The opposite of honor is shame, and one of the most potent ways to be shamed is to be ignored, to be shuffled aside as irrelevant.
In Mahmoud Abbas' interview with Al Quds two weeks ago, when he threatened to drop his bombshell at the UN, included his saying that the Arab world is preoccupied with their own problems and are no longer interested in prioritizing the Palestinian issue. The entire point of announcing his supposed bombshell was to redirect attention away from Yemen, Syria and the other major issues in the Arab world and to reclaim center stage.
To reclaim his sense of "dignity."
He is right - the Arab world increasingly doesn't give a damn about Palestinians. They are sick and tired of their tantrums. Some of the Arab nations paid lip service to the Palestinian issue at the UN but, significantly, the topic was ignored by Morocco, Iraq and especially Jordan.
If Arab nations are going to ignore their Palestinian brethren, then the PLO leaders need to ensure that the West still buys into the "linkage" argument that somehow their issue is linked to Syria, Yemen and ISIS.
Saeb Erekat was incensed that President Obama ignored the Palestinian issue in his UN speech, saying that ISIS cannot be defeated while Israel continues settlement activity and allowing Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount.
Being ignored by the Arabs is badm but being ignored by the West is an affront to their dignity.
Abbas' aide Mahmoud Habash announced only two days ago that if the world would ignore the issue of the Temple Mount in the UN meetings, it could spark "dire consequences" including World War III. Again, this is both a threat and a demand to be considered relevant by the world.
Arab coverage of the raising of the PLO flag at the UN was filled with happiness at the "dignity" that it supposedly brought to them.
Abbas' speech itself included a demand for his people's "human dignity." But his "bombshell" was a dud, and even the Palestinians recognized it as a worthless stunt.
So Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party upped the ante.
And all of these threats, incitement and demands for honor and dignity brings us to the horrific terrorist attack yesterday.
The Fatah group that took responsibility for the murder of the Henkins yesterday ended their statement with this:
Long live the unity of our people and our struggle to regain our dignity and homeland.Note that they place "dignity" higher than "homeland." To them, murdering a Jewish couple was mostly an attempt to regain "dignity." They are relevant again! They are in the headlines! And some stupid Westerners will once again use this attack as a weapon against Israel by claiming that the "occupation" is what causes violence in the Middle East, just like Erekat said it did!
The Arab nations already know better, because they are seeing first hand that one cannot compare Syrian barrel bombs to Israeli roadblocks.
But the rest of the world has not yet caught on to the truth. Many non-Arab countries such as Japan and Italy dutifully mentioned "Palestine" in their UN speeches this week.
So the Palestinians demand their "dignity." Dignity can only be achieved by showing that they matter, that they are relevant.
And terror attacks - planned and financed by Mahmoud Abbas' own Fatah party - are the easiest and most efficient manner to achieve relevance and their twisted idea of "dignity."
(h/t Irene)