‘This b+w thinking inevitably leads to the conclusion that the only solution is the elimination of the other.’ Here is my translation my father’s Op-Ed piece on the crisis in Israel and Palestine last week, in De Morgen. I think he makes a lot of sense, but then again, I’m hardly unbiased. [I tried to stay true to the authors structure and make it flow in English, but what can I say? The dude loves his subordinate clauses. -ed.] OPINION - 07/03/14 Professor Emeritus Ludo Abicht is a philosopher and writer. He has written several books on Judaism and the Jewish-Palestinian conflict. Israel, Palestine, and the world: Can we still talk? The Jewish population of Israel will applaud all necessary measures to punish ‘the Palestinians.’ Everyone in the region knows it, and that goes for the majority of foreign observers; it never requires more than one attack on one side or the other to throw the already tense relationship between Israel and the Palestinians into violent confrontation, and further delay the near-unattainable peace for a long time, with all the consequences for the population. Again and again, irresponsible terrorists or politicians succeed at stopping the whole process, or even at driving it backwards. We must call these people irresponsible and criminal, which they are, but perhaps this kind of escalation is just what they were aiming for. As if they want to demonstrate that there will never be a solution to this tragic conflict, because, as they see it, such a solution simply cannot be allowed. Revenge and retaliation In this sense, the murderers of three Orthodox students achieved their goal: the Jewish population of Israel is personally deeply affected and will probably applaud all measures necessary, according to their government, to punish ‘the Palestinians collectively, for a crime that should, indeed, not go unpunished. This retaliation will only further inflame hatred against ‘the Zionists’ and sow the seeds for the next violent confrontation. It is not surprising that today, in the midst of the anger and the deafening cries for vengeance and revenge, we are unable to talk quietly and reasonably, and here I’m also referring to the local supporters [here in Belgium, Europe, the West] of both camps. But can we not ask questions such as: Is that gruesome murder [of the three Israelis] even remotely justified by the occupation of Hebron and the Palestinian territories? Obviously not. Why do the Palestinians and their leaders not take to the streets en masse to issue a full-throated condemnation of the massacre (because that is what it was), and to make clear that for them, this is not the right way to their liberation? Not obvious, but why not? Why do Israeli politicians and military leaders think that they can force the Palestinian population to be more pliable by imposing stiff (read: murderous) sanctions, even as they achieve exactly the opposite result every time? Have they forgotten the lessons from the attack on Lebanon, or earlier attacks on Gaza? Few serious answers Did we imagine that opinions wouldn’t harden with the tragedy in Hebron (and all the other tragedies in this unfortunate conflict), that instead, everyone would think hard and search for totally different ways to come to a difficult but urgent and sustainable solution? If only because there is no ethically or politically acceptable alternative in the long term? Do the Palestinians still think that the Jews will ever leave the area, or do the Zionists really believe that they will be able to expel the entire Palestinian population in the foreseeable future? No, obviously they don’t, but then they shouldn’t keep talking and acting as if they would be ready to pursue this barely hidden agenda. And what is it with this resurgent antisemitism, not only in the Arab world, but also in Europe, as if, after all that has happened, they can still draw inspiration from19th century racist ideologues whose statements and lies have been repeatedly discredited? And what should we say about the similarly stupid and malicious hatred against Muslims and Arabs, a rejection that threatens to drive many of them into the arms of fanatics and fundamentalists? Have we still not learned that this black-and-white thinking inevitably leads, sooner or later, to the conclusion that the only logical solution is the elimination of the other? So many pertinent questions, and after more than a century, as few reasonable, or at least serious, answers. And that in a region where three great civilizations claim to have found their original inspiration in three rich scriptures, which we can read as variants of one Book, and in which, next to a lot of mythology and ideology, the most important principles of our humanist tradition are also recorded. But also a region where that same religion was exploited to justify conflicts over land, water, and power time and time again, as is the case again today. It is more than high time to resume the conversation.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 05:59:28 +0000