The Middle East is dominated by a culture of hatred and hostility.
Both Israelis and Arabs have been locked in a vicious circle of
violence and destruction which has rendered them victims of
uninterrupted wars and hostility.
I grew up in Gaza in a culture that hated everything Jewish. It was
always difficult to see the human being in any Israeli. The Jews,
the Zionists, the Israelis were always the enemy. Similarly, the
Israeli culture was pervaded by an obsession with the Arab enemy
who was trying to push the Jews into the sea. Both communities have
lived the horrors of war and murder, and the beastly representation
of the enemy. With the emergence of new times and the
implementation of the peace accords, the Palestinians and the
Israelis are confronting a challenge to their perception of each
other which was always dehumanizing and demonical.
The Middle East conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis is a
deadly battle between two victims. The Israelis, survivors of a
long history of persecution and discrimination, are trapped in
their collective memories of brutal suffering which culminated in
the horrors of the Holocaust. In their attempt to change their fate
and to take their destiny into their hands, they were led by the
Zionist pioneers to establish a Jewish homeland and a Jewish
nation. Their choice was the Biblical land of Palestine, and the
Palestinians were to become their victims.
For the Palestinians, the feeling of victimization runs deep. Their
experience of trauma is overwhelming and their inner psyche is
injured. Their collective awareness is dominated by the sense of
defeat and helplessness. Rebellions, like the Intifada, are
expressions of the will to liberate the self and to take control of
life, usually bringing with it a sense of euphoria and belonging.
All their attempts, however, were cruelly crushed or smothered,
which has led to the deepening of their despair and
impotence.
The Jews of the Middle East
In the course of their history, Palestinians have found themselves
becoming the Jews of the Middle East. They have suffered
persecution and discrimination in every comer of the Middle East
and, most painfully, in their own country. Their uprooting in 1948
from their homes and villages in Palestine has left an inner focus
of fear and insecurity. Victims of what they perceived as a grand
scheme of colonial Zionism and Imperialism, they suddenly found
themselves in refugee camps both inside their country and in the
neighboring Arab countries. In later years they were to live under
the total control of the enemy and to endure a harsh life under
military occupation. From the early days of their uprooting,
Palestinians pioneered and joined the Arab national movement as the
vehicle for liberation and return. The failure of Arab nationalism
and the death of Jamal Abdel Nasser left the Arab masses bewildered
and without direction. It is this environment of frustration and
powerlessness which has paved the way for the Palestinian national
movement, and later the radical Islamic groups, the latter offering
the people an alternative to death through redemption and the
return to God.
There were brief moments in their recent history when Palestinians
savored victory. In the first year of the Intifada there was a
state of euphoria when Palestinians were zealous to join the
popular uprising. Participation in the Intifada meant that everyone
was able to exercise control over destiny and events. The
heightened morale allowed the Palestinians to see themselves as
equal to the Israelis as they confronted the military forces and
experienced moral victory, albeit at a heavy price. However, the
people gradually lost the initiative when the Intifada was changed
into a dictated form of resistance. Such a state, which was
accompanied by a harsh Israeli response of oppressive and
humiliating tactics, led to the failure of the Intifada, and yet
another defeat. The tension which had energized the original spirit
of resistance was then turned inwardly into violent behavior of
Palestinians against their fellow people.
The intervention of the PLO in the Intifada through remote control
from Tunis has seriously damaged the Palestinian resistance. The
PLO was already battered and suffering from disunity. Its
leadership was struggling to survive against forced exile and
against starvation, which was dangerously threatening its existence
following its stand alongside Saddam Hussein during the Gulf war.
The rise of the fundamentalist group, Hamas, had already taken
place. This group, which poses as the divine alternative for the
crushed and desperate Palestinians, has a powerful appeal. It
continues to challenge the secular Palestinian groups and has
stubbornly refused to participate in the current peace process in
any form; indeed, its reservations and objections are shared by
many Palestinians.
