Arab Lives Matter, Jewish Lives Matter -- Part 2

After over a 100 years this conflict is still defined by its original clash of two narratives.
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After over a 100 years this conflict is still defined by its original clash of two narratives. For Israelis, the Zionist endeavor is a homecoming after 2,000 years of exile. In their understanding they were able to find ways to hold onto a national identity, via a portable religion, that was desperately reborn by the dark realities of 19th century European anti-Jewish pogroms and persecution culminating in the Shoah, the holocaust the following century. The ideas of 19th century European nationalisms also influenced Arab nationalism, and by extension Palestinian nationalism, also played a role in the formation of Zionism. For Palestinians, Zionism is not a homecoming but an invasion. In their eyes it is the latest expression of European imperialism beginning with Napoleon in 1799 who called for the establishment of a Jewish protectorate in Palestine under French rule and then carried further by the British in the 19th century. Lord Shaftesbury called for the return of Jews to Palestine in 1840 and others followed advocating the idea as the century rolled on culminating in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

At the end of the day this conflict comes down to these two radically different core perceptions of what is going on. It can not be emphasized enough how it influences both sides in their statements and actions, including those of Abbas and Netanyahu discussed above. It shades everything. In 1954 Edward Morrow insightfully said about the conflict in a speech when he received the Freedom House Award, "It is an emotion-packed controversy, and there is no room for reason in it." Today, over sixty years later we see how prophetic his word have been. These narratives speak to the core identity of both peoples and when those identities are challenged and attacked rational thinking goes to the wayside and short term thinking rules the day as fear becomes the driving force. Like a drug addict or an alcoholic, and there are addictive pathological behaviours to this conflict, the immediate fix becomes the compass.

As he worked to rally the nation President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed, in his first inaugural address, the paralyzing effect fear has when he declared, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." There are real fears that both sides feel that need to be addressed, but when it drowns out all other possibilities such an approach is both very limiting and debilitating. What is needed is more long term and proactive thinking. In a classic tail wagging the dog syndrome the radical elements on both sides have been able, with growing strength, to control this conflict. Real leadership is able to rise above that force and guide a people, a nation, on a different path.

That different path must include an acknowledgment by each side of the importance of their respective narratives to the other. The Israelis need to understand how their endeavor can legitimately be seen by Palestinians as an invasion, while at the same time Palestinians need to understand that Zionism is based on an authentic historic connection the Jewish people have to land. Such an acknowledgement by the Israelis will not lesson the validity of their cause, and such a recognition by the Palestinians will not take away from their national aspirations. Rather, such mutual acknowledgements can open doors to new perceptions and opportunities. This conflict will not end when both sides agree on everything, rather the challenge is for both sides to learn to acknowledge profound differences while at the same time find a different way to go forward. The important work of the scores of Israeli and Palestinian People to People (P2P) organizations within the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) such as the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the Parents Circle, PeacePlayers, the Search for Common Ground, the Jerusalem YMCA, Kids4Peace and others remind us of this possibility. In some ways these organizations are the only players left standing who can remind both sides of a different approach. Secretary of State Kerry and his Middle East Peace team must utilize these organizations; they are peace assets on the ground.

Underlying all of this is the misaligned orientation that says that this is a conflict between two nationalisms. While that may be true historically, and God save us if we allow this conflict to morph into a religious conflict, by saying it is a conflict of two nationalisms we say there are equal needs that need to be met. The difference is that for Palestinians to agree to that formula they have to give up some of their land, while on the other side of the equation the Israelis gain something they did not have at the beginning of this conflict. Being sensitive to that dynamic is essential to understand, in part, why this conflict has been stuck for so long. But with that understanding, acknowledgement, and sensitivity a new door may be opened to allow both parties to find a way to go forward.

That is the choice. Remain stuck with that which is familiar and known, but has failed and will lead to only more death, violence, and despair or set out on a new path. Pete Seeger took the words from Ecclesiastes and put them to music in his iconic song, "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)." For too long this conflict has created the time to kill, to mourn, to throw stones, and of war. But as Ecclesiastes and Seeger remind us these can can also be a time to heal, to dance, to embrace, and create the conditions for peace. That will only happen if the voices of that song join together and sing louder and louder, and when Israelis and Palestinians both embrace in the most profound way that Arab lives matter and Jewish lives matter.

(a variation of this essay appeared International Policy Digest, October 29, 2015)

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