Arabs claim know what Palestinians want more than Palestinians do

Al Mayadeen, a pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper, implicitly discusses the previous article about Tunisian singer  Emel Mathlouthi who wanted to perform at an Arab venue in Haifa.

She said that she deliberately entered through the Jordanian border with a Palestinian visa stamp, and therefore was not normalizing with Israel in any way. She also said, "visiting a prisoner cannot be normalization with the jailer," saying that her planned concert "does not mean normalization, rather it is a form of resistance."

The article ridicules that position, saying that "the alleged 'permit' to enter Palestine is nothing but an Israeli visa, through a Palestinian agent." It calls it "normalization by proxy" and says that the only legitimate support for Palestinians is by arming them.

Throughout the essay, the one part that is not addressed is what Palestinians want.

The article is against Muslims visiting Al Aqsa or Christians visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, because that is "normalization." But Jerusalem Arabs have consistently asked for Arab tourists to visit - because for many, this is their livelihood. And the same goes for Arabs who want to visit Bethlehem or Ramallah from Jordan. 

Similarly, Palestinians would love to see Arab artists perform in the areas under their control, because that makes them feel less isolated from the Arab world. 

Al Mayadeen, as well as many Arabs throughout the region, claim to be pro-Palestinian - but the opinions of Palestinians themselves are ignored.

This paradox can be explained very easily. 

Trying to understand the conflict through the lens of people being "pro-Palestinian" brings up many similar paradoxes and contradictions. But when you adjust your glasses to translate "pro-Palestinian" into its real definition, "anti-Israel," then it all makes sense. Because to those who are anti-Israel, Palestinian opinion don't matter. Palestinians themselves don't matter unless they can be used as pawns for your own flavor of anti-Israelism. 

Practically none of the opinion pieces and academic analyses in both the West and the Arab world about the conflict, with insane attempts to blame Israel for everything wrong in the region, would be much simplified when Arab actions are viewed in terms of their hatred of Israel rather than their pretense of caring about Palestinians. 

It explains 1948 as well as it explains 2023.

And now just as then, Israel haters justify how they discard what Palestinian Arabs really want by claiming to know what's good for them better than they themselves do.

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