Translations of Iraqis commenting on the Arabic BBC forum about the war between Hamas and Israel in July 2006:
"Hamas with their radical false-heroic speech opened the door for extremists in Gaza and Damascus to open a battlefront that will harm the innocent Palestinian citizen and destroy the peace process. Hamas has long been against the peace process and has long worked on halting it"
Ahmed Talib al-Taii: Baghdad/Iraq.
"There are trends that still live by the past and its dark residues of killing ignorance.
We are the sons of today and our minds must develop at a pace close to that of intellectual development of the world. We cannot solve issues with violence, murder and destruction of nations. We have to use logic and dialogue to convince those you disagree with, and once we do that we will have defeated our enemies, at least on the political arena which enables us to win the moral case before other nations.
Reckless policies that believe only in rifles, cannons and slayings belong to the past and will bring nothing but further destruction and chaos.
Strange they speak in the name of Islam while the prophet of Islam was tolerant in dealing with his enemies [whenever he could] for the sake of his message. Those who slay people like sheep are far from the values of that honorable message"
Hashim al-Tabatabai: Baghdad/Iraq.
"Our hearts go out to the family of the Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by some Palestinian group. We share your suffering and we fully support anything you do to free your missing soldier"
Hassan al-Shami: Baghdad/Iraq.
"I wonder how much time and blood it will take until Arabs and Muslims realize that the world is not the property of their ancestors and that God is not a trademark of their minds and that terror is a dead-end that leads only to more destruction.
Israel is a civilized country defending herself from barbaric savages whose minds are made of stone…minds that do not want to believe they are living in the 21st century.
What's happening to the Palestinians despite its cruelty is going to be a good lesson for them to learn they must clear their community off the hateful fundamentalist terror mentality…[Quranic verse] "God will not change people until they change what's within themselves"…but, will you change?!!"
Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi.
"One of the reasons why stand against resisting the coalition forces in Iraq is the failure of Palestinians in their resistance for over half a century.
Because of the "resistance" reconstruction is being delayed and the entire situation in Iraq is deteriorating.
And now because of reckless, useless acts, the people of Palestine are without electricity or other services and will not meet their aspirations.
They [resistance in Palestine] will unjustly take the life of a 19 year old. Not only that, the number of Palestinian deaths and prisoners will increase after this incident and Palestinians will never see rest as long as there's violent resistance"
Shaymaa Abdullah: Baghdad/Iraq.
"To answer Mr. Jihad (the Palestinian from Jordan) and his advice for Iraqis: Iraqis are singing outside the Arab flock for one reason which is that they distinguish the truth from the Arab illusions. Only 13 years ago Iraqis used to speak like the rest of Arabs; equipped with the illusions of the "Zionist conspiracy" created by Islamists and pan-nationalists. But Iraqis now have discovered the bitter truth. Who is murdering Iraqis on daily basis?? Who is prolonging the stay of foreign troops? That's the terrorists coming from Arab and Islamic countries!!
Israel doesn't want to become the "Great Israel" because Israelis are only several millions in this world…
We are people with long history that we are proud of and we possess enough education and awareness, so long live the new Iraq and let Israel live as our neighbor. I'd love to say that I wish Israel could rule the entire region; better than any Arab government except for the Iraqi"
An Iraqi in exile: Asia.
"I just want to say that I stand in admiration and respect for the nation that wouldn't mind destroying the world for the sake of her sons' safety; a nation that doesn't care about the consequences for their operations in Gaza as long as the soldier is still kidnapped and has to be set free.
Let Arabs and Muslims learn how human life is highly valued in all non-Arab, non-Muslim countries"
Hassan al-Shami: Baghdad/Iraq.
"From following the participations I am gaining more faith in the maturity of thinking of my Iraqi brothers.
Thank God.
And to Olmert I say: Go forward and abolish the fountains of terror in Gaza"
A free Iraqi: Baghdad.
