In the news this week is Obama's speech on Middle East policy, which included some clarification on the continuing conflict between Israel and Palestine. And that's a conflict straight from the Old Testament - a David versus Goliath story where, bizarrely, David's descendants have become the terrifying oppressive behemoth and Palestine has stepped in to play the role of David, armed with sling and stones.
Between them stands a United States that really wishes it was anywhere else... because it knows how this story ends, and it has picked the wrong side.
See, back in the 1940s -- flush with winning WWII but carrying guilt for our part in ignoring the plight of the Jews under Hitler -- the US accepted the idea of re-creating a new country for a people we saw as scrappy underdogs fighting for a homeland and committed to ideals we shared. We even convinced ourselves it would all work out in the end.
Silly, silly us.
We either forgot or denied the fact that in order to create a new country, an existing one would need to be destroyed.
We either forgot or denied the fact that people aren't the only things that fight for life - so do ideas, countries, and cultures.
These things were easy for the US to forget or deny -- because we had already "pulled an Israel" when we kicked the American Indians out of their (now our) land. Sure, the natives fought back, but eventually they quieted -- and so, we believed, would the Palestinians.
Silly, silly us.
Unrecognized by the US at the time, the Palestinians were not American Indians redux. They had Islam in common with their neighbors. The world was growing smaller and smaller as communication technologies grew, so the situation in Palestine was harder to hide. And the Muslim neighbors, who had suffered enough of their own colonial experiences, understood and empathized with the Palestinian plight. And what they saw and felt... they did not like.
So how did we get it so wrong at the outset?
Simple ... The US was different then.
Back then:
- We taught our children that American Indians were heartless heathens hell-bent on killing the hearty and hard-working White Man.
- We actively suppressed the civil and human rights of our Black citizens - denying them entry into all manner of Whites Only establishments (from basic bathrooms to cushy country clubs), denying them the right to vote, and more.
- We refused to believe that anything done by the American Government could possibly be wrong (we were, after all, one nation under God that had won all its wars at that time).
Given such a distorted mythology and feelings of moral certitude, back then it would have been easy to believe that helping Israel by pushing out the Palestinians would be a way to redeem ourselves for past mistakes -- a karmic do-over. And this time we would be more compassionate in removing the Palestinians from their land than we were with the American Indians.
Silly, silly us.
We either forgot or denied that there's no good way to remove a people from their land.
Which leads me to the crux of the issue:
We are not that America anymore.
- Now we understand our shameful behavior towards the American Indians - both in our repeated breaking of treaties with them and in our harsh and inhumane treatment as we forced them off their land. (Sound familiar?)
- Now we see that the American Government can make mistakes - and big ones! (see Vietnam)
- Now we are stuck with the bargain struck -- stuck between the New David and the Goliath we created and armed.
So... now what?
That is the question. Because here and now we find ourselves -- a different people than we were in the 1940s -- with our bodies committed to one group, and our moral compass pulled inexorably toward another. In this modern version of the biblical tale, our American souls want the New Davids to win. We need them to win to save ourselves -- and that's why Israeli/Palestinian peace is spiritually important to the US, even if we don't yet realize it.
If Obama chooses to support Israel no matter what Israel does -- thereby continuing the sins of forgetting and denying -- the body lives but the soul is wounded.
If Obama chooses to support Palestine (even by abstention at the UN) -- we can help transform the Goliath we co-created into a human participant in a process toward peace, and help heal our soul.
The rest of the world has started to realize the morals of this story and is beginning to work toward supporting the New Davids.
As for the US and Obama, I have my hopes, but I suspect we are not quite there yet. I guess we will need to stay tuned so see which he will choose.
A few notes:
But They Killed Jesus - Of course, not all Americans empathize with the Palestinians. The strongest advocates for Israel are found among the US Christian Conservatives. The great irony, of course, is that this same group was previously filled with people who hated (and many still do) the Jews for "killing Jesus". I guess if Christians can forgive that, in time they can forgive and embrace Palestinians too -- I just hope it doesn't take a couple thousand years.
Not Politically Correct - Those readers from the US will recognize that the appropriate term for American Indians is "Native Americans." But since I'm also writing for those outside the US, I used the old terminology.
