As is being reported HERE and HERE, the Arab Writers Union has a formed a bureau (the political kind, not the kind used for storing dirty laundry) to prevent the "normalization of cultural ties with Israel."
How normal is it to be so fearful of the power of ideas that you must spend so much time, energy and money on making absolute certain those ideas don't spread.
Does this not seem contradictory to the purpose of a "writer?" Isn't the very essence of a writer his ability to spread ideas, to influence culture, to normalize and understand that which is little known or poorly understood?
As is the case with most Arab melodrama, this has the requisite idiocy to lull you into a false sense of complacency. In this instance, that means that one of the chief concerns of this Bureau is that Hebrew words not get adopted into the Arab lexicon. Lucky for Israel, Yiddish is much more pervasive - we should have Arab children saying "tuchus" and "schlep" any day now!
But, don't allow the insanity of the above to hide from the very real, pernicious evil that is being attempted here. This is good ol' fashion brainwashing at its core. This is cultural imperialism. This is the very reason that when my friends ask me why the two sides "can't just stop fighting" my answer is and must remain: ask them.
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