Just Another Western Country
Up to this point, most of my experiences with Israelis have been somewhat similar to those of the Palestinians: the only Israelis I’ve met have been in uniform yelling, shooting, throwing sound grenades, committing human rights violations and war crimes. So I guess it was time for me to wander off to the other side of the fence, to see the civilian side of the society.
Just Another Western Country.
Up to this point, most of my experiences with Israelis have been somewhat similar to those of the Palestinians: the only Israelis I’ve met have been in uniform yelling, shooting, throwing sound grenades, committing human rights violations and war crimes. So I guess it was time for me to wander off to the other side of the fence, to see the civilian side of the society.
I invited myself to the office of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, a left-wing Israeli thinktank that works around human rights issues surrounding the occupation. Located in West Jerusalem, the trip was my first time wandering out of the areas not yet ethnically cleansed of the Palestinians.
It took only moments for me to realize that I was suddenly in what is a western country. No, not just the businesses, cleanliness, “order”, whatnot. Not that at all — but the other side. This country is
absolutely no different from any other western country — they all screw over others. Just here, the ‘others’ happen to be far closer, not hundreds of miles away like in the US or Europe.
Suddenly everything seemed like business as usual in the states, the same stores, the same hustle and bustle of any western city. Just here, I’ve had the honor of being a witness of the cost to all of this –the unmeasurable pain and suffering of a culture being destroyed to make way for the one-race state. And now, here I was, on the other side of the razor wire, concrete walls and watchtowers.
This country needs to confront its realities. The Zionist project has all but failed at this point. Israel is not a pure jewish state, and for what its worth it is quickly on the road to lose even its jewish majority hold. Never mind all the questions about what makes one ‘jewish’ (is it a culture, or a religion, or both or neither?) in fact it is truly one of the most dangerous places in the world to be jewish. And then we also have the reality that the occupation cannot be sustained given the amazing resistance of the Intifada, the popular uprising of the Palestinian people.
Israel needs more and more American money to sustain its hold on the Palestinian areas. No one really seems to know what the hell Sharon is thinking in pulling out of Gaza, but it is quite possible that he
may have come to his senses in understanding that financially his policies have been an utter disaster. Quite likely he needs something to distract the media from his petty (multi-million) theft scandals, which these days seem to be coming on a monthly basis.
Even if most of the tremendous successes of the first intifada have been wiped out by Oslo and the other treaties, the current uprising is making the occupation absolutely unsustainable. For every inch the Israeli government squeezes, more resistance grows. And really, all that the Palestinians need to do at this point is just to continue to hold on and watch as Sharon digs a deeper grave with his policies — as more and more social services get cut to sustain the occupation, the cracks that have long shown up in the Israeli society will widen, and this insanity will crumble.
But the reality that really bit me, being on the other side, especially in Tel Aviv is that this is just *another* western society. Every state out there has committed (and continue to commit) horrible human rights violations and war crimes, and really Israel is no different. Economically. Socially. Environmentally. And just like every other western country, once you’re away from the border, everything is out of sight and out of mind. Except here the border is much closer.
Simply another western country. Simply unsustainable.
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