Two weeks later while student teaching I met a Palestinian woman and heard another side. When I researched what she said, it opened a whole new world of understanding. I also researched the history of the Zionist movement.
Years later, living in Geneva, I've made many Palestinian acquaintances and my sympathy is with them. I should add I have Jewish friends as well (not the I have a black-friend syndrome),
I continue to look at sources other than the U.S.'s and often they portray a totally different perspective on the conflict.
If I discredit the violence, I can see both sides.
Michelle Goldberg on the front page of the International New York Times (I still think of it as the IHT) called the events at the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem "spectacle of arrogance" and "grotesque." I assume by her name she is Jewish. I did a scan on the internet, but nothing allied her with any religion. Not that it is important. The words she chose were accurate in my opinion.
It wasn't just the carnage going on a few miles away but the concept of an anti-Jewish pastor being there.
I understand the way Israel is supported in the US why people side with it. Most are too busy to look at the other side. I do wonder when Israeli kills a thousand plus in a battle and only lose a couple of dozen people think that Israel has the right to protect itself but not those in Gaza.
I wonder that if say all NH residents were herded suddenly into concentration-camp like places and their property were given to the Indians, if they might look a little more generously on the plight of the Palestinians. Especially if the Indians continued to pour into the little land left were being settled by the Indians despite the UN and international community declaring them illegal. What if the Indians continued their raids on the homes and land with the concentration camp? How many times can
I wish everyone who supports the Israeli side without ever hearing the Palestinian side would find a Palestinian refugee or several to talk to--bring faces to the issue.
Then decide.
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1 comment:
Thank you for writing this. I can't agree with you more. I too had the opportunity to see the other side. I lived in Ramallah for a year and a half, and it was an education. We all must be responsible and always try to know and understand the "other side(s)" of every issue and not blindly accept that we are fed by governments and media. We don't have to agree, but we must be open to listen and hear.
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