Culture of victimhood

Today is the annual UN-declared "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People." In the UN calendar, it is the only day of the year dedicated to a single political group of people. They have a significant website dedicated to this day, which of course coincides with the date of the UN resolution to partition Palestine in 1947, a move that the Arab world strongly denounced and now pretends to embrace.

This is, of course, not the only UN event that deals exclusively with the Palestinian Arab people. We also have:

• United Nations Asian Meeting in Support of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
  15 and 16 December 2006, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• United Nations Forum of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People
  17 December 2006, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People
  United Nations Office at Geneva, 7 and 8 September 2006
• United Nations International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace
  United Nations Office at Vienna, 27 and 28 June 2006
• United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People
  Cairo, 26 and 27 April 2006
• United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting on the Question of Palestine
  13 and 14 December 2005, Caracas, Venezuela

And on and on.

The PalArabs also have other annual commemorations of their own - their "Independence Day," "Qods Day," "Naqba Day," Land Day," and probably some others.

Each of these days commemorates, celebrates and enshrines the victimhood of the Palestinian Arabs. To these people who pretend to have lived vibrant lives for centuries in the area, you would think that they would also have Palestinian Arab-specific celebrations, but from what I can see, outside of their now-annual festivities to commemorate the death of the mass-murderer Yasir Arafat, all of the PalArab "days" are designed to perpetuate their status as victims.

Is it in the Palestinian Arab self-interest to enshrine their status as victims? For their leaders, the answer is an emphatic "yes." PalArab victimhood helps keep their corrupt leaders in their positions of power.

For the people themselves, almost certainly not. They've had myriad opportunities to build their own state the way they want it, but their leadership sinks their resources into the tools of victimhood, which include weapons to be used against Israel - a state that would happily support their supposed thirst for nationhood if they'd only stop trying to destroy her.

So we once again have a day that does not commemorate any real heroes, or progress, or victories, but one that is designed to replace hope with hopelessness that can be translated into anger against Israel. And the world willingly "congratulates" the self-serving PalArab leaders on this "achievement."