Gamal Abdel Nasser Quotes

Many historians believe that this was the single greatest and most important statement in the history of the politics of democracy. Washington had command of the entire army and could control any part of or all of America. When Julius Caesar had command of his victorious army, he then marched on Rome and took control of the government. This is what has happened from time immemorial. Washington however not only disbanded the army but relinquished his commission. A few years later, he was persuaded to become America’s first President, and after his second term, he again relinquished power and retired from public life. This great act set a precedent for America that has kept us on a democratic footing ever since. In that sense, Washington set the standard not only for all American Presidents to come but for leaders throughout the entire world.

Response to a writer who asked him if Saudi Arabia had tried to convince Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid war in Iraq.

The Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and the PLO were preparing a coordinated attack on Israel. After statements like this, the Israeli’s preempted the attack, routed the Egyptian Airforce and Army, and then defeated the other three. The Arab “War of Liberation” resulted in the Arabs losing more with Israel tripling it’s control of area. The quotation however cast a pall over attempts thereafter to create a Palestinian State as in effect the PLO had announced a policy of a Holocaust—the extermination of the Israelis. The dispute over land was not for the Jewish state a land negotiation amenable to compromise and give and take, but instead was an existential threat to Israel whereby any compromise might result in the death of the entire population. As the ultimate intention of the PLO had been revealed.

This illustrates one of the reasons that the Israeli Arab conflict has been unsolvable over the years. A thousand years ago, the Arabs were a leading intellectual and military power in the world. The rest of the world has moved ahead and they have actually retrogressed. So the Arabs seek dignity which is very elusive. They have never wanted to negotiate terms with Israel when they have been weak and feel defeated. So the pattern has been that they feel they cannot negotiate for justice as they are too week. So periodically they attack Israel which has always defeated them and hoped that after the Arab defeat, permanent negotiations for peace could take place. But the Arabs were feeling too weak. So they just repeated all their extreme demands. After a few years, they would try another attack, lose again and the cycle would repeat. The Israelis fear that if the Arabs every won a war, the Arab moderates might be willing to reasonably negotiate, the extremists would want to continue the fighting and “drive the Israelis into the sea” as they have so often threatened.