Julia Lieberman, Ph.D.
Good vs. Evil, Or Something More?
Palestine & Israel Revisited
By: Julia R. Lieberman, Ph.D.
Posted: 2/2/07
On the evening of Oct. 29, 2006, in the Busch Student
Center, I attended the presentation by Saint Louis University
alumna Magan Wiles and Washington University alumnus Sebastian
Raul, entitled "Non-Violent Resistance in Occupied Palestine."
Both Wiles and Raul traveled to the West Bank and Gaza Strip
the previews summer with the International Solidarity Movement
(ISM). The purpose of the presentation was to share with the
audience, composed mainly of SLU students and faculty, their
experiences "in the spirit of dialogue."
In my view, however, very little potential for dialogue emerged
from a presentation that gave a totally one-sided
interpretation of the conflict between Israel and the
Palestinians. If we've learned anything at all from recent
events, we should be aware that this conflict cannot and should
not be reduced to a simple morality play of good versus
evil.
Both Wiles and Raul are certainly motivated by a legitimate
moral concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people, as are
all other individuals of good will as well. But some of their
evidence, presented in both pictures and videos, is open to
alternative explanations. For example, we were shown a video of
young Palestinian children throwing rocks at the (armed but
restrained) Israeli soldiers while ISM activists ran along with
them or videotaped them. Do ISM activists consider it proper to
incite young children to use violence against Israeli
soldiers?
More troubling was the photograph Wiles showed of a Palestinian
woman from the Balata Refugee Camp, whom she had befriended.
The woman is, in Wiles' words, "the mother of a martyr." She
also showed photographs of plaques honoring other "martyrs"
throughout the Balata Camp. Tragically, there have been a
number of Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli
counter-terrorist operations in Gaza. Perhaps this is what
Wiles is referring to when she uses the term "martyr." But,
more darkly, "martyr" is also the term used to describe
Palestinian suicide bombers (many of them no older than the
average undergraduate) who blow themselves up solely for the
purpose of killing as many Israeli men, women and children as
possible on buses, in restaurants and in hotels.
The ISM may hate the security barrier built by Israel in the
West Bank. But it is precisely to protect Israeli citizens from
suicide bombers that the security barrier was constructed in
the first place. Many Israelis themselves don't like the
security barrier any more than they like the occupation of the
West Bank itself. And many have protested the disruptions that
the barrier has brought to the daily lives of Palestinians. But
the reality is that, for the most part, the barrier has
fulfilled its security rationale by significantly reducing the
number of suicide bombings within Israel proper.
In their presentation, Wiles and Raul said absolutely nothing
about the ongoing violence perpetrated on Israeli civilians by
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who consider Israel-even within its
1967 borders-as "occupied territory." Even after the Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza, for example, huge numbers of rockets
continue to be fired into southern Israel, making daily life in
S'derot nightmarish.
Equally absent from the ISM presentation was any mention of the
internal corruption, disagreements and violence among
Palestinian political organizations. While Palestinian Prime
Minister Abbas has indicated on many occasions his desire for a
permanent, peaceful resolution of the conflict, he is engaged
in a virtual civil war with a number of groups who completely
reject Israel's very existence. This includes the ruling
Palestinian party Hamas, whose charter not only rejects any
notion of compromise but is also full of hateful anti-Semitism
that goes well beyond any legitimate criticism of either Israel
or Zionism.
One-sided presentations, like the one made by the ISM, may make
people feel good by allowing them to "morally witness" in a
black-and-white political universe populated only by victims
and oppressors. But they fail to promote the goal of real
education, which ought to be about understanding the nuances,
difficulties and tragedies of the decades-old conflict between
Israel and its neighbors.
And, more importantly, such presentations do not contribute to
dialogue among individuals of good will, both in the SLU
community and elsewhere, who have no political agenda but who
truly care about the pain and suffering of both the Israeli and
Palestinian peoples.
Julia R. Lieberman, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of
Modern and Classical Languages in the College of Arts &
Sciences.
© Copyright 2007 St. Louis University News
