One of my favorite Jewish legends goes like this:
A man goes up to a rabbi one day and says, "If you can teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot, I'll convert to Judaism."
The rabbi thinks for a moment and then says, "Okay. Go ahead."
"What?" says the man.
"Stand on one foot."
So, the man raises a foot and the rabbi says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself. The rest is just commentary."
That's why I love being a Jew. I love that when you cut through all the bullshit, that is the essential tenet of my religion. Judaism is about living for today in this lifetime, because this is all you're going to get (until the Messiah comes). Sure, I should probably keep kosher and I should probably go to temple, but as long as I'm treating people the way I want them to treat me, I'm doing okay. I feel like a good Jew.
That's why I am constantly frustrated by the State of Israel.
As Thomas Friedman has said in his wonderful first book From Beirut to Jerusalem, Israel is constantly experiencing an identity crisis. Following the Six Day War in 1967, when Israel gained control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they were faced with a dilemma. Friedman sums it up like this:
One choice was to keep all the land of Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to remain a Jewish state, but this could be done only by curtailing Israeli democracy. The only way Israel could permanently control the Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be by physically suppressing them and ensuring that they were never given political rights.
The second option for Israel was to annex the West Bank and Gaza and remain a democracy, but this could only be done by giving up the Jewish character of the state, because if the 1 million plus Palestinian Arabs the residing in the occupied territory were allowed to vote, along with 500,000 Israeli Arabs, by early in the twenty-first century they would outnumber the Jews, if the same birth and emigration trends continued.
The third option was for Israel to remain a Jewish and democratic state, but this could be done only be either getting rid of large areas of the West Bank and Gaza or by getting rid of large numbers of the West Bankers and Gazans, in order to guarantee a Jewish majority well into the twenty-first century. Since the world would never tolerate a forced transfer by Israel of Palestinians from the occupied territories, this option really came down to relinquishing territory."
Friedman concludes that Israel subsequently avoided making a decision on this front, thereby making a decision.
Since I began studying Israeli history in grade school, it has always irked me that something was not right about the Jewish state. I do not deny the right for Jews to have a Jewish state, nor do I believe the Jewish state should be anywhere but in Israel. But the idea that the Jews have been able to stake claim on a region that is special to lots of different people is simply unsettling.
Israel has long treated Palestinians as second-class citizens. There are very few opportunities for Palestinians within the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The level of education among Arabs is extremely disproportionate as compared to most Jewish Israelis. Even with an education, it's difficult for Arabs to find jobs.
Unemployed college graduates like Shalata, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, make up 12.5 percent of all Arab college graduates. The figure on the Jewish side in only 3.5 percent. Women fare slightly better. In many cases, Arab graduates are forced to seek jobs as school teachers rather than work in their professional fields.
Many Palestinians travel from the occupied territories into Israel to work low-paying jobs in manual labor.
Though the Palestinian Authority has control, in theory, over certain towns in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they have very little authority. They don't have any control over what goes in or what comes out of their territories. They don't control tax revenue. They don't control the skies above their territory. Their citizens cannot leave without permission from Israel. It is not surprising that they voted for Hamas and shoot rockets into Israel. A lack of opportunity leads to frustration and when that frustration builds up, there must be a release and often it's violent.
Terrorism is wrong and it does not work. Terrorism only leads to more violence. Proportionate responses, whatever that's supposed to mean, always seem to mean more dead people. The violence is helping no one.
And that brings me back to my original point. Israel needs to start treating her neighbors the way she'd like to be treated. You want respect in the World? Start respecting the World. Rather than keeping them down, help the Palestinians lift themselves up. Build schools and set up utilities. Encourage education and actually allow education to lead to opportunity. Recognize their right to be there too.
There are a lot of people to point fingers out. In the Middle East it seems like everyone is to blame. But Israel is a strong state with the support of many, even stronger, countries. Sixty years later, Israel are still trying to blame the world for the mistakes of the past. But it seems she continues to forget that many of her neighbors have had a pretty shitty time too. Stop making excuses and start stepping up to the plate.
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This diary is a compilation of many of the comments I've made on various diaries about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict over the past few days. So, some of y'all may have read bits and pieces already elsewhere. It's also just my opinion and an expression of my frustrations. I don't claim to speak for anyone else in this.
I'd also like to point out that while this is centered around Israel, the same goes for the rest of the world. You don't have to be a Jew to be a good, kind person. I'm pretty sure other religions have similar tenets.
Finally, read this. It's an interesting article arguing against a two-state solution, echoing some of my sentiments above.