{"id":11858,"date":"2018-10-22T08:35:36","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T06:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/2018\/10\/22\/7-things-to-consider-before-choosing-sides-in-the-middle-east-conflict"},"modified":"2018-12-31T12:00:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T10:00:24","slug":"7-things-to-consider-before-choosing-sides-in-the-middle-east-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/2018\/10\/22\/7-things-to-consider-before-choosing-sides-in-the-middle-east-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Things to Consider Before Choosing Sides in the Middle East Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written in the context of the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict, this article<\/a> from the Huffington Post<\/a> argues that by supporting secularism, democracy and a two-state solution and opposing Hamas, settlement expansion and the occupation, one can be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine simultaneously. In a mildly sarcastic tone, the author\u00a0encourages readers to go beyond their “tribal” loyalties to consider a variety of factors before “choosing sides” in the conflict. With a relatively balanced perspective but clear political opinions, the author explores controversial issues, such as the role of religion and anti-Semitism\u00a0in this ancient conflict, the motives and methods of Hamas, and the differences in numbers of casualties on both sides. The author, Ali A. Rizvi, is a\u00a0Pakistani-Canadian writer, author of The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason.<\/em><\/p>\n

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7 Things to Consider Before Choosing Sides in the Middle East Conflict<\/h2>\n

Are you \u201cpro-Israel\u201d or \u201cpro-Palestine\u201d? It isn\u2019t even noon yet as I write this, and I\u2019ve already been accused of being both.<\/p>\n

