“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
We often believe that the information that reaches us is always the right information. why wouldn't we? We are not living in China where information is censored by the government nor is there any dearth of information with the world wide web which has largely been free of any restrictions till now! I recently understood the perils of listening only to one side of the story for too long. Over time that one side of the story is perceived as truth.
Last month I was working in a hospital which has international fellows coming in from different countries to train in specific disciplines and then go back to their countries to use that training. I had the good fortune to meet one such fellow from Palestine who was working in the same department I was. We shared a common love for the sub-specialty we were working in and over discussions of ophthalmology we also discussed a whole lot of international politics too. The information junkie that I am I was only too happy to know about stories I would probably never ever hear about.
The stories the international media feeds us or even the Indian media feeds us is that Palestinians are a group of people governed by terrorists and that Israelis are always the victims of Palestinian intolerance. We’ve been fed these pro- Israeli stories so many times that we believe it as fact. But the true picture is not so straightforward.
I do not want to go into the whole history of Israel- Palestinian conflict which is extensive and most of which is available on the internet. I want to talk about stereotypes and misconceptions created by international media. It’s interesting to note that Israel is a country that was formed only in 1948 on Palestinian land and now ironically it is the state of Palestine that is not recognized by the UN. The British who ruled over the Palestine area could not handle local tensions between Arabs and Jews so after the world war II out of a sense of compensation for the Holocaust granted the formation of the state of Israel.This in turn resulted in the large immigration of Jews into the Palestine area hence making it a Jewish majority. The Israelis have been fighting the Arab countries ever since and the conflict with Palestinians have continued to this day while Israelis have peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.
As an impressionable teenager I read with tears in my eyes the story that Anne Frank was narrating so calmly in her autobiography. The Holocaust was a truly horrific episode in Jewish history. The 1972 massacre of the Olympic athletes was tragic as well (Steven Spielberg made the movie ‘Munich’ from this episode, who incidentally was the director of the Holocaust movie ‘Schindler’s List’). I had concluded after reading so extensively about Jews, about the tortures and concentration camps during the Nazi regime that Jews were the most oppressed race in the world and that anyone who are against Jews are inhuman by default. But i failed to realize until I met this Palestinian doctor, how instances of injustice to the Jews have been documented over the years in print, broadcasting and movies but the Palestinian stories are somehow elusive to all of us. I’m not belittling the Holocaust nor am I endorsing the terrorist attacks on Jews. I want to shed some light on the other side of this Israel-Palestine conflict.
You would be surprised to know (I was too) that Palestinian territories are landlocked territories surrounded by Israel and people from these areas are not allowed to go towards the sea by Israeli authorities (though it is only 40km from their border) and all the Palestinian borders are controlled by Israel including its borders with Egypt and Jordan. There are no airports in Palestine and anybody wanting to leave the country will have to go through Israeli airports for which you would need loads of paperwork and permission. There are two Palestinian territories, the Gaza strip and the West bank but these are separated by Israel and hence have two different governments with no common governing mandate and ruled by different political outfits. A Palestinian from one territory is not allowed easy access to the other territory hence both these territories are mutually exclusive and independent of each other.
Despite being highly educated there are limited employment opportunities in Palestine hence many Palestinians choose to live and work in Israel. Israel is a developed country while Palestine is barely there due to restriction of Palestinian border trade by Israel. Palestinians who chose to live in Israel are forbidden to marry, have a family or even ever visit Palestine again. Even this Palestinian doctor i met works in Israel in a Christian hospital. He lives near the border with his family and makes the daily to and fro journey from Palestine to Israel just to earn his livelihood. His wife too does the same to work in some telecom company in Israel. All these journeys and checks to have the right to have a family!!!
But the most touching story I heard from him was this. His elder sister married and emigrated to Australia with her In-laws in 1987.Since 1987 she has never been able to visit Palestine again. So she decided to visit her country of origin with her two kids last year. After landing at the Israeli airport she was stopped at the border check point. She and her kids were Australian citizens with Aussie passports. The Israeli authorities told her that her sons had the right to pass the border but since she had been a Palestinian before 1987 she would have to produce a Palestinian ID to do the same. His sister and her kids had to return home without visiting anyone from their family. My Palestinian friend has not seen his own sister for the last 25 yrs!!! These stories are not exceptions but these are commonplace instances in that region.
This is like a goldfish living in a fishbowl…. despite seeing everything the goldfish can never go out of the bowl nor can it hope any other goldfish to give it company. Its life is governed by the rules of whoever feeds the goldfish and not by what the goldfish wants. If you make them live like goldfish is it any surprise that they retaliate in a violent way? Humans were not meant to be in a fish bowl nor are they goldfishes.
