Nobody looks good after Rabin's death

I would like to join the debate of the past few weeks following the Rabin assassination. We heard from the Zionist side that Rabin was a great man willing to put aside hate for peace, and from the Palestinian side that he was a terrorist ordering the breaking of children's hands, who peace was a ploy to solidify control. Can both views be right?

In a land where Jews and Palestinians lived in peace for thousands of years, how has it come to this? There are larger forces at play than the much-touted feelings of hate between these two peoples.

In 1948 it was Western powers that carved the land. Unfortunately, it was a vision of conquest, not peace, doing the carving. To this day, the West continues to play a heavy hand in the region. Geo-politics drew lines, ignoring the true dispersal of populations throughout the area. For example, the Kurdish people were divided between Turkey and Iraq. Recently, the West "helped" the Iraqi Kurds against Sadaam Hussain's wrath, while across the border, paid no attention to the Turks while they eliminated their Kurdish "problem."

Like the Kurds, different Jewish and Palestinian groups have been used for geo-political aims following World War II. Surrounding Arab nations refused to take in Palestinian refugees when Zionism created its state and in subsequent periods of unrest. And when Jews wished to leave the Soviet Union, many were denied their first choice, to come to the U.S., but "encouraged" to settle the Israeli/Palestinian desert on stolen land, using stolen resources.

And then there is the puzzle of Egypt. If Jews and Palestinians are supposed to hate each other so much, why are both populations living in peace in Egypt? It makes sense when you consider both people are Semites and there is no "natural" enmity.

Israel is a state based on a religion which cuts across many nationalities. Israel, for all its democratic posturing, grants secondary status not only to Palestinians and Arabs, but to non-orthodox Jews. This is discrimination about as arbitrary as punishing a person of color here in the U.S., unwilling or unable to act "white."

That the Jews were persecuted at the hands of the Nazi party and others throughout history makes them ironic persecutors. At one time Jews were struggling for a state to call their own. How can they have difficulty with the same dream in other people? As long as the Israelis continue to insist there is no room in their vision of democracy for others and sell out their state to the powers that be, the Middle-East conflicts will continue.

Rabin's peace was not a lasting solution, but as Arafat is well aware of I'm sure, it was a single imperfect step in a long journey.

[ Golden Gater Online December 5, 1995 ]

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