Finding Clarity and Direction in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict- Part One

Out of Turmoil Some Clarity Emerges

I have been in a turmoil about the Israeli incursion into Gaza, struggling with every emotion from rage to grief.  Likewise, I have been struggling with the actions of Hamas, endangering the lives of its own people, and the role of the U.S. government and its unquestioning  support for the state of Israel.  I have finally found some clarity on this subject.  Today is the first of a two part series.   Today the focus is on Israel.  The next blog will focus on the Palestinians and the U.S.

What’s Right in Israel’s Approach

It’s often said that “You can’t negotiate with terrorists.”  When people are terrified no one can make rational decisions.  Israelis are tough people but they have an underlying historical narrative of fear, based on thousands of years of persecution, which renders them acutely sensitive to threat.  If the lives of the populace are being menaced it is the role of government to protect its people, and they must take action.  Israel  determined it had to take action against the rockets coming in from Gaza fired on them by Hamas.

What’s Missing in Israel’s Approach

Terrorists must be stopped, just as anyone committing out of control violence must be stopped. I have written about this in other blogs about the stopping function.  The problem Israel has run into with their intervention in Gaza, and in prior actions with the Palestinians,  is that they have not thought through the long-term implications of their actions nor made them part of a strategy for successfully ending the conflict with the Palestinians. 

It is not enough just to stop terrorist action, because that stopping is always temporary.   To end it you must eliminate the things that cause the terrorism itself.  Imagine there is a festering wound that drives Hamas to fight.  Every time Israel kills one or more of them it’s like throwing salt in that wound.  What caused the wound in the first place? 

The problems with Israel’s attack have been:

1. It has been so over-the-top that civilian casualties have been huge.
2. The numbers of civilian casualties say that Israel does not care about the Palestinian people i.e. they are inferior to the Jewish people and their safety does  not matter.
3. Israel has been maintaining an air, land and sea blockade around Gaza that has been strangling it, denying it electricity, water, food supplies, medical supplies.
4. It looks, to the outside world as if Israel  intends to destroy Hamas entirely.  Israel looks like a bully.  Anti-Israeli demonstrations have occurred in Muslim countries worldwide.  This sets up Israeli citizens as targets in terrorist attacks all over the world.

Smart Moves for the Future

Israel now has to clean up the mess of the Gaza incursion. After that Israel could, if it chose, move quickly to deal with the underlying causes of the terrorism.   This would  mean releasing  the blockades around Gaza,  bringing in massive amounts of humanitarian aid, creating economic projects to bring paying jobs to Gaza and doing anything they can to improve the health of the people there.  Bringing hope and sustenance to the Palestinian people would be the best investment in the future safety of the state of Israel that I could imagine. 

The inequities and injustices that feed the festering sore that stokes Hamas’ fury need to be fully heard, honored, and addressed, in some other venue .  This would not be easy but I believe in the ability of the Israeli government and the Israeli people to do it.  Israel would be wise to set up such a time and place, perhaps facilitated by leaders from the Compassionate Listening Project.  Such sessions should be done only when safety and security had been restored for both peoples and the basics of life (food, medicine, power, water) were assured. 

 My sense is that throughout the long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that neither side has ever really heard the deeply human story, the wounds and needs of people on the other side. All they have heard is sloganeering, facts and rhetoric.  When people become present to each other as human beings, hearts melt. They take responsiblity for wrongs done.  New openings for action occur. This is what is crying out to happen in Israel-Palestine.

Hope is infectious.  If the Palestinians saw hope for themselves,  the Israeli people, so many of whom have given up on the possibility of peace, would see hope awakening as well.

My thanks to Keith Rice whose comments on his blog helped my own ideas to finally come together. Please visit his blog at www.integratedsociopsychology.net

Next blog: Friday,  January 16, 2009 Part 2: Finding Clarity and Direction in the I-P Conflict (focus on Palestinians and U.S. role in the conflict)

If you have thoughts about this blog please leave a comment.