"So, is she Jewish?" The standard sit-com formula line, which always get a nodding laugh from Jews themselves, speaks volumes about how entrenched struggles remain entrenched. The current violence off the coast of Gaza is another symptom of outmoded mindsets in Israeli and Palestinian politics.
Israel has practiced religious apartheid within its borders. It has done so with the knowledge and permission of its allies in the name of reparations for past atrocities. However, as this past becomes relegated to the stinking trash heap of history, the world must look to the future and to positive change to solve problems that inhibit the assurance of universal human rights globally. That means universal and absolutely equal human rights for Israelis and Palestinians in Israel.
There are factions in Israel and abroad who are not committed to equal human rights for all in Israel. They are committed to an ancient paradigm in which the Jews are the Chosen People. They believe in the genetic superiority of Jews, as transmitted through maternal blood line. When confronted with this outrageous assertion, they resort to stories of The Holocaust and centuries of Jewish oppression. However, they are not willing to consider the chicken-egg nature of historic Jewish separatism and xenophobia. They bristle at the very mention of the concept.
Palestinians, still fighting ancient ethnic rivalries and The Crusades, have refused to accept their Semetic cousins into a shared homeland which was a humane, well-intentioned construct, badly executed by the international community, after the atrocities of The Holocaust. Had the Palestinians been able to summon the political will after World War II, they could have asserted themselves in support of the construction of Israel in exchange for a mutually supported Palestinian state. Israel and Palestine today could have been a dynamic, prosperous alliance in a more stable Middle East. But traditional politicians with little foresight and religious zealotry prevented that from materializing.
This is not a unique story by any means. Ethnic cleansing is not new. Madness over acreage is not new. In fact, the minutia of norms of ethnic separation in many countries baffle the objective observer. Bosnia was a clear example. Kosovo, another. The old American South and West are shameful and bloody examples. The list is quite long. The dynamics of ethnic cleansing require at least two dancers to do the dance of violence and conflict.
It seems to me that the blockade of Gaza represents the Israeli government's and Hamas's blockade of peace at the expense of their own people. It is an international cock fight with other nations observing and cheering the opponents. It is, perhaps, the greatest example of the total ineffectiveness, corruption and obsolescence of The United Nations.
Until the people of the region can be reached, educated and supported by international partners who are willing to call an end to the cock fight, the Middle East will be a boil on the butt of the planet. Eventually, as with all boils on butts, it will have to be lanced. And, I am afraid Jews and Palestinians will suffer horribly for it.