Palestinians at a Low Ebb
The Declaration of Principles and the Cairo Agreement were signed
by two unequal parties. Israel has in effect dictated the terms of
the Agreement to the Palestinians, whose leadership entered the
negotiations from a position of inner weakness edging on total
collapse, thus giving grounds for a big measure of submission.
There is a growing consensus among the Palestinians that the peace
accords have devastated their dream of liberation, reduced the size
of Palestine even further and the PLO leadership to a ghetto
life.
Underneath such a mood lies the feeling of defeat in sharp contrast
to the euphoria of victory experienced during the initial stages of
the Intifada. Indeed, it was such a feeling which has prepared the
much needed platform for Arafat's initiative of peace. But now, the
sensation of loss is bewildering and overwhelming, making the road
to peace replete with potential hazards The Palestinian position
has reached its lowest ebb due to the undemocratic character of the
PLO and the Palestinian National Movement. It will only be through
the democratic participation of the people that Palestinians can
rebuild their community into a state, and can contribute to the
stability of the area. As yet the signs are alarming, due to the
domination of one political faction, and the repeated postponement
of the elections.
Polarization
Palestinian growth as a people and a nation was stunted due to the
long history of foreign rule and particularly because of the
twenty-seven years of occupation. Paradoxical relations with the
alien rulers have developed into both dependency and defiance. The
economic infrastructure is devastated, health and educational
services are rudimentary, water resources are depleted and local
security is almost non-existent. More serious are the effects on
the human element. Palestinians under occupation have suppressed
debate on all aspects of their cultural life and social
development, as their energy was invested in combating the
Occupation. The call for freeing the land from the Israelis was the
utmost priority. In any case, attempts to organize intellectual,
political or popular movements were crushed in their infancy by the
Israelis.
The peace process has, in its turn, resulted in new divisions and
sharp polarization on the national level. Tension is building high
as people fear further escalation of violence against Israelis and
among Palestinians. Targeting Israelis by Hamas would undoubtedly
expand the already wide support for the Islamic movement which has
anyway gained ground as tales of moral and financial corruption of
the PLO are rumored.
The Palestinians, today, are a nation coming out of the rubble. At
the communal level, they are still in the tribal stage of
development where the clan is the main source of security and form
of identity. Discipline continues to be the accepted concept within
the family and the community, including political institutions.
Thus, throughout their modem history, political organizations have
been authoritarian and oppressive. In such a context, the
intellectual and cultural life of the people tends to be poor, and
women continue to be oppressed. Therefore, Palestinians have to
address taboos and bring into the open ideological, cultural and
political weaknesses which have infiltrated their national movement
and seriously damaged their individual and collective awareness.
They have to address their dependency on the outside world, their
self-indulgent image of the victim, their own cycle of violence and
oppression, their conflict between religious and secular identity,
and the erosion of their national identity. Above all they have to
confront the loss of the dream of liberating all of Palestine and
the accompanying grief. They will have to exercise democratic
debate and respect the right to oppose. Only then will a new style
of political and community leadership evolve.
Reexamination of the Israeli Identity
Although I have no intention of going into a detailed examination
of the Israeli state of mind, a few observations perhaps are worth
considering. Israel has cultivated a culture that has become
entrenched in fear edging on paranoia, and for good reason. The
effects of that, however, are dangerous. Racism has taken root in
the Israeli culture, and has meticulously suppressed guilt and
favored the dehumanization of the enemy, encompassing all Arabs.
The victorious Sabra has turned into an arrogant colonialist and
oppressor. With the comfortable position of the eternal victim,
Israelis were projecting and spreading much violence. And for
generations Israel was identifying itself with Europe and
suppressing all signs of identification with the Arab world from
where half of its citizens were drawn. Israel and Israelis need to
reexamine their identity and to venture beyond Zionism into a wider
identity, away from the confines of the chosen people ideology. The
challenges of the new times are already exposing the weaknesses of
both cultures, as the latest episodes of violence which shook the
area have testified. More courage is needed from the intellectual
community and from the leadership, if promises and vows are to be
translated into reality.