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Jews and Palestinians

Warning: the following is a very political, no doubt controversial addendum to my blog, and its only relevance to mental illness is that 1) I became politically passionate for the first time immediately upon starting Zyprexa back in 1997, a passion that has remained with me ever since, and 2) the political situation in the world, particularly in the Middle East, plays a huge role in Grey Crinkled Paper (GCP) not to mention whether or not I remain healthy, though of course attitude, and a certain detachment, is all.

Forewarned, those of you who remain interested may begin to read below.

Some of my friends believe that I am anti-Israel. In fact, I believe that anti-Israel sentiment is fundamentally, albeit often disguised, anti-Jewish sentiment, that the one and the other are the same. I also believe that, as in the US, Israel pursues some policies in the name of security that are wrong-headed, though not necessarily unreasonable, given the climate of fear and suspicion over there. But first and foremost I know that Israel would not exist were it not for hatred of Jews everywhere. I do not believe that Jews were "granted a homeland" from the goodness of anybody's heart, but because 1) Palestine was considered so worthless and unusable that why not give it to the Jews who survived? After all, no one else wanted it�and 2) that in fact Israel was created because NO ONE else wanted to take in the refugees from WWII and thought it would be better if Jews could be settled off in some miserable desert no man's land that no one cared about and where no one could survive well. I don't believe that Harry Truman's support of Israel was anything but opportunistic: he could have helped the refugees in any number of ways. Instead he decided the best policy was to let them have their own corner of the globe, hopefully somewhere that life would be harsh and unforgiving, and let them get on with it as best they could. You notice HE didn't demand that we take in huge numbers of European refugees or end quotas everywhere. He simply agreed to let Israel exist, because then the problem would be located elsewhere...i.e. in the desert of the Middle East, in other words NIMBY.

I am horrified by Iran's hatred of Israel, read Jews, as I continue to be horrified by hatred of Jews everywhere. The fact that after that horrific earthquake, killing more than 30,000, they will accept help from everyone but the Jews distresses me terribly. In truth, Israel has tremendous capabilities in the area of search and rescue, and could help the Iranian people immensely, yet their help is rejected wholesale. Nothing justifies or explains this adequately to me�

What I don't see is how Sharon�s wall, among other things, actually improves Israel's security, or the Green Line etc for that matter. I do however, understand the impulse to build one. I suspect it is similar to our Patriot Act or like the enormous fence being erected between Mexico and the US. southern border. But this similarity doesn't make it either right for either country or what's more important, doesn�t make it effective, which is, in the end, the name of the game. It would be far more effective as an anti-terrorist measure to put all those jobless Palestinians (or Mexicans for that matter) back to work, because we know that enforced idleness and the resultant abject poverty, breeds extremism and acts of terror against perceived enemies. Most Palestinians are not dangerous, dynamite-wearing suicides, and to tar them all with the same anti-terrorism brush is not only unfair, it is dangerous and may end up breeding more terrorists than ever before.

Like many Jews, I suspect WWII was not the end to anti-Jewish campaigns around the world. I may not understand it, as I never understand virulent baseless hatred on the part of anyone, but I certainly don't accept this as right. One question I would ask, however, is why does Israel, by far the most advanced nation in the Middle East, need numerous nuclear weapons? I mean, she cannot use even one without hurting herself, and this exception to the rule of non-nuclear nations in the region does hurt her amongst Arabs and Muslims, though I suspect that apparently they'd find a reason to hate Jews no matter what they did (vis Iran's earthquake and the rejection of Israeli help). I likewise question our own policy of policing world-wide non-proliferation efforts anywhere, while we are busy rebuilding our stockpiles (make no mistake about this) and inventing reasons to justify pre-emptive conventional wars using unconventional �mini-nukes.� Depleted uranium, that is, radioactive material depleted of readily fissionable U-235, is already in widespread use, and I see acceptance of �partial Hiroshima bombs� as the very next step along the way to our full-out use of nuclear weapons�

