On Israel and Palestine: On the Shoah and the Nakba and Peace

 A few people have asked for my take on the situation in Israel and Gaza, and I want to take a few moments to share my (naive but genuine) perspective.

I’m a humanist; I believe in people, regardless of their culture, race, gender, ethnicity, intellect, and personality. I believe in human rights for all, and this includes the right to a nationality as well as the right to shelter and safety.

I also believe people can do very bad things to one another. We were born of love, but we are born into a world where there is hatred. Awful things have happened to Jewish people. Awful things have happened to Palestinian people. And just because something awful has been done to you does not mean you should pass that awful-ness on to someone else.

The land in question was used as a pawn in WW1 by England who promised it to the Jews, the Arabs, and its own people. When the Holocaust was over, Western Europe and the US felt a great burden to make things right (and also to avoid mass migration into their own countries...) and Israel became a state. I do believe that there needs to be a place where Jewish people can be safe.

However, people already lived there. And the land isn’t holy to Jewish people alone. Israel was formed out of need and was born of a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Palestinians who were forced to resettle did not have as much power behind them, and to this day, many of their descendants remain stateless and in refugee camps. This is not right. The formation of Israel is considered the Nakba (disaster) to the Palestinians. It was a solution to one people’s disaster and the creation of another’s.

I believe this could have worked itself out with people if there were not extremism on both sides. There are beautiful people-to-people peace efforts and connections made between individuals and small communities. But the religious right of Israel (NOT representing all Jews) pushes down on the Palestinians. Hamas, for its part, is a terrorist group. In the middle of this, people get hurt.

I am saddened by the antisemitism and the Islamophobia that are boiling over lately. Our cultures are cousins. Our languages are related, our planet is one. We need each other. Together we are stronger.

But it takes an understanding of one another’s pain, and our shared humanity. It takes stepping away from reactionary or violent dogma and thinking about what we can do to help one another.

Right now, society isn’t ready for this. A time out is needed. Then, let the youth groups with their idealism work it out. Keep the soldiers and zealots out of the picture. Don’t use warfare or violence for political gain. Have the young people play ball together and make music together. I know that sounds really simplistic but this has become much more than a fight about real estate. It has become an alienation between two great societies with much of the rest of the world taking sides and thus escalating the enmity.

Then, build houses. Develop farms. Feed the hungry, teach the poor. Give people documents so they can travel and get medical care. Provide therapy for those in need. Rather than fight over old leases and deeds that may or may not be valid, create new communities for both cultures, and new communities for mixed groups.

As far as Jerusalem goes, it is a holy city for so many cultures. Right now, the behavior of police and individuals there does not appear holy. I think about how we need to celebrate the light inside of one another. We need to also understand the light inside one another’s faiths and histories. I urge people to find the holy within themselves that is so pure and beautiful that it can help them see the holiness in others and in other cultures.

We are not the stereotypes our enemies project of us. We are all people who have been hurt and who seek a safe home. Don’t let the terrorist and extremists of either culture get in the way of what is truly holy: the possibility of (and need for) peace.