Last week Margaret Atwood and Amitav Ghosh accepted the Dan David prize for literature in Israel, despite headline-making pressure from their pro-Palestinian readers to turn it down. (I use pro-Palestinian with the usual reservations, considering that there couldn’t be a more fragmented political body on Earth.)
I generally consider myself to be among those readers, if you can generally define “pro-Palestinian readers” as people who think there are better ways to handle a territorial dispute than to put the party with inferior weapons on the rough equivalent of an urban Indian reservation. Most people here will agree; but only in principle, and only until someone accuses them of being an anti-Semite for saying so–at which point they will have to equivocate and justify like a Democrat being charged with a lack of patriotism. Among Americans, it’s difficult to explain that criticism of Israel’s policies is not the same thing as hating all things Jewish; and as a matter of fact, we don’t like being equated with our administration, either (see, Bush years).
And from so far away, it is also difficult to see how many Jews in Israel and Arabs in Palestine do want peace, and are frightened, but who do let their children play together, and who do not buy into an us vs. them mentality. Writer and professor Sari Nusseibeh said it best when he said that Israelis and Palestinians are natural allies for the simple reason that their futures are inextricable. And in a much less formal context, Margaret Atwood showed the same thing when she polled many Israelis and Palestinians for their feelings about the situation, and posted their responses in a blog string, “What Was Said,” here and here.
Best, however, was Amitav Ghosh’s thoughtful and lengthy response to the charge that he and Atwood “denounced the Palestinian call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions of Israel” so that they could snub peace and share the $1 million prize. The letter is available in full here. Here are some highlights:
The gesture you were asking me to make was one that would have had the import of denying the legitimacy of all Israeli civil institutions and thus of Israel itself. As such it would have been completely contrary to my beliefs. …
Could I allow my books to be sold to readers whom I would never agree to meet? If I did agree to meet my Israeli readers would it have to be outside an institutional context? … I came to the realization that it is impossible to imagine a peaceful, non-catastrophic future for the Middle East without sincerely accepting the legitimacy of Israel; and if one accepts this then how can one deny the legitimacy of Israeli civil institutions, including universities? If one does deny this then what exactly has one accepted?
Incidentally, Elvis Costello might have more time to think about this question now that he has canceled the Israel leg of his tour. He said his decision was “a matter of instinct and conscience” and that his concerts should not be interpreted as “a political act.” Unfortunately, though, everything is.
Your politics stink and will cost you readers — and referalls. What do you know of this conflict? Why do you support people who declare war on their neighbors? Deny their right to exist? Strap bombs to their children? Claim their holy land as their own (in fact claim their prophets as their own). Sadly you’re another disciple of Chomsky and the rabid European left that never saw a Jew they didn’t like to slight. The specious claim to be anti-Israel and not anti-Jew is about the same as “separate but equal” — I like black people just not in my neighborhood. You ought to read some history on the conflict not produced by propogandists and ask yourself where your judgement comes from. The treatment if Jews in literature has been bad enough. The soft bigotry of “pro Palestine” folks like yourself legitimizes much worse.
Dear Reader, I approved this one comment because everybody’s got a right to their opinion. Yes, it’s true: my mind is blank as a babe’s (but not as a disciple’s), and I know absolutely nothing about the Middle East.
And I strive to know even less, because in my very limited experience, the “knowledge” we take for granted sometimes hides the grossest prejudice.
Also, thank you for the good typographical catch. It’s another example of how easy it is to lose the forest for the trees.
I appreciate this post, Sarah. As a Palestinian myself I certainly feel marginalized in every way possible and feel like there is a lack of questioning and a lack of trying to understand the conflict in the West. My mother is a refugee who was forced out of her home when she was a very young child. My grandparents, mother and aunts and uncles had no choice but to leave all of their belongings and history- my history- behind. So in my opinion, killing anyone is wrong, but so is taking their homes. My mothers home was taken by Zionists and because of this I will never know the country where my ancestors were born and buried, which we all know means that I will never truly know my self.
Regardless of my heritage, I am friends with many Jews because what we (our two histories) mutually understand is how it feels to be ignored and ridiculed. Pro-Palestine is not bigotry, in fact it is far from. Pro-Palestine does not mean anti-Jew nor anti-Israel. It means anti-illegal settlements, anti-ignorance, and no tolerance towards such excessive self interest at the cost of others.
Unfortunately I have lost hope that conditions will ever improve for Palestinians. As long as there are people who believe that we have made up our recent history of suffering, we are doomed to become a people without a homeland forever.