Israeli-Palestinian Rapprochement?
I used to count myself among the many supporters of Israel's right to exist alongside the Palestinians by saying that Israel should take steps to remove its settlements. And then, guess what? everything would be solved. The Palestinians would have their land, the Israelis would then live in peace with their neighbours and all would be well. A perhaps reasonable assumption that two old adversaries could find accommodation with one another for the well-being of their populations. What reasonable onlookers might assume otherwise, after all? Give a little, get a lot. Give up land taken taken during a defensive war of attrition, and get badly needed security. Dream on, McDuff.Israel is populated largely by normally intelligent, fairly moderate, ethically-bound citizens of the 21st century. From the ingathering of Jews from around the world came a multitudinous population of diverse backgrounds but with a solid underpinning of like aspirations: to live in peace in their own little corner of the world. With a population roughly approximating that very number which perished in the concentration camps and gas chambers of the Holocaust. Was it too much to ask for?
Evidently it was, according to other inhabitants of the geographic area, a part of which was partitioned off to accommodate a new state which would bring together the Jews of the world who believed in a place of their own. These largely urban, urbane and urbanized people who came from the cities and shtetels of Europe and North America, with an expanding trickle from Israel's surrounding Arab countries came to form a coherent population seeking refuge from a world which had always rejected them.
Little did they fully understand that they would become an island in a region of tribalism, of mouldering ethnic resentment, of truly elemental hatreds, of warmongering xenophobes. The nascent state discovered the truth of the situation soon enough, and has remained embattled ever since, yet never losing hope that the potential of the sweetness of human nature might prevail. Although Jews originally hailed from the Middle East, and developed their ethos and beliefs there, as well as their genius of religion, they appear not to have recognized that they were surrounded by an eternally primitive-natured population of tribal revenge and ritualized mayhem.
Well, perhaps they did. Their early leaders may very well have, recalling Golda Meier's dismissive comment with respect to the Palestinians. If a penchant to reasonableness and accommodation, good will and neighbourliness is absent how does one discuss matters of partnership in geography? If a neighbour you've not yet met formally indicates his displeasure of your settling into a home in the neighbourhood by driving a tractor through your new home do you feel this is just an awkward message from Neighbourhood Welcome Wagon?
Enmity begets enmity and that's just human nature. Most people, both Israelis and Palestinians, would like nothing better than to live their lives peacefully, in security and with a promise for a future in which one's children will surely prosper. I have no doubt whatever that most Palestinians would much prefer to live alongside their neighbours with mutual acceptance the order of the day, but the fact is there are so many bitterly-engaged militants in the population intent on murder and chaos that it just is not going to happen, bar a miracle.
So Gaza was emptied of its settlements of Jews to enable Palestinian Gazans to take control of the land, to bring order and begin a long journey toward prosperity for people desperately needing a hope for the future. After all, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Russia, China, all inferred that this sacrifice by Israel would move both peoples closer to peace and accommodation. Yet, it was the containing wall that Israel built despite world-wide condemnation which brought to a standstill the deadly murder-bombings which had taken so many Israeli lives. Armed factions within Gaza are now murdering their own at an even greeater number than when they were merely 'shutting down' those Palestinians whom they claimed were working with Israel. Mayhem has resulted in Gaza, with tribalism triumphing in a mad rush to defeat one's enemy; now not only Israelis, but other Palestinians as well, with whom one disagrees.
The Palestinian Authority, unable to bring order is facing the ruinous disintegration of its aspirations, challenged by Hamas, whose founding pledge is still the utter destruction of the State of Israel. Syria and Iran are still happily funding murder-bombers and insurrectionists from within the Palestinian militias. Will they simply murder one another into extinction if we wait long enough?
posted by Pieface @ Monday, January 16, 2006
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