Middle East Youth's Bloggers

For some months now, I've been reading many of the bloggers at Middle East Youth. I thought I would link to a few of their articles, as they offer some of the most refreshing takes on the Middle East conflict I have seen for some time. Ray Hanania's post on the recent escalation in violence in Israel/Palestine stuck with me, this is an extract:

'There is one principle. And, if you fail to apply that one principle fairly to BOTH SIDES, then you are NOT principled. You are morally bankrupt. Don;t denounce Israel and remain silent on Hamas terrorism. Don’t denounce Hamas and be silent on Israel’s government war crimes. Israel is a state with a formal military. The Hamas leadership is a collection of religious thugs, terrorists and criminals. You xpect [sic] criminals to behave as criminals. But is is not worse when a so-called government acts like a thug, too?

One principle. One law. One justice. One standard. Apply it to both sides and we see that both sides are guilty. And those who take sides and refuse to apply one standard are complicit in the moral bankruptcy that has consumed both the Palestinians and the Israelis.'

Also worth a look are Alice on celebrating violence, Ramzy on the agression of his fellow countrymen in Palestine and Nissim Daham on resentment in the Arab world and the Middle East Peace process.

I cannot praise these bloggers enough; their analysis, their bravery at expressing views from societies in which we used to hearing the opposite and their championing of peace, human rights and freedom to worship in the Middle East. They deserve our attention.