Israelis protest rockets and Palestinians protest occupation

Newsweek.WashingtonPost.Com, On Faith

Post script for readers of 1.8.09 article: posted 1.13.09

Palm Beach Gardens, FL.

Israelis and Palestinians see in each other the negative magnified. Palestinians view Israelis to be “colonizing occupiers”; correspondingly, Israelis consider Palestinians to be living a “culture of violence”.

Neither side sufficiently appreciates the source of suffering of the other. One key element in the conflict is that Israelis do not consider Gaza to be under occupation. They argue that Israel evacuated the strip in 2005. But in desperation, Palestinians passionately argue that Gaza in fact remains occupied: its borders controlled tightly, air space not free; seashore blocked; export/import controlled externally, tax revenues flow to Israel; economy depressed by the blockade, and the Shekel remains Gaza’s currency.

But there is also another side to the problem. Palestinians unfairly trivialize or justify their rocket shelling on civilian communities in southern Israel as they compare its impact with the carnage they suffer and the suffering of the wider occupation. But Israel’s disproportional punitive action should not dull the Palestinian conscience. This disadvantage in power should also not dull their partial responsibility for exposing their own civilians to war slaughter, regardless of the circumstances.

On the other hand, Israelis conveniently ignore the burden of a growing and worsening occupation, beyond Gaza. Western powers have shied away from putting serious pressure on Israel to end the occupation. In focusing on the excesses of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and other extreme players in the region, the US has left Israel free to build illegal settlements and tighten its occupation.

Then again Palestinians shoot themselves in the foot. Their leaders are painfully divided on the character of their liberation. Palestinians have to review their strategy of reckless use of force, especially against enemy civilians, regardless of how unsymmetrical that force is. When Palestinian shell rockets indiscriminately they convey to the world the false impression that they do not value life; this negligence weakens their voice.

This senseless war requires firmer international mediation than is displayed today. The incoming American president is aware that his administration must try a new and bold approach in dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

When Israelis and Palestinians start appreciating the source of suffering of the adversary they are more than half way on the road to peace. The people on either side of this conflict should realize the futility of one-sided advocacy.