I've postponed a month-long plan to publish a photo essay from a 2003 trip I made to Gaza. There are several reasons for this, most of them to do with being busy lately, but the primary reason is that I don't know how to frame the essay without sending the emotions of at least a few Gather readers through the roof. A couple weeks back one Gather member expressed anger that I have posted several photos of Palestinian children who were, well, normal human beings. The implication was that to be "fair" I need to post a few that showed their fangs dripping with blood.
Don't get me wrong, I'm an ardent supporter of iron sharpening iron: people with differing ideas coming together to engage in thoughtful disagreement and conversation. But I cringe at the ranting and screaming that makes me think a gang of gnarly, rabid cats have infiltrated Gather.
The main reason I cringe isn't because it "offends me" or whatever; it is that while many of us are at our computers clattering away on the keyboard and feeling all indignant or self-righteous, we are missing something. I'm not always sure what that something is, but often the word that comes to mind is compassion.
When some staunchly pro-Israel Gatherites villify Palestinians as terrorists and say that THE problem in the conflict is terrorism, I think of my friend Nasser. At the age of 17, he was arrested and tortured for spray painting "Give us Freedom" on the wall of a house in his West Bank village. For three weeks he was held for a crime - if you'd like to call it that - that he didn't commit. Two of his other friends were arrested with him -- incidentally, all three were Christian Palestinians -- and he listened to their screams as they too were tortured. In the end, all three signed confessions, which barred Nasser from leaving the West Bank for several years. His dream of going to university in Europe was over.
In his late 20s, Nasser lived in a decent home with his wife and newborn son. Unfortunately, the house was in a row of houses closest to an Israeli military post, which was about a quarter-mile away. Several nights a week soldiers at that post would shoot into their home even though the post had never received any fire from the row of houses. And so he abandoned his home, moving 100 feet across the street to the second row of houses, where his family would be shielded.
Now that he is in his mid-30s, Nasser's business has gone from thriving to heavily in debt on account of impassable military checkpoints all around his village. Because of this -- and because he knows there is a fair chance he will lose a child to this conflict with the passage of enough time -- he is making plans to leave the land of forefathers, Palestine, and make a new home in Argentina. Nasser's story is not unusual. In fact, it is tame compared to tens of thousands of others stories that could be told. I have never met a person - American or Israeli - who has spent 24 hours with a Palestinian family and not come away from the experienced changed. You'll never see the news the same way.
And when I hear a Gatherite who is staunchly anti-Israel, I think of Avi, who lost the woman he was soon to marry to a Palestinian suicide bomber who attacked a pedestrian area of Jerusalem. And I think of how poor are these labels - pro, anti, etc. If I am pro anything, I hope it is pro-human, which encompasses both peoples. And because I am pro-human, I feel obliged to speak out against the ruthlessness of the Israeli occupation, just as I feel obliged to speak out against terrorism against civilians. I am hesitant to speak out on Gather, however, because I'm not sure of the use. I'd rather speak out, as I've done in the past, at an Israeli checkpoint where I witnessed 18-year-old soldiers abusing elderly men and women. Or I'd rather speak out to angry men in a Palestinian refugee camp, where I could passionately argue for the value of Israeli life to those who are so blinded by their pain and rage that they can't easily see the value of it anymore. (Yes, I've spoken out in this setting too.)
It is 2 a.m. and I should never write about this conflict after midnight unless I've had coffee. I will bring this to a close by saying:
- I may reread this post tomorrow and delete it.
- Later in the summer I will post the Gaza photo essay.
- When I post it, I hope you will enjoy it. Not that anyone can enjoy the torn-up mess that is Gaza, but that you might enjoy seeing the human face -- they don't have fangs -- of your global neighbors who live there.
- Finally, I am one who thinks the media tends to do a miserable job in providing background to the conflict. And so I would like to recommend this article by Jonathon Cook, which takes a look at the coverage of the Israeli soldier who was captured and, as far as we know, is still alive in Gaza now. Would be curious to hear what you think of his article.
