Sumud

As I said before, any society has a range of opinions. Those opinions are just that, just opinions, they may or may not be right and they may or may not even be logical. One way to look at it is that opinions, like many other natural phenomena, have an "Inverted Bell Curve" distribution, ranging from one extreme which is totally nationalistic and selfish, to the other extreme of blaming one's own society and wishing to appease others. Obviously, the majority of people tend to have opinions somewhere between the two extremes and only a small minority have the extreme opinions.

Having said that, I have done my research on Sami Adwan and I don't think that his opinions (at least the ones that he voices publicly) fit at either end of the extremes. To be sure, he seems to have come a long way from his earlier hate of Jews to now recognising the humanity of Jews but he certainly does not fit what I mentioned in my criteria 4 above. For instance, I have not been able to find his own opinion on subjects like:
  1. The 1947/48 war.
  2. The 1967 war
  3. The Israeli response to acts of terrorism

About the most he is able to do at this stage is that he seems to be content to concede that each side has it's own story and that each should be listened to. I admit, that's a lot of progress but it still is not what I mentioned in my criteria.

I am sure you already understand fully what I am looking for but I will re-iterate it again. I am looking for Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and/or the WB, who openly accept and say things like: the Arabs/Palestinians started the 1947/48 war, Egypt and Syria had a major responsibility for the 1967 war and that Israeli response to terrorism is understendable. The other thing that I am looking for is proof that such people are allowed to express such opinions without being physically attacked.