Now I have lived to see the media expending vast amounts of sympathy on people who have been made to relinquish something that did not belong to them, and which they had refused to relinquish for almo
August 18, 2005 (Press Release) --
When I was a kid, if I brought home something that obviously did not belong to me, my parents would immediately inquire as to how such an object came to be in my possession. Anything less than a satisfactory response would result in retribution. Now I have lived to see the media expending vast amounts of sympathy on people who have been made to relinquish something that did not belong to them, and which they had refused to relinquish for almost 40 years.
If my parents are right, and I am absolutely certain they are, does that mean the world has lost its sense of what is right and just?
The American and British accents spoken by many of the settlers merely underlines the paucity of their argument and the bankruptcy of their philosophy. Yet, they have the audacity to cry and vehemently protest against what can only be described as a long and overdue rectification of a grave wrong.
The right of Israel to exist as a nation, free from fear and with guarantees as to its security and livelihood is in no way incompatible with the rights of Palestinians to enjoy those same rights. The media portrayal of the events in Gaza as an infliction of pain and agony on 8,000 Jewish settlers is nothing but a PR campaign designed to persuade us that this is untrue. Simultaneously, we are being brainwashed into believing that the removal of the 250,000 settlers in the West Bank is now an impossibility.
It is disquieting, to say the very least, that much of the western media is bending over backwards to facilitate such propaganda.
On the other hand, whatever you may think of Ariel Sharon, the man is a wily politician. He has carefully assessed the impact of the Gaza pullout on the public opinion that he believes matters most. He understands that the scenes of agony and deprivation broadcast to millions of ill-informed and gullible westerners would provide something akin to a psychological security barrier against similar action in the West Bank.
Gaza is a great propaganda coup that has been skillfully stage managed by Sharon and the fundamentalists on both sides know this. That can only mean more trouble in the future.
This week’s evacuation is thus not really about Gaza. Ariel Sharon is merely underling the principles established when he first espoused the abandonment of settlements within Gaza; that Israel would move to solidify its grip on the West Bank. He knows that he is on good ground because western leaders have not tried to persuade him otherwise. In fact he has been praised and granted a free hand to maintain that policy. All they ask is that he does not expand the existing settlements.
Sadly, it is a request that western leaders have been making for years, knowing full well that it is never honored. However, the fact is that the settler population in the West Bank has more than doubled in the past ten years. Even Yitzhak Rabin, celebrated by many as a man of peace, accelerated the building of settlements after signing the Oslo Agreement.
The absence of honesty in the so-called peace process or roadmap is one reason why armed resistance and murderous suicide operations by Palestinian militants increases every time such an “agreement” is placed on the table.
I must stress that there are no excuses for the killing of innocent civilians on either side, yet without these explanations it is impossible to understand the ongoing nature of the conflict. Even Ben Gurion, the man who became Israel’s first Prime Minister in 1948, recognized the link between occupation and violent resistance. In a speech given to Israeli Defense Force Officers in 1957, he explained why it was inappropriate to occupy the Gaza:
"It was clear that remaining in Gaza, while the entire world condemns us - and knowing that terrorism would develop and that we would be forced to crush such terrorism - all this would have been inconsistent with our capacity and vital needs. Our military authorities would have had to shoot terrorists on a daily basis. The state would not have been able to withstand this. Possibly, this would have destroyed us, not militarily, but morally - and in my opinion our morality conditions our very existence."
It is nothing less than a modern marvel that the political classes and others in the western world still to this day, some 50 years after Ben Gurion’s observations, deny the rationale of this argument.
Far from having our sensibilities distracted by the antics of settlers and their supporters, and the measured and careful way in which their relocation is being executed by the Israeli authorities, we need to be reminded of how Palestinians are removed from their homes.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency states that in the past 4 years, since the beginning of the intifada, over 2,370 housing units have been destroyed by the Israelis leaving approximately 22,800 people homeless. We are not talking about orchestrated transfers with months of notice or compensation of up to US$300,000 for lost property. What we are talking about are sudden, tragic and brutal upheavals. This is what the Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem www.btselem.org, has to say about the forced removal of Palestinians from their homes by Israeli security forces:
The houses are usually demolished at night, without giving the residents any warning. In certain cases, where there were exchanges of gunfire between Palestinians and Israeli forces, some residents left their homes and moved to safer dwellings. However, in most instances, some members of the family remained in their house to protect their property. Dozens of testimonies given to B'Tselem indicate that these residents were given no warning and were forced to flee after hearing the noise of tanks and bulldozers at their door. Their personal possessions were buried under the ruins.
The fact that it is the stage-managed events of this week that now invade our screens, and not the savage cruelty meted out to the Palestinians, tell us all we need to know about media and propaganda in our age.
