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How to Talk about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

(Tablet) Carly Pildis - The Palestinians are not helpless people who need to be rescued. In truth, they are fighting not only against Israel's policies, but also against brutal, violent, authoritarian leaders of their own in both Gaza and the West Bank. They have agencies and form complex alliances and hold diverse opinions and don't need some well-meaning American academic to swoop in and save them from themselves. Israel is a place, not a parable. It's not a cartoon. It is neither a perfectly good nation nor an evil entity. It is also a place that was devastated by colonialism. Rome sought to erase Jews from the Middle East because they refused to obey a foreign imperialist power. The people of Judea fought to keep their land and eventually lost. The Romans named it Palestine. Attempting to kick Jews out of progressive spaces because of their Zionism and support for Israel, which many view as intrinsic to their identity, does not bring justice to Palestinians or better their lives. Instead, it entrenches the conflict and makes real peace-building conversations more difficult to have. Ultimately, Israelis and Palestinians need to solve the conflict. It is not for American activists to decide for them what the correct outcome should be. We can support, mediate and deescalate - but we cannot rescue. It never works.
2019-07-11 00:00:00
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