A Palestinian woman from Gaza arrives at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for lifesaving skin treatment for burns over half her body. After the conclusion of her extensive treatment, the woman is invited back for follow-up visits to the outpatient clinic. One day she is caught at the border crossing wearing a suicide belt. Her intention? To blow herself up at the same clinic that saved her life.So, how do we deal with this resentment and hatred? What gestures, what acts, will be sufficient to change things. And, if it is not working at the individual level, how will it work at the collective level?
What kind of culture leads one to do that?
Sadly, it is a culture infused with resentment and hatred.
It is this culture that underlies the Palestinians' and the broader Arab world's refusal to accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.
This is the root of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It is not about the '67 lines.
And until Israel's enemies come to terms with this reality, a true peace will be impossible.
Here is the entire Eric Cantor speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Regards — Cliff
The issues underlying the Israeli and "Arab" differences rise almost to the imponderable level.
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, the goals of the two factions are simply irreconcilable. The Arab states (particularly, the Palestinians) want ONLY that Israel be pushed into the sea and oblivion. That is the reality, and no amount of quibbling changes it. That the Islamic/Arab world despises the Christian one is fully supported by the treatment of Christians throughout the Middle East. The Jews are a gigantic red flag in the face of Islamists who view the Middle East as THEIR homeland (well....actually...the entire planet..but that is another discussion). That the Israelis are defiant in the assertion of their "right" to the land they claim only makes the anger worse. Not only are the Jews there, but they are in the Arab face about it. It harkens back to the "coming out" parades in various cities by homosexuals ("We're here, we're queer, get over it.")
This is one of those battles that has no viably equalitarian end. It is, to borrow the phrase, a war not about who is right, but who is left.
I am not certain that the US is doing itself any favors by siding with the underdog while trying to publicly appear as the "Great Appeaser." We lose street cred in the end.....and in the ME...perhaps we've never had it.
I'd be curious to know if the burns over half her body might have been caused by the Israeli army's white phosphorous munitions?
ReplyDeleteI'm struck by how often each faction only contributes half a story when listing their grievances. One Palestinian woman is pushed beyond her breaking point, and suddenly this becomes the reason for everything else to be done in retribution. Well, the bullets fly both ways, and I, for one, do not buy any more of this biased and useless opinion.
Either people are for peace, or they are for retribution. (There is no justice to be had anymore given the transgressions on both sides). South Africa produces one model to follow. Northern Ireland the beginnings of another. Sadly, I hold no hope for Israel and Palestine while the current generation and its memories persist.
Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish
ReplyDeletereminded of the words of the Prince at the end of the story of Romeo and Juliette, "...where are you Capulets and Montagues, what a scourge your hatreds have laid upon your heads, and I, for winking at your discords too have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished. ALL ARE PUNISHED!!!!!" Capulets and Montagues can very easily be Israelis and Palestinians....both have committed acts in the name of virtuous ends.....and all are punished. Shame on the human race.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, war is never about who is right....only about who is left.