The Goldstone Report

From Palestine News Network (the article is longish, but worth your time).

The Goldstone Report (it's 575 pages long).

A pro-Israeli response (also worth the read). A few of the arguments are made without proof or with flawed logic. One refers to the HRC Resolution and indicates that conclusions regarding crimes against humanity had already been made before Goldstone's information gathering mission even took place. This is a correct contention, but the Resolution talks about crimes going all the way back to 1967, ones that had already been documented; it calls for further investigation and a recommendation on how to handle the present issues. The site also questions the validity of having the crimes investigated by both Israelis and Palestinians. "How can Goldstone imply that Hamas or the Palestinian Authority operates a legal system that comes close to anything resembling that of a western democracy," the site asks. As if any other legal system is incapable of determining whether or not a crime has been committed.

Leaflets the above site mentions.

A Palestinian view about the leaflets and general situation they address.

Another perspective.

Power(less) Struggle

David Newman and Ghazi Falah's article "Bridging the Gap: Palestinian and Israeli discourses on autonomy and statehood" left me feeling irritated. I really have a lot to say, but promise to keep this post short.

First, the sheer number of interpretations of the concepts of autonomy and self determination (or the way groups will twist these words to suit their own needs) astounds me.

Second (and this is nearly word for word the comment I left on Ashley H.'s blog), It seems to me that Israel only ever acknowledged Palestine in human terms (instead of as a "refugee problem") as a result of external pressures. The article made me feel like Israel doesn't really want to deal with the Palestinians, considers them vastly inferior, and wants to get rid of the "problem" as long as it doesn't involve giving Palestine any power. (Including trying to "give them to" Jordan.) This reminds me vaguely of some other major historical events, ones a little geographically closer to home. What might they be... Hmm...

The History Of Palestine

I've always been a little torn regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I've also always had a much clearer view of Israel's side of the conflict than of Palestine's. While I have tried to keep in mind how the Palestinians must feel, how I know I, too, would still harbor resentment for a deal that forced me from my home, it's difficult to see both sides when your knowledge begins in the middle. This video, "The History Of Palestine," definitely gave me more perspective.

(Follow this link to the video if it doesn't work for you here.)

I thought of the Palestinian perspective as that of anger for loss of home and land. But they lost much, much more. If I had ever bothered to really think about how the state of Israel came about, I'm sure I would've figured out all the bloodshed. Maybe I didn't want to think about that aspect of the "transition." But I don't think I would have imagined quite this story. People forced from their land and homes by what amounts to a brutal regime. The parallels drawn between the jews establishing Israel and what they were trying to forever escape from seem as if they were pulled from some fiction.

And how can we not sympathize with people who can look at their homes but are told "These are no longer yours"? With people who can see their country but are told "This is no longer yours"? How can we sympathize so much with those who take up residence in another's home when that other's clothes, dishes, and blood still freshly stain the heavy air of the place? We are made to feel as if we must choose one group to support, but how can we when the jews have been on both sides of this literal fence within the past 60 years? Our government takes sides, but that's easy to do when you view one side as the victim and the other as the villain. That's easy to do when you don't talk about how the fighting is coming from both sides. And it's easy to garner the public's support, too, when they are told so much about the Israeli half of the conflict and left to figure the Palestinian half out for themselves. It's easier to choose the side for which you've been conditioned to feel sympathy.

Even in light of "The History Of Palestine," we must remember that we have been shown the disheartening beginning of the conflict, but that blame and compassion fall to both sides for the decades that have intervened between then and now.