Where are all the Muslim women in the Middle East? What do they have to say about Intifada, terrorism, jihad and insurgents? How do they feel about their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons who have been dying by the thousands at the hands of American troops, Muslim terrorists and as volunteer "mujahadeen" and suicide bombers?
Televsion pictures show hundreds and thousands of Muslim men demonstrating every day . . . especially on the holy day of Friday. In Palestine these men wave AK-47s, cover their faces with their head scarves and dip their hands into the blood of their terrorist leaders when they have been blown to pieces by an Israeli missile.
How do the women feel about all of this?
How do they feel about their second-class status? Are they glad that they do not have to run around in a mob, shouting angry and hateful slogans against Jews, Americans and the degenerate West? Do they feel shut out and cut off from wielding influence in the midst of the unrest and death? Are they being abused by the angry men who seem to surround them? Have the ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine lowered the number of men to the point where there are large numbers of widows and orphans left behind and alone?
Do the women want peace? Or are they as fanatical about Islam as the Islamist radicals seem to be? What are their hopes and dreams for the world? Do they want every other woman in the world to be as they are? What do they think about honor killings of wives and daughters? Is this part of their culture and faith that they accept without complaint?
Recently we have seen how the women in Palestine seem to feel. In a pre-election poll (see 2-18, 19), more than half of the women supported the continuation of suicide bombings against Israel. Indeed, the women were more supportive of this than the men! (A post-election poll with similar results — but not specifically by women — here. A completely opposite poll result can be found here. Which are we to believe?)
Article comments
1 - Nancy
Good post, BoP; this is something I've wondered about myself. Of course, if things are as most Westerners assume, then these women a) don't have access to computers/blogging, and b) aren't allowed to by the men, or c) are not allowed to learn to read & write, therefore can't, a la the Taliban/Afghanistan.
2 - Dave Nalle
How do they feel about this? They feel like they'd better stay at home and behave themselves or they're liable to get beaten and kicked to death by the men in their families.
Dave
3 - Nancy
Well, that's what I mean.
4 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I do not know about figments of the imagination like Palestine, but I do know a few things about Israel.
When in hospital for a heart attack, my roomie was an Arab named Bassam. All day long his wife, an intelligent educated woman, sat in the room with him, conducting the business of the family, most of it in Arabic.
She offered to help me with my bed, an offer I refused (no, not because she was an Arab) and should have taken up. Bassam's daughter visited one evening with her husband, who, at the appointed hour, took off his shoes and faced Mecca and said his prayers.
From what I could see, the daughter was also educated and not the victim of some macho crazed culture. In fact, if they weren't speaking arabic, I would have had a hard time knowing that they weren't Israelis
I've come to learn that polls in this part of the country are very iffy propositions. One article in Arutz Sheva said that 75% of Israelis hung up on pollsters (in disgust?), essentially rendering the polls worthless. Arabs in this part of the world have to fear the reprecussions of living in semi to full dictatorships when considering how to answer polls.
5 - Howard
A mystery to me is the universal picture of Arab men hysterically crying over the bodies of loved ones murdered by a Muslim suicide bomber. Do they ever raise an arm against those who promote these acts of terror? What kind of man will watch his family blown up and have no thought of revenge? Not only do they treat their women like dirt, they seem perverted in other ways also.
Howard
6 - Sean
Obiviously you have never been been in the mid east, or bother to read muslim publications, web based and otherwise. Most internet cafes are full of woman. All media in the mideast have significantly large percentage of female correspondents. The problem is you dont see them because you are too busy loking for cleavage and legs, as opposed to an opinion of a human being.
7 - fos
Sean, are you saying muslim women have cleavage and legs. The way their culture dictates dress for muslim women they all look like burlap sacks of potatoes. Guess we will not see them in the swimsuit issue soon.