(Posted on Newsvine Mon Jan 12, 2009 http://nehama.newsvine.com/)
At a party a few days ago, my "ethnic" appearance and "funny" accent quickly yielded the inevitable question of my identity. Being three days into the onslaught on Gaza, unlike better times, revealing my Israeli identity yielded a brief and uncomfortable silence. Clearly, this rampage, despite the best effort of the Zionist propaganda machinery, leaves a bad taste in the mouth the average a-political American. A comforting thought.
But as the chat progressed my conversation party suggested that the reason the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is so intractable is because of the level of incomprehensible hate fueling the conflict.
This narrative largely assumes that Arabs hate Jews, will not accept the existence of Israel, making it impossible to resolve this situation. Last night at an event sponsored by Jewish Federation, a similar message was conveyed. The Hamas, unreasonably (and inexplicably) will not 'recognize the existence of the State of Israel', and ultimately want to throw all the Jews out and reclaim Palestine. Tony Blankly, on KCRW's Left, Right, and Center said that Hamas' goal is to kill all the Jews, with Arianna Huffington agreeing with him vehemently.
But this has nothing to do with hate. Hate is generated by these events not fueling it. Take recent American history for example. Just in the past two decades the U.S. killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, untold numbers of Afghans, thousand of Serbs, Somalis, Haitians, and the list goes on, all without an iota of hate. In fact, usually it was for the "good" of the intended victims, saving them from themselves. It is American foreign policy.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is intractable not because of hate, but because Israel simply refuses to end the occupation. It is too difficult. There are more than a quarter of a million Israeli Jews living in the occupied territories, and the Palestinian State sits on top of Israel's aquifers. It is also the American foreign policy striving to marginalize any organization associated with Iran. There is a cynical calculation that their will inevitably be some loss of life, but as long as the brunt of the pain is borne by Palestinians, it is acceptable.
Americans easily identify with the truly unbearable reality of Israelis in the South of Israel, who have been living under a barrage of rockets for months. But never imagine what it is like to be a Palestinian. I challenge you to imagine having no control over your borders; having your land carved up by roads you are not allowed to set foot on; that a wall is built on your land between your home and your field; that you need to leave your house at 3 AM to get to work because you will be standing at a road-block for 3-4 hours; that your tax money is confiscated, further crippling your government; that as the water in your wells dries up, the people controlling your life water their lavish lawns.
What would you do then?
But as the chat progressed my conversation party suggested that the reason the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is so intractable is because of the level of incomprehensible hate fueling the conflict.
This narrative largely assumes that Arabs hate Jews, will not accept the existence of Israel, making it impossible to resolve this situation. Last night at an event sponsored by Jewish Federation, a similar message was conveyed. The Hamas, unreasonably (and inexplicably) will not 'recognize the existence of the State of Israel', and ultimately want to throw all the Jews out and reclaim Palestine. Tony Blankly, on KCRW's Left, Right, and Center said that Hamas' goal is to kill all the Jews, with Arianna Huffington agreeing with him vehemently.
But this has nothing to do with hate. Hate is generated by these events not fueling it. Take recent American history for example. Just in the past two decades the U.S. killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, untold numbers of Afghans, thousand of Serbs, Somalis, Haitians, and the list goes on, all without an iota of hate. In fact, usually it was for the "good" of the intended victims, saving them from themselves. It is American foreign policy.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is intractable not because of hate, but because Israel simply refuses to end the occupation. It is too difficult. There are more than a quarter of a million Israeli Jews living in the occupied territories, and the Palestinian State sits on top of Israel's aquifers. It is also the American foreign policy striving to marginalize any organization associated with Iran. There is a cynical calculation that their will inevitably be some loss of life, but as long as the brunt of the pain is borne by Palestinians, it is acceptable.
Americans easily identify with the truly unbearable reality of Israelis in the South of Israel, who have been living under a barrage of rockets for months. But never imagine what it is like to be a Palestinian. I challenge you to imagine having no control over your borders; having your land carved up by roads you are not allowed to set foot on; that a wall is built on your land between your home and your field; that you need to leave your house at 3 AM to get to work because you will be standing at a road-block for 3-4 hours; that your tax money is confiscated, further crippling your government; that as the water in your wells dries up, the people controlling your life water their lavish lawns.
What would you do then?
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