 AM on September 18, 2001

The Haaretz article alluded to can in the Columbia Spectator story can be found here. It also explains the rock throwing incident.
Edward Said has consistently criticized Arafat as a petty dictator, more interested in his personal authority than the rights of his people. His position on the Palestine issue can be found here. He believes in a really independent Palestine, not a secluded Bandustan. He believes that this can be achieved by political means.
posted by talos at 6:17 AM on September 18, 2001

here's an interview with said in the atlantic where he explains the incident. don't believe the hype.
posted by kliuless at 6:47 AM on September 18, 2001

talos: I don't want to be too knee-jerk here; Said's certainly a smart guy, and the position he articulates in the Al-Ahram article is at least somewhat persuasive.

But there's an omission in that April piece -- unless I missed something -- of any mention of how terrorist bombings within Israel by Palestinians ought to be deplored with the same fervor that Israel's "siege of Palestinians" should be. I don't actually quibble with his representation of Israel's actions, but I'm curious to hear whether other people (beyond those who would dismiss Said in the first place) think he's too easily leaving out that part of the equation. A guy like Sharon, I think, does not come into power without the fear that makes his election possible.

Secondly, in the Observer piece, Said characterizes the world we now face as "a new world of unseen, unknown assailants, terror missions without political message, senseless destruction." I sincerely hope that the implication -- terror missions with whatever he means by "political message" would be somehow more palatable.

Somebody convince me that in this case I shouldn't be agreeing with rcade.
posted by BT at 6:50 AM on September 18, 2001

From this E. Said article, in response to BT:

"Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are locked in Sartre's vision of hell, that of "other people." There is no escape. Separation can't work in so tiny a land, any more than Apartheid did. Israeli military and economic power insulates them from having to face reality. This is the meaning of Sharon's election, an antediluvian war criminal summoned out of the mists of time to do what: put the Arabs in their place? Hopeless. Therefore, it is up to us to provide the answer that power and paranoia cannot. It isn't enough to speak generally of peace. One must provide the concrete grounds for it, and those can only come from moral vision, and neither from "pragmatism" nor "practicality." If we are all to live -- this is our imperative -- we must capture the imagination not just of our people, but that of our oppressors. And, we have to abide by humane democratic values."

Also from this article:

"Although every human rights declaration in the world today (including the UN Charter) gives a people the right to resist by any means when it is under military occupation, and the right for refugees to return to their homes, it is also the case that suicide bombings in Tel Aviv serve no purpose, political or ethical. They too are unacceptable. There's a huge difference between organized disobedience, or mass protest, on the one hand, and simply blowing up yourself and a few innocents, on the other. This difference has to be stated clearly and emphatically, and engraved in any serious Palestinian program once and for all."
posted by talos at 7:32 AM on September 18, 2001

Thanks, talos.
posted by BT at 7:38 AM on September 18, 2001

Is Said's article anywhere else? That link hasn't been working all day...Thanks.
posted by sarap at 4:59 PM on September 18, 2001

rcade if you believe that somehow Said is an evil man, or a fanatic, or whatever because of 'the rock toss,' then you are just a victim of the media.
posted by eric anders at 5:09 PM on September 18, 2001

If you are interested in reading an account from inside Palestine during Sept 11, you can click on these words here. I found it very interesting, I believe the writer is an American man.
posted by eric anders at 5:19 PM on September 18, 2001

"As for the stone tossing: he gave as an excuse that he wea merely tossing stones with his son. Christ, why not come out and say what you believe in."

For those of you who are unaware of the truth behind the 'rock-throwing' or should i say 'pebble throwing incident please read:

http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/525/op2.htm

For 30 years now Edward Said has been writing for PEACE and nothing else. His ulterior motive,Postroad? To ensure justice for a poor,hungry,suffering palestinian nation.His contention against the Arafat government is valid. Yasser Arafat has consistently failed to address the root of the Middle East crisis. Israeli troops invaded Palestine over 40 years ago. Period. All Edward Said is saying is that address this issue. Address the causes. 3 second long ceasefires aren't helping anyone.

By the way, postroad, sometimes it helps to look beyond the propagandist lies (either by ommission and/or magnification) that the western media ( CNN and BBC not withstanding) churns out. Don't be one of the DELUDED.
posted by Outspoken at 1:18 AM on September 25, 2001

if you believe that somehow Said is an evil man, or a fanatic, or whatever because of 'the rock toss,' then you are just a victim of the media.

I don't have a lot of respect for Said, both for the rock toss and his meeting with (and deep praise for) a Hezbollah leader.

What I see in the piece you linked is a man who doesn't understand at all the symbolism of throwing a rock.

Said also described Rudy Giuliani recently as "virulently Zionist" in the same Middle Eastern publication -- a phrase he left out of the piece when he submitted it to a British paper.
posted by rcade at 6:18 AM on September 25, 2001

"What I see in the piece you linked is a man who doesn't understand at all the symbolism of throwing a rock."

Right, so every time he throws a tiny pebble into a lake while fishing let us all enlightened individuals assume that it symbolises stoning the jews. Thanks for clarifying that.Let us also bomb those Lebanese children who were also throwing pebbles at nothing but open space.

This is a classic case of ordinary people buying into the out of context potrayal of the truth by the mainstream western media.
posted by Outspoken at 10:30 PM on September 30, 2001