Israel/Palestine: Peace Is Locked in a Closet of Denial

Palm Beach Gardens, May 30, 2007


Israel/Palestine: Peace Is Locked in a Closet of Moral Denial


When refugee host-regimes like Lebanon, Syria or Jordan face intense political pressures they tend to displace their anger on the marginalized communities. The confrontation between the Lebanese army and the pseudo-Islamic militants has focused attention on the 350,000 Palestinian refugees in the country. As Lebanon faces its third political crisis in ten months the Palestinian community may become a scapegoat in this troubled country.

However, I wonder how extreme elements like Fatah-al-Islam emerge to “defend” Palestine with such cruel irrationality? As usual, it is often helpless civilians who pay the heaviest price for counterproductive rebellion. Unacceptable political resistance detracts from international compassion for Palestinians.

Many friends here in Florida have asked me about my family visit to Lebanon this month. On learning about my visit, Steve asked about the violence in Lebanon’s refugee camps: “Who are these refugees?”

I answered, “My friend, these Palestinians are the people who lost their homes in one of the Arab-Israeli wars, either in 1948, or in the second war in 1967”. Steve commented, “I thought these were Lebanese refugees from last summer’s war between Hezbollah and Israel”. I did not convey any surprise.

He then wanted to know why the Palestinian refugees were still living in camps after several decades of dispossession. I explained that as long as they were not able to return to Palestine, the refugees did not want to live outside their camps in the host countries. The majority wanted to live as homogeneous communities in order to retain their memories and their hopes to return to their homeland. In fact, the Palestinians have always expected to return to Palestine and had never thought that their land would be taken away from them indefinitely.

Steve innocently remarked, “But isn’t it unreasonable for the Palestinians to hold on to their dreams to return for so long?” I asked him rhetorically, “Have the Jewish communities forfeited their claims to Eretz Israel after over two thousand years of Diaspora?” He gestured in the negative.

At this point, Steve seemed unsure of where this conversation was going. After an anxious moment of silence he expressed a classic objection: “The Arabs should not blame the West for the Palestinian situation.”



Here I got defensive; I reminded him that for centuries the Jews had been persecuted by the Europeans, not by the Arabs. The persecution that culminated in the Holocaust was a major reason for the Western Allies’ pledging to the Jews a homeland in historic Palestine. At the time only about ten per cent of the population was Jewish. The Western governments did not compensate the Jews for their global suffering with Western assets. The Europeans paid for their moral crimes of discrimination and persecution of the Jews with Arab land and resources – by giving away the larger part of what was historic Palestine.

I continued my “lecture” to poor Steve: Furthermore, many Palestinians hold Washington partially responsible for their current situation. In 1967, with much US support, Israel won the second war against the Arabs and expanded its occupation of Israeli land into the Occupied Territories. Since the 1967 occupation, the US has been a staunch ally and a major funding partner of the Jewish state.

I knew our conversation was coming to an end as Steve grew more uncomfortable with my criticism of America’s support of Israel. He did ask one more question:
“Do you blame the West and the Jews, but forget about the Arab’s mismanagement of the Palestinian cause?”

“You have posed a fair question, Steve. All parties must assume their fair share of responsibility to be liberated from the travesty of Palestinian Diaspora and the oppressive occupation.” At this moment, I thought of the well-known biblical verse, John 8, 32: “Ye will know the truth and the truth will set you free”. In the context of the Middle East cpnflict, these biblical words mean to me that all the accomplices must confess their role in the Palestinian crisis.

For the parties involved in this crisis, speaking the truth would lead to a collective moral catharsis. No single party must take all the blame. If the guilt associated with displacing Palestinians is placed on the Jewish community alone it would be counter productive and too much to bear. Similarly, if the guilt is put on the Arabs for exploiting the Palestinian cause, it would be unjust and too much to process. And finally, if the West, alone, is accused of the crime of orchestrating the displacement of the Palestinians, it would be unfair and too intense to assume.

Relief from the suppressed moral burden would facilitate political problem-solving in the Middle East conflict. Such an authentic encounter with the truth would lead to fair sharing of the responsibility of empowering the Palestinians politically and humanely. Peace in the Middle East has, for too long, been locked in a closet of denial and fear. To avoid the overburden of full responsibility, until now, no party has been ready to assume any moral responsibility for the Palestinian tragedy.

What Steve conveyed in his innocent conversation about Palestine is standard perspective in American society today. As groups like Fatah-al-Islam assume responsibility for the defense of Palestine, albeit illegitimately, they make it hard for folks like Steve to gain insight, much less sympathy for the Palestinian cause.