Good Night.
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Comments: 36
i am angry because focusing on Gaza misses the point, the point being that the Arab world like Africa stinks of corrupt leaders that leave their own people poor, and use them as shields when they attack others..
that is what makes me angry and i just wish some people that care for the palestinians would see the larger picture and consider the amount of stress Israeli soldiers have to deal with ,suicide bombers like mushrooms and people that got back land and use it as a missile launching pad..
iam not writing from a comfortable place, i am always sitting on my suitcases but frankly like the palestinians as long as the terror continues , i am displaced as i refuse to expose my children to more wars than i had too, having endured saddam Hussein's missiles once , once is enough, having witnesses the dances of joy in the palestinian territories every time there is a terrorist attack, i just wish someone would see beyond the photos of the beautiful and sad children to their parents who do not seem to show one sign of interest in changing the situation towards peace, which is for me the real sad reality in the middle east, where i come from..and i ma very tired of American and Europeans attmepting to know better than the people that live in the middle east what the solution is and who to blame..the solution is one and only:peace and as soon as possible, enough looking who to blame..just get the palestinians off the hypnosis of extremism and get them to want a future for the beautiful children you photograph. Israel is not Britain or France and wishes not to control other people, that is why the terroritories were given back ,though no other nation in the universe gives back land, especially not being so small, now will anyone out there believe israel wants peace?no, because the security needs have forced the army to be always on alert ,always defending against invasion and going after the terrorsits that are building up their ammunitions without a limit..so israel always comes out the bad guy, no, it is not that simple, not as simple as a photo..
Coincidentally, have you read the poetry of Taha Muhammad Ali or Aharon Shabtai? Both have been translated into English by Peter Cole.
Let this article stand like a beacon light. Do not delete it. Do not be deterred by the ranting and screaming which, I suspect, is hardly the voice of even a fraction of Gather. Continue to show us human faces, which speak a universal language of compassion, wherever you find them.
" And I think of how poor are these labels - pro, anti, etc. If I am pro anything, I hope it is pro-human, which encompasses both peoples. And because I am pro-human, I feel obliged to speak out against the ruthlessness of the Israeli occupation, just as I feel obliged to speak out against terrorism against civilians"
there was an incredible interview article over in the Independent, "What British jews think of Israel"
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1183428.ece
What British Jews think of Israel
and if you came here-- you would probably be one of the minority, because many here see Israel as an unjustifiable aggressor taking on the same bullyng tactics as its past oppressors
You asked for comments on Cook's article. I am not pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, or anti either of them. Both make mistakes. But we always have cause and effect operating in any conflict and in this case the issues are quite clear, not muddy as Cook would have you believe.
When the Israelis go to "arrest" someone it is because that person has killed and or injured Israeli citizens in some sort of attack. When Palestinians "kidnap" someone, they are choosing to seize one or more Israelis for no reason other than to harm Israelis.
Just look at cause and effect. When Palestinians stop attacking Israel, what do the Israelis do? Do they keep attacking Palestinians or do they stop totally and allow Palestinians to come to Israel to find work?
Or just look at people's response to killing each other. Palestinians cheer in the streets when an Israeli is killed by Palestinian actions and the attackers are revered as heroes. When Israelis kill Palestinians, there is no cheering in the streets and most Israelis feel bad about the whole thing.
Let's look at what people feel about peace. Palestinians say they want peace and then strongly support groups who are committed to the destruction of Israel. Israelis say they want peace and are willing to give up land an all sorts of things to gain peace. Look what they did to achieve peace with Egypt and separately with Jordan.
So why can't they arrive at peace with the Palestinians? Because the Palestinians will only be satisfied by the destruction of Israel. They say it, they write it down in their documents, and their actions are consistent with what they say and write. I wonder why Cook doesn't believe it.
