Arab Semite

From Kahlil Gibran: Published July 1926. I believe in you, and I believe in your destiny. I believe that you are contributors to this new civilization. I believe that you have inherited from your forefathers an ancient dream, a song, a prophecy, which you can proudly lay as a gift of gratitude upon the lap of America. I believe that you can say to the founders of this great nation, "Here I am, a youth, a young tree whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon, yet I am deeply rooted here, and I would be fruitful." And I believe that you can say to Abraham Lincoln, the blessed, "Jesus of Nazareth touched your lips when you spoke, and guided your hand when you wrote; and I shall uphold all that you have said and all that you have written." I believe that even as your fathers came to this land to produce riches, you were born to produce riches by intelligence and labor. I believe that it is in you to be good citizens. And what is it to be a good citizen?

Thanks to Google Books, I found some at least entertaining travelogues of Palestine from times bygone. Just in case we needed a reminder of the trouble orientalism had caused: "Just outside the town, under a clump of tamarisk-trees sat a group of dirty-looking Arabs, in pictureque rags. As we passed, they rose from their stony seats, and advanced toward us, holding out little tin cups for alms." (Pg 32, Domestic Life in Palestine, Pub. 1865). Still, they're quaint and sad reads into a country that once was and will be again.

Hi, been out of touch lately, its been a bit of a rough summer but things are much better now.. where to begin? well your intuitions and gut reaction are quite correct about the repugnancy. as you may know i went to many places across lebanon last year, it WAS a stunningly beautiful country. lebanon has about 20 or 22 distinct religious groups. its extremely diverse. teh Shiite Lebanese have relied on hezbollah to provide them very basic things (healthcare, education) at times when the government in lebanon was essentially non existant. they were responsible , almost singlehandedly driving out the israeli occupation army (the 4th strongest army in the world with about $4 billion in US MILITARY aid annually since 1967-- do the math) after an israeli occupation essneitally lasting since 1978-2000. When the israeli's first, actually the second time they invaded lebanon, in 1982, within the first week of invasion theykilled about 20,000 lebanese and palestinian civilians, christian m