The selective reporting in some of the Arab and Muslim world, the poverty there and the fact that they share their religion with the Palestinians can explain why so many there are obsessed with the Palestine issue. Many of the theocratic and Islamic fundamentalist governments in the Middle East use this issue to distract their people from the corruption and crimes that flow through the governments themselves. The level of hypocrisy in some cases is incredible, with leaders who have established themselves only by terrorism accusing Israel of terrorism in the media, which causes the public to subconsciously forget about the crimes of their own governments. In many countries the Palestinian Authority is deceitfully pictured as having the complete interests of their people in mind, rather than power. There is a great degree of spin, which sometimes portrays Israelis as seeking to extradite all Palestinians out of the occupied terrorism and the hugely unreasonable and at times anti-Semitic equation of Pan-Zionism with Judaism. Such media often fails to show the inhumane side of some Palestinians – for example failing to portray when a crowd brutally kicked two Israeli agents to death. Many say that this media distortion and the opinions of many in the Arab and Muslim world are the products of a backward culture. Whatever you may think of this, the fact remains that the state-owned media are largely responsible for some of the radical opinions of much of the public in countries such as Syria and Saudi Arabia. Many Israelis are also worried that some of us in Europe and in the Muslim and Arab world believe through the media that Israel “stole” the lands of the Palestinians in 1967, and hence the Israelis are quick to point out that the Palestinians started the war against Israel at that time and lost the land as a result of mistakes made on their part in war-time. And after all, isn’t all fair in love and war?
However, what about the USA? American public opinion is at times fanatically pro-Israeli which can be explained by the subconscious brainwashing caused by most of the mainstream media. But what about the attitude of the American government itself which should obviously be more well informed than the people? Many explain this by the extent of pro-Israeli lobbying which affects much of America’s foreign policy and the public attitude (it must be mentioned here that many American Jews are not at all proud of the Israeli government’s actions and much of the pro-Israeli lobby are actually Protestant). As an example, blame is correctly placed on Arafat for the perseverance of suicide groups that kill innocent Israeli children. But why was there so little about why Ehud Barak could not control the Israeli “security forces” who shot and killed more than 100 Palestinians, including children as young as nine, and who according to an uncritical BBC Reporter were using machine-guns and missiles randomly and in every direction. One worries when so-called “main-stream” journals such as USA Today headline articles such as “Israel extends time for peace”, which gives the impression that only the Palestinians are to blame for the conflict. The Jewish-American media critic, Norman Solomon had a very valid point when he stated, “At this rate, we may someday see a headline that reads: “Israel Demands Palestinians Stop Attacking Bullets With Their Bodies”.” Isn’t there something very odd in sending tanks and gunmen to combat people throwing stones?
The worst examples are when the US media spin enormously distorted reports about “crossfire” and “Palestinian violence” that utterly negate the fact that Israel is in military occupation and Palestinians are fighting for their freedom in these instances. Is commercial output more important than moral principle? Can a newspaper or news programme afford to offend the culture that supports them? Unfortunately, most often the news stories give you what you want to hear, self-censorship of the most sinister variety. I believe we must turn to unbiased reporting – for example the reporting of the Guardian’s Suzanne Goldenberg and the analysis of Robert Fisk who is an equally sharp criticiser of both the Israeli government and the PA’s crimes. I find it truly upsetting as a Westerner that Israel’s official record, a state built on conquest which has sometimes bombed and destroyed at will, and the fact that it is occupying other people’s land against international law – is almost never subjected to scrutiny in US media, never mentioned as having a role in provoking the “Islamic terror” in the first place. Even though some prominent Israeli spokesmen openly express their fears that once the truth is known it would significantly damage Israel’s reputation abroad, most of the American media and politicians persist with the disgraceful one-side slant on the conflict. One would understand this in the state-owned theocratic media of a proportion of the Arab and Muslim world, but isn’t the USA supposed to be a haven of impartiality where people are free to express their viewpoint?
