Palestinian refugees at the Ein al-Hilweh camp in Lebanon
Friday, August 13, 2010
Time for a truthful Palestinian Arab folksong
| Last week, I saw a video (sent out to the Free Gaza mailing list) of an earnest, self-righteous folksinger, singing his heart out about how those evil Zionists have been oppressing innocent Palestinian Arabs, up to and including the Mavi Marmara. If you want to barf, you can see the video here. The lyrics are filled with what can only be called outright lies, but lies that are accepted as truth by a huge percentage of the world. Here is how it starts: In 1948 they were driven out at the point of a machine gun Now, people listening to this in a concert have next to zero ability to think critically about these sincere-sounding libels. They get caught up in the moment - a purely emotional moment that has no bearing on logic or reality - and the hate that underlies these lyrics become, subconsciously, a part of them. So yesterday I decided that it is time to write a folk song that actually tells the truth about Palestinian Arabs. Unfortunately, I cannot play guitar nor can I sing very well, so I cannot upload it to YouTube and cause countless clueless leftist heads to explode at the confluence of folk singing about an oppressed people and the truth about who is oppressing them. But maybe one of my readers can. So, without further ado, here is my song: The pawns of the Middle East In 1948 their leaders abandoned them The rich Arabs packed up and went to Lebanon Their confident leaders told them to get out of the way So the Jews could be slaughtered and then they'll be back to stay But that's not what happened. Their fighters didn't fight. Wild rumors scared them, and most then joined the flight They ended up in Egypt, Syria, Jordan The Palestinian Arabs thought they'd start over again They thought that they'd be welcomed by the Arabs who said that they loved them But they were placed in giant camps, and had to stay in tents They thought that they were all Arabs, but they were only that in name The other Arabs didn't want them to remind them of their shame Chorus: Decade after decade, the Arabs let them down They treated them like animals, and just used them as pawns They thought that their problem was that they didn't have a state But the real problem was that they were taught only to hate. They wanted jobs, they wanted land, they wanted to fit in Their hosts only wanted the millions given by the UN They kept them stuck in camps, in disgusting misery They did everything possible to ensure they'd never be free. The Arab states passed laws to let them know where they stand They couldn't work in certain jobs, couldn't own any land They had no choice, no rights, no control over their fate And they raised a generation who was taught nothing but hate. Chorus Jordan never gave them an inch of "historic Palestine" The entire world had no problem. They thought that this was fine. The only land that Arabs would allow them to receive Was the land that would be left over when they forced the Jews to leave. Their new leaders taught terror, for them not to be so meek Jordan slaughtered thousands of them in a matter of just weeks And so it went, year after year, kept in dire straits 400,000 of them got kicked out of Kuwait Decade after decade, the Arabs let them down They treated them like animals, and just used them as pawns They thought that their problem was that they didn't have a state But the real problem was that they were taught only to hate. It didn't take long to write - maybe 45 minutes. I could write an entire album in a couple of days. Political folk-singers are overrated. |