These terms intrigue me because they directly speak to the doggedly tribal nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You don\u2019t hear of too many other countries being universally spoken of this way. Why these two? Both Israelis and Palestinians are complex, with diverse histories and cultures, and two incredibly similar (if divisive) religions. To come down completely on the side of one or the other doesn\u2019t seem rational to me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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It is telling that most Muslims around the world support Palestinians, and most Jews support Israel. This, of course, is natural \u2014 but it\u2019s also problematic. It means that this is not about who\u2019s right or wrong as much as which tribe or nation you are loyal to. It means that Palestinian supporters would be just as ardently pro-Israel if they were born in Israeli or Jewish families, and vice versa. It means that the principles that guide most people\u2019s view of this conflict are largely accidents of birth \u2014 that however we intellectualize and analyze the components of the Middle East mess, it remains, at its core, a tribal conflict.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By definition, tribal conflicts thrive and survive when people take sides. Choosing sides in these kinds of conflicts fuels them further and deepens the polarization. And worst of all, you get blood on your hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So before picking a side in this latest Israeli-Palestine conflict, consider these 7 questions:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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1. Why is everything so much worse when there are Jews involved?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Over 700 people have died in Gaza as of this writing. Muslims have woken up around the world. But is it really because of the numbers?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bashar al-Assad has killed over 180,000 Syrians, mostly Muslim, in two years \u2014 more than the number killed in Palestine in two decades. Thousands of Muslims in Iraq and Syria have been killed by ISIS in the last two months. Tens of thousands have been killed by the Taliban. Half a million black Muslims were killed by Arab Muslims in Sudan. The list goes on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Gaza makes Muslims around the world, both Sunni and Shia, speak up in a way they never do otherwise. Up-to-date death counts and horrific pictures of the mangled corpses of Gazan children flood their social media timelines every day. If it was just about the numbers, wouldn\u2019t the other conflicts take precedence? What is it about then?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If I were Assad or ISIS right now, I\u2019d be thanking God I\u2019m not Jewish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Amazingly, many of the graphic images of dead children attributed to Israeli bombardment that are circulating online are from Syria, based on a BBC report<\/a>. Many of the pictures you\u2019re seeing are of children killed by Assad, who is supported by Iran, which also funds Hezbollah and Hamas. What could be more exploitative of dead children than attributing the pictures of innocents killed by your own supporters to your enemy simply because you weren\u2019t paying enough attention when your own were killing your own?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This doesn\u2019t, by any means, excuse the recklessness, negligence, and sometimes outright cruelty of Israeli forces. But it clearly points to the likelihood that the Muslim world\u2019s opposition to Israel isn\u2019t just about the number of dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Here is a question for those who grew up in the Middle East and other Muslim-majority countries like I did: if Israel withdrew from the occupied territories tomorrow, all in one go \u2014 and<\/em> went back to the 1967 borders \u2014 and<\/em> gave the Palestinians East Jerusalem \u2014 do you honestly think Hamas wouldn\u2019t find something else to pick a fight about? Do you honestly think that this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they are Jews? Do you recall what you watched and heard on public TV growing up in Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Yes, there\u2019s an unfair and illegal occupation there, and yes, it\u2019s a human rights disaster. But it is also true that much of the other side is deeply driven by anti-Semitism. Anyone who has lived in the Arab\/Muslim world for more than a few years knows that. It isn\u2019t always a clean, one-or-the-other blame split in these situations like your Chomskys and Greenwalds would have you believe. It\u2019s both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2. Why does everyone keep saying this is not a religious conflict?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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There are three pervasive myths that are widely circulated about the \u201croots\u201d of the Middle East conflict:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Myth 1: Judaism has nothing to do with Zionism.
\nMyth 2: Islam has nothing to do with Jihadism or anti-Semitism.
\nMyth 3: This conflict has nothing to do with religion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To the \u201cI oppose Zionism, not Judaism!\u201d crowd, is it mere coincidence that this passage from the Old Testament (emphasis added) describes so accurately what\u2019s happening today?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you<\/em>. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.\u201d – Exodus 23:31-32<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Or this one?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cSee, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers \u2014 to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob \u2014 and to their descendants after them<\/em>.\u201d – Deuteronomy 1:8<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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There\u2019s more: Genesis 15:18-21, and Numbers 34 for more detail on the borders. Zionism is not the \u201cpoliticization\u201d or \u201cdistortion\u201d of Judaism. It is the revival of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And to the \u201cThis is not about Islam, it\u2019s about politics!\u201d crowd, is this verse from the Quran (emphasis added) meaningless?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cO you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies<\/em>. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you\u2014then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.\u201d – Quran, 5:51<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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What about the numerous verses and hadith<\/em> quoted in Hamas\u2019 charter<\/a>? And the famous hadith of the Gharqad tree explicitly commanding Muslims to kill Jews<\/a>?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Please tell me \u2014 in light of these passages written centuries and millennia before the creation of Israel or the occupation \u2014 how can anyone conclude that religion isn\u2019t at the root of this, or at least a key driving factor? You may roll your eyes at these verses, but they are taken very seriously by many of the players in this conflict, on both sides. Shouldn\u2019t they be acknowledged and addressed? When is the last time you heard a good rational, secular argument supporting settlement expansion in the West Bank?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Denying religion\u2019s role seems to be a way to be able to criticize the politics while remaining apologetically \u201crespectful\u201d of people\u2019s beliefs for fear of \u201coffending\u201d them. But is this apologism and \u201crespect\u201d for inhuman ideas worth the deaths of human beings?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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People have all kinds of beliefs \u2014 from insisting the Earth is flat to denying the Holocaust. You may respect their right to hold these beliefs, but you\u2019re not obligated to respect the beliefs themselves. It\u2019s 2014, and religions don\u2019t need to be \u201crespected\u201d any more than any other political ideology or philosophical thought system. Human beings have rights. Ideas don\u2019t. The oft-cited politics\/religion dichotomy in Abrahamic religions is false and misleading. All of the Abrahamic religions are inherently political.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3. Why would Israel deliberately want to kill civilians?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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This is the single most important issue that gets everyone riled up, and rightfully so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Again, there is no justification for innocent Gazans dying. And there\u2019s no excuse for Israel\u2019s negligence in incidents like the killing of four children on a Gazan beach. But let\u2019s back up and think about this for a minute.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Why on Earth would Israel deliberately<\/em> want to kill civilians?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When civilians die, Israel looks like a monster. It draws the ire of even its closest allies<\/a>. Horrific images of injured and dead innocents flood the media. Ever-growing anti-Israel protests are held everywhere from Norway to New York. And the relatively low number of Israeli casualties (we\u2019ll get to that in a bit) repeatedly draws allegations of a \u201cdisproportionate\u201d response. Most importantly, civilian deaths help Hamas immensely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How can any of this possibly ever be in Israel\u2019s interest?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If Israel wanted to kill civilians, it is terrible at it. ISIS killed more civilians in two days (700 plus) than Israel has in two weeks. Imagine if ISIS or Hamas had Israel\u2019s weapons, army, air force, US support, and nuclear arsenal. Their enemies would\u2019ve been annihilated long ago. If Israel truly wanted to destroy Gaza, it could do so within a day, right from the air. Why carry out a more painful, expensive ground incursion that risks the lives of its soldiers?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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