Monday, May 15, 2006

Where is the global outcry at this continuing cruelty?

Ghada Karmi in the Guardian:

Israel is 58 years old today. Israelis have already celebrated with barbecues and parties. And so they should, for they've pulled off an amazing stunt: the creation of a state for one people on the land of another - and at their massive expense - without incurring effective sanction. Some of those not celebrating, the Arab citizens of Israel, were also there, demonstrating to remind the world that Israel displaced 250,000 to take their land without compensation. Millions more Palestinians will demonstrate today in the refugee camps of Gaza, the West Bank and neighbouring Arab states against their expulsion by Israel. The world, however, is not listening, any more than it did in 1948, when most of Palestine's inhabitants were expelled to make way for Jewish immigrants.
Simply put, these words are virtually unspeakable in the American media, but they betray an undeniable truth: Israel's creation was predicated on the destruction, or at least dispersal, of an entire pre-existing community of Arab Palestinians.

Staunch supporters of Israel largely see that as unfortunate, but nonetheless justified by centuries of anti-Semitism and, particularly, the Nazi Holocaust.

Personally, I find that stance to be deeply problematic, but I am less bothered by those who are at least honest about the situation. The individuals who bother me more are those who deny or purposefully obfuscate the dialetic of the Jewish immigration/Palestinian displacement.

The actions of these folk, who make up a good portion of the dreaded lobby discussed in the Walt and Mearsheimer paper, are a major reason why Israel is allowed to get away with rampant human rights violations, continued expansion, and the incessant dehumanization of Palestinians. Their primary role is to wipe history and the relevant context out of the discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so that the remaining narrative contains only irrational suicide bombers who hate Israel and Jews who just want to live in peace. And that, unfortunately, is the framing we enjoy here in the United States.