Why do Palestine and Israel play such a big role in the news. I heard a few people tell me while I was in Palestine that nobody cared about the Palestinian people, that everyone simply ignores the unjust political situation taking place. I can understand why one might think this, given that nothing ever seems to change and, while discussions of boycotts sometime take place in Europe, nothing ever really happens. But on the other hand the Palestine/Israel situation gets a lot of attention in the press. Why? Is it a crossroads of civilisations? East meets West? Does Europe feel involved given its historical role of driving out the Jewish people and drafting contradictory peace deals? Does the twisting and turning narrative of the drama draw us in? Did anyone really even see Fatah and Hamas uniting, given that a week before they united any Fatah supporter in Gaza and any Hamas supporter in the West Bank was getting thrown in jail? Can anyone predict what will happen next?
What about me? Do our own views become identity markers? "I'm a Palestinian supporter." Why am I so drawn to the politics here? Why not focus on a situation closer to home, like Indonesia's butchery of West Papua? The political significance and absurd degree of conflict in the Middle East makes it a target of political and historical study. Let us not shy away from denying it is interesting.
When I was young my favourite history topic was World War One. Was there an innocent party involved in what became a globally significant conflict? France wanted revenge on Germany, Russia wanted a warm water port, the Ottomans wanted to be great again, Germany wanted to be as powerful as Britain, Britain wanted to stay clear at the top, and so everyone joined in with Austria-Hungary and Serbia's arm wrestle. There were no good guys, only bad guys, and populations suffered as a result. Isn't the same thing happening today in the Middle East? Isn't Syria the centre of a global conflict of self-interested parties from which entire populations of innocent people are being devoured (http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/features/iran/7902-robert-fisk-syrian-war-of-lies-and-hypocrisy)? Isn't history repeating itself? Wasn't World War One my favourite history topic at school? Didn't Chris Hedges write a book called 'War is a force that gives us meaning'?
Back to the Israel/Palestine narrative. I can't work out whether it is fear or power that motivates the Likud party to operate the way it does, but i think the two have blurred together. If ever a country did not trust anybody it was Israel. Can anyone blame them after one glimpse at history? Safer, surely, to keep Palestine as powerless as possible. Perhaps this fear is motivating the expansion of settlements throughout the West Bank, the demolition of neighbouring Palestinian houses and farms and the seizure of most available water in the Jordan Valley for the settlers' swimming pools. Or maybe that's power? Or a realisation that it gets very hot and dry in the Jordan Valley in the summer. One thing I do feel clear on; if fear is a factor, it is not justified to alleviate that fear through the means of political muscle at the expense of an entire people.
Whatever the reasons, it is clear the occupation is not sustainable. It cannot last. Either a one state solution or a two state solution is inevitable. Is it? Really? I heard many people say this, and many news reports suggest the same thing. I agreed. Until about a week ago, when I suddenly started to wonder what made it so unsustainable. Why can't it just continue? Isn't that exactly what the government is trying to do? And aren't they doing it just fine? It may end, it is hard to predict what will happen next in this page turner. But it seems a reasonable argument to just assume it will keep on going if Israel want it to. Once again my thinking has changed, and it took me about 1 minute to find an article that explains my new feelings better than I can: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/opinion/cohen-israels-sustainable-success.html?_r=0
I wonder whether the Pope's recent action in Bethlehem is the only appropriate way to address the wall.
Lately I've been worried about Robert Fisk. I wonder if he has been a political journalist in the Middle East and a war historian for too long. I worry that he has read too many stories of people behaving badly.
I am currently residing Iraqi Kurdistan, but I am getting distracted by a lot of questions.
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