I felt the need to share this today: www.newsweek.com/…
I've not had the chance to research Marc Schulman, the author of this piece, but he sounds amazingly reasonable here. He writes an open letter to Rep. Tlaib and Rep. Omar about their upcoming trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories:
Your itinerary likely includes significant time in the Palestinian territories, where you will find much to criticize. Any occupation that lasts more than 50 years is a terrible thing—regardless of any circumstances or intentions at the start. There is no way to occupy people and land without violating the civil rights of those people. This fact was clear to me nearly 40 years ago, when I spent a summer doing reserve duty in Gaza.
While you are here, I hope you also make time to explore Tel Aviv and meet some of its people—like liberal politician Stav Shaffir, who shares much of your progressive agenda, but believes strongly in the State of Israel; or even more radically, meet with former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who can discuss, why, despite all your criticism of Israel, solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict far more complicated than apportioning blame.
I detest the occupation, and it is right to criticize any government that is unjust. This is not as simple as just the events of the past few years, unfortunately. There is a long history here, and it includes extremists on both sides. I do like the history, as an introduction to the Israeli side at least, presented by Schulman here and it's worth reading if you don't already have that history to hand.
It would be amazing if they were to meet with liberal Israeli politicians and activists as well. That would be really hopeful.
If you really want to end the occupation, you will do two things during your visit: First, learn about all sides of the struggle. Second, seek out and find young, dynamic Palestinian leaders who can come forth and help end the conflict.