The problem remains, which I do not understand, but would hate myself if I did, is WHY DO PEOPLE SO HATE JEWS? Not just Muslims, mind you, though their hatred is virulent and institutionalized, but Christians as well. The fact is, I still hear comments among educated people that indicate a most profound ignorance and acceptance of that ignorance when it comes to Judaism. I may not be fully Jewish myself, and since it is inherited matrilineally am not considered truly Jewish by Jews, but would have been considered so by Hitler, and in fact still identify myself more with my (Jewish) father's side of the family than my mother's, even though they in fact have rejected me more (not because they are Jewish but because they are assholes). I believe that Israel, having existed and created a flourishing homeland for 3/4 century or so, has as much as right to exist as South Carolina, whose economy was slave-based for decades and still owes much to the labor and oppression of former slaves. The facts of how Israel was established are outweighed now by the facts of its successful existence, against all odds I might say.

But the analogy with SC is not a good one, because in fact Israel never enslaved anyone, and build a rich, diverse society virtually out of nothing and out of land no one wanted or thought could ever be made decent and arable. I am not fooled: I know perfectly well that had Palestine been desirable land, the Jews would never have been allowed to acquire it. It was only because it was unwanted and unused, except by nomads, and barren, that the Jews were considered worthy of it...It was no impulse of generosity that allowed nations to acknowledge the state of Israel, but the certain sense that she could never flourish, i.e. "do harm," in such a godforsaken corner of the globe. But to the surprise of all, Israel did flourish, and is now the envy of the Middle East, and the subject of anti-Jewish attacks everywhere simply for being successful *and* Jewish.

The question remains, can Israel continue as it has been, by building walls to keep out terrorists and by keeping its own Palestinians second class citizens? I do not claim to know the solution, because I fervently believe that WWII could happen again, just as the Russian pogroms happened under Tsar after Tsar after Tsar. I do not believe that anti-Semitism is a thing of the past, or that anti-Jewishness is. I have felt the brunt of it, a good Unitarian, too many times myself from too many unexpected sources to think that people now have goodwill and acceptance of Jews. I think it would not take much even for this country to break out in a rash of anti-Jewish campaigns, constrained though this would be by law and the influence of important Jewish figureheads. But I cannot see how a wall, or torture of prisoners, or enforced deprivation of jobs and livelihoods and of elementary human needs like food and fresh water, or any such measures increases Israel's security...That's my major argument: that you can easily make enemies. To make friends takes more effort and time, and more patience. But in the end it has to be worth it. Admittedly, however, I don't honestly know, given the current Muslim world, how much chance there is for any accommodation between the forces of anti-Jewish (and anti-Christian) fundamentalism, and the forces -- which do exist -- for tolerance, acceptance and mutual cooperation.

In the end, I do not claim to know how to solve the problem. I only see Sharon�s wall as one more wrong turn in a long struggle that has only losers, not winners. But I am far from being anti-Israel: I hate our own country's politics from time to time, but I would never claim not to love the ideas America embodies and stands for. In fact, that's precisely why I criticize us so fiercely, because I know all too well how much better we could do. Ditto Israel and some of its policies, understandable though they may be. You can understand the fear motive behind a national policy without agreeing that the policy will be the most effective in achieving the stated goals, and unfortunately also without immediately being able to propose something better. That is, you can see a bad solution, without having to know of a better one.

I am emphatically not �anti-Israel� simply because I criticize some of her national policies or believe that Palestinians have rights, both human and political, as well...I most certainly do not support the anti-Jewish rhetoric of some Muslim states, blindly or otherwise. I do not subscribe to the misguided notion that they should be "free" to choose their own hatred or that anti-Jewish sentiment is somehow more okay, or less evil, than hatred of other groups!

I often wonder about something one Palestinian has said, justifying the second intifada: "Jews love life, but we love death." If that's the case, Well, then, I sometimes think to myself, Go ahead and die, but leave life to those living who truly care about it.

Posted by pamwag at January 7, 2004 07:46 AM | TrackBack