Outside of Bethlehem I bent down to pick up a stone, a sliver of shiny marble among the crumbled dust of a demolished Palestinian home. The stone in my hand was very real, but symbolized something that was invisible beneath the beautifully embellished house that stood there not long ago. An entire population was unseen, and my eyes were opened to see it in that moment. In the summer of 2006—when Ehud Olmert was prime minister—I saw for the first time the suffering Palestinian people.
I am a natural-born American citizen with no family ties to either Palestine or Israel. I resided in both the West Bank and Israeli-controlled areas in the summer of 2006. During this time, I saw the horror that Ehud Olmert’s administration brought upon the Palestinian people. I did not truly understand the nature of this conflict before I threw myself into the reality of the dark dust of the destructed homes. I needed to see young Jewish girls harass Arab women going to their mosque in Hebron, as well as the Israeli bombing of Palestinian water plants, power stations, and roadways to render these Palestinian people visible in my life.
During my stay, I became ashamed that we, the Americans, are the chief supporters and protectors of Israel. Furthermore, we are a nation who should understand the negative effects of oppressing a minority group in our own country. We have a social responsibility to help Israel recognize that it is hurting itself as well as the Palestinians. It is in Israel’s best interest to treat the Palestinian population with respect and kindness.
Do not think, however, that I consider either side of this conflict to be without fault. The Palestinian people have been responsible for numerous acts of terrorism and kidnapping. I was in the West Bank with Palestinian families when a few Israeli soldiers were kidnapped that summer. Yes, violence has come from the Palestinian side, but I believe that the violence against Israel is often provoked by the many injustices that the Israeli defense forces carry out against the Palestinian people.
I truly believe that Israel uses collective punishment to make the lives of the Palestinians so miserable as to induce them to leave their homes. This treatment comes in the name of security and is instituted in the form of a wall that has been built through people’s backyards, the checkpoints that keep them from reaching proper health care, the demolition of homes, the murders of civilians, and the kidnapping and imprisonment of thousands of people. When I was there, I spoke with a refugee who had his home of many generations demolished with just three days’ notice because his family could not produce papers. Soon after it was demolished, an Israeli settlement was built on his land. I met a man who had not seen his nearby daughter in four years because of the recently built wall in his backyard. This is not a plan to simply keep Israel safe. It is Israel’s rationalization to the world of taking land in the name of security.
When I heard that Olmert was coming to campus to speak, my immediate reaction was to go and hear how anyone could justify what I had seen. I wanted to hear what Olmert had to say and bring thoughtful questions for him that would open the eyes and ears of the audience to the Palestinian side of the conflict. I am upset that I never got the chance to hear Olmert’s justification of his actions or question his motives in his plan for peace. I am ashamed that the Palestinian supporters behaved as the uncivilized, hotheaded people that the Israeli supporters expected them to be. I am disheartened to think of the respect that the Palestinian cause has lost because of its supporters’ inability to allow for the beginning of a fruitful discourse on the topic with one of the most important Israeli figures alive today.
Some may say that the Israeli side has never allowed for the fruitful discourse of which I speak. I say, however, that it must begin somewhere, and the most powerful place to begin would be with the exasperated and oppressed population, which the world expects to behave rashly. Throughout my stay in the West Bank, I found the Palestinian people to be welcoming and rational human beings. I only wish that the rest of the world could see this. In the future, I hope for the sake of the Palestinians that controversial events here on campus relating to this conflict will be met with an attitude of constructive discourse and understanding.
Dorea Martin is a fourth-year in the College majoring in biochemistry.
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Discussion
ZIA
October 23rd 2009 at 08:01 AM
Thanks for this...
but do you honestly think that we can have a fruitful discussion with Olmert? Also, do you think that the Harris school would have allowed for this kind of discussion?
It's not like his "justification" (whatever that might be) is hidden away or something...as ex-primer minister, he has access to major media outlets. It's not like his "free speech" is restricted such that U of C has to give him a platform.
but anyways, I do appreciate that you've shared your experiences and insights from Palestine with us. Please share more.
THE TRUTH
October 23rd 2009 at 11:41 AM
I'm an American living in Bethlehem right now, so your first paragraph intrigued me. But I almost stopped reading when I read this: "We have a social responsibility to help Israel recognize that it is hurting itself as well as the Palestinians. It is in Israel’s best interest to treat the Palestinian population with respect and kindness."
This isn't about Israel hurting itself; it's about Israel killing Arabs. Also, the use of the term "kidnapping" for occupation soldiers, who a legally legitimate target for an occupied population, is totally inappropriate. I guess I should have been prepared for the attack on the demonstrators, but it was a total non-sequitur.
There has been 16 years of "discourse" between the sides since 1993, all while Israel keeps stealing land; has anything convinced you that "discourse" with the Israeli government is fruitful? He has no "explanation" that will dispel your confusion.
There is also tacit racism and orientalism in your words "uncivilized" and "hotheaded" and then your "surprise" that Palestinians are "rational" people.