Regrettably, once the settlers have left, the ordeal for Gaza’s 1.3 million inhabitants will be far from over as Israel will retain control over all the territories air, sea and land borders. Gaza is set to become the world’s largest open prison.
The worse aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict is the extent of the hatred that it spreads on both sides, far beyond the borders of the Middle East. The hatred within young Muslims is more than well documented. There is also much hatred for Arabs amongst many Jews who feel that their very existence is under threat.
We should not be surprised at the latter. Having endured centuries of injustice, terrorism and murder, the need to survive as a people transcends every other aspect of Jewish life. The fact that it is Christians and not Muslims who are largely responsible for this desperate history is irrelevant. What is relevant is the overwhelming and paramount desire for security that it engenders. This being the problem also means that it is the key to the solution.
The majority of Israelis actually support the Gaza withdrawal. Many moderate Israelis would also support the notion of exchanging land for an honorable peace, providing their security could be guaranteed beyond doubt. However, no single country can provide such a security guarantee, not even the United States and certainly not the Arab League. If we are to solve this particular problem, then the world community has to do more to address the fears of the average Israeli.
The fundamentalists would try to deter any peaceful arrangement, but we must remember that although significant, they are a minority. Yes, the events of this week is their show – that is why so many of them were bussed in from outside Gaza, demonstrating for those who wouldn’t have guessed it, that they are just as fanatical as their Arab counterparts. However allowing them to determine the agenda ignores the rights of the majority.
Thus the way forward is to ignore the ranting and raving of the Jewish fundamentalists, just as I suggested a few weeks ago that we must ignore the ranting and raving of Islamic fundamentalists. Peace can only be achieved by addressing the legitimate needs and concerns of moderates and undercutting the support for the fundamentalists on both sides.
Yet, if we could formulate such a plan it could still become unstuck due to the undue influence of another set of fundamentalists, this time from outside the region – US Christian conservatives. Christian conservatives believe that all Jews have to be repatriated to Israel for the Second Coming of Christ. Ridiculous though this may sound, they are an electoral factor that US presidents and particularly the incumbent are unlikely to ignore when drafting their Mid East policy.
Who said this was going to be easy?
The Syrian philosopher Abdul Abdullah al Masi perhaps bests sums up our frustration and predicament: “Jews, Muslims and Christians, they have it wrong. The people of the world only divide into two kinds. One set with brains who hold no religion, the other with religion and no brain.”
Jonathan Ledwidge is the author of the book A Mannequin for President (www.amannequinforpresident.com)
If my parents are right, and I am absolutely certain they are, does that mean the world has lost its sense of what is right and just?
The American and British accents spoken by many of the settlers merely underlines the paucity of their argument and the bankruptcy of their philosophy. Yet, they have the audacity to cry and vehemently protest against what can only be described as a long and overdue rectification of a grave wrong.
The right of Israel to exist as a nation, free from fear and with guarantees as to its security and livelihood is in no way incompatible with the rights of Palestinians to enjoy those same rights. The media portrayal of the events in Gaza as an infliction of pain and agony on 8,000 Jewish settlers is nothing but a PR campaign designed to persuade us that this is untrue. Simultaneously, we are being brainwashed into believing that the removal of the 250,000 settlers in the West Bank is now an impossibility.
It is disquieting, to say the very least, that much of the western media is bending over backwards to facilitate such propaganda.
On the other hand, whatever you may think of Ariel Sharon, the man is a wily politician. He has carefully assessed the impact of the Gaza pullout on the public opinion that he believes matters most. He understands that the scenes of agony and deprivation broadcast to millions of ill-informed and gullible westerners would provide something akin to a psychological security barrier against similar action in the West Bank.
Gaza is a great propaganda coup that has been skillfully stage managed by Sharon and the fundamentalists on both sides know this. That can only mean more trouble in the future.
This week’s evacuation is thus not really about Gaza. Ariel Sharon is merely underling the principles established when he first espoused the abandonment of settlements within Gaza; that Israel would move to solidify its grip on the West Bank. He knows that he is on good ground because western leaders have not tried to persuade him otherwise. In fact he has been praised and granted a free hand to maintain that policy. All they ask is that he does not expand the existing settlements.
Sadly, it is a request that western leaders have been making for years, knowing full well that it is never honored. However, the fact is that the settler population in the West Bank has more than doubled in the past ten years. Even Yitzhak Rabin, celebrated by many as a man of peace, accelerated the building of settlements after signing the Oslo Agreement.
The absence of honesty in the so-called peace process or roadmap is one reason why armed resistance and murderous suicide operations by Palestinian militants increases every time such an “agreement” is placed on the table.
