January 6-12, 2005

slant

Separation Anxiety

Middle East unrest, right on Rittenhouse Square.

by Mary Shaw

World leaders and political pundits are speculating that the Jan. 9 Palestinian elections might pave the way for renewed Middle East peacemaking efforts. This is encouraging, and it's certainly a reasonable expectation, as many believe that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat served as a major impediment to Middle East peace. However, I suspect that a lasting Middle East peace will ultimately depend on a significant attitude adjustment on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Recently, I stopped by a political demonstration on Rittenhouse Square. It had been advertised by a local Palestinian solidarity organization as a protest against Israel's "separation wall." The wall is being constructed purportedly to stop Palestinians from entering Israel to carry out suicide attacks. However, the wall is not actually being built along the border between Israel and the occupied territories. Instead, it sits mostly (close to 90 percent) inside the West Bank. It therefore is actually cutting off communities and families from each other and separating hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians from their work, education, health-care facilities and other essential services and infrastructure, including their farming land that is a main source of subsistence for Palestinians in the region.

For these reasons, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have issued statements declaring that the wall in its present configuration violates the human rights of Palestinian civilians and constitutes a serious breach of Israel's obligations under international law.

As one might have predicted, when I arrived at the demonstration, I found several groups of Zionist counterdemonstrators concurrently vying for their own soapboxes on the square. As I observed the highly emotional exchanges between the two sides, it occurred to me that this is why the violence in the Middle East won't stop.

Each side was on the defensive. Each side went on pointing fingers and spewing blame, hate rhetoric and racial slurs, but never really listening. I thought about how the same thing is happening in the Middle East, with both the Palestinians and the Israelis engaging in senseless killing while pointing fingers and blaming the whole problem on the other side. It reminded me of a childish school-yard fight, the kind that breaks out between children who have lived long enough to have assumed their parents' prejudices by osmosis.

The difference, though, is that school-yard fights involve sticks and stones, not bombs and bulldozers.

As I introduced myself to various demonstrators on both sides, I mentioned that I was involved with Amnesty International, and I remarked on how sad it is to see all the violence and death and human rights violations on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The responses were sadly predictable, but still shocking to this idealistic humanitarian.

Several of the Zionist counterdemonstrators pointed at me and shouted that Amnesty International is an anti-Semitic organization. It would appear that they don't like the fact that Amnesty speaks out against the human rights violations on both sides of the fence (or wall, in this case), including those committed by the Israelis. Meanwhile, the pro-Palestinian factions expressed their disappointment with Amnesty's political neutrality and our condemnation of human rights violations by Palestinians against the Israelis.

Yes, Amnesty International has consistently condemned violations by all parties in this tragic cycle of violence that has killed and injured many hundreds of civilians on both sides. We condemn the killing of Israeli civilians, including children, by Palestinian suicide bombers. At the same time, we condemn the destruction of Palestinian homes, land and infrastructure by the Israeli army (using U.S.-supplied Caterpillar bulldozers, incidentally). Human rights violations are wrong no matter who commits them.

Each side needs to step back, set aside their egos, look inside themselves, and think of the children. Until all parties involved can stop and see the humanity on the other side and take responsibility for their own part in the ongoing cycle of violence, I fear that the fighting will just continue indefinitely.

Mary Shaw is the Philadelphia area coordinator for Amnesty International. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (800 words), contact Duane Swierczynski, City Paper editor in chief, 123 Chestnut St., Third Floor, Phila., Pa., 19106 or e-mail Duane Swierczynski.