Breathe
By Adina Chelminsky
First of all, I want to make it clear that I am not a political scientist, nor a sociologist, nor an expert in anything. I am sure that, in these lines, I am forgetting to take into account Theory X or Treaty Y or Event Z that would enable me to speak with the absolute truth that so many believe they possess when they speak of what is happening today in the Middle East.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complex, complicated and always, for both sides, seen with viscerality. I don't know if it is the worst conflict in the world, but it is certainly the most emotionally charged when it is discussed.
It is impossible to summarize it in one page. To do so would be irresponsible because it would simplify what is impossible to simplify and because it would be to fall into a binarization (good versus bad) that does not contribute either to the analysis or to the solution.
After almost 80 years of conflict there is no one spotless. There is no side that has not made mistakes, that does not have blood on its hands. There is not even any homogeneous side(all Palestinians are...all Israelis think). Within Israeli society there are dozens of visions and actions and also, within Palestinian society.
But there is an unquestionable fact, there is an atrocious and cruel factor that has made any possibility of peace IMPOSSIBLE and that is the main cause of the clashes that today tear and bleed the area: The Islamic terrorist groups (especially Hamas, sponsored by Iran) that for 80 years have used the Palestinian population as cannon fodder to fulfill their political objectives without the slightest consideration for the dignity of the human life of the Palestinians they claim to defend.
It is they who have hindered and sabotaged the Palestinian people's legitimate right to live in peace and prosperity in an independent state.
It is they who have indoctrinated entire generations of Palestinians with the purest and most vile Machiavellianism that the end justifies the means in order to turn them into terrorists.
It is they who have diverted the resources Palestine receives to build missiles instead of schools and to perpetuate the cycle of poverty that fuels the violence.
Why is Hamas now launching the bloodiest attack in its history?
Because of the political division in Israel that, perhaps, left gaps in national security? To derail the peace with Saudi Arabia that Iran does not like? Why did they find a military flaw that allowed them to attack with such ferocity?
I don't know. Why is known to only a handful of people in Tehran and Gaza.
The only thing I am SURE of is that these attacks are NOT aimed at improving the real and daily situation of the Palestinian population.
Hamas obviously doesn't give a damn about the lives of Israelis. But it cares just as much for the lives, the present and the future of the Palestinians.
What they have done is that this massacre is not in response to "fatigue from years of Israeli occupation" (incidentally, Israel left Gaza in 2005 and has been autonomous for 20 years). Every image that comes out of Hamas networks where they congratulate and celebrate the torture of human lives and humiliation of dead bodies is a testament to the kind of "people" they are and the goals they are pursuing. They don't give a damn about the peace and welfare of Gaza.
Today the social networks of many Jews (and many NON-Jews) are painted with the phrase "I stand with Israel".
To take a stand with Israel should be today the slogan of all citizens of the world. Because taking a stand against terrorism is not just a matter of time, it is a matter of always. Because the Islamic terrorists who today are suffocating Israel are the same terrorists who are suffocating all other places in the world. Whoever kills a Jew in Sde Boker today is the same who kills a homosexual in Prague or an African-American in Detroit.
And no, taking Israel's side does not imply blinding oneself to the mistakes and errors that Israel has committed. It is not to give it a safe conduct and relieve it of its responsibility for everything that has happened, but just as the Palestinian people have a legitimate right to live in peace, Israel has had, has and will have a legitimate and legal right to defend itself from this and any attack against it with all the military capacity it has.
And yes, this is going to involve a war where the formal Israeli power is undoubtedly greater. And yes, it's going to be terrible in deaths and destruction and terror and helplessness. And no, there is no way to respond with "proportional force" because proportional force against terrorism does NOT exist.
It is force, period,
Today neither the finger of blame nor the finger of doubt should be on Israel or Palestine, it should be pointing to the Islamic terrorist organizations and those powers and people who finance them, defend them or remain silent in the face of their actions. Let these be the people who keep complicit silence in governments, in social networks and in their personal dealings.
This silence is what fans the flames of terrorism.
In the horror of what is happening, no victim, on either side, ceases to hurt.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of Opinion 51.
More than 150 opinions from 100 columnists await you for less than one book per month.
Comments ()