Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal
pointed out that Israel arouses a level of condemnation that never seems to
apply equally elsewhere.[1] I have seen a similar theme on social media: why do many
individuals who vocally support Palestine remain silent on other conflicts and
tragedies around the world, many of which have a higher mortality rate than the
Israel/Palestine conflict? (Examples provided include fighting or persecution in
places like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Nigeria).
I believe this theme is designed to silence
supporters of Palestine by making them question their motives and a) instil a
sense of guilt over their support of Palestine and/or lack of support for other
causes and b) fear being labelled anti-Semitic.
In response to this theme I wondered how
I could justify my own support for Palestine as opposed to many other
conflicts. I found I have several interconnected reasons. Below I explain these
and attempt to justify why personally I vocally support Palestine while
remaining largely silent over other conflicts and tragedies.
1. The primary justification behind my support of
Palestine is probably the most superficial – the privilege of personal choice.
I choose to be vocal about Palestine. Others are free to be vocal about other
topics, whether they are conflicts, illnesses, human rights, or even hobbies or
television series. Similarly, a reader has free choice to disagree with or
ignore my support.
2. My second justification is my belief in
resisting imperialism. The imperialist power of the world is the United States
and Israel works hand-in-glove with them against the Palestinians. Of course there
are other victims of imperialism around the world but my interest mainly lies
in the Middle East.
3. My third justification is the context around the
Palestinian conflict. The military occupation of Palestine is the longest in
modern history, ongoing since 1967. There is also the injustice of Palestinian displacement
stretching back to 1947 and longer. Israel has repeatedly attacked
Palestinians, as a collective several times just this century and as
individuals on a daily basis. There is also a huge disparity of power between
sides, with the massive economic and military power of Israel against little
more than determination and resolution of the Palestinians. All this is summed
up by UK MP Dr Phyllis Starkey:
Israel’s
continued occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, its violations
of the Geneva Conventions: in continuing to expropriate Palestinian land and
settle their own citizens in the occupied territories, to demolish homes,
deprive Palestinians of their freedom of movement, visit collective punishment
on relatives of militants and on the entire population of Gaza through the
continuing siege, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment (including imprisonment of
children) and targeted assassinations, not to mention the wholly
disproportionate military action against Gaza with its wilful disregard of
civilian casualties. Israel’s apparent impunity for these multiple violations,
and its failure to comply with UN resolutions, are a threat to international
law and the authority of the UN as well as showing a complete disregard for the
human rights of the Palestinians.[2]
4. My fourth justification stems from the collusion
with Israel from my own country. Australian politicians have repeatedly whitewashed
Israel’s crimes, not only to their domestic audience but also at the United
Nations. Likewise, the Australian media is largely silent or pro-Israeli in its
reporting on events. This in turn heavily influences the perceptions of the Australian
people, who are generally ignorant of the issue or hold sympathy for Israel as
a “victim of terrorism.” As an Australian I feel responsibility to speak out to
hold my politicians to account, to call out the media when they are biased, and
to educate and influence my fellow citizens.
5. Finally, for some of the same reasons outlined
above, I believe Palestine is one of the main problems of the world and there
is no topic which more urgently requires attention. Not only does the
occupation affect the Palestinians themselves, but the conflict also creates
tensions in the region and has the potential to cause further conflicts.
Now that my reasons are explained, I
would like to state what vocal support of Palestine does not mean. It does not
mean that the suffering and death of other people is less worthy. To suggest
that someone focusing on Palestine regards the lives of non-Palestinians as
less worthy is akin to saying someone who raises awareness for breast cancer
doesn’t care if people die of other illnesses.
Secondly, supporting Palestine is not
anti-Semitic. The persecution of the Palestinians is carried out by the Israeli
state, and I emphatically refute the equating of criticism of Israel or Zionism
with anti-Semitism. As Richard Falk recently wrote, this equating…
…allows Israel
to hide its criminal policies and practices toward the Palestinian people by
invoking the memory of the Holocaust and the long history of Jewish
victimization, and thereby inhibit criticism. Also, it leads many people to
believe that there is no difference between Jewish identity and Zionist
solidarity. This fosters a tendency by some non-Jews to regard Jews as an ethno-religious-political
category, even if they have no connection with the state of Israel, and hence
responsible as a people for the victimization of the Palestinian people.[3]
Falk
concludes this false anti-Semitism actually encourages real, racist anti-Semitic
behaviour.
So are there any alternatives to
focusing on Palestine while ignoring other conflicts? Two options come to mind:
to champion every cause, or do nothing. In the first case, one would need to
dedicate their entire life to speaking out against every war, injustice,
illness and environmental disaster – I do not see how this is humanly possible.
The latter case of doing nothing is certainly an option, but how does that help
in any way? Some people doing something, as narrow as focusing on one topic may
be, is better than nobody doing anything.
These are the reasons I speak in support
of Palestine ahead of other issues. If that makes me some sort of hypocrite
then so be it. But chances are the same label could be applied to anyone if
their interests and passions are examined.
Update:
Coincidentally, soon after I wrote this
I listened to an interview with David Burchell on Counterpoint with Amanda Vanstone.[4] The interview carried the following description:
Why is humanitarianism seen only
through an ideological lens? It's not supposed to be a political value, is it?
And yet it seems that we only manage to summon up sympathy for our
(politically) favoured 'others'?
Why, for example, do some people
see the current situation in Iraq purely in terms of Western neo-colonialism?
When the lives of millions are at risk, and hundreds of thousands are currently
refugees there.
Why are we not more interested in
refugees as a global humanitarian crisis? Why are we only able to focus on
folks in boats?
The interview touched on people’s focus
on the suffering of Palestinians and not the religious minorities in Iraq such
as the Yazidis. Burchell concluded that in most cases our humanitarian views
are (unfortunately) based upon political beliefs. I would agree with this to a
large extent. However, at the same time I believe people can feel sympathy for
the suffering of different groups, but as I argued above, it is probably impossible
to speak out for all groups.
In addition, the argument of
humanitarianism for political purposes can be applied to governments themselves
– as much as people may be considered hypocritical for their selective actions,
so too can governments. For example, governments ignore certain tragedies
(Gaza) but move quickly to intervene to save others (Yazidis). This is not
altruism but geopolitics – saving the Yazidis (and others in Iraq) has provided
the excuse for US and its allies to restart military actions in the Middle
East. For over 70 years of Palestinian suffering Western governments have done
little – and yet the average person is accused of hypocrisy and seeing
humanitarianism “through an ideological lens.”
Finally the question of “why some people
see the current situation in Iraq purely in terms of Western neo-colonialism”
is quite easy to answer – because the West has a very poor record of acting for
purely humanitarian reasons but a very long history of colonialism.
1. Stephens B 2014, ‘Palestine and
double standards’, Wall Street Journal,
4 Aug 2014, http://online.wsj.com/articles/bret-stephens-palestine-and-double-standards-1407194971
2. Starkey P 2010, ‘Why is Palestine
important?’, The Platform, http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2010/02/03/why-is-palestine-important/
3. Falk R 2014, ‘Two types of anti-Semitism’,
Global Justice in the 21st Century, http://richardfalk.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/two-types-of-anti-semitism/
4. ABC 2014, ‘Australia update’, Counterpoint, 15 Sept 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/counterpoint/australia-update-september/5739618
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