I must stress that there are no excuses for the killing of innocent civilians on either side, yet without these explanations it is impossible to understand the ongoing nature of the conflict. Even Ben Gurion, the man who became Israel’s first Prime Minister in 1948, recognized the link between occupation and violent resistance. In a speech given to Israeli Defense Force Officers in 1957, he explained why it was inappropriate to occupy the Gaza:
"It was clear that remaining in Gaza, while the entire world condemns us - and knowing that terrorism would develop and that we would be forced to crush such terrorism - all this would have been inconsistent with our capacity and vital needs. Our military authorities would have had to shoot terrorists on a daily basis. The state would not have been able to withstand this. Possibly, this would have destroyed us, not militarily, but morally - and in my opinion our morality conditions our very existence."
It is nothing less than a modern marvel that the political classes and others in the western world still to this day, some 50 years after Ben Gurion’s observations, deny the rationale of this argument.
Far from having our sensibilities distracted by the antics of settlers and their supporters, and the measured and careful way in which their relocation is being executed by the Israeli authorities, we need to be reminded of how Palestinians are removed from their homes.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency states that in the past 4 years, since the beginning of the intifada, over 2,370 housing units have been destroyed by the Israelis leaving approximately 22,800 people homeless. We are not talking about orchestrated transfers with months of notice or compensation of up to US$300,000 for lost property. What we are talking about are sudden, tragic and brutal upheavals. This is what the Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem www.btselem.org, has to say about the forced removal of Palestinians from their homes by Israeli security forces:
The houses are usually demolished at night, without giving the residents any warning. In certain cases, where there were exchanges of gunfire between Palestinians and Israeli forces, some residents left their homes and moved to safer dwellings. However, in most instances, some members of the family remained in their house to protect their property. Dozens of testimonies given to B'Tselem indicate that these residents were given no warning and were forced to flee after hearing the noise of tanks and bulldozers at their door. Their personal possessions were buried under the ruins.
The fact that it is the stage-managed events of this week that now invade our screens, and not the savage cruelty meted out to the Palestinians, tell us all we need to know about media and propaganda in our age.
Regrettably, once the settlers have left, the ordeal for Gaza’s 1.3 million inhabitants will be far from over as Israel will retain control over all the territories air, sea and land borders. Gaza is set to become the world’s largest open prison.
The worse aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict is the extent of the hatred that it spreads on both sides, far beyond the borders of the Middle East. The hatred within young Muslims is more than well documented. There is also much hatred for Arabs amongst many Jews who feel that their very existence is under threat.
We should not be surprised at the latter. Having endured centuries of injustice, terrorism and murder, the need to survive as a people transcends every other aspect of Jewish life. The fact that it is Christians and not Muslims who are largely responsible for this desperate history is irrelevant. What is relevant is the overwhelming and paramount desire for security that it engenders. This being the problem also means that it is the key to the solution.
The majority of Israelis actually support the Gaza withdrawal. Many moderate Israelis would also support the notion of exchanging land for an honorable peace, providing their security could be guaranteed beyond doubt. However, no single country can provide such a security guarantee, not even the United States and certainly not the Arab League. If we are to solve this particular problem, then the world community has to do more to address the fears of the average Israeli.
The fundamentalists would try to deter any peaceful arrangement, but we must remember that although significant, they are a minority. Yes, the events of this week is their show – that is why so many of them were bussed in from outside Gaza, demonstrating for those who wouldn’t have guessed it, that they are just as fanatical as their Arab counterparts. However allowing them to determine the agenda ignores the rights of the majority.
Thus the way forward is to ignore the ranting and raving of the Jewish fundamentalists, just as I suggested a few weeks ago that we must ignore the ranting and raving of Islamic fundamentalists. Peace can only be achieved by addressing the legitimate needs and concerns of moderates and undercutting the support for the fundamentalists on both sides.
Yet, if we could formulate such a plan it could still become unstuck due to the undue influence of another set of fundamentalists, this time from outside the region – US Christian conservatives. Christian conservatives believe that all Jews have to be repatriated to Israel for the Second Coming of Christ. Ridiculous though this may sound, they are an electoral factor that US presidents and particularly the incumbent are unlikely to ignore when drafting their Mid East policy.
Who said this was going to be easy?
The Syrian philosopher Abdul Abdullah al Masi perhaps bests sums up our frustration and predicament: “Jews, Muslims and Christians, they have it wrong. The people of the world only divide into two kinds. One set with brains who hold no religion, the other with religion and no brain.”
Jonathan Ledwidge is the author of the book A Mannequin for President (www.amannequinforpresident.com)
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