Letter to a Pro-Palestinian Extremist

Dear redacted,

Thanks for inviting me to your presentation on your recent trip to Israel and Palestine over the summer. It sounds like you learned a lot! As you know, I care a whole lot about what happens over there. It was kind of sad to see how the trip radicalized you in a ways that push us apart.

Yes, it's true that the occupation is horrible, what will settler's rampaging, the Israeli soldiers letting it happen, and the Israelis not caring too much. It is unfair that the daily evils of occupation aren't properly seen by the media as forms of violence every bit as wrong as suicide bombings and other acts of terror. Checkpoints, the strangulation of Gaza, the increase in size of settlements - these are good reasons to protest and call on folks to be in solidarity with the Palestinians. I was happy to hear your eyewitness testimony.

But it almost sounded as if you think that Palestinian acts of terror are somehow less worthy of condemnation than the uprooting of olive trees, or that the hate of Palestinians towards Israelis is reasonable, while Israeli hate towards Palestinians is racist and unjustified. You championed a political vision in which Israelis no longer have an Israel, while Palestinians get to have thier Palestine. There was nothing in your talk about a vision that might compel partisans on both sides to finally make peace.

I think that for you, this is a morality tale missing a final act. The victims are the good side, and they need to win by defeating the bad guys, and all that's missing is for the bystanders to offer more support. It's classic American style cowboy movie heroics, only you want the Indians to successfully massacre the 7th Cavalry for a change.

There's something else as well. You explicitly condemned folks who make an effort to see both sides, talk about nuance, or reflect on history as extending beyond the Palestinian tragedy and including the Holocaust as well. What makes a black and white scenario so attractive is that it (supposedly) funnels people into your activism container, ready to be deployed. But it also serves to increase the level of hatred and misunderstanding. I remember an action carried out in my alma mater, UMass/Amherst in 1992: the local Palestinian Solidarity Club taped an Israeli flag to the path leading to the administration building on add/drop day. They were sort of forcing people to step on the flag, as a statement about Israeli misbehavior. They wanted to say: if you support Palestine you hate Israel. Is this really true?

Finally, aren't you at least a little bit troubled by supporting a one state solution when most Palestinians say they are working for a two state solution? It's like, hey you American solidarity activist, thanks for demanding what we 'really' want instead of supporting our elected representatives.... Most Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem do NOT want a shared state with Israelis. They've had that for 40 years now, and not one of the two major parties there (Hamas/Fatah) are endorsing this solution. It's one thing to be a vanguardist here in the United States on American issues, but to do that for another people? Makes me think of the silly folks who denounced the ANC in the late 80's and declared that they support the Pan African Congress instead. Where are they now?

My assessment is that witnessing the brutality of the occupation, the worst representatives of Israeli society side by side with some of the best on the Palestinian side has knocked you off center a bit. Not in the way it should, by increasing your empathy for all oppressed people, but the other way - by leaving you with a little thirst for retribution. This is a dangerous enough sensibility for the Palestinians; but for a revolutionary tourist it's totally out of place.

Call me when you decide you'd like to switch back to being a 'supporter of Israeli Palestinian peace' again instead of a 'Palestinian solidarity activist.' I don't think both sides share equal responsibility, but I want the future for both sides to be equally bright.