DOREA MARTIN
October 27th 2009 at 12:15 AM
To: The Truth and Zia
From: The Author
To the truth: My statement that "it is in Israel's best interest to treat Palestinians with kindness" was not written to downplay Israel's horrific actions towards Palestinians. I clearly indicated that I myself was in Palestine when Palestinian lives were being taken, and that I found the IDF's actions to be repulsive and inexcusable at best. This statement was written for American citizens who feel like they have no responsibility to care about this conflict, and to Zionist Americans and Israeli citizens who believe that the oppression of the Palestinians will be a good thing for the state of Israel in the long-run. The IDF is guilty of committing blatant racism and oppression and taking many innocent lives. In my article I mentioned that I saw Israeli girls harassing Arab women as they walked to their mosque. What I did not write, due to length constraints, was that those young girls (around the ages of 5-12) were throwing rocks at these women, and shouting very racist remarks at them, while an Israeli soldier stood 20 feet away and watched. When my family asked the soldier why he was not protecting the Arab women, he responded, "They are not citizens of Israel. I do not have to protect them". THIS, was blatant, racism, that the soldier was not even ashamed of! Also, these young Israeli girls, had somehow grown up in an atmosphere that encouraged shameless blatant hatred of the Arab people. Yes, the citizens of the United states have a responsibility to show Israel that the effects of racist ideals are long lasting and harmful. The United States has a responsibility to show Israel that they should not be encouraging young children to harbor such hatred towards another group of people. I also feel that the US has a responsibility to show this viewpoint to Arabs who harbor racist hatred towards Israeli's.
As for the comment on "tacit racism": The American media clearly portrays the Palestinian cause negatively. This was especially true of the media coverage before the war in Gaza this past winter. Many American citizens have only seen images of Palestinians on TV or in the news as terrorists who ruthlessly attack Israeli citizens. I do not believe these images, but I can see how many American citizens have the wrong impression of who the Palestinian people are. When you live in a nation that so strongly supports Israel, and only portrays the Palestinians as terrorists through the media, you might be inclined to believe the stereotype that Palestinians are hot headed and irrational. This is why I have since come back to the US and talked to as many people as possible about what is REALLY going on in Palestine and how it differs from what we hear about the Palestinians through the media. I DO NOT believe that the Palestinians are irrational, hot-headed people. I believe a huge majority of the Palestinians are peaceful and amazingly kind individuals. I also believe this of the majority of Israeli citizens. There are a few extremist individuals on both sides, however which cause their own population to be viewed in a negative light! In my article, I did not mean to infer that I harbor racist ideas towards either Palestinians or Israelis. I only meant to say that I am VERY anti Israeli foreign policy.
To Zia: Do I honestly think that the discourse of which I spoke could have occurred?
I believe that the filtering of questions on note cards would have greatly reduced my own ability to ask questions, which would allow others to realize that Olmert’s past actions are clearly contrary to his ultimate goal of “peace”. I believe that the University of Chicago was wrong for allowing questions to be filtered out. I also think, however, that a few of the thoughtful questions could have possibly gotten through the filtering process. We do not even know whether or not these questions would have gotten through because the protestors didn’t allow us to find out! If it were the case that controversial questions were to be completely filtered out, the protestors should have been there to hand out pamphlets to inform people of the fact that Olmert was responsible for war crimes, and that his previous proposed plan for peace did not truly offer the Palestinians a viable, continuous state that had the ability to economically and agriculturally survive. An action like this would have been much more effective than standing up and interrupting his talk.
Men like Olmert know that many people are aware of the fact that he is responsible for war crimes, and that he is not sincerely proposing a viable plan for peace. I believe that the protesters who stood up, allowed Olmert to sit back and look like much more of an innocent victim than he is. I believe that these protestors enabled him to say that he was ready to talk about peace, (even though his actions show that he isn’t) but that the Palestinian supporters are impeding progress and are not willing to get past their hot-headed tendencies. Instead of talking about his plans for a peaceful resolution, he got to stand up there and talk about how he is really a moderate who desires peace, and how the fundamentalists (like the people shouting out) are preventing progress. The more irrational comments there were, the more he could hide behind his façade and look like the innocent victim that he is not.
You might say that the protestors were trying to show people that he wasn’t innocent. I say, however, that these protestors who stood up, did not give uninformed individuals in that hall any new information from what they had seen on protestors signs outside the hall. This fact allowed people to wrongly perceive Olmert as a victim. Please note that I do not think that the protestors out side of the hall were in the wrong. I think that their actions were appropriate because of the way that many of them did not try to interrupt Olmert’s speech. I myself have been to pro-Palestine protests, and find them to be a good thing.
Also, Fruitful discourse on this topic didn’t only have to happen within the lecture hall that day. His arrival on campus, and speech would have gotten the attention of many people and opened up opportunities for pro-Palestine supporters to write articles and talk to other about why his plan for peace is inadequate because of the way it partitions Palestinian land into may separate pieces, or how it leaves Palestinians with no viable water sources. Now, however, we do not have the opportunity to share with others why his plan for peace is not realistic, because we did not allow others to become familiar with his proposal.