Jeremy Bowen has written another article summarising the conflict in the middle east in which he refers authoritatively to the fundamental differences between the two sides.
With signs of strain palpably peeping through the prose, he fulfills his obligation to present Israel’s case, as all impartial journalists must. To set the scene, he describes some tacky, militaristic fripperies tourists can purchase at Tel Aviv airport. Inflatable helium balloons shaped like helicopter gunships and decorated with missiles, and suchlike.
For pathos, he mentions the tragedy of the son of a celebrated dead Israeli hero who was killed recently in an air-training accident. He recounts some poignant observations from the funeral. A continuous thread; father and son laid to rest, early Zionist pioneers, “farmers with guns.” Thus, the case for Israel is concluded. But not quite. Suddenly, in a line all on its own there comes a startling insight.
“Many Israelis feel as if they are surrounded by enemies.”
No. Really? So that explains the military style toys! Many Israelis feel, because of “historical vibrations,” that the Arabs are unremittingly hostile. Is this an illusion? Or just some bad hysterical vibes. Jeremy Bowen says that worries over Iran push into perspective the Palestinian problem, which boils down to a squabble over a bit of stolen land.
Any fule kno – cos the telly tells us so – that The Jews Stole The Palestinians’ Land. Now Jeremy informs us, by way of innocently relaying ‘Palestinian beliefs,’ that what the Israelis are after is “Not just the soil and rock, but the water underneath it too.” So give it back immediately you damned Joos, so there can be peace.
There is one fundamental thing missing in Bowen’s analysis of the fundamental differences between the two sides.
Islamic Fundamentalism.
This curious blind spot is due to moral equivalence. It involves projecting our own pacifist and altruistic ideals onto others and ‘denying that a moral hierarchy can be assessed.’
Those who proudly adorn themselves with the Kaffeyeh and proclaim their solidarity with the Palestinians have had to confer upon them a sentimental chocolate-box fiction of wronged and suffering passivity. How else could they justify siding with a people whose faith embraces values diametrically opposed to their own liberal ones? And anyone who says so is a racist Islamophobe.
Forget Bowen’s wrong-headed interpretation, compare it with this eloquent analysis. Don’t ask the Jews to offer the Palestinians a bunch of helium love-hearts, or urge them to give ‘their land’ back; rock, soil and Israel.