Reflections on Israel and Palestine, Part 1

The incident between Israeli commandoes and the flotilla of aid ships this week caught most of the world by surprise. The details of what actually occurred are still murky, so it is unclear if the commandoes acted out of self-defense, or reacted disproportionately to the activists on the ships. So far, it looks like Israel completely botched this operation...they sure aren't making any friends right now. We can debate the legality of the Israeli landing on the ships, but Israel will say that the seaborne interception was a necessary part of their blockade of Gaza (although many people, including me, would disagree). We can also debate the legality of the blockade itself, and there are strong arguments on both sides. Israel portrays its policy of blockade as defensive, purposed to keep the current trickle of arms into Gaza from becoming a flood. While the isolation of Gaza seems like a defensive necessity to many Israelis and may or may not be legal (international law is such a gray area), in effect it has ghettoized the 1.5 million Palestinians who live there. Morally, this is indefensible. There should be another way.

From my perspective, as a 20-something middle-class American, I cannot influence any of these policies directly. I can’t change Israeli public opinion to be more compassionate towards the imprisoned Gazans, and I can’t convince Hamas to officially recognize Israel. I’m primarily concerned with the US foreign policy towards Israel and Palestine that my elected officials have created. So let's take a second to briefly review some events that have led up to this point:

In 2006, there was a relatively free (especially compared to most of the states in the Middle East) internationally monitored election in Palestine. Fatah, the incumbent party, lost and Hamas won. Reasons given for Fatah’s defeat, despite being the favorite of the West, include the lack of progress towards Palestinian independence after decades of occupation, a perception of incompetence and corruption, and being the favorite of the West. The US and most of the Western world refused to recognize Hamas as the elected government of Palestine due to their militancy and refusal to recognize Israel. The Bush Administration’s strategy was to isolate Hamas in its Gaza stronghold so that it would fail to govern properly. Meanwhile, the West Bank, which was governed by Hamas leadership for only a short while after the election, was supposed to prosper and develop, thereby delegitimizing Hamas. The ensuing contrast between a poor, isolated, Hamas-governed Gaza Strip and a developing West Bank, now governed by technocrats, was theoretically going to convince people to overthrow Hamas and re-join the Western-approved Palestine—or, at least convince Hamas to recognize Israel and renounce its dedication to Israel's destruction.

While this strategy, of which the Israeli blockade of Gaza is a key component, has succeeded in impoverishing Gazans, it has failed miserably at its primary goal of wooing Hamas or its supporters. This strategy failed because it pretends the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza do not exist. Ultimately, an event like this week’s botched interception-at-sea was bound to happen under the strain of blockading so many people.

Unfortunately, President Obama, despite promising an outreach to the Muslim world in an inspiring speech last year, has failed to change the US stance on one of most important issues to the Muslim world. The US policy of non-negotiation with Hamas makes about as much sense as Hamas refusing to recognize Israel. Although Hamas has perpetrated horrible terrorist acts (and this should not be taken lightly), it makes no sense to ignore them. Designating a democratically elected government as a mere terrorist organization completely misses the complexity of the situation. Of course, I believe that Hamas should never attack Israeli civilians or employ suicide bombers. This is so wrong and hateful. But I also believe that Israel should stop displacing Palestinian civilians from their homes--a cruelty that kills the soul of a people bonded to the land. So often the American view of Israel/Palestine is one-sided. We need to understand the context in which Hamas exists.

(to be continued...)