Michael Berger Crossfire
The Mail & Guardian editorial of October 20 to 26 sees the Middle East situation in terms of apartheid, and the Oslo peace accord as an unjust settlement, presumably even as an interim arrangement in an ongoing evolutionary process to finding accommodation for both Jews and Arabs in an inflammable region. This is, of course, the fundamental argument which underpins the “Days of Rage” and the current Palestinian propaganda offensive. And this position has been reflected in the one-sided reporting in the South African media until very recently. Let me give the perspective of a South African Jew who pretends to no expertise, but has been following the outlines of the conflict for some decades. The political differences between the two sides are so convoluted, so subject to emotion on both sides, that the onlooker despairs of any rational, humane solution. But one important component of the situation is consistently overlooked in local reporting and it is this which needs to be put before the South African public. I don’t believe for one moment that the current conflict is to do with “spontaneous” Palestinian anger at Ariel Sharon’s visit to the al-Aqsa compound or unhappiness over the Oslo accords or the failure of implementation of any specific United Nations resolution. It is simply a phase in a war being fought on the streets of the territories and settlements and in Israel proper, being fought in the pages of the M&G and other newspapers and on the airwaves and TV screens around the world. A war conducted in the halls of the UN and in every foreign office where the Palestinians or their surrogates are situated. It is a war being fought by rock and Molotov cocktail-throwing youths, by women and children being sacrificed as soldiers in the propaganda campaign – a cruel strategy in which the higher the body count on your side the better – by snipers and terrorists/guerrillas hiding behind civilians and by constant pressure at every level. It is a war pursued with considerable skill, determination and ruthlessness.
This strategy is based on the view that Israel’s very success is also the seeds of its undoing; that after decades of sacrifice and warfare, after the attainment of considerable military power and relative prosperity which puts Israel in the upper echelons of developing countries, Israelis are sick of war, are soft and confused. That Israeli mothers no longer wish to see their sons die in Lebanon, in the territories or in the streets of Israel itself. They, like mothers everywhere, wish to see their children live peaceful lives pursuing self- fulfillment in the manner of most children from the Western world and some children from non-Western countries. In this militant Palestinian view, demographics, Palestinian rage and readiness for self-sacrifice, world opinion ripe for manipulation and Israeli (and American) fatigue will result in eventual Palestinian victory. And what is this victory? Is it a revised Oslo Accord, more territory, better treatment for Israeli Arabs – all within the context of peaceful Arab-Israeli coexistence? I don’t think so. The victory behind these campaigns, the victory hiding in the subconscious of some Israeli Arabs and moderate Palestinians but definitely in the consciousness of the militant factions who are calling the tune, is the elimination of the Israeli state and the establishment of Palestinian, mainly Islamic, hege- mony over the whole of modern Israel. People, especially within the media, who so readily take anti-Israeli positions at this time must not delude themselves about what’s at stake. “Oops” will not be good enough if the ultimate Palestinian victory is won. It will not be enough to say we were only supporting the “justice” within the Palestinian cause, we didn’t know what kind of outcome was at stake. It will not be OK to commiserate with the Jews and the Israelis if Israel is destroyed and they are redispersed. So what if this is true? Why should a Jewish state exist in an Arab-Islamic region? Why should the Jewish/Zionist dream of a Jewish state with Jerusalem its capital be of concern to the rest of the world? Why can’t the United States absorb the five million or more capable and enterprising Israeli refugees? Many of them are going there in any case. The Holocaust and Jewish persecution is past and the Israeli Jewish concern for its security is false or irrational. After all, the suffering of the Palestinians is real, even if caused partly by their own choices, attitudes and the actions of their leaders. Israel too is far from guiltless and has much for which to make amends.
There are many possible arguments against this view; I would like to suggest a couple. Firstly, Jewish persecution is not past. Anti-Semitism is a deadly virus, planted well over a millennium ago, which lurks in the human collective subconscious along with similar viruses – anti-black, anti-Arab and other forms of racial-religious intolerance. The current Palestinian campaign, despite denials, is fuelled by incessant anti-Semitic themes drummed into the heads of schoolchildren and the Palestinian, indeed Arab and Muslim, public. The state of Israel is a partial pro- tection against this virus; its concerns over security are legitimate. But there are even stronger arguments: Israel, with its many defects, has introduced democracy into the Middle East. It has brought diversity into debate and respect for the equality of women in a region in which women are still murdered for breaking the male-imposed code of honour. Despite its own racism (like that of the rest of humanity) it has integrated Ethiopian Jews and millions of others representing an enormous range of racial features, different cultures and different shades of skin colour. It reflects the essence of the scientific Western spirit in the context of a history extending to the roots of the Judeao-Christian culture. It is a melting pot in which the aggressively secular collides with the rigidly theocratic, an experiment where the crass materialism of the West may be tested against deeper spiritual values. With peace and time Israel could eventually become the cockpit where Islam and the Judeao-Christian value systems find common ground. And that brings up the final point I wish to make. Israel is not going to surrender to Palestinian pressure. Instead of continuing to force-feed the Palestinian people a toxic diet of hatred, bitterness and religious fanaticism, why can the Arab leaders not harness the same courage and talent to work towards a peace settlement and creating Palestinian prosperity? The constant recourse to violence has produced only suffering, a disrupted society and a narrowing of options. There are avenues other than violence and hatred to express resistance. Within both Israeli and Palestinian society, as in the outside world, there are many who wish not only to see peace in the Middle East but a just and prosperous peace. This may take time but it will be quicker and far less destructive than a peace produced by the current morally bankrupt strategy. The time has come for the true moderates in Islam and in Palestine to find a way of being heard above the sounds of war. Bearing in mind what is at stake and the complex truths applicable to the realities of the Middle East, the media, in particular, should take great care before taking positions which play into the hands of those who wish the destruction of Israel above peace.