It’s Israel’s Jews NOT the Palestinians who are trapped in their public narrative
In recent months nothing has made me more angry than an article written and posted on 11 December by Alon Ben-Meir with a headline that described the occupied and oppressed Palestinians as being Trapped In Their Public Narrative. It included this statement. “The Palestinians haven’t learned that they cannot have it both ways: demand a state of their own and threaten Israel’s very existence.”
My immediate response was this.
The only threat to Israel’s very existence is its on-going colonization of the occupied West Bank (ethnic cleansing slowly and by stealth) and the sickening Zionist self-righteousness that justifies it.
The anger provoked in me by Ben-Meir’s article was accompanied by surprise at what he wrote because this Baghdad-born, Jewish gentleman, currently a professor of international relations and Middle East studies at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, is internationally respected and not without influence in the corridors of power. He is a passionate supporter of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and an outspoken critic of Israel’s leaders for ignoring it. (His post before the one I am debunking here was headlined How Netanyahu Committed Political Suicide, and the following was its opening sentence. “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence on passing a bill that will define Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people is as disgusting as his denial that Israel is an occupying power.”)
The main purpose of Trapped In Their Public Narrative was to convey this message.
“Not withstanding the growing support of the international community, the Palestinians will be mistaken to assume that the international community will solve their conflict with Israel… Neither the Europeans nor the U.S. who enjoy certain leverage with Israel will be able to force the hand of any hardcore right wing Israeli leader… Only the Palestinians themselves can change the Israeli public perception.”
The flesh Ben-Meir put on those bones included the following.
QUOTE
The Palestinians’ constant acrimonious public narrative against Israel has and continues to damage their credibility in the eyes of many Israelis…They are now increasingly focused on evoking international sympathy for their cause, but have failed time and again to appeal to the Israeli public, which matters the most to realize their stated objective of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians appear to be trapped in their rancorous public narrative against Israel, even during the peace negotiations. Coupled with widespread anti-Israeli teaching in schools, regular media attacks and indoctrination in many public and private institutions, this is what Israelis see, hear, fear and believe.
The Palestinians fail to understand that they have nurtured persuasive anti-Israeli sentiment among the Palestinians and strong anti-Palestinian feeling among the Israelis, which is to the detriment of peace.
It is time for the Palestinians to re-examine the shifting political landscape in Israel and change course now, however incongruous that may be, because it is indispensable to their overall objective.
The Palestinians need to recognize that there is a psychological dimension to their conflict with Israel, traced back through decades of mutual hatred and mistrust. The frequent verbal attacks and the characterization of Israel as a racist and apartheid state only reinforce the Israelis’ resentment and distrust of the Palestinians.
The PA seems to ignore the fact that their constant anti-Israeli public sentiments play into the hands of the powerful right constituency while weakening the hands of the center and left-of-center, which represent the majority of Israelis.
The Israeli political parties from the center and left want to hear a language of reconciliation…The Palestinians cannot expect the Israelis to dismiss their public onslaught as empty rhetoric… Only the Palestinians themselves can change the Israeli public perception – not by mere political slogans but by demonstrating that they can be trusted and are a worthy negotiating partner.
The Palestinians must separate (draw a distinction) between the Israeli government and people. Every single Palestinian leader must carefully think about how his or her public utterances affect the Israeli electorate, especially during national elections. There is a steady shift to the right and maligning Israel during the campaign will only further strengthen the right and weaken the center and the left.
I am not naive to suggest that by merely changing their public narrative positively the Palestinians will instantly and dramatically alter the political map in Israel in favour of the left and center. But if the Palestinians want to realize statehood, they must change their rancorous narrative sooner rather than later, and the Israeli elections offer a unique opportunity to begin this shift.
UNQUOTE
I agree with Ben-Meir to the extent that between now and Israel’s election in March it would be a good idea for the Palestinians to remind Israel’s Jews, constantly and explicitly, that the ground on their side for peace on terms which a sane government of Israel would have accepted with relief was prepared 35 years ago by Yasser Arafat.
But also to be said is that the idea (implicit in Ben-Meir’s article) that only the occupied and oppressed Palestinians can bring Israel’s Jews to their senses and get them to understand the extent to which they have been brainwashed by their leaders is ridiculous.
In my view the most awesome flaw in Ben-Meir’s logic can be summarised as follows.
It assumes by obvious implication that Israel’s Jews are the victims in the story of Palestine that became Israel when, actually, and as the whole world is beginning to understand, they are the oppressors.
From that it follows, it seems to me, that it’s Israel’s Jews not the Palestinians who have got to make the first major move if there is ever to be peace based on justice for the Palestinians and security for all. And what does that first major move have to be?
AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT THAT A TERRIBLE WRONG WAS DONE TO THE PALESTINIANS BY ZIONISM IN THE NAME OF ALL JEWS AND THAT THIS WRONG MUST BE RIGHTED.
If you liked this post, then...
- Share it with others using this button:
- Comment on it using the form below.
- Subscribe to my blog via email or RSS to get "new post" alerts.