I can see that your heart goes out to Nasser and his family, Joel, but he gets little sympathy from me. For me, he has made his choice, a choice to side with Palestinians who want to destroy another group of human beings. He gets what he deserves, IMHO.
It is the children of the Nassers of the world I am very sad for. They have no choice and will be brought up to believe that the Palestinians are the good guys and everyone else is bad. If they manage to extract themselves from such thinking, I would be amazed. They will most likely just become part of the problem.
Best regards, Ben
Author "Leading People to be Highly Motivated and Committed"
Best regards, Ben
Your article is just wonderful, beautifully written and full of much wisdom. DO NOT DELETE IT! If anything, send it out for wider publication. The world needs to think from this perspective.
What's the line from Romeo and Juliet? "All are punish'ed."
The miracle which needs to occur, I think, is that the Palestinians need to realize that what's in their best interests is aligning with the Israelis, not the Arab states which, as sigalit notes, are using the Palestinians to further their own agendas. This would require a mind-shift that is almost unthinkable, but if they can do it in South Africa, it's not entirely impossible for it to occur in this area. But what has to happen is that the people on the street, Palestinians AND Israelis, give up their right to revenge the past, no matter how justified their desires may be, and commit to the future. I despair of that ever happening.
and sigalit IS right
A beautifully written article, and I look forward to your Gaza essay, though I certainly respect your reasons for delaying it.
On the bad days the get killed, wounded, raped, beaten up or worse, all though I can't imagine worse.
..... But then I'm just European, and I don't pretend to know what it's like to like in a war Zone.
However, the people in the region will have to want peace; otherwise it's not going to happen. And I not siding with either the Israelis or the Palestine's as I believe there faults on both sides. The war is dirty!
Children everywhere shouldn't have to learn to live with the sound of bombing attack, riffle fire, bullets and screaming for mercy. I hope peace will come to us all, but that I believe is just a naive notion. Until those who suffer decide to want peace. I think it time to say, when have enough blood been shed. I wish that no man, woman or child should have to live like this. At all! Regardless of their nationality!
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976768313
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976767388
I particularly like your concept of expending your energy on these issues only in circumstances where it might make some difference.
And you're simply thoroughly incorrect in saying that Israelis "arrest" only Palestinians involved in attacks. Thousands of people have been arrested for other reasons, often political. Mubarak Awad, a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, was even deported from his homeland by Israel because his NON-violent activities were becoming so effective in the first intifada. He's now a professor at American University in Washington DC.
Your other statements are also over simplifications, crass generalizations, and leaving some things out - I've not only seen Israelis celebrating violence toward Palestinians, I've seen Jewish parents in Hebron encouraging their child to spit on Palestinian children.
But what really amazes me is that you are so callous toward a man like Nasser, because he has made a choice to "side with" Palestinians and therefore doesn't deserve sympathy. Nasser is a Palestinian, so he doesn't "side with" Palestinians. And to refuse to feel sympathy when someone is tortured wrongly suggests a hardened heart. And you need to understand that bullets flew through his home because the ones pulling the trigger didn't give a crap about the innocent people they might kill, nor - since his village was peaceful - did they have any reason to pull the trigger except for boredom or spite. Whatever one's ethnicity or identity in such a situation, he deserves sympathy. To deny an innocent man one's sympathy simply because of his identity, as I think you have done with Nasser, is precisely what the worst elements of a group like Hamas does. To so casually say that an innocent man "gets what he deserves" is reprehensible.
One more thing about Nasser: he is a damn good father. I could give you a thousand reasons why, including how he teaches his children to love even their enemies (something few fathers do in any country, even ours), but my reply is already long enough.
