The infamous Palestinian issue is the first
thing that most people associate with Israel. No wonder- The State of Israel
was founded thanks to winning the 1948 Arab War. It owes its present territory (including
the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza and the Golan Heights) to the Six-Day
War with the Arab countries in 1967. Therefore, it’s existence is inseparably
linked with the conflict.
As the topic doesn’t disappear of the
headlines, Palestinians fall victim to numerous harmful simplifications. On one
hand, there is the Israeli press and TV that tends to create this national psychosis
of a kind. In the media, most of the Palestinians are presented as bloodthirsty,
fanatic terrorists that dream of killing all the Jews in the name of Allah. The
rest is described as a uniform mass of poor, uneducated, Muslim goat-owners.
On the other hand, the pro-Palestinian fraction
tends to be biased as well. Many Europeans talk a lot about the ‘Free Palestine’
movement, blindly supporting anything related to their beloved ideals of
liberty and peace, with no knowledge about the complexity of the conflict. In
their eyes, the Palestinians are nothing but helpless victims and refugees,
identical in terms of political affiliations, aspirations and desires.
It seems quite a paradox that both of the
totally opposite political sides basically do the same thing: use sweeping,
populist generalizations and deprive the occupied nation of its dignity.
If you want to step out of this logic, get some
in-depth knowledge and become familiar with the authentic, Palestinian
perspective - read Raja Shehadeh. This human rights activist, lawyer and writer
contradicts all the Arab stereotypes. In his books, he describes the every-day
life of a West Banker. All the difficulties and humiliations, travels hampered
by the separation barrier and IDF controls, continuous settlements destroying
the natural environment, arrogant and inhumane attitude of the ‘almighty’
soldiers, actual threats and frustrations... The list go on and on. The way he
talks about it is highly emotional and patriotic but far from hatred. He
reminded me of a best-loved grandfather, full of dignity, wisdom and
understanding; the kind you just want to sit by and learn from. I truly advice
you to do so!
However, if you are the modern,
Internet-immersed sort of grandchild, here are the links to impressing Israeli organizations
that openly stand for revealing the truth about the Occupied Territories and
finding a common ground with the people from the other side of the wall:
No comments:
Post a Comment