- Follow me on Twitter (@alanauthor).
Of course, Alan, you are right. This reversal of the victim/oppressor relationship is typical Zionist crap. The Zionists have constructed their public narrative to demonize Palestinians as terrorists not victims they are at the hands of Jews. Once they acknowledge the reality, all the narratives can shift to reflect the demographic reality.
Zionists and Israelis are uniformly prone to view real social relations into Jews versus everyone else relations. They are handicapped in relating to gentiles because of this Jew-centric tribal thinking. I see it all the time.
We had a BDS SodaStream demonstration at a big box store and a group of SWU appeared. They had their pamphlets and signs and we had ours. They had great difficulty handing out their material because, I surmise, they felt awkward and negative, unattached to the humanity passing by, as though those passing by were another species altogether. It seemed to be all the psychological energy they could conjure just to approach the people passing by. We had no such problem meeting, greeting and handing out materials because we sympathize with the people passing by, we understand them. Interesting experience.
Ben-Meir's suggestion that there are moderate and leftist blocks within Israel is pure fantasy. There are only varying degrees of rightists, evidenced by Israel's illicit existence. Leftist and moderate Zionism are oxymorons.
The term "public narrative" is too weak to account for the passionate attachment of Israeli and diaspora Zionists to their creation myth, a stirring tale of heroism against all odds. Facts cannot compete emotionally with myth, and the path for them to truth and honesty is painful and progressive as cognitive and moral dissonance grow stronger and increase the cost of clinging to the myth. Ben-Meir is somewhere along that path between dreaming and awakening. The mythology is deep and formative, as documented by Israeli professor Nurit Peled-Elhanon in her study of Israeli schoolbooks. Her brother, Miko Peled, grew up in Jerusalem and says he never met or spoke with a Palestinian or heard the Palestinian experience until moving to San Diego and joining a dialogue group. This racism and segregation is far worse than anything I observed in 1960s Louisiana.
A 2010 study conducted by Professor Daniel Bar-Tal (Tel Aviv University) found out that an average Israeli prefer to live in ‘self-denial’ as he/she is not interested to know the facts about the Israel-Palestine conflict. They’re brainwashed with Zionist narrative of the conflict and hatred toward Arabs and Muslims from an early age. The Zionist rabbis are known for using Talmudic texts to create hatred toward Arabs, Blacks and Christians. Last year, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Manis Friedman responded to a question “How Jews should treat their Arab neighbors?”, in the Moment magazine for its “Ask the Rabbi” feature, said: “The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way. Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle). I don’t believe in western morality. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disatrous morality of human invention…….”
Professor Daniel Bar-Tal conducted this study with Dr. Eran Halperin of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (Israel). “The political system and the education system use all their tools, such as Jerusalem Day, to socialize people with the idea that a unified Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal, indivisible capital. People are not born with a concept of ‘Jerusalem is ours forever’ and many know no political solution is possible without a compromise on Jerusalem,” wrote Professor Daniel Bar-Tal.
Dr. Eran Halperin adds to the study: “For years, people have been inculcated with information by a selective steamroller and a reality is constructed for them, They are told repeatedly, ‘Jerusalem is united,’ but they’re not told that no other country recognizes the annexation of the eastern part of the city. The result is that any criticism of Israeli activity in East Jerusalem is perceived as pure anti-Semitism.”
http://rehmat1.com/2010/05/24/study-israelis-prefer-to-live-in-self-denial/
Alan, If this beleaguered World can hold on A While Longer..I don`t think Much needs to be Done to these Deaf, Dumb and Blind Alien-Jews Won`t be Doing to themselves. Let them TALK Some more..And Pretty soon, Their Very Rhetoric Will OUT them Totally.. There is Less Credibility Out of Any one of them Every DAY that Dawns. Especially Is this True when it Comes TO b.Netty ! No wonder The Isitreals Want to Hold An Election ! They Really Want to Get B.Netty OUT in the Worst Way ! He Is a Shameful Picture of All that is Wrong There. Isitreal Is Not Going to Last Much Longer..No matter WHat OR WHO comes After B.Netty. The Holacaust5 That Wasn`t..i has Had its
My Comment Disappeared on me before I Finished My Comment..Can't Imagine WHY this Occurred !! Whether there was a holocaust that targeted jews more than any others,,is Questionable,,to say the least. But the Jews have Ridden that WAVE too long already. They ARE their OWN Worst Enemy..And Nothing Justifies Their Actions Against The Palestinians. They should start Making restitution Very soon now..Or it is going to GET Unbearable for Them in The World.
There is only ONE solution to the ME problem: That Israel is made to leave the area, for relocation somewhere else on the planet. They have caused too much trouble. They have killed too many people. They have destroyed too many schools, hospitals, dwelling etc. They just cannot be allowed to go on in the same manner any more. This is the next big job for the U.N. to undertake.
I recommend Gideon Levy's recent article in Haaretz, "The U.S. must wean itself from its imbecilic automatic veto policy" http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.632403