By John J. Neumaier, Daily Freeman, Kingston,
8/6/06
Since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and even earlier, there has been
tension and violent conflict over Palestinian and Israeli claims to territories in the land
that was referred to as Palestine. Like that of so many other national and ethnic
conflicts, the history is a complicated one. Many of its partisans view every
policy and action of their own side as absolutely justified, and the cause of
the other, as absolutely evil. Part of the problem is the matter of who reports
or interprets the news, and how. Almost everyone
agrees that propaganda can distort the issues and events, and that it’s the other side that
employs it.
Like other people’s reactions to the situation in the Middle East, mine are influenced (but hopefully not
mechanically determined) by my background. As a Jewish Holocaust survivor, whose
mother and many relatives were killed by the Nazis, I am among the millions of
Americans deeply concerned with the continuing conflict between the Israelis
and the Palestinians. Since it is so difficult to get reliable and comprehensive
news and relevant context from the mass media regarding that volatile
situation, I am also closely following alternate news sources, including the
Internet. While this column cannot possibly touch on various recent
developments and background, I recommend as particularly informative the debate
between the ardent Zionist Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel’s former foreign minister,
and the ardent anti-Zionist political science professor Norman Finkelstein at http://www.democracynow.org/finkelstein-benami.shtml.
Here in the United States,
the government, the mass media, and powerful Jewish organizations report the
news of the recent deadly escalation in Gaza,
Lebanon,
and Israel as a direct
result of attacks on Israel
by Palestinian and pro-Palestinian terrorist militants. In Israel 95 percent of
Israelis supported their government’s initial military response to the provocations
by Hezbollah and Hamas. In contrast,
most members of Arab groups in this country and abroad view the situation
exactly in reverse. Hezbollah and Hamas
justify their actions as defensive responses to Israeli attacks and occupation
of their lands.
Almost unreported is the activism of peace-minded Israeli Jews and Arabs who are jointly
demonstrating against the mutual killing
of civilians and against what they consider the ruthless use of Israel’s
vast military superiority in Lebanon,
including the heart-wrenching death toll of civilians in Qana, mostly children
and women. Significantly, Israeli and US peace activists largely agree that the
greatest obstacle to peace is the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian
lands, often with the tacit support of US policy.
As a result of the mainstream media’s one-sided reports
about the conflict, and its self-imposed near-taboo on the word “occupation”,
many Americans see the situation as basically a conflict between democratic Israel on one side, and
Palestinian and pro-Palestinian terrorists on
the other. This view is shared by many of my Jewish (and Christian)
friends. However, this perspective is
not that of all Jews, although quite a few are reluctant to express criticism
of Israel
lest they be accused of being “self-hating” Jews. (One website lists
the names of allegedly anti-Semitic Jews).
Nevertheless, many Jewish-American are active participants
in peace groups and demonstrations supporting a negotiated two-state solution.
They strongly criticize past and current Israeli government policies and
actions which would deny Palestinians’ right to a contiguous, sovereign, and
economically viable state. Their main concern is with successive US government’s extraordinary military and
economic support of Israel’s
settlement and occupation policies. Most are equally concerned with the long range
security and welfare of the Israeli people, as they are with the rights of the
Palestinians, and indeed, the peaceful coexistence of all peoples in the Middle East. They feel that this very goal is being
undermined by the geopolitical Middle East aims of the US government
and the expansionist ambitions of Israeli leaders.
Quite apart from Al Qaeda’s fanatical Islamist jihadists,
there are other extremist enemies of Israel, some of them openly
anti-Semitic, who heighten the cycle of mutual hostility. An outrageously defamatory
accusation was made on July 13 by the speaker of parliament of the new “democratic”
government of occupied Iraq.
Referring to the beheading, kidnapping, and killing of people, he said “These
acts are not the work of Iraqis. I am sure that he who does this is a Jew and
the son of a Jew. And Iran’s
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that the Holocaust was a ‘myth’. Whether or not he actually used the widely
quoted phrase that Israel
should be ‘wiped off the map’, he as well as leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah
have declared their opposition to the existence of the state of Israel. While
critics of Israel
or Zionism are not ipso facto anti-Semites (although some are both), inflexible
Arab and Islamic extremism not only aggravates the conflict but encourages
extremism on the Israeli side, and, of course, vice-versa.
When it comes to foreign help to the warring parties,
Hezbollah receives significant military and other aid from Iran and Syria. But that does not compare
with the vastly greater economic, military, and political support of Israel by the US government (over six billion
dollars in armaments – 2001-2005). Worst of all, the Bush administration has
strongly opposed an immediate cease-fire, thus bolstering Israel’s war plan
to disable the pro-Palestinian Hezbollah
in Lebanon and prevent future terrorist
attacks against Israel. However, terrorist tactics have long been used
by both sides; they were also used by Jewish military factions, like the Stern
gang, even before the establishment of Israel. Neither group terror nor
state terror is likely to be fully abolished until a resolution of the
underlying causes of the conflict.
While terrorist tactics of pro-Palestinian groups have been
widely condemned, there has also been strong criticism of the Israeli and US governments
for delaying an end to the mutual slaughter and destruction (vastly deadlier in
Lebanon than in Israel).
In Rome, Lebanon’s
Prime Minister accused Israel
“barbaric destruction” and bitterly asked “Is the value of human
life less in Lebanon
than that of citizens elsewhere?”
Already, the war has claimed the lives of 51 Israelis and 750 Lebanese
(as of August 1, the date of this writing).
My personal experience with Nazi Germany’s persecution of
Jews, and my remembrance of Hitler’ genocidal war against Europe’s Jews, Slavs,
and Gypsies, carried out under the mantle of chauvinist nationalism (symbolized by the old national
hymn – Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles in der Welt – Germany, Germany
above everything in the world)
sensitized me to cherish and defend the equal worth and dignity of all
human beings and the right of everyone’s
child to grow up and live a healthy and happy life.
To apply these human rights also to the peoples of the
Middle East, whatever their ethnic or national background, is not just a moral imperative, but the only practical way
to eventually bring about a genuinely
“sustainable” peace (to use Condoleezza Rice’s buzz word).
Unless there is within the next few years
a negotiated comprehensive settlement, based
on the right of Palestinians to a viable, contiguous state in the West
Bank and Gaza, and a guarantee of
Israel’s security by its Arab neighbors, there will be dire long-range consequences for the Middle Eastern
peoples, especially for Israel (in spite of its nuclear capability). Difficult
as it will be to negotiate a settlement, including the Palestinian refugee
question and demarcation lines for the two states’ capitals in Jerusalem, it is the only way to end the
ongoing cycle of violence and killing.
Poughkeepsie resident Dr.
John J. Neumaier was president of SUNY New Paltz from 1968-72 and of Moorhead (Minn.) State University
from 1958-68. He is philosophy professor emeritus of Empire State College, New
York City.