This is perhaps the wisest thing anyone can say about this, or any other political subject, and it is the reason why I think (IMNSHO -- In My Not So Humble Opinion) the ideologues on both the left and right are morally bankrupt. There are no easy answers, but when ideology becomes more important than compassion, the game is lost. In the interests of full disclosure, I have to say that I think people on the right are more guilty of this than on the left, overall. The argument that everyone is the master of his/her fate, while it's a useful one to live by, is a demonstration of a hardened heart when it's applied to other people, in situations we cannot imagine, from backgrounds we cannot understand.
Sigalit - I appreciate the calmer tone with which you responded to this article. On the other hand, there is much that I think you are either incorrect or unfair about. For example, you say "enough looking who to blame..just get the palestinians off the hypnosis of extremism and get them to want a future for the beautiful children you photograph." Are you not in this very sentence "looking for a party to blame? You play the blame game as much as anyone.
You also say, "Israel is not Britain or France and wishes not to control other people, that is why the terroritories were given back...." Two things:
1. While the IDF withdrew from Gaza last year, it is analogous to prison guards withdrawing from the prison compound itself yet still manning the perimeter, fiercely restricting entry and exit not only of people but also of trade, which scuttles any chance Gaza has to develop itself. Even flowers from greenhouses can't make it out of Gaza to their markets in Europe because of the nature of Israeli control.
2. Israel has never yet agreed to give back all the West Bank. It has agreed to give back pieces of it, but not all of it. Throughout the 1990s during the peace negotiations, Israel accelerated its claim to prime West Bank land, especially around Jerusalem, by building settlements at a furious rate. The number of illegal Jewish settlers increased by some 200,000 -- doubled! -- during the peace negotiations of the 1990s. (This movement of civilians into occupied territories has always been a violation of the Geneva Conventions, but Israel has excelled in it, which has met with an angry Palestinian response.) Even today in places like Bethlehem, I know Palestinians who are fruitlessly trying to keep possession of their ancestoral lands but are no match for the Israeli "justice" system. People throughout the West Bank, especially those whose land is near settlements, can wake up on any morning and find a notice on their property saying that Israel is taking their land for "security" reasons. Any Israeli human rights group will tell you that not only is this illegal, it is an almost always done on a false pretenses. This is one reason Israel, in the eyes of Palestinians, looks like a selfish bully and thief.
So, I agree with you that Israel should not always come off as the bad guy. Palestinians have their hands thoroughly dirty as well. But you make Israel sound much more clean and innocent than it actually is, and I think this is part of the problem.
Thanks again.
you are my new hero.
ten brilliant stars and please keep up with the extra ordinary writing.
i am new on gather and got such fiery comments that i was bewildered
I am fortunate enough to have several Palestinian friends and have heard many stories similar to the ones of Nasser's life.
I can barely watch the evening news right now, it sadens and sickens me so.
I look forward to your Gaza photo essay!
Very well done.
Neither of these positions should be of any concern to American foreign policy and the millions of American citizens whose duty it is to shape that policy. If Israel finds its demise in an imperialist struggle to recapture the ancient dream of a bronze age people, then so be it. If the would-be Palestine is gobbled-up piece meal by the slow creep of Jewish expansion on the West Bank, then so be it. Americans need to realize that it is our nation that is the great people. We cannot exercise a sentiment that even remotely resembles patriotism when we speak first of the interests of other nations and only later consider what intersts remain for our own consumption.
To be blunt, the Israelis and the Palestinians are two insignificant peoples presently at loggerheads over what is, by any reasonable standard, a dried up, filthy strip of land. Could we, for once, set aside our moral posturing (i.e. charges of anti-semitism, non-combatant targeting, etc) and simply treat these peoples as geopolitical assets or liabilities, nothing more nothing less? Could it be that we shun this instrumental perspective because of our various brands of moral favoritism? Is it possible to reconcile these moral favoritisms with a patriotic sentiment that puts American interests before those of any other nation? Can this alliance be characterized as anything other than one of the most unproductive and one-sided in world history?
