I want to offer a new perspective on the whole Israel-Palestine story. In particular, I want to 'bring it home' in a way Americans might relate to.I'm going to take a community in California and see if overlaying the Israel-Palestinian conflict in terms of a U.S. community can help clarify the underlying story that has become such a bitch of a problem to the world.Let me introduce you to the example town - Sacramento. Sacramento is the capital of California, so it's a government town, but it is also agricultural and is surrounded by farmland. Next to Sacramento, across the majestic Sacramento River, is a smaller city called West Sacramento. This area is the location of my hypothetical Middle East/West Bank story.Now... it turns out that earlier in the history of California, Mexicans (or their Spanish ancestors) lived in the Sacramento Valley. In fact, "Sacramento" is a Spanish word for 'sacrament' - so Sacramento is also a Holy city, of sorts.For purposes of the story, let's say that this certain group of descendants from previous occupants of the Sacramento area petitions the U.N. and says "This place Sacramento is our ancestral home and we have a right to live there. We were kicked out. We want it back." Perhaps in this scenario Mexico and some South American countries are supplying China with a lot of oil, and China has increased its position as a world power, the U.S. is indebted to China and - after many meetings and push comes to shove - the U.N. agrees that Sacramento really does belong to the descendants of the Mexicans that lived there in the 1800s and agrees to give them back Sacramento.So what happens to the people currently living in Sacramento that - by the way - had nothing to do with evicting those previous residents from the area and have themselves lived in Sacramento for many years, as have their ancestors, and who have property and business and homes that would be taken away from them? According to the Israel-Palestine model, the U.N. makes all current residents of Sacramento move to West Sacramento (a much smaller area with fewer resources) and gives away all the homes and property in Sacramento to the incoming new residents.It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see just how well that would go over with (1) the rest of the U.S. population (aka Arab world) or (2) those directly affected who used to live in Sacramento but are now refugees in West Sacramento (aka removed Palestinians). I think many U.S. citizens would share the pain of those Sacramentans that were pulled from their homes to see them bulldozed or taken over by new owners. I think many U.S. citizens might also feel a degree of animosity toward those parties of the world that made this happen.I have family in Sacramento, and I know there is a certain tension between the White and Mexican population there. It's a tension based on economics and immigration (illegal, they remind me). Given this tension, my Sacramento family would be more hurt if they were evicted from their homes by Mexicans than any other group except the Taliban.And you know what - maybe that's how Palestinians feel too. Maybe the fact that they have been evicted from homes and land that has been in their families for generations by a group of people who they aren't that fond of in the first place does not sit easily in their hearts and minds. Maybe they are so angry at the injustice of it, at their powerlessness to do anything about it given the rest of the world's support of it that they get violent. I don't approve of a violent response, but I sure as heck understand it. And I challenge anyone who says that if they were put in the Palestinians' shoes they wouldn't be mad as hell too. Now tack on the fact that all goods and services into our hypothetical West Sacramento Bank are blockaded and only 'humanitarian supplies' like water and food and some medicines can get in. The situation worsens in that not only are the refugees from Sacramento being denied access to goods and services, but those goods and services are being denied to the original residents of West Sacramento as well. So the residents and refugees in West Sacramento build tunnels for miles and miles so they can bring in plastic chairs, clothes, and - yes - guns and other weapons of violence.
I haven't even gone into the restrictions on the freedom of movement between West Sacramento and Sacramento or other issues facing the Sacramento/Palestinians today. The indignities are so numerous and varied, and strike at the core of human rights. And it's true that the Jews have had a lot of hardships and endured many setbacks and tragedies throughout their history. But so have many peoples - peoples and cultures and societies that don't use past hardships or tragedies as an excuse to do unto others what they decry was done unto them.
Israel has set up a new apartheid dynamic, and is using its experience of oppression as its permission to oppress others. In doing and/or supporting this, modern Jews are sacrificing not only their heritage as a great culture, but Israel's credibility as a member of the global community. It's moving out of model country and into oppressive regime. This does not look good on the resume. Modern Israel can and must do better - it can still redeem itself.
I think if the world knew in the 1940s the way the country of Israel was going to be acting now, there would have been a different solution to a new homeland for the Jews. Maybe Sacramento.