Some believe that pro-Israeli lobbying affecting the US policy on Israel is a myth, and that actually the USA are simply defending their financial interests by being close allies with the one Western-styled democracy in the oil-rich Middle East region. (Whether or not the fact that Israel gives little democratic rights to the Palestinians nullifies whether Israel can even be called a democracy is another issue). These people say that the US cares only for the “sales”, “commodities” and “exports” that have made the US what it is in the first place. Whichever argument you believe depends on how cynical you are, although the latter certainly carries some weight. The great paradox of the Middle East is that the US is an clear advocate of one side, having given 4 billion $ each year of economical and military aid to Israel since 1979 and having a vehemently pro-Israel agenda, but only with US involvement can a settlement be attained. Under these circumstances, how can the US act as an unbiased mediator for peace?
(Having made all these points, I must state categorically that much of the Arab and Muslim world have condemned terrorists in all their forms from day one, and have stated that innocent people should never have to be murdered to appease a few crazy fanatics. Likewise, there are many Jewish and pro-Israelis who have condemned the oppression and state-terrorism regime, particularly in Sharon’s government, from day one. What I have been discussing is the unfortunate results of the actions of a minority).
Unfortunately, there is a climate in the world today where any criticism of the side “supported” by your government is asking for abuse such as being called “Jew-lover”, “anti-Semitic”, “Arab-hater”, “Jew-hater”, “Zionist”, “Arab-lover”, “terrorist”, “fanatic” and so forth.
Why do we hear so few people of both sides complaining against the actions of their own governments? Palestinians, for example, have suffered hugely from the corruption of the PA and its associated groups. Much of the money reaching the PA seems to go into the pockets of a number of people who are seeking simply to further their own power. Why do so few Palestinians actively complain (for example by initiating a campaign) about the support of suicide bombing – the most inhumane act possible? Why do some Palestinians celebrate when an innocent Israeli dies? Why do people close to Arafat not bring forward the evidence to show him linked to some major suicide bombing “organizations” and instead only provide deceit and avoid the question when asked at interview? What about the Israelis – why do they not stand up and say the bombing of hospitals and schools and the building of settlements in land to “accomplish the Zionist dream” is morally wrong? Why is it that prominent Israeli politicians in interviews are so very clear about the evil terrorism of suicide bombing and its links to the PA but visibly flounder and mumble when they are asked the simple question, “Will you stop building officially illegal settlements on Palestinian land?” Why do so few complain about the systematic human rights abuses of the Israeli army – amazing considering the extent of Jewish suffering under the Holocaust? We can only answer this with one quote – “my people, right or wrong, are my people”. For people like the Israelis and the Palestinians who are facing such hardship, there is an unfortunate attitude that an individual criticising a policy would weaken the foundations of their people’s goals, be it for a safe Israel or an independent Palestine. This is an unfortunate predicament and it is very difficult to suggest how this could be helped.
Even if and when the suicide attacks stop, there would still be a great deal of groundwork which needs to be done to before a solution is produced. Many Israelis see Ehud Barak’s Camp David deal as the best offer possible to make to Palestinians. Many Palestinians are insulted as the land offered is no way near pre-1967 levels. Again the criticising Israelis would say that Palestinians lost so much land then because they put themselves at war with Israel, and many Palestinians would say that they went at war in the first place because the Israelis came and unjustly “stole” their land. This tit-for-tat reasoning which is present at all levels throughout the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could continue forever, and it is beyond the scope of this essay to comment on it.
As a conclusion, the Israeli and Palestinian perspectives are both equally right, and paradoxically, equally wrong. It all depends on how you look at it. The Israelis have the right to defend their homeland and to feel safe from the Palestinian extremist terror-networks. The Palestinians have the right for their homeland to be returned to them and to feel safe. The Israeli Government are wrong to think they can get away with state terrorism, human rights atrocities and the philosophy some right-wing politicians have that Palestinians should be “removed” indefinitely. The Palestinian Authority is wrong to think they can get away with supporting terrorism, the lack of condemnation for suicide attacks, the massive levels of corruption and the pitiful lies that are continuously produced.
