Violence is the effect, not the cause of oppression. Acts of - TopicsExpress

Violence is the effect, not the cause of oppression. Acts of violence carried out by Palestinians are presented as driven by blind hate towards their victims. This view is suspiciously simplistic and intentionally misleading. What this theory neglects entirely is 1) the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine by Zionist forces 2) 47 years of Israeli occupation of Palestinians and their land 3) An illegal settler enterprise that knows no bounds 4) Home demolitions and land confiscation 5) Constant and relentless humiliation etc All things considered, the notion of Palestinian violence occurring in a vacuum of hate is nothing short of laughable. It is a lie. No reasonable person celebrates the loss of life. But Palestinians and those sympathetic to their cause are always forced to condemn loss of Israeli life, while those sympathetic to the Israeli narrative do not do the same for Palestinian suffering. What is more striking than the lack of condemnation, is the lack of similar pressure on pro-Israel types to do so. For instance, consider the following: 1) Palestinian driver found hanged by Israeli settlers in Jerusalem bus chicagotribune/news/sns-rt-us-mideast-jerusalem-driver-20141117-story.html (Rather than condemn, Israeli authorities claimed it was suicide.) 2) Palestinian boy Mohammed Abu Khdeir was burned alive by Israeli terrorists theguardian/world/2014/jul/05/palestinian-boy-mohammed-abu-khdeir-burned-alive 3) Israel imposes restrictions around al-Aqsa ahead of Jewish holidays maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=729365 Where was the outrage over these violations of Palestinian basic rights? Why didnt Israeli supporters feel the same pressure to condemn these crimes like supporters of Palestine feel anytime a single Israeli suffers? Why the differential appraisal of Palestinian and Israeli lives, with the latter seen as more valuable? While I condemn all loss of innocent life without exception, the unfortunate reality here is that Palestinians are forced to condemn and apologize for the suffering of their oppressors, while the latter face zero accountability for their crimes. The violence we are witnessing today and for the past 70 years is a direct consequence of Israel’s occupation, apartheid system and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Furthermore, there is no moral equivalence between the actions of the occupied and their occupier. I have searched history books far and wide for an example of another occupied people held responsible for the safety and security of their occupier. Palestinians stand alone in this category. International law (and not to mention simple logic) is very clear: Israel, as the occupier, can never claim defense or retaliation against the population is occupies. Israel’s occupation is an ever-present provocation. Until the occupation ends and Palestinian rights are respected, these rounds of violence will remain an unfortunate inevitability. Take the example of a rape victim. No one in their right mind would blame a rape victim for resisting their attacker, nor would the scratches and marks on the attacker be equated with the suffering of the victim. No one would claim the rape would have been less violent if the victim did not resist. And certainly, no reasonable person would argue the victim deserved it or brought it upon themselves. The solution for the attacker to not get scratched is to not rape in the first place. At the end of the day, we all want the bloodshed to stop. However, we can’t bring something to an end unless we understand what its sources are and what perpetuates it. Unless we are courageous and candid, the suffering will continue. We must begin this process by focusing on bringing an end to the occupation, siege, ethnic cleansing and ethno-religious hierarchy in Israel-Palestine. Otherwise, we only facilitate oppression.