Let me be clear. I have long sympathized with Palestinians who have been uprooted from their previous homes in what is now Israel. They were encouraged, by propaganda from the Arab League nations and by the turmoil of war around them, to leave their homes in anticipation of an Arab victory over the new Israel. They were also panicked by the fighting and, no doubt, encouraged by Israeli propaganda. There was the atrocity at the village known as Dier Yasin where, in the heat of the siege of Tel Aviv-Jerusalem, 107 Palestinian villagers were killed. (There were also documented atrocities by Palestinians, e.g., Sheik Jarrah, Kfar Etzion, Mount Scopus and others.)
The descendents of the Palestinian refugees, especially in Gaza, live under conditions of poverty and suffering. Even in the West Bank area, the Palestinians struggle to build a society and nation and are subject to the predations of the illegal settlers.
But I am also very aware that Israel has lived under the threat of constant attack for sixty years. While it now enjoys some peaceful relationships with Egypt, and Jordan, it remains under threat from Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists. Syria remains implacable—at least until recently. Hezbollah occupies Lebanon. Iranian leaders deny Israel’s right to exist. Hamas and Hezbollah both threaten to eliminate not only Israel but every Israeli.
In the sixty years of its existence, Israel has been the target of four wars. Israel is always the target of suicide bombers whose victims are invariably not military but civilian targets: A busload of children, the pizza parlor near the beach, a restaurant where families are eating a meal. As one young woman told me, “When I enter a restaurant, my first reaction is to scan the place looking for any suspicious person.”
In the south of Israel, they have developed a very elaborate air-raid warning and bomb shelter system to protect themselves from the constant rocket and missile attacks from Hamas in the Gaza, which are exclusively aimed at civilian targets even though there are abundant military targets available. This accounts for the low physical casualty rate—though there have been hundreds wounded. Psychological casualties are much greater in number. According to psychologists, 28% of the residents of Sderot suffer from PTSD. Seventy-four percent of the children there suffer from clinical levels of anxiety. More than 90% have had a missile or rocket explode on their street. Many families sleep in their bomb shelters.
So as much as I sympathize with the Palestinian refugees, I also understand the Israeli response in the Gaza.
There are the Israeli settlers who continue to contaminate Palestinian areas, building settlements where there should be none. There are the right-wing Israelis who push for occupying even more Palestinian territory; who deny Palestinian rights; who also deny the rights of secular and progressive religious Jews. They are a minority but have managed to create a strong political power base.
Israel is a tiny nation, under constant threat and cannot rest until some way of peace is found. Likewise, Palestinian refugees will not be able to receive their due until a way of peace is discovered.
Now my dilemma. I am a strong progressive. I read the progressive press, belong to organizations like the ACLU and Amnesty International, voted for Obama, but would have voted for an even more progressive candidate if there had been a viable one available.
But during the Gaza war and since, most, but not all, of my progressive allies found it necessary to promote a one-sided view of events. They were almost unanimous in condemning Israel’s actions to defend itself and excusing every Hamas action which took place. They claimed violations, by Israel, of prohibitions against attacks on civilians, but have never argued against violations by Hamas—and there were many. They do not mention that Hamas soldiers did not wear uniforms but rather fought in civilian clothing, counter to international law, in order to give pause to Israeli soldiers. They never mention that Hamas stored not only its weapons, but even its communications and command operations in the basements of schools and hospitals; that Hamas used civilian Palestinians as human shields; that many of the “civilian” casualties were Hamas soldiers but indistinguishable from civilians because of the lack of uniforms.
Most of my “progressive” news sources failed to report on the massive leafleting by Israel and the large robo-call effort made to encourage civilians to evacuate the areas where fighting would soon take place. This Israeli effort made their own cause more dangerous by warning Hamas, but my friends never mention all this.
It does not further the cause of peace to blame either the Palestinians or
Does that mean I agree with Israel’s decision to attack Hamas in Gaza. First, I must admit that I do not. I think there were and are better options; options that would and could undermine Hamas more successfully. On the other hand, I was not personally under attack. I do not live in southern Israel. Ultimately Israel has to make their decision. "War is hell," and in the heat of battle, adrenalin mixes with many emotions to make moral decisions very difficult. But consistently, even on those occasions where Israeli forces have behaved badly, Israel has investigated and punished those responsible. I see no such behavior on the part of Hamas--or, for that matter, the right-wing religious and settlers.
For my view on a better approach I suggest something like what Rabbi Michael Lerner has proposed, a Marshall Plan type action where, perhaps led by Israel, the wealthier nations provide aid to build up the infrastructure of a strong Palestinian state under a political system and regime which can be a partner in the Middle East.
For the best neutral information about the history and present situation in Palestine/Israel see
http://mideastweb.org .
For Rabbi Lerner’s proposals see http://www.tikkun.org/ , the Network of Spiritual Progressives (You will need to use your favorite search engine as the website host is down as I write.) and http://www.globalmarshallplan.org/.
For a balanced appreciation of the pain and suffering on both sides, there is an excellent book which in the guise of a “detective story” provides such a vision. It is Richard North Patterson’s book, Exile. If you read one book on this subject, this is the one.
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