There is no denying the plight of the Palestinian people is one of the most unfortunate crises taking place in the world today. For years they have been forced to live in a situation unacceptable for any person, regardless of nationality, creed, gender or age. It is the world’s moral obligation to deal with this intolerable condition. Regrettably, many, like Mr. Szarzynski, fall into the trap of a finger-pointing blame game that does not lead to a peaceful solution; rather, it leads only to further conflict. Szarzynski’s insistence on blaming Israel for the situation in Gaza is not only wrong, it is exactly the type of rhetoric that begets further violence.
If we truly want to find peace in the Middle East, we must stop this frivolous blame game; we must shift our attention to the future, rather than the past and search for common ground on which we can begin to build the foundations for a lasting peace. To some, what I am suggesting may sound like a cop-out. Many may want to automatically reject what I am proposing as a Zionist attempting to avoid tough questions about the history of my country, but I assure you that this is not the case. If it is a rebuttal you are looking for, I will give it, but the fact is that the situation in Gaza today cannot be characterized as simply as Szarzynski would like, and his accusations will get us nowhere.
Szarzynski asserts, “The Israeli invasion of Gaza did not begin with a band of renegade Muslim literalists vowing the destruction of an entire state; it begins with the simple fact that 80 percent of Gazan families originated from what is now called Israel.”
While I, too, can easily contend that my father was born in Iraq and displaced with no right of return, I also submit this is not the cause of today’s situation. In fact, the cause might be exactly what Szarzynski is trying to deny. Surely, if I wanted, I could make a case that the cause was Palestinians fleeing Israel in 1948 after leaders of the Arab world assured them that they would be able to return, once the Jewish state was completely destroyed. Or the cause may have been the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem’s close ties with Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime.
On the other hand, I could argue that the Jordanians killing tens of thousands of Palestinians in 1970 was the cause or even that it was the Cairo Agreement of 1969, which allowed rockets to be shot into Israeli villages. I could argue that it is fueled by the Hamas charter calling for the destruction of the state of Israel or even Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust.?
I could argue that when Szarzynski quotes a doctor as having said “over 50 percent of Gazan children under the age of 12 … have no will to live” may be caused by Hamas’ insistence on teaching Palestinian children to strive towards Shahada (seek death for Allah). The clips from Hamas’ TV station are appalling. Simply put I could allow Ralph Galloway, former UNRWA director, to say it for me: “The Arab States do not want to solve the refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront to the United Nations, and as a weapon against Israel.” I too could point fingers, but I don’t, because none of those things are relevant to my point.
My point is not to debate who deserves the most blame — that is an unnecessary, unending argument that will get us nowhere. My point is as follows: It is a plea to the media, to governments around the world, and to every student on this campus to help find that common ground. It is a plea to the two both sides to stop the fighting and to start to coexist. You may say that I am naive, that I am a dreamer, but in the words of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.”
If we simply end the blame game and strive for common goals, perhaps the horrid cycles of violence and hate will end, and we will ultimately achieve the only worthwhile goals there are, namely salaam, shalom and peace.
Jordan Soffer ([email protected]) is a sophomore with an undecided major.
