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ettle on have nothing to complain about since they can always move to jordan which is the real palestine the consequence of this particular variant is that there are a lot of proponents of the notion that all palestinians should move to jordan and israel might be so generous in that case to give up west bank to jordan they consider this a solution to the problem since the palestinians are obviously not jordans the consequence of this denial and solution is that the palestinians will continue to live like animals in their refugee camps or as secondary class citizens in neighboring countries including jordan and israel itself a fourth type of denial is the denial of nabka nabka is the historical event in which a few hundred thousand palestinians fled their homes when confronted with israeli violence nabka denial itself takes on a few shapes some deny that such mass exodus ever took place others admit that a mass exodus took place but was caused by arab leaders urging the palestinians to flee for the upcoming arab israel war others admit that terror tactics were being used that led the palestinians to flee but still deny responsibility for what is up to this very day an enormous refugee problem the latter base themselves upon the notion that there is a lot of evil everywhere else in the world as well that in war everything is justified in other words they believe in true darwinian fashion that the founding of israel justified terrorizing people out of their home it is the same logic that is being used to this day in israel s expansion politics that demolishes palestinian houses or simply evict palestinians out of their houses to make room for jewish boarders to the extent that nabka is denied palestinians continue to live like animals in their refugee camps or as secondary class citizens in neighboring countries and israel itself finally the most common type of denial directly related to the denial of nabka in all its variations is the denial of the right to one s own property and land even the most peace loving activists who acknowledge the horrors committed by the irgun they have no trouble denying palestinians this basic human right whether the palestinians fled the region on their own free will or out of terror very few are capable to acknowledge the basic truth that one s home and land remains one s home and land whether one temporarily leaves it or not it is a fact that forms the basis of our economic system without which a global market system would collapse yet this basic right has been denied for 60 years now to the palestinians palestinians that left their home before the 1948 arab israeli war have according to these deniers no right to their old home and land the consequence of this denial is the fact that no peace agreement can ever be complete as long as this denial is part of it there cannot be a just peace as long as basic human rights are being violated it is that simple dualism a second attitude towards the israel palestine conflict is what can be called the politics of identity this attitude acknowledges the identity of two separate people and their right to self determination most of the peace activists that work to see this conflict solved operate within this framework they look at the conflict from a particular identity while at the same acknowledging the identity of the opposing group from a jewish point of view the identity that has to be preserved is one that has been under threat for a few thousands of years culminating in a holocaust only 60 years ago this fear of annihilation and the resolve to not let it happen again is not an accidental aspect of the jewish identity but is central to it furthermore the thought took root that the only way for jews to survive and preserve their identity was through establishing their own nation the land of israel thus became essential to the survival of the jews zionism is the expression of this emphasis on identity and survival to be a good jew is to be a dedicated zionist to be a zionist is to care for the land of israel solipsism and dualism both have zionism in common both believe that jewish identity cannot be preserved without the jewish land jewish land in the sense that it has a majority of jewish people living on it what distinguishes the attitude of denial from the politics of identity however is that the latter also acknowledges the identity and rights of the other while the deniers have no other and therefore don t have to deal with the rights of the other the identity politician struggles with the question of how both people can be treated fairly from a palestinian point of view their identity is equally linked with their struggle for survival in their opposition to what was happening to them the palestinians were forced to define and redefine what used to be a dormant identity for centuries as a consequence of losing their lands and houses they were forced to develop an identity and symbolism of resistance identity thinkers struggle with zero sum thinking an acre of land can only belong to one people the more the israeli have the less the palestinians have and vice versa separate but equal is the paradigm identity thinking however is inherently false as identity fundamentally is formed by the exclusion of the other the other can never be fully incorporated in one s own thinking denial unavoidably sneaks in the more denial of the palestinian as other occurs the more rights of the other are being sacrificed on the altar of jewish identity the universe is forever divided between self and other jew and arab jew and non jew the identity of the other is being acknowledged but the question remains to what extent the survival of the jewish people warrants overriding the rights of the other this question manifests itself in the proposals that identity thinkers form as a solution to the i p conflict two state solutions are expressions of identity politics however as the other the palestinian forever remains juxtaposed to the self the jew the debate of how much the other should could and will get is endless the more one side wins the more the other side looses the more land water resources etc the palestinians get the less land the jewish people will get this rephrasing of the same thought is important as it is at the heart of identity politics and the type of solution that follows out of it the solution that follows from the identity attitude is always a bargain the result of a negotiation process in which the strongest side will get the most within the context of the i p conflict it is obvious that the odds are heavily tilted towards the israeli they already carved a state for themselves they have the support of the most powerful military in the world and have themselves developed the fourth strongest army in the world it is hard to see how a two state solution could ever deliver a fair deal to the palestinians solipsism and dualism have defined the terms of the conflict since its beginning a century ago the results are that the palestinians to this day are living without a state and in effect under an israeli occupation in the most favorable proposals the camp david proposal is to this day viewed as the most generous proposal the palestinians ever received tentative solutions carve up the land heavily in favor of the israelis leaving the palestinians with patches of land that could never function as a sovereign nation furthermore israel an economic and military powerhouse demands total military