Ignoring Palestine

Context: Recent events between Israel and Palestine are a reminder that Israel’s imperial politics risks destroying the moral legitimacy of its own claims

Analysing the responses to the Israel-Palestine conflict: It is likely to evoke three kinds of responses:

• The moral indifference towards Palestine: The Palestinian cause has been forgotten.
  • Moral questions (over the oppression of Palestine) are avoided in a comforting desire to distribute rights and wrongs equally. For e.g. considering acts of both Israel and Hamas as terrorism.
  • Thus, there is sheer geopolitical opportunism (used by both the Arabs and the US) about the Palestine issue.
• The imperial stance of Israel:
  • Rashid Khalidi rightly points out that the Israel-Palestine conflict has both aspects:
    • It is a conflict of two peoples who recognise themselves as peoples.
    • But it is also part of a long history of settler colonialism in which “indigenous” populations are displaced.
  • This hue of colonialism has given the imperialistic character to Israel’s actions and governance: Dispossession of property, creation of second-class citizens, maintenance of oppressively governed enclaves and licence for state impunity.
  • While a 19th century-style total ethnic expulsion may not be possible, Israel has been using a thousand cuts to dispossess Palestinians of their homes.
  • It is also important to note that this project could not have been sustained without the support of imperial powers Britain in the early 20th century and the US now.
• Humanitarian response:
  • A humanitarian response deals with finding a bridge in share humanity and suffering and organising peace that use culture and history of share suffering to build those bridges.
  • It emphasises that dispossession and exile is something both communities share; they, of all the people, should be able to understand each other.
  • However, this response has yielded moderate dividends in protracted conflict. This is because, Humanity and culture, even when deeply internalised, collapse quickly when subject to fear.
    • Thus, it always falls short of acknowledging the core issue at stake: Political equality between two peoples.

Way Forward:

• Israel needs to be reminded that the ultimate consequence of trying to dominate a people is that you end up destroying the moral legitimacy of your own claims.
• The world needs to remember that we continually risk conflict if the Palestinian question is simply treated as an object of geopolitical opportunism, not as a question of basic dignity and justice.