March 13, 2008
On the very threshold of the joyous Jewish month of Adar II, Israelis and Jews throughout the world were once again plunged into mourning by the murder of eight innocent young men, most of them teenagers, at Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Mercaz Harav. Sadly, many now believe that the deaths of these yeshiva students last Thursday night following the Israeli incursion into Gaza may mark the beginning of a third Palestinian intifada.
The premeditated, incomprehensible gunning down of the yeshiva students brought into stark contrast the depth of the cultural divide between both sides engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. While not minimizing nor trivializing the tragic loss of civilian Palestinian lives during Israel’s incursion into Gaza, these young men were not collateral damage of a military action. The murder of innocent civilians is senseless regardless of the situation, but sadly, it is the difference in how two religions and cultures view human life that is most upsetting.
Already in the Book of Genesis it is recorded that as Jacob prepared for his feared meeting with his older brother Esau, who was approaching with a large army, Jacob divided his family into two camps. He then placed the women and children in the camp farthest away from where the brotherly reunion was likely to occur. Jacob, presumably, was trying to protect women and children from the fighting, while improving the chance for escape should he be unable to reconcile with his brother.
The pleasure over the Jerusalem massacre that was expressed in some circles of the Arab world, especially in Iran and in the Gaza Strip, suggests a set of values antithetical to those of the Israelis. So, too, do the Palestinian snipers and rocket crews placed in and among Arab homes and apartments containing large number of civilians. The bystanders living there were led to believe that the Israelis would not retaliate despite direct attacks against their own forces because of the presence of civilian human shields. Something is wrong with a value system that places women, the young, and the elderly in harm’s way.
There is a supreme political absurdity here as well. Only when innocent Jewish blood is spilled is the international community capable of recognizing the incongruity, the insanity, and the frustration Israel faces in its daily efforts to maintain peace and security. But when its own military acts in response, those actions are invariably labeled as overly aggressive or disproportionate. Jews are sympathetic only when they are victims.
In Western eyes all human life is sacred — at least in theory. Certainly there is an ugly history, especially among Christians, in which many groups and peoples, including Jews, were treated as inferior, at best. But we like to think that all human beings are recognized as God’s children, to be treated with the same dignity and respect.
If common morality, not economic exigencies, were to dominate the politics of the Middle East, perhaps Israel would get a more reasonable shake than it gets. World leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, were quick to condemn the shooting in Jerusalem. But if they adopted strategies to address some of the underlying causes of the conflict more proactively, it might begin to move the region into a negotiating mode.
After a brief interval, the formal negotiating discussions must resume. Any possibility that last November’s talks in Annapolis, Md., will produce a peace before Jan. 20, 2009, have vanished. Efforts need to be made for a process that would include at least indirect talks with Hamas within the next few months. If such modalities can be developed through mutual compromise and confidence-building measures, if Hizbullah remains in check, and if some prisoner exchanges occur, then the departing Bush administration will have achieved far more success than it has any right to expect.
With the holiday of Purim, the Jewish people transformed what Haman had planned as day of tragedy for the Jews into a joyous and happy occasion. Perhaps there is once again a possibility to find even within the tragedy in Jerusalem an opportunity for joy to emerge.
Dr. Gilbert N. Kahn is a professor of political science at Kean University in Union.
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