debilitation from the palestinians as part of the bargain the rights of the palestinians to their old homes and land are usually not even part of the discussion as if it is normal to expect from the palestinians to surrender their basic human rights it is clear that neither solipsism nor dualism has lead to anything remotely fair for the palestinians humanism the third attitude i would like to discuss is the attitude that transcends both solipsism and the politics of identity it is an attitude that sees beyond dividing the world into mine and yours that in fact recognizes the dangers of doing so this attitude speaks a different language it has no need to rigidly defend itself because it is at ease in the world and its place in it it realizes that identity is not dependent upon acres of land but upon the connection with the other it realizes that there cannot be a self without the other that both presuppose each other and that an error is being made when one assumes that one can exist without the other it does not see the world in terms of jews and palestinians or jews and non jews or arabs and non arabs but in terms of people that all belong to the same family it doesn t deny that there are differences between people but understands that there is a deeper truth that underlies those differences this attitude understands that one part of the family cannot take precedent over another part that in fact the whole suffers when one part suffers this attitude understands that our inter connectedness ultimately does not allow for usurping the rights of others in order to preserve our own by attempting to destroy the other we destroy ourselves as well this is what bishop tutu means when he says that separate can never be equal ask anybody that lived under the jim crow laws or south african apartheid separate always means that some are better than others equality is based upon our connection to each other it is based upon the fundamental truth that we have more in common with each other than we differ from each other this communality invalidates any attempt to see some people as superior to other people or to prioritize the rights of some over the rights of others communality invalidates the politics of identity the latter can never lead to an authentic existence as long as it does not understand that what we share is more important than what separates us if this language sounds rosy and soft it is only because one does not fully understand what this means there is nothing easy about coming to realize how dependent we are upon each other it is a lot easier to think of ourselves as autonomous and superior dualism is always easier for the mind to grasp than the underlying connection between self and other even more importantly there is nothing easy about making this reality concrete as anybody that was involved in the american civil rights struggle and had to battle the identity politics of white americans or ask those that were confronted with the fears of integration of south africans if there is anything rosy about the battle for equal treatment if it seems utopian it is only because it is so hard to achieve and we are so attached to the idea of ourselves as separated from the other but when this illusion is broken and we manage to create a society that has a place for everybody we feel that we come closer to approaching true humanity it is obvious what such an attitude means for the israel palestine conflict true humanism is not satisfied with a bargaining process that emphasizes identity over communality especially one that is so heavily slanted towards one side it cannot find peace in the thought that some are worse off than others it is not happy with zero sum thinking and doesn t believe in dividing humanity into people we care for and people we don t care for while dualism believes that separation is necessary to preserve our identity and therefore our humanity humanism believes that overcoming this separateness is what ultimately preserves our humanity identity is not lost in this process but transformed in such a manner that it includes our connection with each other dualism leads to two state solutions humanism leads to one state solution the same way that humanism incorporates the merits of dualism the acknowledgement of otherness and yet goes beyond it in that it acknowledges the connection between self and other so do one state solutions incorporate and transcend the merits of two state solutions jewish and palestinian identities won t be lost but enriched in such a reconfiguration the paradox of identity is that it grows and expands when it is let go of holding on to old identities makes them bleed with hatred for otherness letting them intertwine with that otherness does not annihilate those identities but instead makes them more true jewish and palestinian identity might blossom when they won t have to worry about themselves so much the sadness about battling identity politics is that ultimately it is not even in the benefit for identities to be kept separated from other identities it is in the nature of identity to be intimately linked with others peace activists that are working towards a one state solution are often confronted with the accusation of anti semitism it is the false assumption that identity requires separateness that leads to accusations of anti semitism once one understands how self and other are related to each other the accusation of anti semitism becomes nonsensical instead one understands that the opposite is true that the jewish identity only has a future when it understands how it is intertwined with the rest of humanity the one state solution as the symbol of this inter connectedness does not lead to the demise of the jewish people but their salvation none of this is foreign language to anybody living in a modern day multi ethnic nation it may sound high minded but it is part of daily life for us that live in societies that attempt to be tolerant we might not walk around formulating high minded thoughts on how connected we all are but we all live in these connections and we become outraged when we see manifestations of racism and supremacy the hope is that ultimately jews and palestinians learn to care for each other in such a way that one hurts when the other one is hurting that people living as animals without water and electricity or as secondary citizens cause as much uproar in israel palestine as they do here in the us for all the talk about the biblical origins of both jews and palestinians a one state solution might be the only way to make this land truly biblical posted in foreigh relations 3 comments mother of the world may 24 2009 if i was the mother of the world and countries were my children israel would be my problem child the child that was born out of pain and persecution its birth itself an act of sin as it had to kill in order to make room for its place in the world the child that had lost its faith in people before it had a chance to grow up being the mother i wouldn t know how to protect my child from itself i see it kicking and screaming and bullying the others and i instinctively know it is hurting and afraid and i am hurting for it i see old anger and new anger mixed with fears in my child and i am afraid for its future i see my child using its talents and brilliance against itself building walls of security dividing and exploiting and reigning over its victims i have seen the body of my child grow more powe...
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