Kuwait politician who called to normalize Israel ties quits parliament race

[IndianaGreen]

Source: Haaretz

Last update - 17:48 22/04/2009

Kuwait politician who called to normalize Israel ties quits parliament race

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

Salah Bahman, an independent candidate for the Kuwaiti parliament, has dropped out of the race a day after he called for full normalization of relations between Israel and Kuwait, igniting a storm of controversy in the Persian gulf state.

In a radio interview Wednesday, Bahman backtracked on his previous statement before announcing his withdrawal from the race.

During an interview Tuesday with the news Website "Al-Arabiya", Bahman said Kuwait needed to normalize relations with Israel immediately after their liberation from Iraqi occupation.

Bahman stated that Kuwait plays an important role in international relations and normalization of ties with Israel would have a "positive influence" on Kuwait's role in diplomatic affairs.

Bahman added that if positive relations between the two countries were formed, it would help Kuwait and the remainder of the Arab world.

<snip>

Kuwaiti law bans ties with Israel and has policies against calling for ties with Israel, which it refers to as "the Zionist entity."

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080259.html

---

This is the ugly side of the Arab world when it comes to anyone calling for recognition of Israel. The only reason there is a Kuwait today is because America kicked Saddam out of that country during the Gulf War. What has happened since? Promises of political reform were not kept. Women are still as oppressed now as they were before Iraq's invasion. Anti-Semitism is just as strong now as it was before.

What is really ironic is that Kuwait has treated its Palestinians far worse than the Israelis have treated theirs (Gaza being the exception). In the aftermath of the Gulf War, Kuwaiti Palestinians were treated as traitors and Iraqi collaborators. Palestinians are not the only ones on the receiving end of Kuwaiti racism. Filipinos working in Kuwait are treated like slaves, without legal recourse for their grievances against abusive employers.

[iandhr]

1. Israeli-Arab conflict

why does it seem that the reasonable pragmatic people get pushed to the side.

[LeftishBrit]

2. True enough and very sad.

And sadly true of many other conflicts too. Peace and moderation often lose to jingoism and seemingly simple solutions.