Palestine

I recognize that I am taking on a topic here that is rife with controversy and complexity. I am jewish by background (Ashkenazi jew from eastern Europe according to my dna test). I grew up in the United States where we are all taught and hence accepted that Israel is our friend and that supporting Israel above all else is the right thing to do. Of course much of the history from the holocaust and the establishment of the nation of Israel are horrific enough for us to cheer them on…unconditionally, it seems.

As a result, I grew up with no education whatsoever about the people who lived in Palestine when the Jews moved it to create Israel. The Palestinians were portrayed as terrorists who simply wanted the jews gone.

Partially as a result of the recent conflict, I have finally begun to educate myself (no thanks to all my schoolteachers while growing up). I have read a number of books – firstly both of Sandy Tolan’s books, The Lemon Tree and Children of the Stone. They are excellent, by the way. I then picked up The Hundred Year’s War on Palestine, written by Rashid Khalidi. This last one is clearly written from the Palestinian point of view, but I do believe that Sandy Tolan brought no axe to grind. His books told wonderful stories of both Israeli and Palestinian families as a means for sharing history.

As a result, I am now surely dangerous with some amount of knowledge, but clearly no expert. I am, however, more educated than I was when I simply read Thomas Friedman’ s column regularly and (all of) his books.

I see now that the Palestinians have been subjected to periods of real cruelty by the Israelis, basically jettisoning them from their homes and land and then acts of cruelty to keep them as an occupied colony. All of this was done with the unqualified support of the US of course. It does not seem that the US made much of an effort to support the Palestinian desire to have their own homeland as well – the one that Israel have largely kicked them out of. The Palestinians had made no effort to court the Americans, explain their thinking or seek support; hence the Israelis outmaneuvered them at every turn.

We now see Netanyahu making war – with some justification, mind you, given the October 7 Hamas invasion. My views however are not based solely on current affairs or Netanyahu’s irresponsible leadership. This started well before him.

I am now a man with a jewish background (admittedly not a practicing jew) who has a great deal of sympathy for both peoples – the jews and the Palestinians. This part of the world is so much more complicated than most people realize. I know that reading a handful of books doesn’t make me completely informed…just a lot more informed than I was.