The Palestinian Side

I would like to write a post inspired by a comment left about some things that I said in my “Israel and Egypt” post.

“anonymous said…
The problem I've found with the Palestinian's argument is that they are complaining about being kicked off "their" land when they were the ones that kicked out the Jews in the first place (I guess I should say "one of the groups" since the Jews have been displaced by several civilizations).”

While what was stated by anonymous may be true, I think it demands of the Palestinians way more understanding than any but the truly and exceptionally enlightened can be expected to display. Try telling someone who has lived on a piece of land all their life -their parents lived there, their grandparents lived there- that there is a problem with the fact that they see it as their land. Despite what history tells them, they will still see it as their land and I can't say that I blame them. I think that if Native Americans decided to mount an uprising and some Utes came along to kick me out of my house, I would be pretty upset about it. Do they, historically, have a right to this land? Probably, but I sure don't think that argument would make me feel any better about being driven out.

Me: "Look, I'm sorry your ancestors lost their property, but I didn't do it to them. This land is mine. Possession is 9/10ths the law, and all that."

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it really wouldn’t take the truly enlightened to leave the land they’ve lived on for centuries (or more) without arguing. Maybe the truly enlightened would be those who have the presence of mind to understand that that game of ‘Who Came First’ may not be a game that even the Jews themselves can afford to play. What about those who lived there before the Jews? Do we keep kicking people out of their homes as more archaeological discoveries are made? “Sorry, it was just discovered that there was actually a civilization here before your ancestors. I’m afraid the NEW true owners will now be moving in. So, could you kindly shove off?” Do we keep doing that until we finally hit upon a past civilization from which ALL of us came? At that point, wouldn't we all have claim to everywhere? That would sort of leave us back where we started. In the meantime, how many thousands of years have to pass before the Jews claim on Israel/Palestine expires -or anyone's claim on any land? How long before the common law of adverse possession can take effect?

My mind keeps going back to the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem. The museum takes you through examples of anti-Semitic sentiment in Europe and the beginnings of Jewish persecution in Germany before it moves on to much more disturbing crimes against humanity. While still in the beginning stages, before the major atrocities that followed, I read about the persecutions, about how the Jews were treated as second class citizens, about the prejudices and misplaced biases….and I pondered. I pondered about humanity’s inclination towards blindness and hypocrisy. I still remember passing person after person in the early stages of that museum and hearing them whisper, “Don’t they realize that they are doing the same thing that was done to them?” How easy it is for us to see the wrongs that have left scars in our own lives while ignoring the scars we are leaving in the lives of others.