There is far more to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th, and the bombing, destruction and invasion of Gaza by the IDF that followed. It goes back even further in history than the events surrounding the rise of European fascism leading to World War 2 and the antisemitism which led to the Holocaust, eventually causing the opening up of Palestine, under British control, to increased Jewish immigration and the formation of a Jewish state.
It's complicated, and that's far too simplistic of a description. There are multiple, powerful, intense interests that keep crossing each other, including the struggle for dominance between the totalitarianism of Russia and China, and the free market democracies led by the United States and Western Europe, the struggle for validation and affirmation between three major world religions which centers on Jerusalem, and the open questions of racial and cultural superiority in determining who has the right to ownership and residency of land and the resources that go with it based on history or modern precedent.
It's not antisemitic to give consideration to whether or not the current attack by Israel on Gaza is simply Israel defending itself, or whether it has turned into a display of vengeful destruction that is a disproportionate response to the ugly, inexcusable terrorism perpetrated by Hamas against Israel on October 7. And it is not anti-Palestinian to call the Hamas attack terrorism, and to consider whether or not Palestinian leadership in Gaza gave aid and abetted the terrorists in their attack, and must shoulder the blame and accept the consequences for subjecting the civilian population in Gaza to this attack.
It is not un-patriotic, un-American or antisemitic to protest the full scope of the Israeli attack on Gaza, nor to see it as excessive retribution, any more than it is to march in support of Israel, believing that it has a right to exist, and to defend itself. By the same token, it is against all principles of American liberal progressivism to demand preference and full loyalty and support for one side, while disparaging and demeaning the other side. The goal of progressive liberalism, applied to this particular conflict, is peace, equally applied to all, including the full recognition of human rights and the equality of all people.
Resolution Must Recognize Reality
A peaceful resolution of all issues which have led to war and conflict for most of the last two centuries must recognize the fact that there are some things which cannot be changed. The state of Israel is not going away. Circumstances created it, the world powers supported it, financed it and militarily and politically protected it, and the alliances of the major world powers lined up by supporting either Israel, or one of the Arabic political factions.
Until the modern era, there was only a very small presence of Jewish communities in Palestine. Since the Roman conquest and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the vast majority of the world's Jewish population lived outside of Palestine, mostly where the survivors of the Roman destruction travelled and settled, including the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, the Egyptian coastline, Asia Minor, now Turkey, and even westward into Italy and Spain, and northward into what is now Eastern Europe. The vacuum left behind by their fleeing Roman oppression completely changed the racial, ethnic and cultural makeup of Palestine, the Promised Land.
So what we are facing here is the unique historical situation where a group of people, displaced from their ancient homeland in ancient times more than 2,000 years ago, with just a remnant of the population remaining, who kept their ethnicity and cultural identity intact through religious practice wherever they were scattered, have been restored to their ancient homeland by the circumstances of world events and the force of political and economic power. This restoration occurred in spite of the fact that there were people of a different religious and cultural heritage, though similar ethnic background, living in this same place.
I can't think of a similar situation anywhere else in the world where an independent, sovereign nation existed in ancient times, was conquered and its people scattered, yet they managed to preserve their culture, through a powerful connection to their religion, and to some extent, also preserved their ethnicity, though there are some variations and mixing that did take place, especially in deep Eastern Europe. Or where those people, from the various places to which they were scattered, would gather together again in their ancient homeland that they had not ruled or occupied for over 2,000 years.
Yet, that is the situation surrounding the modern existence of the state of Israel. And that is exactly the situation that has led to the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. This is just the most recent in a series of wars, conflicts and terrorist acts that have occurred as a result of crowding a small piece of territory with adherents of two of the three world religions who claim sacred sites within the same small quarter of the same city.
The reality that must be recognized is that the people who now live on this small patch of land at the junction of three world religions, and three continents, must figure out a way to coexist, carry on their business, and somehow, economically, socially, culturally and racially, recognize individual rights and collective equality. It's either that, or continue to experience destruction, war, terrorism, and serve as a constant, potential catalyst for a major world war.
Legitimate Questions
Violent human behavior means the one committing the violence has given up on resolving a problem from a rational perspective which aspires to the application of a higher set of values derived from the discipline of an educated intellect. If peace is to be achieved, then one of the sides in a conflict must be committed to introducing it, and then remaining committed to it in order to make it work. That's a high road to take, some might say it is too high for human beings to achieve.
It was the major world powers, primarily the UK and US, who opened the door to the influx of Jewish immigration into Palestine following the Second World War and the aftermath of the Holocaust, and it has been the United States who has taken over the role of the pre-war British Empire in terms of influencing world politics. So the first question is whether the United States, who is the chief financial supporter of Israel, has the ability to pressure the Israeli government into taking the initiative to make peace and making the sacrifices required to achieve it. There is no question that the United States has the power to make this happen, but with our political situation being what it is at the moment, the question is whether our politicians will do it.
We've facilitated Middle Eastern peace between Israel and its neighbors before. President Jimmy Carter brokered the biggest peace deal to date when he got Israel and Egypt to the negotiating table at
Camp David and facilitated that peace deal, which still holds. It will depend on the leadership of the Democratic party to make this happen in the future, since the GOP does not recognize the legitimacy of any Palestinian claim or sovereignty.
So, to those of you protesting Israel's destruction of Gaza, keep that in mind when the November election rolls around. If you really are interested in the people of Gaza, and in pressuring the US to put a stop to the destructive bombing and killing, staying home because Biden hasn't jumped to your command or voting for Trump out of protest will definitely affect the ability of the US to pressure Israel into making peace. It will lead to the complete destruction of Gaza and the loss of any hope for the Palestinian people in Gaza or the West Bank.
It's not anti-Semitic to protest against Israel's attack on Gaza. At this point, six months since the brutal attack on Israel, and the murder of over a thousand Israelis that resulted, Hamas has not surrendered, been captured, or been eliminated as an opponent to an independent and sovereign state of Israel. It's becoming pretty clear that's not going to happen. The result of the war has been the murder of over 30,000 civilians, a small percentage of whom were military combatants or terrorists, the majority of whom were innocent civilians who happened to get in the way of the fighting and bombing. Being opposed to that, to the point of protesting against it, doesn't constitute a denial of the right of Israel to exist.
The Quakers have proposed a peace plan that would require, as noted above, one of the sides being committed to make it work. The desire for peace cannot be coerced, because whatever it was that motivated the coercion is the thing that is desired, not peace itself. I'm not optimistic when it comes to depending on human intellect and reason to establish peace. I don't know if humanity is yet capable of understanding how to make this happen. When we have a politician in this country whose run for the White House is attracting followers because of the opportunities he offers to commit violence and bring destruction on their enemies, it's hard to see peace happening.
The twentieth century was the bloodiest in human history and the twenty-first is shaping up to be even worse, unless there is a commitment to peace and powerful peacemakers.
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