On Palestinian statehood

[deborahjross]

Heading this morning's news was the story that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formally asked the UN to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. The images of cheering Palestinians reminded me strongly of those we've been witnessing all spring. The Arab Spring had come to the Middle East.

I have no idea if the two-state strategy is the best way towards a just peace. I would love to see a greater emphasis on mutual respect, equality, and cooperation. But this may be the only way forward, and at any rate, I don't get to vote. I shouldn't get to vote. All those who have stood by during the decades of Palestinian oppression, whether in silent complicity or outright collusion, shouldn't get to vote. Those who created the problem, and have stood in the way of its solution, have forfeited whatever moral authority they might have had. That includes the United States. And it includes the state of Israel.

The state of Israel doesn't speak for me, and it certainly doesn't represent my experience of my Jewish heritage. To me, their treatment of the Palestinians is a violation of the most fundamental tenets of lovingkindness and justice. Over and over, both in the formal Law and in the cultural traditions, we are commanded (the word "mitzvah" means both commandment and blessing) to treat all people with respect, with compassion, with fairness.

Of all the peoples on the earth, we should feel ourselves most aligned with our Palestinian and other Muslim cousins. Historically, Jews have fared far better under Islamic than under Christian rule. (Contrast, for example, the "golden age" of Moorish Iberia with conditions under the Spanish Inquisition.) The current animosities are a relatively recent development, arising from the prolonged and deeply traumatic effects of 20th century wars and imperialism.

If the state of Israel doesn't speak for me (or the many moderates on both sides), then the government of the United States does not, either. Americans make such a big deal out of the right of self-determination and how wonderful "we" were for creating the Declaration of Independence. Until it comes to someone else's self-determination and someone else's independence. We've messed with so many other countries' internal affairs, usurped or assassinated their elected leaders, funded insurrections (case in point: the Taliban), and generally squashed anyone who wouldn't act for the benefit of the American military-industrial plutocracy.

If we really meant what all those 4th of July speeches say, we'd be standing up cheering for the Palestinian dream of a land of their own.

The times they are a-changin' -- and for Palestine, it's about time.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The thing I've become aware of over the years is how much more variation and dissent there is among the general public in Israel than there seems to among the Jewish community here (or at least, than makes it onto the media scene here--I think in reality there's more variation here, too). In Israel, you have publications like Haaretz, which are often critical of the government. In the United States, by contrast, it seems like a pro-Israeli-government voice drowns out any other voice in the Jewish community.

I very fervently hope that Palestinians can get their own state. The current situation is outrageous and tragic.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

That's absolutely true about the dissident voices in Israel. In the US, any criticism of the current administration is taken as disloyalty to the nation. Whatever happened to the "loyal opposition"? Today's politicians would be horrified at the way the Founding Fathers argued with one another (not to mention schemed, plotted, lied, and generally insulted one another).

There's also a widespread misperception that all Jews agree with the stance of the Israeli government (just like that we all are Orthodox in observance). Black and white thinking at its most bizarre.