So tell me what you want, what you really really want
by George Deek ~ June 3rd, 2008. Filed under: Palestinian, Israeli Conflict.My friend Ziad Abu Zayyad, in his article “Is it Really Peace that the People want in the Middle East?” wrote down the following paragraph:
“While examining the acts and reacts of both the Israelis and the Palestinians, one can see that it is security and winning that they seek instead of Peace and sharing life.”
Later on in his article, Ziad explained how the pursuit of “security and winning”, rather than “Peace and sharing life”, has made a negative impact on both sides, concerning the peace process. Reading this made me think about what really each side wants. However, I came to the conclusion that the really interesting question is what every side thinks that the OTHER side wants.
The most popular saying in Israel among the Jewish Israelis about the Palestinians is: “we gave them everything, and they rejected it”, meaning that during the 90’s Israel offered to return almost all of the West Bank and Gaza occupied territories, but those Palestinians proved that they do not want to reach a peace agreement, and rejected the generous offer.
I do not know (and frankly it is not important) what was or was not discussed between the Israeli government and the Palestinians during those negotiations. However, one should ask what is that “everything”? Who decides if something is “everything” or not? I believe that the deepest problem in the Israeli perception is revealed in this phrase. When the Israeli says “we gave them everything”, what he really means is that the Palestinians rejected what HE, if he was in their place, would have accepted.
The Israelis examine the conflict through their own eyes and language, and do not bother to check how the “other” sees things. The Palestinians don’t really know what is good for them, we, the Israelis, should tell them. The Palestinians are not the true representatives of their selves, but an object, that it is the Israeli’s job, or more accurately- the leftist’s job, to represent him. The leftists do not realize that the Palestinians are Palestinians and not Israeli leftists.
Suddenly in the year 2000, the second Intifada started, much because of that patronizing approach. This fundamental belief system of the Israeli left simply crashed. The Israeli left could not absorb the fact the conception which he created and nurtured, collapsed. The Israeli left could not accept that the Palestinian actually thinks for himself, decides for himself (and it doesn’t matter if the decisions were good or bad) and speaks for himself. The idea of “Co-existence”, which was really a self-existent of the leftist with the Palestinian which he knows and represents, was shattered.
The Israeli left felt betrayed and deceived, since the Palestinians did not behave the way “they should”, as the leftist expected them to behave- the way the leftist would have behaved if he was in their place. Consequently, many in the left wing said the “the true face of the Palestinians is revealed”. However, ironically, it was not the Palestinian’s true face that was revealed, but the true face of the Israeli left! The Israeli left stopped hiding behind the mask according to which he “knows” what the Palestinians want, and stopped acting as their representative. A new era has begun, with one solid ideology regarding the Palestinians- to ignore them.
Today, the approach of the Israeli left to the conflict is totally one-sided. The “other” became nothing more than a black body with no humane characteristics, and therefore we cannot consider him as a “side”, as in the language of the Israeli discourse: “there is no partner”.
Ignoring the Palestinians as an independent human entity became the new manifested ideology. The biggest symbol of this ideology is the separation wall, which was an idea of an Israeli leftist politician (MK Haim Ramon), which had a leading role in the peace process previously. This wall screams “we don’t want to see you, we don’t want to hear you, for us you do not exsist anymore”, like the famous Israeli slogan goes: “Us here- Them there”.
This wall represents all the impermeability of the Israeli left that is not willing to recognize that there is another side to this conflict. This has become the official policy of the Israeli government, until this very day.
The withdrawal from Gaza strip in the year 2006 was also an outcome of this ideology, as it is a one-sided act, without taking into consideration the other side. As far as Israel is concerned, it doesn’t matter if it was Palestinians, Turks, Bulgarians or Fijians on the other side. The Palestinians were officially “banned” from the conflict! Amazingly, some Israelis are still surprised why the Palestinians shoot rockets from Gaza, since “they received everything”…
The Real improvement will not arrive by one-sided actions, in which there is no room left for the other side. The real change will come only when the Israelis will ask the question “what do the Palestinians want?” and let the Palestinians answer this question, as they see it in their own eyes and language. Like the Spice Girls said in their song: “So tell me what you want, what you really really want!”.
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June 5th, 2008 at 3:40 am
they have the planks in front of their eyes. they only see other people’s mistakes
June 10th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I think that the question has been answered by words and deeds. Palestinians want to see the end of Israel as a Jewish state.
June 15th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I see that the Israelis want to bring security and winning by the use of their army, and that the Palestinians also want to reach security and an independent state in any possible way. This is related to the culture, religion, and bad history between the two sides.