This is one Tammy urged me to write. And she was right to do so.
As awful as things get in Israel – Palestine, I cling to hope. The reason? If my views could change as dramatically as they have, the views of others can as well. And maybe, just maybe, we’re starting to see that happen.
I traveled to Israel in 1995. I was on the plane from Phoenix to New York the moment Yitzhak Rabin was shot. Too late to turn back, I spent six days in Israel with other guests of a pro-Israel charity. Israel was in mourning, as this country was after JFK’s assassination. Yet the people we met welcomed us. And we of course saw only the best Israel had to offer. No West Bank. No Gaza.
I boarded the El Al flight back to New York very much the Zionist. Then, ironically, on the America West trip to Phoenix from New York. I shared a row with West Bank settlers on their way to Los Angeles, who didn’t do much to conceal their radical views, their hatred of Palestinians, and, yes, their near elation over Rabin’s death.
Nothing changed in me immediately, but perhaps seeds of doubt had been sown.
Fast forward twelve years or so.
I became a Congressional candidate in 2007. Early in the campaign, I spoke to a Jewish group about my campaign, with no mention of Israel, at least not intentionally. But I did reference Jimmy Carter’s energy policy in a positive way. Based on the reaction of the group, it was clear I lost half of them because I did not despise every aspect of Jimmy Carter’s being, as they did. I don’t recall whether Carter had published Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid by then. He probably had.
After the meeting, several members of the group decided they should “educate me” on Israel, even though my views were very much pro-Israel. I listened, but my sense was that they’d been exposed to a couple of instances of Palestinian violence and had concluded that all Palestinians were inherently violent. The scientist in me (I was a biochemistry major) told me their sample size was too small.
Perhaps more seeds of doubt, but nothing more. My views on Israel were not going to change because I met a couple haters who happened to be Jewish.
Then, a turning point: The 2008 annual AIPAC breakfast in Phoenix.
My opponent, John Shadegg, was pro-Israel, a raging Islamophobe, and a favorite of local AIPAC members. Nonetheless, I knew several AIPAC board members and was welcomed to the breakfast.
Two things happened. First, Shadegg gave a very short speech, under a minute, dedicated entirely to recommending two books to the crowd: Knowing the Enemy and America Alone. More on those later. Second, the tone in the room was chilling. The substance of the remarks of various speakers, mostly about Iran, was not that surprising. But the bellicosity of the room was like nothing I’d ever felt before in a crowd that large. If they were all of fighting age, 98% of those in attendance would have been ready to march off to war against Iran. The other 2% felt about the way I did.
Since Shadegg was urging folks to read Knowing the Enemy and America Alone, I felt I had to as well. Both were anti-Muslim diatribes. In America Alone, the author actually tried to explain away Serbian atrocities in Bosnia on the basis that the Muslims were breeding too fast.
At this point, I’m stubbornly hanging on to my pro-Israel views, but not as tightly as I once did.
Then, a breakfast with a potential donor, a Republican no less, who whacked me with information about the situation on the ground and the history of the conflict that I’d never considered before.
Then, a meeting with members of the local Muslim-American community, including a Palestinian. Conclusion: They’re just people. And smart. And likeable. Nothing like the sub-humans I was told they are. One point they made has stuck with me: American Muslims live in constant fear that, if there is another 9/11 type event in the U.S., it will be open season on Muslims, and law enforcement will not protect them.
By mid-2008, my eyes had opened a good bit. I stopped courting the AIPAC crowd and instead sought J Street’s endorsement. J Street has moved to the right recently, but back then it was in its infancy and was emerging as the conscience of the American Jewish community. As an organization, it was openly critical of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and a proponent of the two-state solution.
J Street is in my rear-view mirror now. After remarkable early success, the leaders of the organization became fearful of the Jewish American right-wing and, as a result, increasingly cowardly in its pronouncements.
But the journey continues. The more I learn and the more I study, the more I become convinced that the occupation of Palestine is no different from any other occupation in history. The occupier always occupies ground in the literal sense, but never occupies it in the figurative sense, as in “moral high ground.” That ground ultimately goes to the occupied. Without exception.
