[Want your own rant? See the Rant Meme: http://cahwyguy.livejournal.com/1029809.html This rant is for satyrlovesong, who wanted a rant on “Israeli/Palestinian relations, past, present and future.” Remember: the rant meme is a great creative writing exercise. Just follow the instructions and post it to your own journal.]
[He walks out, with a soapbox. He sets it on the ground. He climbs up on it, and speaks…]
שלום. Shalom.
سَلاَمٌ. Salaam.
You would think that two cultures with words for “peace” at the centers of their culture would figure out how to get along. But they won’t…. or they can’t…. and its stupid. What we need is a Solomon… oh, right, there’s that pesky שלום again.
For peace to be a reality, it has to be more than a word. Wikipedia says it best talking about the word: The root itself translates as “whole, safe, intact”. We won’t be able to get past the impasse in the relationship until both sides feel whole, safe, and intact.
Let’s look at this. Probably, feeling safe is the most important thing. Israel will not feel safe until there is clear recognition that the Israeli state has a right to exist, safe and secure within her boundaries. The Palestinians want the same thing: a right to exist, safe and secure in their boundaries. Yes, both sides have owned the land in question, and both want all of it. שלום. In the days of Solomon, the approach was to divide the baby. That sort of test won’t work here because the belief in the land is too strong—and there is no appropriate judge. Further, the boundaries are artificial, and thus not accepted.
Safety is a key factor in another sense. To feel safe, there needs to be a rest from bombings and violence. But when groups feel that is their only voice, that is what they resort to. Why do you think teens are the way they are? Of course, when someone is attacked, they must defend themselves with appropriate responsive force as well. Think about how parents react to their kids.
In looking at this metaphor, we have a potential way forward: respect. How do we get the parties to respect and listen to each other, instead of thinking just of their own agendas. It’s not as if they haven’t walked in each others shoes—both groups have been persecuted, both groups have been driven from homelands. But in the end, it is just like parents and teens: the only solution may be time, with the prayer that both sides survive to adulthood. If both parties can figure out how to work, for now, on just respecting each other, perhaps in time that trust can build. Then, and only then, can a true compromise be reached and the healing begin.
Do I think this can happen? Yes. We’ve seen it happen before—Northern Ireland now is not the Northern Ireland it once was. But it takes time—a lot of time—and courageous leaders, and the recognition of slow but steady progress. I look forward to that day when it arrives.
As this is a rant being written on the 4th of July—Independence Day in America&mash;let us remember that the U.S.A. was forged on a spirit of compromise. No founding father got 100% of what they wanted in the wording of the Declaration—they settled for what they could live with. Both sides need to recognize the right of the other to exist within reasonable boundaries. Once that is achieved, the rest should be much easier.
[He carefully climbs off the soapbox. He picks it up, and walks offstage.]
