Sunday, September 22, 2002

The holy war waged by a confused Ms. Cornett

Unfortunately for our species, there are some people who refuse to apply the lessons of history to the modern context. Instead of learning from the horrors of the Holocaust that no state should ever be allowed to do to a people what Hitler’s Germany did to the Jews, some prefer to find excuses or mitigating circumstances that might absolve us of complicity. Otherwise reputable ladies, like Ms. Cornett, find nothing absurd about asking to be sponsored for "The 2002 Race for the Cure to fund breast cancer research, held in Manhattan on Sept. 15" while arguing, on the same page, for the continuing eradication of a people.

But Ms. Cornett is not alone in her self-contradiction, as she makes perfectly clear by linking her pro-war, yet anarchist friend's site to her post. (To be an anarchist who is pro-war is to misunderstand the essence of the anarchist’s opposition to the state and government, with its monopoly on coercion. See Randolph Bourne’s essay, "The State" or the work of anarchist philosopher Emma Goldman.) Rather than lose a leg in Ms. Cornett’s mine-field, I will try to address the underlying issue—that of the continuing conflict between Israel and Palestine—by making a few points and then backing them up with facts.

1. The Palestinian people live under conditions of poverty, economic instability, misery, and oppression.
While “one of the reasons why the Palestinians haven’t much money” might be due to Arafat’s mismanagement of European Union funds, Ms. Cornett reveals a serious lack of knowledge about the financial situation on Gaza and the West Bank in choosing to mention only this reason. Living in Gaza and West Bank, Jennifer Loewenstein discussed the poverty and misery surrounding her, repeatedly emphasizing the extreme poverty and high (80%) unemployment rate.

The World Bank’s report on poverty in Gaza and West Bank is not encouraging, as it reveals the extreme economic pressure of proximity to Israel, as well as the lack of development and economic development of these areas. Even if Arafat had spent the money carefully to rebuild Palestinian infrastructure, the Israeli government’s policy of combating terrorism by destroying land, homes, schools, hospitals, and community centers in Gaza and West Bank would leave the region exactly where it is now—poor and miserable (albeit, the IDF might have a little more rubble to create). As it remains, speakers for Christian Aid described the levels of poverty in Gaza as "shocking" while the BBC called Gaza "a land trapped by poverty".

2. The current policies of the Israeli government only serve to further exacerbate and institutionalize the abject situation of the Palestinian people.
A press release by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs documents the extent of the human rights abuses committed in Jenin. To see the individual Palestinians killed since the outbreak of the second intifada makes one wonder how the Israeli government excuses its anti-terrorist policies, especially given their lack of effectiveness. For the sake of brevity and to avoid sensationalizing this too much, I trust Ms. Cornett is familiar with the extent of violence and bloodshed, so I need not advertise.

3. The US government has supported or turned a blind eye to the Israeli government’s inhumane treatment and persecution of the Palestinian people, thus providing little incentive for the Israeli government to adopt a more humane (and I would argue effective) policy towards the Palestinian people.
When a famous military historian can argue in favor of genocide and war crimes on the grounds that they offer a quick solution which the US government would ignore, then it is clear that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians consider the US an honest-broker in the Middle East. Stephen Gowans also discusses the reigning perception that the US will not step in to contravene immoral actions on the part of the Israeli government. As perceptions shape politics by molding policy responses, such views disappoint those of us who would like to see an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

International law, though customary, does not stand silent on Israeli government policy or the actions taken by the IDF in the last twenty years. But time makes forgetting easier for those of us who have Emmys to watch, and the Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunals, as drafted in 1950, are easily ignored.

4. In order for a just end to the violence of the Israeli-Palestinian to take root, the Bush administration needs to condemn the Israeli state’s terrorism as it does that of individual Palestinian terrorists. Such condemnation must involve an end to military aid
Dr. Lev Grinberg, political sociologist and director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research at Ben-Gurion University, remarks in a recent article: "As Israelis in the opposition, we are fighting against our government, but the international support that Sharon receives is constantly jeopardizing our struggle. The whole international public opinion must be reverted, and the UN must deploy intervention forces in order to stop the bloodshed and the imminent deterioration. Israelis and Palestinians desperately need the awakening of the international community's public opinion and a reversal in the global attitude. These are needed both in order to save our lives (literally), and preserve our hope in a better future."

Shalom Achshav, or Peace Now, was founded in 1978 by 348 reserve officers of the Israel Defense Forces who believed that only a negotiated end to the conflict in the Middle East could bring true security Israel. These Israeli “peaceniks” continue to argue that there will never be peace in the Middle East as long as the US continues to support Israeli hawks and Sharon fans. Unlike Ms. Cornett and myself, most members of Shalom Achshav actually reside in Israel, so their first-hand experiences of this conflict might be instructive.

The ability of Israelis and Palestinians to regard each other as humans first and blood-types second matters in terms of shaping the incentives pressing both sides to engage in democratic discourse. However, as Shlomo Gazit notes, this depends on IDF soldiers not perceiving all Palestinians as enemies. And it also depends on our ability, as Americans, to make a conscientious effort to see both sides of the barbed wire fence and, so seeing, pressure those in political power to pursue the correct (I would argue non-interventionist) course of action. It is best to act under conditions of certainty when the loss of human lives might be a consequence of action. In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we should learn a few lessons from our northern neighbors, the Canadians.

Ms. Cornett might want to consult the following groups and organizations in order to gain a wider perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She might also want to have a look at the meaning of "propaganda", as defined by the very dictionary to which she sent Joanne, especially since war is a time when propaganda is rife (even in democracies) and tends to mislead even well-intentioned intellectuanismos like Ms. Cornett.

We Hold These Truths
Alternet
Middle East News Online
The Activist
Palestine Watch Media
Israel Indy Media Center
Haaretz
Israel News Agency
Institute for War and Peace Reporting