@mk @expatpaul @kris @drak@sn.1w6.org Today I was talking to (actually interviewing, though I'm not usually a journalist) a Palestinian in the West Bank and I asked him about his reaction to the Charlie Hebdo affair. He's a moderate Muslim belong to Fatah. He said that he's all in favor of freedom of expression, but that it isn't okay to poke fun at someone's religion. He said that if the magazine had laughed at the Holocaust in this way, people would have called it antisemitic. We pointed out that it did that too, and poked fun also at Christianity, and he expressed doubtful surprise. Here in the Middle East, perceptions, and how things are remembered tend to be more important than actual facts. I think this is something that needs to be taken into account when trying to understand popular sentiments. In other words, when, on the basis of our freedom traditions, we "rightfully" make fun of another people's religion, along with all the other sacred cows too, what they will remember us for is that we poked fun at their religion, and not that we were "an equal opportunity caricaturist". Just something we may like to take into consideration, when we're lighting the match. For other Palestinian reactions to what has happened, see Amira Hass from Haaretz - I've made a copy of it at https://notes.pinboard.in/u:howardshippin/99bd6a1ac2fbde1afa82