Undeniably, the dominant moral favoritism in American foreign policy has tracked the interests of the Israeli lobby. It may well be that one can explain how the U.S. has gained any net utility from casting its lot with a nation that is only the size of metropolitan Cairo. The decades and millions spent in single-minded support of Israel no doubt have improved returns on that rather odd bet. But its wisdom is still far from apparent. If any journalist wishes to be serious on this matter, he/she need only try to spill a few words on how America is likely to gain or lose measurably (not morally or faithfully) from our present alliance. How has the alliance aided us in Iraq? How has it been of any aid to our interests in Afghanistan?
Lastly, I would say that in pursuing this national inquiry we must, most of all, remember that this is a dialogue on national policy, and that it is analytically of singular significance for the individual. Electoral politics is of no matter. Each individual facing these questions--that is all questions affecting national security--must be made to answer them from the perspective of what is good for the nation (America), not from the perspective of their party, their church, or their secret nation of foreign allegiance. Those who choose to follow these other dictates of conviction should be openly chastised as having chosen to ally themselves with parochial or foreign interests over those of the nation.
Innocent people being oppressed and tortured abound around the world. Each individual deals with such human suffering in a manner that fills their own need, and soothes their own soul.
Personally I am "offended" by the suggestion I (and everyone else on gather, apparently) are/am without compassion for the innocent, simply because I/we might understand the nature of war in ways you do not.
The arrogance of your position implies your compassion is deeper, more intensely felt than my own, or others. You presume to suggest because I/others would rather offer what I/we believe are solutions, rather than weep in futility for the innocent people trapped in circumstances beyond their control.
You pretend your experience gives you special insight into the problems of the world, and that you alone, or perhaps others who have seen what you have seen, heard what you have heard, and felt what you have felt, could possibly understand the plight of men, women, and children in a war zone without hope.
Your pretension repulses me nearly as much as war itself, nearly as much as the needless suffering of the very people you ostensibly feel so much compassion for, and I'm fairly certain your misguided moral indignation informs your overweening ego of just how righteous you believe yourself to be.
I will continue to present the facts as I know them, I invite you to do the same.
I for one however will leave the gnashing of teeth to those that prefer drama to discussion, prefer commiseration to consideration, and attempt to present my word and ideas without needless emotional baggage.
Any thoughtful person begins from the position "war is hell." Any discussion of war has as it's given, innocents will suffer because of the political decisions of the few. Such things need be mentioned only by the weak, the utopians, and fools.
Israel is an ally. We are going to see their side, and hopefully,
America and Israel is on the same page, today, Jan. 13, 2009.
The glaring inadequacy of any missile defense system can be
exploited by what is called "overwhelming assault." Simply
stated, the attacker fires so many missiles the defense system
cannot keep up with them. It matters not that only one carries
a nuclear warhead and the rest are decoys. It's the one that
gets through that matters. Neighboring Iran's agenda and
nuclear ambitions serve to complicate the issue.
(Am I safe to say that a good way to upset your neighbor would
be to put a multiple missile system in your yard, and aim them
at his house?)
I have heard some liken Israel's preparations for war (cutting
off supplies, etc.) to aggression. Is it because we have lived in
America for so long that sound military planning and strategy
is such a foreign concept to us?
Last, the attack system the Palestinians have constructed, the
one which is currently undergoing the process of disassembly,
was not put together in a few days. Nor, was it a complete
secret with respect to Israeli intelligence. This represents a
deliberate creation of a doomsday attack system, and the
missing pieces are only the warheads that, thankfully,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been either reluctant or
unable to supply.
The Hebrew People, who cling to Yahweh for their very survival, and have for thousands of years, are His chosen people; and though they have made mistakes, like even Christians and the New Testament Church (Catholics and other Christians) have, they are the very Apple of His eye, and He has planned to bless them and to bless the earth through them.
Another Zionist Christian for Israel,
Father St. John of the Cross
P.S. My Rabbi is Jewish!