Yes, in its own unprecedented way, there is something uniquely horrible about a well-armed state raining down bombs and fire on a densely populated area where two million civilians are ordered to flee this way and that without the protection of their houses that are being blasted to rubble and without dependable sources of water, food, or medical help. I don’t trust formulae that evaluate and compare atrocities; but this is unparalleled as a public spectacle of helpless families caught in a narrow corridor, hammered and harried from every side. Do the supporters of Israel imagine that the world will see this as anything but cruelty and revenge? They know very well that the overwhelming majority of those they are killing could not possibly be terrorists. What did they say during the medieval crusade against Cathar heretics? Kill them all and let God sort it out.
Yes, there are two sides to any conflict; but the claim that criticism of Israel can only be motivated by antisemitism is obscene. I would imagine that my reactions to Israel are typical for sentient members of my Boomer generation. I can remember being thrilled by Israel after reading Leon Uris’ Exodus in 1963. I remember staying up at night for one more rendition of the Exodus theme by Ferrante and Teicher, a song belted out for the European Left by Edith Piaf. I’m fairly certain that Leon Uris’ skewed account of the Jewish struggle for independence had an immeasurably greater impact on American Zionism than anything penned by Theodor Herzl. It was only decades later that Norman Finkelstein documented the lie that Arab broadcasts had ordered the Palestinians to abandon their homeland. To me, in 1967, the Six-Day War seemed entirely justified. But by the early 1970s, it was clear to me and to anyone who was paying attention that the war had been, or had become, a war of conquest. It was completely obvious that the Jewish nationalists who immediately began settling the West Bank were not going anywhere, ever. You could compare them perhaps to the Irish irredentists, determined to hang onto all the land that God or nationalism had promised them. Unlike the IRA, the settlers were already in possession of it and they had God on their side. The Irish fought a bitter civil war. The Israelis wouldn’t have had the stomach for that. As far as the hope of a just settlement goes, by 1980 that was already a hopeless cause. If you feel outraged by the impasse that can only get uglier, you can blame it on us Boomers. The cause of peace was probably doomed before you were born. Nationalism is most fanatical when a nation is distinguished by its religion. Nationalism, at least from the 19th century on, has clung to myths of national persecution. The Israelis had a lot of persecution to work with. But nothing could make the Palestinians responsible for the Holocaust. The right and wrong of it are clear. But I don’t think that anything can be done. More pain, more shame.
Signed,
Andrew (Weeks)
Normal Thoughts 