However, the media has had a key role to play in providing the information for all of us to digest and all too often has been biased to one side or the other. This conflict highlights the importance of looking at an issue from many different angles. This helps us to understand the many viewpoints, and only by understanding can peace ever be achieved. It is paramount that all of us try to produce a balanced argument on this issue, and many others, and present this when discussing such conflicts. Only then will we stop hearing the kind of subjective viewpoint that many main-stream politicians have, such as Madeleine Albright who stated that “Palestinians are laying siege to Israel”, which only help to deepen the angry sentiment of those fundamentalist countries which are enemies of Israel, and who are already sufficiently bigoted in that they do not recognize Israel’s right to exist. We should praise the web, because the truth is available on it simply because it is uncensored and cheap. Anybody can express their opinions freely through this medium and the whole spectrum of opinions on a given subject is laid out entirely, with you as the sole judge. I for example, have found many articles written by Jews around the world, and especially in Israel, in rank condemnation of Israel’s state terrorism and massive human rights abuses. Likewise I have read articles written by prominent Muslim scholars who condemn terrorism in all its forms, the corruption of the PA, and state that recognition of Israel has a simple right to exist without any danger threatening it.
Unfortunately there are still many, particularly Muslims, who are all-to-often singularly condemning Israel without a mention for the actions of the PA and should try to remove themselves from this psyche that the Palestinian Authority have no part in causing this problem in the first place. For peace to be achieved all in the Muslim world must accept the Israeli right to a homeland. At the same time there are many, particularly in the USA and some of the Jewish communities outside Israel, who believe that Israel is “defending itself” and Sharon’s policy of tanks and bulldozers is justified. These people should also try as hard as possible to remove themselves from this opinion. People taking both sides should remove their support of the Israeli government or the Palestinian Authority, both equally immoral, and instead support the large number of human rights groups working in the region. For example, groups such as the Jewish human rights organization B’Tselem which complain about the Israeli government’s human rights abuses against the Palestinians.
However, if a Palestinian state were created, would the suicide bombings continue? The evidence suggests otherwise, because it is clear that the level of injustice perpetrated to the Palestinians by the Israeli government is directly proportional to the number of Palestinian suicide attacks to the Israelis – for example when liberal prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was in power, suicide attacks were virtually unheard-of. Now that hard-core right-wing Ariel Sharon is in power, suicide attacks are commonplace. It is essential that within the framework of a Palestinian state a more suitable government is set up which deals with any rogue suicide bombers left. The government installed in Palestine would have to be one genuinely interested in the needs of the state at what would be a crucial time and not in power and money, an attitude which has been crippling ordinary Palestinians.
However, it seems that the main question now is not if but when will a Palestinian State be created, and how many innocent lives must be lost before both parties accept this division. The Palestinians need to realize that their audience is not the Israeli government, or the Muslim world, but the USA which wields the most power in the region, and need to find a way to initiate effective pro-Palestinian lobbying in the USA. If in this way Americans become convinced that the plight and grievances of the Palestinian people are so tremendous, they will inevitably respond with compassion and resolve to fully advocate a Palestinian state. Unfortunately, many Palestinians have taken the opposite approach and have failed to grasp their audience. Those few who believe they can achieve anything in killing Israeli children in malls or teenagers in discotheques, are only acting in their own detriment, by cementing the belief of several politicians in the West (and particularly the USA) that Palestinians are terrorists and that all Palestinians want violence and all Israelis want security. Whilst the Palestinians have no voice to in the USA, glossy and slick American-accented Israeli spokesmen pound their views into the American media that it has become American policy that “they won’t condemn the terrorism”, “they aren’t doing enough” and he “walked away from the deal of a life time”. All are lies or half-truths, but they have worked. It is important that all Palestinians realize how to achieve their goals without further inducing a gap between themselves and the USA. They have to gain the moral high ground. When a group are found to be participating in manifestly evil acts such as suicide bombings, they should all, including the politicians, move against those in their number who perpetrate and support them, because failure to do so would be heavily criticise and is simply wrong. The Palestinians politicians and people would then have to present unambiguous messages on television would have to be used to show the Western World that almost all the Palestinians are against this type of violence. Then if a foreign reporter caught pictures of Israeli gunfire resulting in scores of dead unarmed men, women and children, the USA would be compelled to withdraw its unilateral support of Israel and press more strongly for the two-state solution. Unfortunately, in the Islam-misinterpretation that some Palestinians subscribe to, such an action on their part would violate their subconsciously established taboos of submission and acquiescence.
