: “Poverty of Dignity” - The Core of Muslim Rage

Thomas Friedman has had much to say about the Muslim world since September 11th. His observations have led him to offer some constructive criticism to the Muslim world about “healing their own rage.” Whenever a western journalist starts telling Muslims what they’re doing wrong, people usually start to wince. But Friedman is no Daniel Pipes – he has had a long history of sympathy and understanding of the Muslim world, particularly with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Which, in fact, is part of his argument – that disproportionate rage vis a vis Palestine stems from an overwhelming sense of powerlessness, a “poverty of dignity.” Still, Friedman doesn’t let others (including Israel) off the hook: “To think that Israel’s exiting the occupied territories – and abandoning its insane settlement land grab there – wouldn’t reduce this problem is absurd.”

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.