<p>@Hamadeh: This is a tough topic. . . Arab could mean a few things to “Arab” people, firstly, an Arab can be defined by that fact that he or she speaks “Arab-ic”, which I think is a bit off considering some non-Arab countries speak Arabic. Second, it could be defined by it geographic location, which could also be misleading; “Israel” is in the Middle-east but is not a Arab country. Third, it could be defined as Arab by virtue of its culture. The latter, I think, is the most accurate. Egypt, although a predominatly Muslim country, has inherited many customs from its Ancient Egyptian roots. Egypt has a very complex history, yet maintains the culture of Ancient Egypt (We have many vacation, like “Sham el Nesem,” which are Pharaonic in nature). Egypt does not have an Islamic history like many of the other Middle-eastern countries (It has a pharonic one). Egypt IS still formally called the Arab Republic of Egypt, but, at least to me, its very difficult to put Egypt in front of Arab, simply because the history of Egypt is NOT dominated by Islamic history, which leads to its very diverse culture, one which is a fusion of Islamic, Pharaonic, French (Egyptians call swimming pools “Piscne”) cultures. </p>
<p>@Cuse0507: All I can tell you is that you can’t compare one theft to another, you can’t compare one murder to the another, and you can’t compare one massacre to another. What do you call the war crimes that happened in Palestine? Both what happened to the Israelis and the Palestinians are equally bad, but shouldn’t a genocide-d race learn not to do what others have done to them. Its wasn’t the fault of the thousands of decapitated and limbless Palestinian children that lay died in front of their mothers and siblings, that the Israeli people were persecuted in a relatively distant land. By the way, if you are American, you have too much of a biased and distant view of matters to make a clear judgment of what’s happening in the middle-east. Go back and watch Fox News now :-).</p>
<p>actually it is their (or more precisely their governemnt’s) fault that they lie “decapitated and limbless.” if hamas wouldnt build military bases next to schools and hospitals, or fire rockets out of homes and public buildings, there wouldn’t be so many decapitated and limbless civilians. </p>
<p>everyone denounces israel’s “occupation,” but when israel pulls out (like it did with Gaza, which all israeli soldiers and settlements pulled out of) they get left with a territory run by terrorists.</p>
<p>Hamas has no military, the rockets are homemade model rockets, and bombing schools and hospitals is a war crime no matter if the enemy is there or not.</p>
<p>See, because there’s no Palestinian army, Israel is effectively waging war against the citizens of Gaza, some of whom fight back.</p>
<p>you obivously dont know anything. they do have a military. in fact, the name of their military wing is called Izz ad-Din. they even have generals and commanders, their chief being Mohammed Deif. and it is this same military which recruits and trains hundrends of fighters, and then places them in public buildings to shoot rockets out of. get your facts straight.</p>
<p>and fyi, katyusha rockets (some of the types being fired from gaza) are not homemade, but made in russia and supplied to gaza from iran and syria.</p>
<p>Wow…talk abroad broad, sweeping generalizations. I actually spent a month on a military installation 5 miles from the Gaza strip during the height of the fighting in 2005, close enough for the explosions to rattle our living quarters. I know what is going on there, and I have experienced it. But please, go on believing what you like about people that disagree with you if it somehow makes you feel better.</p>
<p>@Cuse0507: All I am doing is stating the facts, Fox News does have a clearly biased view of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. Its obvious in the presentation of the news(as in they would have a presenter nearly in tears, reporting that an Israeli solider broke a finger, but zipping past under the presenter are the words “1000’s of children killed.” It’s just that I find that there is nothing to counter-balance the bias of Fox News in American news coverage. I have as I watch both Fox, Al-Jazeera, and CNN.</p>
<p>@Molly4190: I agree that that was a huge generalization. But, what I want to get at is the fact that there isn’t enough accurate news coverage in the US. Even Americans who visit the region admit it. I went to a camp with nearly 100 Palestinians and Israeli along with some Americans. I found that the American were shocked by the stories the Palestinians had, stories that the Israelis campers could not refute. One girl, I remember, told us about how a tank ran over her grandfather (an elderly civilian at the time), even though her grandfather was in clear view of the tank. </p>
<p>Mitssu87: What do you call the bombing of the UN School that was protecting wome, children, and essential resources from the continuous bombing? By the way where are you from? For you information, the Israeli embassy in Egypt is in a CIVILIAN apartement building, don’t you think that that is also a form of human-shielding?</p>
<p>We can keep arguing about this for hours even days (I have, at camp). . . We would always come to the same conclusion: “Who has the right to the land.” The Palestinians would say that they lived in it for generations until the Israelis forcefully and slyly took control.The Israelis would say that it was “promised” to them by god. I highly doubt that political actions should be based on religious beliefs.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong. I think that the actions of HAMAS are atrocious and sub-human, there use of religion as a method of garnering support is depraved.</p>
<p>AKDigger - I’m not here to talk about peace-in-the-mideast types of issues. The point of your thread was whether YOU as an Arab student will face discrimination in the USA. My answer is No, it’s not likely for other students to discriminate against you for being Egyptian, but if you go around making sweeping generalizations, that makes you no different from anyone who says “All Arabs are terrorists” and it won’t win you any friends. Any knowledgable person knows that atrocities have been committed on both sides. The story you described would shock anyone, I think. Of course American teens who have never been to the Gaza strip before were shocked by it; how does that prove everyone is ignorant and believes Fox news?</p>
<p>Oh, and it’s funny you bring up Fox when Al-Jazeera ain’t exactly an unbiased, neutral, media source either. Believe me, i’m not ignorant, I intern at the UN here in NY and as for news, I read the Times and NewsWeek to keep up.</p>
<p>“I think that the actions of HAMAS are atrocious and sub-human”</p>
<p>Why? What else are you going to do when your country is being blockaded and starved? Your country isn’t internationally recognized, so you can’t open up negotiations. You can’t get aid, because UN aid stations are being bombed. Why is defending your country atrocious and sub-human?</p>
<p>molly, have you watched al-jazeera on youtube or anything? They’re not biased at all, they just have a bad reputation in the US for running Osama bin Laden’s tapes.</p>
<p>Al-Jazeera is the most messed up channel, if you know Arabic you might even laugh while watching due to the shear bias (very similar to that of Fox News, but less subtle).Al-Jazeera is the polar opposite of Fox News. What I’m saying is that a balance between such polar opposites, will keep you as informed as possible. I never said Al-Jazeera was unbiased, its as biased as s***.</p>
<p>Hamas intentionally tries to get Palestinian civilians killed in order to promote their skewed agenda. Honestly, I think Hamas enjoys seeing Palestinians killed moreso than anyone else.</p>
<p>“If by fight you mean resort to terrorism, then yes, it is wrong.”</p>
<p>Define “terrorism”. Do you mean killing civilians? Hamas killed 10 soldiers and 3 civilians in the last Gaza war while Israel killed 709 “militants and policemen” (civilians with guns) and 926 civilians. How can you call one “terrorism” and not the other?</p>