Thursday, April 01, 2010
The Quality of Israeli Orientalism
So I read this study by Israeli Orientalist, Asher Suser, before I went to sleep. What did I discover? Well, from the large number of endnotes, I discovered that he--like all Israeli Orientalists--studies Arab politics and culture from Western media. Oh, no. I did find a few Arabic sources: the mouthpieces of Prince Khalid Bin Sultan and Prince Salman (Al-Hayat and Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat respectively). OK, what about the insights and conclusion? Well, this Israeli Orientalist reached earth-shattering conclusions. He--based on extensive research--found that secularism has been in decline in the Arab world. Yes, he has. He also noticed that Islamic movements are now factors in Arab politics. I bet those are the experts who advised the Mossad to kidnap a Lebanese grocer because his name was Hasan Nasrallah.