Clues to the roots of the Israel-Gaza Conflict
By Diane V. McLoughlin - The McLoughlin Post; Jan. 16, '09
In conversation, an Israeli has carved in stone the position that they cannot see how they
could make peace with Hamas, because Hamas has no intention of living alongside Israel.
I have been accused of not having a clue.
Naturally, I welcome the opportunity for dialogue.
There are none so blind as those who refuse to open their eyes to see. It is painfully
obvious that Israel has no intention herself of living alongside Palestinians. Hence the
Jews-only roads in the West Bank, as but one example amongst many.
There are many clues pointing to the roots of the continual conflict. The Hamas Charter is
cited by those who would wield it as a weapon against the Palestinian People - the
iron-clad guarantee that Israel would never have to critically self-examine its own attitudes
and political decisions.
I do not hear them cite the Prisoner's Document. I do not hear them acknowledge - which
leads one to assume that they do not educate themselves and that they do not know -
what possible things Israel has done to inflame rather than sow the seeds of peace.
I do not hear them cite statements on record by the top leadership of Hamas whereby they
have stated clearly that they do not wish to push Jews into the sea. That Hamas holds the
position that an acceptable place to begin peace negotiations is on the basis of pre-1967
borders.
I do not hear them condemn the shoah of Gaza. I do not hear them condemn rabbis that
called for such a shoah, who incited the military and the political leadership to slaughter
them with impunity - even babies.
I do not hear them share with us their understanding of what it means to place one and a
half million men, women and children under a military blockade.
I do not hear them condemn the racist beliefs amongst the most extreme elements within
Israeli society. Arab-Israelis are treated as bad, or worse, than Blacks were in the darkest
days of segregation in the American Deep South. That Jewish parents rise up in arms if
an Arab-Israeli attempts to register his six-year-old in a predominantly Jewish school. Why
is that, one wonders? Because it looks like they will not tolerate any opportunity for
tolerance to flower between the children.
Hamas doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist. We should acknowledge the fact that it is
an unfair tack to take with the Palestinians. Unless Hamas, and the Palestinian people,
have proposals before them about what the final status on their occupied lands looks like,
being forced to say you recognize Israel implies you accept what was stolen.
The wording of the Hamas Charter is no less concrete than Likud, a right-wing Israeli party
that claims the right to settle Palestinian lands.
The whole thing began with the fiction that Palestine was 'a land with no people for a
people with no land'. Rabbis who were sent to scout out the land for settlement went back
to Europe with a clear message: 'The bride is beautiful but she is married to another man'.
There was a small native community of Jews in Palestine and they and their neighbors got
along as far as I know.
The political idea of Zionism was born in the late eighteen hundreds - long before the
Holocaust.
During the Nazi era (I cannot think of an adjective bad enough to place in front of 'Nazi
era': deplorable, evil, odious, catastrophic - no word can encompass the bad of genocide
no matter when or against whom) - Zionists amongst Jewish leadership betrayed Jews to
their deaths. They could have saved at least some by paying Nazis for lives. The
sentiment was recorded thus: One cow in Palestine is worth more than all the Jews of
Poland. I have not been to Israel and obviously could not go in light of my criticism of
current policies. But I would be interested to know whether this fact is clearly and openly
laid out in the Holocaust center there. I would also be curious to know whether or not it is
clearly laid out just how many 'others' perished during the Nazi reign of terror. I recall Jews
protesting when a Christian cross was placed at Auschwitz to commemorate Christians
who perished there, alongside the Star of David. A form of Holocaust denial that seems no
less odious and racist.
The Poles suffered. The SS were sent by Hitler to Poland, "with orders for them to send
to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish race
and language".
Until there is the clear acceptance and acknowledgment of the injury, it is difficult to move
forward to the stage of reconciliation and forgiveness. Nor is it easy to turn enemies into
partners until we walk a mile in their shoes - until we consider things from the other's
perspective. But first, we have to want to know.
When we find ourselves reduced to causing 1.5 million men, women and children to live in
a ghetto where children turn to sticks; when our soldiers order families out of their houses
only to take aim and slaughter the little ones first before their parents' helpless eyes as
has taken place in Gaza (amongst many other unspeakable crimes) - it seems to me that
those who perished before are now denied their peaceful rest, yet they cannot cry out to
their progeny: What are you doing?! I died, for this?!
Hamas for four months abided by the ceasefire while their children starved because of
Israel's military blockade. All the while of the ceasefire Israel prepared to destroy Gaza.
The world post-Nazi Germany vilified Germans - 'Good Germans' - who claimed they did
not know. I am inclined to give the benefit of the doubt on this one, which is why I focus on
the problem: I think many Zionists, be they Christian or Jewish, have been brainwashed.