And if I can make this journey, anyone can. Or so I hope.
Elizabeth Warren Finally Speaks on Israel/Gaza, Sounds Like Netanyahu
GLENN GREENWALD
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/greenwald/
SNIP
Echoing Benjamin Nentayahu (and Hillary Clinton), Elizabeth Warren’s clear position is that Israel bears none of the blame for any of this. Or, to use her words, “when Hamas puts its rocket launchers next to hospitals, next to schools, they’re using their civilian population to protect their military assets. And I believe Israel has a right, at that point, to defend itself.”
Questions:
1) Can you show me any historical evidence that palestinians existed prior to 1967?
2) Can you name their monarchs, kings, rules by name and the years they served?
3) Can you show me any palestinian currency or constitution or court systems or educational providence?
$) Expalin how the area called palestine in the bible had no official people or culture other than Jewish?
I suggest you research the hoax of palestine before you embarrass yourself with more learned scholars.
Jerry, your comment may be the most stunning display of ignorance ever. Even the most ardent Zionists wouldn’t agree with what you’re suggesting in your comment and/or the significance you seem to think it has. And you suggest that I’m embarassing myself. Wow!
If you want a better understanding of the history here, I’d suggest The Iron Cage, by Rashid Khalidi. If you prefer something written by an Israeli, and a Zionist, try My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit.
If it were left up to the Palestinians and the Israelis I believe they would reach an accord and live peacefully. I don’t think either group is happy with perpetual warfare. Unfortunately, the Palestinians are surrogates for other factions throughout the Middle East. Hamas, Hezbollah, and other extremist groups are supported by primarily by Iran to recruit more extremists and to carry on a war against Israel from within the ranks of the Palestinian people.
This latest round of violence is an excellent example. Every time a cease fire was declared, Hamas would break it. Not the Palestinians, Hamas. If you read the postings of every day Palestinians, they were willing to let the cease fires continue and were resentful of Hamas for inciting the Israelis. When I read the Palestinian papers I get a sense of tiredness and a desire for something else. It is nothing overt, but it is there in subtle ways. Fear, I suppose, keeps them from speaking out.
Steve, I don’t disagree with your initial premise, but I have trouble with where you go from there. For one thing, it’s not at all clear that Hamas broke each cease fire. But beyond that, resisitance fighting is a brutal business, whether it’s undertaken by Hamas, the ANC in South Africa, or the Native Americans. Hyper-focusing on the tactics of resistance fighters is to lose sight of the overall picture, one of an ongoing, brutal occupation and oppression. After all, it would be hard to blame Hamas for the atrocities in the West Bank, for the groundless imprisonment and torture of West Bank Palestinians, for the failure to prosecute West Bank settlers who commit murder, for the systematic persecution of Palestinian citizens of Israel, or for the calls by Israeli members of the Knesset for genocide.
I guess I am simplistic in my view. That is partially because I don’t hold out much hope for the future of Israel and the Palestinians. I think the Palestinians have been used as surrogates in a long war against Israel. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan have long supported extremist groups to fight Israel from within the ranks of the Palestinians.
Additionally, when Iran finally finishes its nuke(s) – and I do believe that is their end game – the entire power structure of the Middle East will change. I fear that the leadership of Iran is serious when they state that they will use a nuclear weapon on Tel Aviv. It is in line with the teaching of their Mullahs and the legend of the return of the 12th Imam. I don’t for an instant think that all Iranians would wish for their country to use a nuke, but I am not so certain about their leadership.
Bob, I made a similar “journey” in the late 1990s, away from my long-taught hatred and fear of all things Palestinian to breaking bread with Palestinians, discussing commonalities and coming to a more rational, reasonable, humane view of the two sides in this ongoing confrontation.
The two of us differ on lots of specifics, I know, including the best ways to resolve the conflict. But we share the belief and hope that reasonable people on both sides can come together, their power and influence can grow, and the region can move away from hatred and fear and toward something better, whatever than might be.