One of the things I noticed since I’ve been here is the attitude in which Palestinians and Israelis approach the conflict. I don’t want to make overarching generalizations and I certainly don’t want to point out anyone in particular, so let me just say that there are a couple of trends I’ve noticed from a majority of the people that I have met while being here.
Actually, I kind of want to focus on the Palestinians. Almost all of the Palestinians I have met here – whether Jordanian Palestinians, refugees, or citizens of Palestine – have expressed extreme dissatisfaction with normalizing relations with Israel. Now, I’m not passing judgment. Hell, if I thought I was being oppressed, I would probably walk around flipping everyone off that I viewed as my enemy. However, what gets me are the Palestinians who actually say they want to figure out a peaceful resolution, but have no interest in listening to criticism.
Anytime I have found myself in a discussion about the conflict in which a Palestinian is involved, someone will say something about Palestine, and a Palestinian will jump up with a finger pointed in the air and say, “That is not true!!” Of course, a lot of the time, the comments aren’t true, but what I’m trying to say is that the Palestinians I have met have had a much more difficult time dealing with criticism.
In contrast, I have only met one Israeli who has had problems dealing with criticism, and in fact, he was almost militant in his views of the situation. However, every other Israeli I have met has been more willing to sit down and listen to prospects of peace and in my view have been more accepting of having trade offs in order to come to a peaceful resolution. Again, maybe this is just because Israel is committing more crimes and is essentially saying, yeah, we’ll stop, but from what I’ve seen, they are far more willing to listen to someone telling them they are wrong.
In my opinion, no matter how many people I meet who say they are committed to peace, I am fairly convinced that both side have no interest in a resolution at this time. The sad fact to me is that while a majority of the people say they’d be willing to give something up for peace, both sides just want to see the other go away. They are both so committed to the past and in pointing fingers at one another that looking to the future is all but impossible.
What I also find amusing is that the Palestinians actually still result to violence to try to further their cause. They Palestinians are dealing with militarily superior enemy in every way, shape, and form, and have got to come to the realization that violence is not going to take care of the problem. If anything, the United States needs to step in and tell Israel to knock it off, but anything short of that, I think maybe it’s time to start looking for other options. The opportunity right now for civil disobedience is so ripe that I’m actually surprised a Gandhi-type figure has yet to emerge. Instead of throwing rocks or firing homemade rockets, and since a lot of them aren’t working anyway, why not take fifty thousand people and go march on one of the checkpoints? There are over 550 checkpoints in the West Bank. What would Israel do if all of Palestine suddenly marched on them in completely peaceful unison? Fire on the crowd? That would be about the most efficient way to actually lose American support.
I’m so sick of people in their position who actually think they can make a difference through half-assed violence. Gandhi and Martin Luther King are revered today because they brought down powerful institutions without firing a single shot. The day an Arab leader actually emerges and leads this kind of revolt against Israel and against the West in general is the day that I really think we should be afraid. Fortunately, I have seen nothing of the type emerge even within the thinking of the Arab population. Where was Allah when the world learned about peaceful protest?
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080807/D92DKUJG2.html
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11900583
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11895159
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/08/08/do0801.xml
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=at.u1aw0Pjy8&refer=worldwide
One Comment
Very interesting post. It’s great to get your perspective from over there.
DJ