The Continuing Israeli-Palestinian Family Feud
January 8th, 2009
Salaroche

Walking home from having an English Breakfast by the Maltese sea-front this morning, I was thinking about the sad story unfolding in the Gaza strip these days. Once at home I came across an article by Roger Cohen in the New York Times that was actually reflecting my thoughts on the subject rather accurately.

The first sad thing about all this is the lack of understanding between two groups of ancestral, biblical cousins: The descendants of Abraham's two sons, Isaac and Ismael. The Palestinians and the Jews are of the same family, but they can't live together in peace as distinct nations. The Jews have lived a terrible ordeal since they first dispersed across the world, but their existential problems haven't ended yet and now the Palestinians are in the same boat too.

The second sad thing about the ongoing Gaza war is the inability of Israel to come up with a satisfactory solution to their problems with the Palestinians. Israel has been and continues to be the biggest recipient of American financial generosity. We pump billions of dollars into Israel every year in the form of foreign aid. Yet Israel doesn't seem to show much generosity to its Palestinian neighbors, even though its continued peaceful existence depends on its good relations with them.

It's true that Israel has sworn mortal enemies among the Arab population and even among the Persian population too. But such enmity would be greatly reduced if Israel just stopped any further settlements, gave back some of the land it took from the Arabs in the previous Arab-Israeli wars and provided some financial compensation to the Palestinian refugee families that won't be allowed to come back to Israel.

Does that small set of conditions seem like impossible to meet to you?

Israel's coffer of international goodwill is further depleted every time we hear about some 600 Palestinian men, women and children killed in retaliation for just over a dozen Israeli civilians killed. Once again, Israel seems to be going a bit too far, and the image that its lack of proportion and restraint generates in the minds of pro-Israel observers like Roger Cohen and me is that of an arrogant, bellicose Israel unwilling to show any compassion for their Palestinian cousins.

Of all the peoples in the world, the Israelis should know what it is to be the underdog. They should, by experience, also know that, in the long run, oppressors are not winners. But people tend to forget where they come from and what they've been through when they come into fortune.

Since the inception of the country after WWII, Israel's good fortunes have largely rested on the compassion and generosity of the American people. Isn't it time Israel showed some compassion and generosity towards its neighbors the Palestinians too? After all, it would just be for Israel's own benefit.

Shalom

Salaroche