However, I personally believe there is hope for the future. As long as more and more of the ordinary people of the Israeli and Palestinian factions start doubting their respective government’s policies, eventually the two groups will make peace. There is evidence that Sharon’s popularity and that of his expansionist “greater Israel” agenda is rapidly going down, as moderate Israelis are getting tired of the constant suicide bombings, and of hearing so many sterile descriptions of the atrocities being inflicted on the Palestinians to the extent that they view their own army with abject disgust. There is evidence of the Palestinian people wanting desperately for the corruption to end, the suicide bombings to end, the occupation to end, want to fully recognize Israel’s right to exist and to achieve peace and attempt to rebuild their lives.
And now to bring in a cliché which nevertheless makes a point that so many choose to forget. At the end of the day, we are all human – and are all fundamentally the same. We have our own little quirks and nuances but we share so many dreams, hopes and fears. If you have a one-sided viewpoint in this argument then you are forgetting this fact. As humans, we have a responsibility to determine whether something is wrong or not, and saying that one evil justifies another makes us inhumane.
I ask you please to make any comments you wish to make. If you gently feel I have been wrong in my assessment, have stated something which is not true or if you simply wish to shout at me please feel free to. This was a quickly written, first version of this essay and I wish to modify it extensively depending on further developments and on people’s opinions. If you feel I have been biased, rest assured that I have no allegiance to either side and if you feel that I have concentrated too much one side of the argument, mention this to me and I shall try to make amends, or preferably please advise me on what needs to be added.
The Middle East conflict has been one of the most controversial issues over the last fifty years. It has particularly dominated the newspapers and television screens of the whole world since the launch of the Palestinian Intifada. I have spoken to a tremendous number of people where I live in the United Kingdom and have consistently been taken aback by the partiality of the people I have spoken to. Almost everyone seems to be either pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, with so few having a balanced argument. My aim in this essay is to provide a balanced argument which looks at both sides of the issue. The comments I make are not each and every one my personal opinion, but collectively they represent my stance, that only when discussing and understanding both viewpoints can we begin to claim to have a balanced argument. This is a very long article that may be hard (and controversial) reading, but it is primarily intended as a resource and not an essay – and for ease of reading has been split up into four sections: Israeli, Palestinian, media and conclusion.
Recently we have witnessed a huge upsurge of violence in the Middle-East. From our Western standpoint we have observed disgusting reports about suicide bombers killing and maiming multitudes of innocent Israelis, including children, over the past few weeks in increasingly alarming circumstances and particularly on religious occasions, and equally disgusting reports about the Israeli army’s retaliation where they have killed dozens of innocents, including children, in the refugee camp of Jenin and reportedly buried their bodies so that they cannot be found, whilst refusing foreign journalists entry into the areas and creating even more poverty and torment for the Palestinian refugees.
All throughout history, the Jewish people have suffered. It can be said without any doubt that they have suffered for a longer time than any of the peoples in the world today. The state of Israel may have been created in very dubious conditions but following the Holocaust, the world rightly decided that the Jewish people should be given a safe haven and returned to the homeland of their religion to free themselves of Communist persecution and Arab extremism. And now, this…. It seems that every few days a suicide attack occurs which kills innocent Israelis. The lives taken have sometimes been those of children, which is incredibly distressing for the Israeli people as a whole. This is surely terrorism in its “purest” (or most evil) sense. The suicide bombers want to inflict death, but also damage to human lives and fear to every Jewish person living in Israel. Imagine how you would feel trying to lead a normal life in these circumstances – for example sitting in a café sipping a coke, fearing all the time that the shady-looking character sitting on the seat to your left may be a suicide bomber desperate to take your life. Imagine being a child and wanting to go and play in some fields whilst being anxious that someone might be waiting there for you. Imagine being a mother or a father to a child killed by a suicide attack – how would you feel?
