Tuesday the Oxford University Islamic Society held an event about the Israel-Palestine conflict. I can't honestly call it discussion even, since the 'panel' was completely one sided. The big-names they managed to draw were George Galloway, former British politician who at one point was banned from speaking in Canada due to hate-speech laws, and Yvonne Ridley, journalist/TV host and avid Muslim activist. Together they used every trick in the book to convince the audience of the evilness of Zionism and the innocent, victim-ness of the Palestinians.
George Galloway was refreshingly clear in the distinction between Zionist and Jew and denouncing hatred, perhaps thanks to his difficulties in Canada. He was bizarrely fascinated by his experiences speaking in Canada and in particular his encounter with Palestinians in Yellowknife, NWT, which he mentally moved North by half a kilometre to place it within the arctic circle. He proceeded similarly to tell half-truths and exaggerations as if they were confirmed facts throughout his speech, which followed the basic line of Palestinians' lives suck and it's all Isreal's fault. Although at least his speech was focused on changing views rather than inspiring action.
It was from Yvonne Ridley that the call to arms was cleverly implied. Although violence was never explicitly advocated she managed to imply quite strongly that this was a reasonable and appropriate response from the Palestinians. For this, I condemn her much more strongly than Mr. Galloway. She focused on the emotional retelling of anecdotes which the converted and under-educated just lap up. Those of us with the good fortune to have been taught to think critically and evaluate evidence could see right through her heart wrenching stories but I fear that even in a world class educational institution such as Oxford we are few and far between.
A Different View of the Conflict
Both sides have committed atrocities against the other during the conflict and both have had injustices committed against them. Admittedly, Israel has used the power given to it by supportive western democracies to do the most harm, but the Palestinians cannot claim clean hands in the matter. The trouble with all wars against Islamic countries, which the West fails to understand, is that they never accept defeat. Israel is far more powerful both militarily and economically than Palestine by all rights they 'conquered' Palestine long ago. However, Islam has a strong message of defence both of the weak and of ones community. As such, they react to invasion with resistance and insurgency. Even when the official army has been defeated, the fight continues with every citizen a potential combatant. Combine this attitude with modern weaponry, which allows individuals to do a large amount of damage and you've a recipe for disaster.
On the other side of the conflict you have an Israeli government which considers the Palestinians and inconvenience rather than an asset. Making them unwilling to treat the Palestinians with respect or dignity. Bolstered by the USA's promise of security, there is little incentive for Israel to compromise on anything. Hence we shall stay in our deadlock indefinitely. There is little chance of breaking the culture of self-defence entwined with Islam particularly when accepting defeat would mean desperate poverty, homelessness and discrimination.
Thus it is up to Israel to find the value Palestinians could add to their nation, most likely through labour, and change their policies to take advantage of this value by respecting the Palestinians. In such a way Israel could stop the drain on her resources from excessively policing and controlling Gaza and even grow their economy with the influx of cheap Palestinian labour. Palestinians on their part could begin a rise out of abject poverty and gain the respect and rights given to productive members of society. A win-win.
