Of cowards and heroes

Once a upon a time, when I was just a little more than a child, I found the book The strength to love by Martin Luther King Jr. among my grandmother’s books. I wonder whether she’s ever read it. I did and found it wonderful. He called for something very simple, something many people (the ‘realist’ sort of people) would call banal and idealistic. He called for love.

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Quite a few more years later, I wrote a PhD proposal comparing the peace processes in Israel and Northern Ireland. I was full of facts, books and sophisticated analysis. Then I went to Belfast. Despite the ‘facts’ about the conflict, such as land, citizenship rights and ideology, all I could see was deep-seated mistrust, thugs and people wanting to get on with life. I thought that what kept the peace process fragile was the mistrust and even hatred for the other. It was the people who experienced pain and suffering who sought reconciliation. It was the women who went from the nationalists to the unionists and vice versa to allow dialogue.
I might have lost all my sophistication and knowledge. I’m not a ‘realist’. I’ve never been, I’d like to think that I’m much more ambitious than that. So, when I look at Israel, all I can see are human beings, either side, suffering and hating. There's no space for love, which is where everything begins and, I believe, what life is all about. It is unforgivable to forget this, but, it seems, both sides and their 'supporters' do it.
It is very easy to justify violence (or should I say ‘force’?) on the grounds of security or self-determination. These words, however, mean nothing, are nothing. If all you want is security, there will always be enemies. If all you care about is self-determination, there will always be ‘others’. It will always be night.

An old rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun.

'Could it be', asked one of the students, 'when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?'

'No', answered the rabbi.

Another asked, 'Is it when you can look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?'

'No,' answered the rabbi.

'Then what is it?' the pupils demanded.

'It is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and see that it is your brother or sister. Because if you cannot see this, it is still night.'

There are Palestinians and Israelis for whom the dawn has come. They are the heroes who have overcome fear.

The Gaza Appeal

I really don't see the fuss. The Appeal (available at the Guardian website) is totally impartial. It doesn't mention that Israel has flattened Gaza, nor does it mention that Hamas has used chilren as human shields. I would have. I would have denouced both sides for being disrespectful of life, for pretending to be fighting for a higher cause, for claiming to represent their people. Such acts make them both illegitimate.

Obama did something important soon after being sworn in. He restored (or began to restore) the rule of law in the US. It's time Israel does the same and lives up to its democratic ideals.

An American President

I’m highly suspicious of this Obama-frenzy. From the start, I’ve disliked this pseudo-celebrity cult. Alas, Obama's campaign, the media and Hollywood stars, have turned him into a celebrity. They are expecting too much and too soon. The guy is just a guy and needs good advisers and votes in Congress. I hope he succeeds, he needs to succeed. Millions of Americans are in poverty, thousands of Americans die every year because they have no access to basic healthcare. This is a country where private companies are making huge profits at the expense of people, where the gap between the very few and very rich and the very many and very poor is the widest. If there’s a lesson the current financial crisis can offer is to re-think the public – private roles. Choice for the few is no choice for the many. Lack of redistribution is exploitation. This also means that the poor cannot consume and this affects the economy as well as their well-being and choice, but try to explain this to the people who are opposed to Obama's change!
Power seems to be concentrated in the hands of a tiny percentage of people strangling the rest. It is time for a different kind of power, the power of acting together, to put it in Hannah Arendt’s terms. Obama needs to cut across differences as he’s done during his campaign to be an American President, a President that goes beyond his electoral base, beyond the interests of the money donated by lobbysts, and be representative of all his people.

The solution for the Middle-East

War and destruction are easy to sensationalise and to be made into powerful rhetoric. For some, Israel is under attack, the Palestinians have rejected the agreement that would have guaranteed to them a homeland and peace, and they want to see the end of the state of Israel. For others, the Jews have colonised Palestine, driven Palestinians away from their homes and subjected them to humiliation and oppression; and Israel wants only an agreement that would ensure that Palestine is not sustainable.
From a historical point of view, all of the above is utter tosh, but why let the facts distract us? People watching TV like narratives, better if they are black & white narratives so that we don’t have to think too much.
So, some see Hamas launching missiles to Israel (and they’ve been doing so for years), Israel rightfully defending itself, they see Hamas killing Palestinian dissidents and undermining every chance of peace. Others see Israel’s might massacring people in Gaza. All of the above is true and all of the above is false. More to the point, these narratives are the very enemy of peace.

Nick Clegg has apparently added his voice to the general nonsense calling for Israel not to be armed. He might want to spend a week in Sderot dodging missiles before opening his mouth, or maybe just count to ten. Aside from the usual platitudes, Clegg’s article is breathtakingly naïve. Let’s leave aside the client list for our weapon sale, which I’m sure would make for interesting reading. What difference would it make? None. Even the Pope has more of a clue! The terms of the peace agreement have been rehearsed before, no point deviating from them because there’s nothing wrong with them. What is wrong is the respective leadership. Israel needs to understand that you need a son of a bitch on the other side to be able to deliver anything, whilst Hamas needs to play politics and start building bridges with other Palestinian groups.

However, the most important element to security, for both Palestinians and Israelis, is peace. There won’t be any life, any economy, any justice, any security without peace. Israelis and Palestinians have been brought up with war and by war. They have internalised the conflict, hatred, suspicion. They don’t even speak each other’s language notwithstanding being next to each other. There won’t be any peace unless they share the damn place instead of venerating its rocks, and unless they work together instead of killing each other. What angers me most is not the violence but the sheer stupidity. It's the lack of courage of doing the right thing rather than getting back at each other.
Yet, I know that there’s a lot more happening on the ground that is missing from the news. There are Israelis, including in Sderot, reaching out to Palestinians and Palestinians reaching out to Israelis. When Hamas was first elected, 48% of Israelis wanted their government to talk to Hamas. Yet, the Israeli administration kept busy undermining Hamas.

Recently, I heard a Palestinian talking about the death of his brother killed by an Israeli soldier. He was contacted by an Israeli family who also suffered a loss. At first he didn’t want to have anything to do with them. He said that in his society he was considered a hero for having lost a family member in the intifada. He was supposed to hate, but, instead, he contacted the Israelis on ‘the other side’ and chose peace.

A couple of organisations I've come across recently:
Jerusalem Inter-cultural Centre
Al Tariq