Israelis want to stop worrying about bombs on buses, malls and discos. They want to lead normal lives. They want peace. But isn’t peace without security simply blatant suicide? When countries such as Iran and Iraq are constantly calling for Israel’s annihilation, how should the Israelis react? Hezbollah’s accumulation of weapons and missiles hell-bent on destroying Israel and the constant terrifying calls for suicide attacks on Israel heard in the West Bank and Gaza both add to this immense trepidation that the Israelis have to suffer from on a daily basis. Israel is scared for its future, the Israelis feel that there are many Palestinian schools in the occupied territories that brainwash their students into becoming suicide bombers, and mosques that urge good Muslims to take the path of “martyrdom”. The Israeli people want an end to the death and destruction, most of them want peace with their Palestinians neighbours. But from the Israeli perspective, this peace is not a concern for the corruption-riddled Palestinian Authority (PA), which seems only interested in advancing its own power. Even money given to them by the Israeli government fails to reach the people. So all the time you know that more and more suicide bombers are being created and no one is doing about it. And all these suicide bombers belong to organizations linked to Yasser Arafat and his Authority. What exactly is Israel supposed to do to ensure the safety of their citizens? If the Palestinians are not weeding out the fanatics, and clearly in many cases encouraging them, then surely Israel should do something about it?
The primary thoughts of the government of Israel would obviously be the safety of its own people. When suicide bombers take away innocent lives, Israel has a right to retaliate, as would any nation or people. This is defined in Article 51 of the UN Charter – the “inherent right of States to self-defence”. Some Israelis feel that every time a retaliation takes place and innocent people die as an unfortunate consequence, a picture is painted out to the rest of the world that the Israeli army has been targeting civilians (although later on we shall discuss this from another angle). This adds further difficulty to the situation for many Israelis.
And much of the time the Israelis hear not one word of denunciation by a major Palestinian figure. Many Israelis say that when a Palestinian is an innocent victim, the mood is sombre. However when an Israeli is the victim of a suicide bomber, they see pictures of some Palestinians celebrating on the streets. Some Israelis mention that Palestinians have suffered as greatly as a result of the PA as under Israeli occupation but the bombers are still only targeting Israelis – and they certainly have a valid point. Many Israelis also feel, again legitimately, that talks can never happen as suicide bombings are going on, and that too many Palestinians support the way of violence, too few the way of dialogue. I do not think this is entirely true, but nevertheless the Palestinian perspective would be greatly strengthened by ordinary Palestinians coming forward and systematically condemning the suicide attacks before providing their own perspective of affairs.
Many Israelis are understandably hugely troubled by the pictures and accounts of Palestinian extremists attacking or lynching Israelis, where there is often not an ounce of sadness on the face of the perpetrator but rather a look of happiness, almost ecstasy. They are frightened of Palestinian extremists looking to detonate bombs to purposefully kill women and children.
If you were Israeli, would you not start doubting whether the Palestinians are humane people, or even human people? Do they not care for human lives? How come they rejected the July 2000 deal offered by Ehud Barak which was the most generous offered since 1967 – that would have ended all the violence? From the point of view of some Israelis, it seems so evident that the Palestinian Authority and a large proportion of the people have no interest in peace but simply want to fight a war and win it. Unfortunately, this war costs lives. And even if Israel yields and provides a state of Palestine, who is to say this wont be the beginning of the end of Israel? Some Middle-Eastern leaders have stated that the only time the conflict is over is when Israel doesn’t exist any more. So added to the suicide bomber threat that Israel has to face on a daily basis, there is the immense dread of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack if one or more of these countries decide to practise what they preach. From the Israeli point of view, the violations of the peace process have always originated from the Arab side, and the inclinations of the fundamentalists in the Muslim world to go to war against Israel have little to do with the Palestinians, but are aimed simply at obliterating Israel. A state of Palestine would further weaken the Israeli position, enabling their enemies to have an effective launching-point for renewed terrorism against Israel, under the pretence of “national” or “religious” liberation. The religious pretence to exterminate Israel used by some Islamic fundamentalists is scarily reminiscent of that used by Nazis to kill millions of innocent Jews in World War II.
And at this point it is worth remembering that the state of Israel was created in the first place as a haven for Israelis following the Holocaust, many of whose lives had been shredded by the greatest single example of prejudice and ethnic cleansing the world has ever seen. Israelis do not ever want to face this sort of tragic mass-murder of the most demonic order again.