Christ put it best when an unspeakable injustice was meted out to him: They know not
what they do.
home
By Diane V. McLoughlin - The McLoughlin Post; Jan. 16, '09
In conversation, an Israeli has carved in stone the position that they cannot see how they
could make peace with Hamas, because Hamas has no intention of living alongside Israel.
I have been accused of not having a clue.
Naturally, I welcome the opportunity for dialogue.
There are none so blind as those who refuse to open their eyes to see. It is painfully
obvious that Israel has no intention herself of living alongside Palestinians. Hence the
Jews-only roads in the West Bank, as but one example amongst many.
There are many clues pointing to the roots of the continual conflict. The Hamas Charter is
cited by those who would wield it as a weapon against the Palestinian People - the
iron-clad guarantee that Israel would never have to critically self-examine its own attitudes
and political decisions.
I do not hear them cite the Prisoner's Document. I do not hear them acknowledge - which
leads one to assume that they do not educate themselves and that they do not know -
what possible things Israel has done to inflame rather than sow the seeds of peace.
I do not hear them cite statements on record by the top leadership of Hamas whereby they
have stated clearly that they do not wish to push Jews into the sea. That Hamas holds the
position that an acceptable place to begin peace negotiations is on the basis of pre-1967
borders.
I do not hear them condemn the shoah of Gaza. I do not hear them condemn rabbis that
called for such a shoah, who incited the military and the political leadership to slaughter
them with impunity - even babies.
I do not hear them share with us their understanding of what it means to place one and a
half million men, women and children under a military blockade.
I do not hear them condemn the racist beliefs amongst the most extreme elements within
Israeli society. Arab-Israelis are treated as bad, or worse, than Blacks were in the darkest
days of segregation in the American Deep South. That Jewish parents rise up in arms if
an Arab-Israeli attempts to register his six-year-old in a predominantly Jewish school. Why
is that, one wonders? Because it looks like they will not tolerate any opportunity for
tolerance to flower between the children.
Hamas doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist. We should acknowledge the fact that it is
an unfair tack to take with the Palestinians. Unless Hamas, and the Palestinian people,
have proposals before them about what the final status on their occupied lands looks like,
being forced to say you recognize Israel implies you accept what was stolen.
The wording of the Hamas Charter is no less concrete than Likud, a right-wing Israeli party
that claims the right to settle Palestinian lands.
The whole thing began with the fiction that Palestine was 'a land with no people for a
people with no land'. Rabbis who were sent to scout out the land for settlement went back
to Europe with a clear message: 'The bride is beautiful but she is married to another man'.
There was a small native community of Jews in Palestine and they and their neighbors got
along as far as I know.
The political idea of Zionism was born in the late eighteen hundreds - long before the
Holocaust.
During the Nazi era (I cannot think of an adjective bad enough to place in front of 'Nazi
era': deplorable, evil, odious, catastrophic - no word can encompass the bad of genocide
no matter when or against whom) - Zionists amongst Jewish leadership betrayed Jews to
their deaths. They could have saved at least some by paying Nazis for lives. The
sentiment was recorded thus: One cow in Palestine is worth more than all the Jews of
Poland. I have not been to Israel and obviously could not go in light of my criticism of
current policies. But I would be interested to know whether this fact is clearly and openly
laid out in the Holocaust center there. I would also be curious to know whether or not it is
clearly laid out just how many 'others' perished during the Nazi reign of terror. I recall Jews
protesting when a Christian cross was placed at Auschwitz to commemorate Christians
who perished there, alongside the Star of David. A form of Holocaust denial that seems no
less odious and racist.
The Poles suffered. The SS were sent by Hitler to Poland, "with orders for them to send
to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish race
and language".
Until there is the clear acceptance and acknowledgment of the injury, it is difficult to move
forward to the stage of reconciliation and forgiveness. Nor is it easy to turn enemies into
partners until we walk a mile in their shoes - until we consider things from the other's
perspective. But first, we have to want to know.
When we find ourselves reduced to causing 1.5 million men, women and children to live in
a ghetto where children turn to sticks; when our soldiers order families out of their houses
only to take aim and slaughter the little ones first before their parents' helpless eyes as
has taken place in Gaza (amongst many other unspeakable crimes) - it seems to me that
those who perished before are now denied their peaceful rest, yet they cannot cry out to
their progeny: What are you doing?! I died, for this?!
Hamas for four months abided by the ceasefire while their children starved because of
Israel's military blockade. All the while of the ceasefire Israel prepared to destroy Gaza.
The world post-Nazi Germany vilified Germans - 'Good Germans' - who claimed they did
not know. I am inclined to give the benefit of the doubt on this one, which is why I focus on
the problem: I think many Zionists, be they Christian or Jewish, have been brainwashed.
Christ put it best when an unspeakable injustice was meted out to him: They know not
what they do.
home