"When Sharon got ill we were frankly saddened because he was the cure for terror. But today came Olmert and proved that he's tougher than his predecessor.
I say it frankly that who supports Zarqawi, calls him a martyr of the nation and mourns Uday and Qusay deserves this. And who still feels nostalgic for Saddam also deserves this"
Hussein: Iraq.
"Israel is needlessly prolonging [the duration of this operation].
They ought to invade the entire Gaza strip and add it to its lands for good"
Lewis the Basrawi: UK.
"The problem with the thinking pattern of Arabs is that-unfortunately-it got dominated by the way of thinking of the rulers.
The rulers are essentially the enemies of the people and our intellectuals are suffering from schizophrenia. But did the Arabs and Palestinians learn anything from the Israeli reaction?
Did they learn that the human life is the most precious of all the treasures of nations and that all tools of war and peace are reserved to serve this life? Did they learn that for the sake of one person in danger a whole nation would care and worry? While thousands of lives are taken in the secret prisons in Arab countries without remorse or deterrence!
How many Palestinians lost their lives or homes because of this or that reckless mischief of Hamas?
Is the Palestinian so cheap to be spent for the sake of a record of fake heroism? Shame on the kidnappers who keep their families and money away from the danger while using the poor as human shields"
Hatif al-Iraqi: Baghdad/Iraq.
"It's very stupid to sacrifice an entire people to kill one single soldier from your enemies.
What wrong did the innocent and the children do? You [Hamas] are idiots that you chose confrontation and violence.
My brethren; the scales in our world had changed and the law of "an eye for an eye.." is no longer valid, economy is the real power now….
Stay the course with your principles (if you had any) and you will bring doom upon your people"
Salah: Baghdad.
"To Mr. Mustafa: I don't know what lion den and what Palestinian country are you're talking about. Know that this land does not belong to you but you acquired it by invasion centuries ago and now the land is back to her people. No matter what you do you are not getting Palestine because this land isn't yours but you still want to seize things with force you don't actually possess neither you have the right to do so. You don't even have the brains or the strength, go read history to learn the truth about the land you're fighting for"
Aadil: Iraq.
"The infrastructure is demolished, no electricity, no water, no commerce…all this is the result of the foolishness of the radical Palestinian groups.
You made the Palestinian people lose thousands of folds more than what Israel lost.
The Palestinian radical militants understand no language but that of explosions, suicide and betrayal"
Hassan Kuxi: Kurdistan/Iraq.
"Israel is a fact that the Palestinians-and Arabs in general-should recognize and deal with using the language of our time, not the worn-out rhetoric of Bin Laden which can only lead the Palestinians to the brinks of extinction"
Lewis the Basrawi: UK.
"What Israel is practicing against the leaders of Hamas is a natural act of self-defense.
Hamas wants to export terror to the entire region and even Jordan which hosted 3 million Palestinians won't escape the plot"
Abbas al-Basri: Canada.
"We got used to this empty Tarzanic attitude from the Palestinians, but then they would run and beg for help from America and the international community when the Israelis respond. I'd like to say that Palestinians must realize one thing; that the days of Saddam are gone"
Aadil: Baghdad/Iraq.
I find particularly interesting that not only do a higher percentage of Iraqis, themselves victims of Arab terror against civilians, support Israel (or at least condemn Hamas) in this instance compared to citizens of other Arab countries (the percentage was about 90/10 and 10/90 respectively), but they are also well-informed about events in Israel and Gaza. They know about the electricity issue, about what happened, and are talking only about real events and not made-up "facts". I find it astonishing how quickly things can change.
They even remember that they used to think like the others and some even go back and study history and support the (Islamic) notion that Israel/Palestine is Jewish land.
What the quotes tell is very similar to what I myself have heard when I was in (northern) Iraq. There is a difference between the official voices and what people really think. They will tell you privately or post on the Internet (somewhat) anonymously, but they cannot speak up even when they are the majority, because the other site kills those who hold the wrong opinion.