There is a deeper problem which must be approached, however. Some Israelis, and indeed many others in the Western world, see the conflict as an example of a “resurgent medievalism” which seeks to create fear and pain in those who don’t “believe”. We certainly hear many people in various Muslim and Arab countries offering themselves as “martyrs”, hoping to enter paradise by taking their lives for the “greater good of Islam”. Any educated person would know that Islam does not preach this philosophy any more than Christianity and Judaism, and that Islam has suffered more from fanatical misinterpretations recently than the other mainstream religions. However this “Islam-misinterpretation” as I call it is nonetheless very frightening for the Israeli people. These “martyrs” believe that they are only carrying out Allah’s will by killing. This leads some more fundamentalist pro-Israelis to believe in a “clash of civilization”, between the Islamic world and the Western world. I believe this is true to an extent in that the Western world has no such example of “martyrs”. However personally I think this clash of civilizations has as much to do with the economical and social unbalance the world is facing today where the Islamic world is very much suffering as a result, and one has to question why such a clash has come about in the first place. This Islam-misinterpretation present throughout many of the governments and terrorist groups in the Middle causes ordinary Israelis to worry further as they realise that according to such a philosophy killing, and never diplomacy, is considered a virtue.
Anti-Semitism is a very distressing and real phenomenon, and the Jewish people have learned over time that they need to stick together and defend themselves. This is why the state of Israel is so important to them – it is their Promised Land, where they are in control. Israelis feel they have achieved a democracy, and they can at least be proud of their representative parliament where Palestinians are present as well. For them, the conflict in the occupied territories is threatening all that they have achieved.
The occupied territories today are what Palestinians call home. They are the remains of what once was not so long ago. They are not a pretty sight. According to the UN 64% of Palestinians are below the poverty line. Poverty is not easy for us in the Western World to comprehend, as most of us have never suffered from it. People who do are constantly reminded about it and it affects every aspect of their life. However, this is not the only reason why some Palestinians are “driven” to commit the worst act known to man….
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an example of an oppressor-oppressed situation. Only the naïve, biased, ignorant or the immensely brainwashed would not be able to see who the oppressor is and who the oppressed are. The simple fact is that the Israeli government and army have taken and are still taking the lands of the Palestinians away from them. This has happened despite numerous UN accords which the Israelis have consistently ignored – hence Israel has been repeated violating International Law. Settlements are being built in Palestinian-owned land (over 40 new ones over the last year). Often these settlements are built after the unjust bulldozing of Palestinian homes. Many have been made homeless, landless and jobless as a result of the illegal Israeli occupation of their land. If this level of injustice does not create desperate conditions – then what level does?
How would you feel if you were told that the once-prosperous land of your people for over a thousand years was suddenly taken away from you by the British and Americans and given to another group of people, with only a few tiny chunks left for you? Then, this group of people does nothing to recompense you. You see every day travelling to and from school the difference between the poverty-infested desolation that is the occupied territories and the developed rest of Israel. Then these oppressors start bulldozing your house. You have to build it again, they bulldoze it again. Their settlements start propping up in your people’s territory. And then you hear the “enemy” talking about the mass ethnic cleansing of your people. Your young friend throws stones at the Israeli army. They shoot him dead. A bomb meant to destroy a military outpost hits your cousins’ house and she as well as her two younger sisters die. How would you feel?