When he spoke about the whole situation there was no anger in his voice, only sadness.Sadness over all the Jewish friends he has lost over the years, over the misconceptions that dominate all over the world about Palestinians, about all the family members he can never see and how their freedom to live life the way they want it is not there but no one knows or cares about it outside their country.
His words at the end were very profound, “No Palestinian ever killed a Jew in the Holocaust yet today it is we Palestinians who are paying the price for it.”
P.S. just check out this one article i found on the net which can be said mildly anti-Israel…. its by Arindam Choudhury of whom i’m not a huge fan but in this case he seems to have got his research right!
There are few words to exclaim on this post. Eye-opener.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Thank you Ravish for reading... do keep the comments coming! i highly appreciate your inputs :-)
ReplyDeleteIlluminating article. My only suggestion here is that severe restrictions in trade and movement notwithstanding, Palestinians have to develop their territories from within and improve their quality of life. Moreover, if they are fine with their long-term strategic goals, then they have to accept the hard fall-outs of it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Prashanth for your comments. Well how do you suppose they develop from within when mobility itself is restricted. This article was written a long time ago and the Hamas is now sending a hundred missiles everyday to Israel... But it might be a case of frustration reaching tipping point since no one is listening to them. They stop their aggression and Israel will annihilate them to ground. Israel is blackmailing Egypt and Jordan with US support. How will Palestine take care of that? Israel have to allow Palestine to prosper and not only talk about their aggression prompting their violent strikes on innocent civilians
ReplyDeleteThe missiles started:
Delete1. After over 11,000 Israelis were ripped from their homes and lives in Gaza, leaving behind their homes, businesses, houses of worship an burial plots of their dead.
2. This was done to allow the Gazans autonomy, freedom and self government,; however most of the capital was destroyed by organized riots.
3. Then the missiles, border incursions and kidnappings and murders of Israelis and many Gazans with body bombs (human bombs)trying to cross the border into Israel ramped up, very soon after the Arabs got autonomy. This is over 15 years ago and it has only gotten worse. The Gazans are hostages to their gov't who steal their billions/year in aid and maintain a state of war to retain power. Stop the above and they would have no problems with Israel.
The Hamas is corrupt and doesn't want peace. They teach to kill and hate the Jews. The Jews were sent away from their homes over 11,000 Jews - decades ago, so the Arabs who are now Palestines could have that land, they did so in a gesture of peace. Now, the Hamas want to take over Isreal and Isreal wants to keep their small land. So, the fight continues....sad...maybe there could be peace, but there would have to be much education on both parts to understand the whole history and why it is what it is. This is such an old post and much the same now in 2019.
ReplyDeleteEye-opener.... the other side of the story!!!
ReplyDeleteGaza, which has hamas in it is surrounded by a wall just like the great wall of china. Except that its on steroids. The walls are controlled entirely by israel. I don’t understand how Hamas still exists if you have them isolated like that so much? Israel has already walked in and disarmed everyone. All they have are sticks and stones. So what kind of corruption do you mean? There is no Hamas. Its all made up by Israel that Hamas is attacking them, as an excuse so that they can attack back. Its wrong to kill women and children and say we meant to attack terrorists. If they did exist in there, then Israel’s army is more than capable of marching in and calmly disarming anyone they wish. They simply don’t want to do that because of the israel government’s extremist Zionist system/agenda. The existence of Zionism is the root cause of all problems on earth.
ReplyDeleteA few comments about inaccuracies in your narrative. I am an Israeli with Palestinian friends and speak Arabic although from Ashkenazi origin. First, Palestrina has Jordan on it's eastern border, so Palestinians can go to Jordan through bridges and visit Aqaba for a dop in the sea. But recently, Israel opened doors to families to go to the beach: https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/08/27/israel-lets-the-palestinians-go-to-the-beach and many other publications. Now, about Haza, the Hamas chart advocates total destruction of Israel: https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/880818.htm
ReplyDeletePalestinians were offered many times a just peace, which Arafat refused. >>> Its all made up by Israel that Hamas is attacking them, as an excuse so that they can attack back. Its wrong to kill women and children and say we meant to attack terrorists Do you read newspapers? Sometimes 700 rockets are poured onto Israeli cities. @Karma, You may provide LINKS to woman and children killed by Israel instead of just stating your opinions. I reason based on facts, not opinions.