Gifts of violence

Nothing says friendship like giving gifts.

And nothing says more about the gift-giver than his choice of gifts.

For example, Barack Obama's gifts to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Queen pretty much screamed "clueless."

But that is trivial compared to the symbolism of other recent gifts given by prominent Arabs.

Jordan's King Hussein presented President Obama with a gift of a "royal weaponry set," including four daggers and an axe.

Because nothing says "peace" like instruments of war!

Last year, Abdullah gifted Defense Secretary Robert Gates with a steel dagger, and Bahrain gave him a $3200 Arab knife.

In 2006 and 2007, Prince Charles received a number of gold swords from Gulf states.

And last week, a group of Palestinian Arab Christians presented the Pope with a keffiyeh:

At the end of the service, two youths from the group were brought to the pope and draped the checkered black-and-white scarf on his shoulders. Benedict chatted briefly with them while wearing the scarf, which an aide later removed.

Now, what could a keffiyeh symbolize? According to Palestinian Arabs themselves, it represents nothing less than support for terrorism (a.k.a., "resistance"), something that the Left admits candidly among themselves - as this description from a socialist website shows:

In the 1960s, the kaffiyeh was renewed as a symbol of resistance as Palestinians escalated armed resistance in response to Israel’s 1967 invasion and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The resistance captured the world’s attention when Leila Khaled and other members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—a Marxist group —wore kaffiyehs while hijacking five international airliners. These operations drew attention to the Palestinian struggle.

The kaffiyeh was made most popular by the late Yassir Arafat. He wore it draped around his head in the shape of historic Palestine throughout his years of participation in the resistance movement, then as president of the Palestinian National Authority.

...Thousands of women and men, young and old, now wear the kaffiyeh proudly as a symbol of resistance and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

What a great gift for a pope!