The Palestinian people have a deep wound caused by the exodus from Palestine, the horrors of massacre and exile and the numerous refugees created. All these are recognized in UN and International Law but attempts by the Palestinians to rebuild after their losses have repeatedly been ensnared by more and more Israeli concessions. The massacres mentioned have been carried out since 1945 and although in the early cases the Palestinians were at fault as they chose to go to war, in the early 1970s there were thousands of murders which seem to the Palestinians simply for the aims of the Zionist dream of Israeli expansion. These are still cemented in the bitter memories of many Palestinians:
The main example of a massacre carried out by the Israel security forces that continually haunts many Palestinians to this day is the Sabra and Shatila large-scale massacre of Palestinian civilians. Other than the death of thousands of innocent Palestinians, this made some Palestinians certain that they are being targeted because of their national origin. Thomas Friedman, a pro-Israeli American journalist, stated, “Afterward, the Israeli soldiers would claim they did not know what was happening in the camps. They did not hear the screams and shouts of people being massacred. They did not see the wanton murder of innocents through their telescopic binoculars. Had they seen, they would have stopped it immediately. All of this is true. The Israeli soldiers did not see innocent civilians being massacred and they did not hear the screams of innocent children going to their graves. What they saw was a “terrorist infestation” being “mopped up” and “terrorist nurses” scurrying about and “terrorist teenagers” trying to defend them, and what they heard were “terrorist women” screaming. In the Israeli psyche you don’t come to the rescue of “terrorists.” There is no such thing as “terrorists” being massacred. Many Israelis had so dehumanised the Palestinians in their own minds and had so intimately equated the words “Palestinian,” “PLO,” and “terrorists” on their radio and television for so long, actually referring to “terrorist tanks” and “terrorist hospitals,” that they simply lost track of the distinction between Palestinian fighters and Palestinian civilians, combatants and non-combatants.” This paints a distressing picture of utter Israeli contempt of the Palestinian people, and under this context there is considerable doubt cast over the “security operations” we witness being carried out today. The numerous disgusting stories of Palestinian babies being trampled to death by Israeli forces, and pregnant women being targeted are surely the stuff of nihilistic fantasy, and whether true or not persist in disturbing many Palestinians. When the current Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, actually calls the Palestinians “two-legged animals”, this point is hammered home to all of us.
Pictures of ambulances and hospitals being bombed by the Israeli army also hugely worry many Palestinians. Even buildings such as schools, orphanages, mosques, churches and refugee camps have been attacked. What is this meant to achieve? What the Israeli government and army are carrying out can only be defined as “state terrorism” – this is not as inherently evil as suicide bombing, but nevertheless causes terror, is hugely unfair and is carried out by the state and hence the phrase has been coined. Israel’s policy of punitive counterattacks sometimes kills anywhere between 50 to 100 Arabs for every Jewish fatality. People who say the Israelis are defending themselves are deluded, as destroying peoples’ homes, building on their land and the disrespect of human lives is unjust in the strongest sense that the word can be used. The Israeli army also has a very poor record of human rights abuses to the Palestinians, including consistent and gross examples of house destructions, maimings and torture of innocent and guilty alike. These are repeatedly mentioned by the UN and a great deal of human rights groups (a number of which are Jewish) but are repeatedly ignored by the Israeli Government. The fact that the Israeli army often refuses foreign reporters to film their actions or give first hand accounts, and have, together with the US, consistently refused to accept UN Peacekeepers to monitor the conflict (whereas the Palestinian Authority has accepted these) shows that there is something very dark lurking in the shadows.
When the Israeli government bombs and bulldozes Palestinian police stations, security force installations and as it is carrying this out asks Arafat to control the terrorists, how could this be possible even if Arafat were an instinctively “good” and “honest” person? For example, where would he capture and detain the terrorists? Some Palestinians feel the destruction of their security forces by the Israeli army and demanding of counter-terrorism from the Israeli government is a conspiracy to deface the Palestinians in the eyes of the world media.
Many feel the core responsibility for the problems of the Palestinians lies with the failure of Israel to stick to the Oslo and Wye agreements over the free movement of Palestinians within their territories. This affects the lives of all Palestinians and limits their basic human rights. Another key issue is that Jerusalem (also a holy Muslim site) is off-limits to all Palestinians who are not residents of Jerusalem.
The Israeli Government is and has for a long time been one of the most brutal regimes in the world. According to Michael Ben-Yair, Israel’s attorney general in the mid-1990s “we enthusiastically chose to become a colonialist society, ignoring international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to occupied territories, engaging in theft and finding justification for all these activities… we established an apartheid regime”.
More than anything, the Palestinians are afraid when they hear the opinions of the Zionists of Israel (enjoying a strong representation in the Israeli government) – who seek expansion of Israel on the deeply inhumane basis of religion. Just like Islamic fundamentalists, each of these misinterpretations of religion view non-members as disposable and are equally bigoted and claim salvation only for themselves, excluding all others as each is the one and only true religion. True Zionists thus see others as dispensable, and are quite willing to expend them for the good of Israel, quite willing to expand their nation at the expense of others as it is “God’s will”. There is therefore little difference in the psyche of Zionist Jews and Nazis who both advocate to different extremes ethnic cleansing and improvement of the people – hence the Zionists have become the embodiment of all the kinds of things they are trying to protect themselves against. Most ordinary Jews balk at these fundamentalists, but there is little they can do to sway their opinions.
This neo-Nazism demonstrated by Zionist Israelis frightens ordinary Palestinians immensely. There are many reports of the Zionist-influenced army entering Palestinian villages, rounding up every man, woman and child and massacring them. Other Palestinians who survive run away and since they have abandoned their homes are classified as “absentee” landlords and therefore the Zionists could own the property, moving into the abandoned homes and farms or bulldozing them. Alternatively, they might kill the Palestinian and take his home. Palestinians have become baffled by the hypocrisy where if a Palestinian kills an Israeli it is described as “terrorism”, but when a Zionist does this, it is described as “retaliation”. Also, Israel deports Palestinian civilians from battle zones in order to “protect them”. Why then does it let its own civilians move in and live in these territories, if they are such a battlefield? Is the Israeli government simply interested in accomplishing the Zionist dream?
Most people presented with these facts would say that the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves. We have all heard the many horrific stories of alarmingly young children throwing stones at the Israeli army and getting gunned down. At this point we reach a huge problem which has split the entire world. It seems clear to any impartial observer that the suicide bombers have links with the PA. Some Palestinians actually see the suicide bombers as their only method of defence – a weakening of the opposition. In fact, they are increasingly being referred to by people in various countries as Freedom Fighters. I personally find this disgusting, as innocent civilian lives should never have to pay for the crimes of the government. However I am not a Palestinian, and so I have little idea about the sense of injustice these people face. What causes a suicide bomber to sacrifice his life? Is not desperation the greatest cause – and yet Sharon seems to be hell-bent on making the Palestinian people even more desperate?
Many Palestinians are nevertheless against the idea of suicide bombers. However all Palestinians have to face the after-effects caused by a suicide bombing. These include helicopters strafing civilian residential areas, the truly random shelling by tanks which creates hundreds of innocent wounded people at any one time and bulldozers razing refugee homes, whilst supplies of food and medicine are often cut off to Palestinians, and educational and health institutions are bombed and destroyed.
All innocent lives are equally important, but when the number of Palestinian deaths (particularly of the children who are often defined as collateral damage) so strongly outweighs the number of Israeli deaths (the ratio being over 4 Palestinian deaths to 1 Israeli death out of well over 1600 lost lives and the time of writing) the Palestinian feeling would justifiably get worse.
Although to its credit Israel has no “suicide-bomber” creating schools, there are numerous reports of discrimination against Arab children in Israeli schools. Perhaps this causes the ill feeling amongst many Palestinian children. Also there are many not very often mentioned reports of Israeli extremists turning on Arabs living in Israel.
The Western world repeatedly criticise the PA for obtaining weapons from various sources (the US provides weapons for the Israelis and is the strongest PA criticiser). However, when Israel repeatedly contravenes international law to expand their state through the building of illegal settlements, and when many right-wing elements in Israel are talking about the mass extradition (i.e. ethnic cleansing) of Palestinians, what will they have to defend their lives and their livelihoods? Why should they not go to war? Many Palestinians condemn suicide bombers but those who don’t say that the suicide bombers are the only weapons against Israeli terrorism. I think this is wrong, as effective diplomacy such as pro-Palestinian lobbying in America is more effective, doesn’t weaken the Palestinian perspective and most importantly, does not kill innocent Israelis. What do you think? Do you think terrorism is the only weapon left to the Palestinians? If you had your house robbed or your family thrown into the streets, your friends killed, no justice shown to you and no freedom, would you feel angry enough to contemplate this level of actions? Do you think killing an Israeli living in the occupied territories is less wrong than killing an Israeli living in Israel, bearing in mind those settlers in the occupied territories are illegally occupying the land? Do you think the Palestinians would be better off with Gandhi’s non-violent, passive resistance? These are difficult ethical questions for consideration.
It must also be stated that many Palestinians are distressed about their own government. Arafat’s own security forces have committed human rights violations against the Palestinians, and the PA are now incredibly out of touch with their people. Unfortunately there is a growing rift between the numerous different factions of the Palestinian people, with the recently increased number of extremists drowning out the many moderate and liberal viewpoints.
« return.