I have a new resolution for the new year: Instead of resolutions, I’m going to admit any unpleasant truths about myself that came to light in the previous year. And then I’m going to work hard to accept them.
Not change them . just accept them.
You see, people don’t change. Not really. They merely adjust to whatever harsh reality happens to be breathing down their neck, at that particular moment. Any change they make is fleeting, driven by situation. And once the circumstances that led to this change abate, people revert to their normal, petty, apathetic states. I’m no exception.
Which brings me to my first Admission of Unpleasant Truths TM for 2009: Even with all the atrocities taking place in Gaza at the moment, I have to admit I don’t care about the Palestinian question one bit. And before you drop the paper in mock, dramatic outrage, try this one on for size: neither do you. Because if you did, you’d ask yourself if the question in question, is the right question.
To put it in slightly less torturous terms, are you really concerned about the Palestinians and their enduring plight or is it something else that’s gotten you this worked up? I think it’s two things.
Firstly, you’re obviously (and justifiably) consumed with sympathy for the countless helpless, hapless civilians who are caught up in this deadly game of political stake-raising. It’s always the simple folk who pay the price for the corruption and recklessness of their leaders, and it’s heart-wrenching to watch.
Secondly, you’re suffering from a dented sense of pride because your fellow Arabs/ Muslim underdogs are being bullied into submission, while you writhe in the agony of your (and your country’s) limp and impotent response.
Let me deal with the last reason first: I have no sympathy or time for your dented pride, be it as an Arab or as a Muslim, so I won’t dwell much on that. Pride is a fake currency that’s peddled by those who live far from fear and can afford to dabble in it. The people who are in the midst of terror, are too busy trying to stay alive. So either find a way to take some action to help or get over it.
From a humanitarian perspective, I have a lot more sympathy for your reaction. It’s understandable that the scale and magnitude of suffering would be enough to elicit your outrage and haunt your dreams. But I’d add to that my hope that the sight of any kind of suffering would be enough to elicit your compassion, not just the Palestinian kind. Surely, a suicide bombing at an Israeli pizza parlour is just as horrific as a cluster-bombed Palestinian residence? Rhetorical question. I hope.
I understand where you’re coming from but you need to understand where I’m coming from: the Palestinians didn’t start suffering when this conflict began three weeks ago; they’ve always been suffering.
If you were truly concerned about them in any meaningful way, you wouldn’t wait for a humanitarian catastrophe to take place, so you could express your outrage in letters to newspapers, in conversations at coffee shops or, if you live in the West, meaningless, ineffectual rallies filled with dramatic-but-empty gestures like throwing shoes at American embassies. Didn’t you hear? An Iraqi already tried throwing a pair at President Bush.
He missed.
But I don’t blame you (and by extension myself) for your enduring apathy. After all, if you examine the history of the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, it is a breathtaking in its disregard for human life, human rights and for the very idea of humanity. After all, if they don’t care about making things better, why should we?
Exhibit A: Israel blockades a civilian population and illegally punishes them for their democratic election of Hamas, an organization that Israel itself helped create in the mid-1980s, to counteract the power and influence of Fatah.
Exhibit B: Hamas, a rogue organization, deliberately acts against the best interest of its own people, refusing to negotiate with Israel, adopting a strategy of Israeli provocation for no other reason than to underpin its own relevance and finally, most appallingly of all, employs civilians as human bombs and, lately, human shields, knowing full well that if they fire from a hospital or a school, Israel will fire back.
Exhibit C: A corrupt and immoral US political system and leadership which, despite polls showing 71 percent of Americans feel the US shouldn’t take sides in this conflict, refuses to condemn any Israeli action and continues to use its veto power to prevent the UN from intervening in this conflict and demanding a ceasefire. And I include the golden boy, Barack Obama, in this.
And finally, Exhibit D, is you and me, and all the other Arab countries and their corrupt leadership, who are too busy consolidating their own power to do any good for their own people or any other people.
Summing up, I could blame this unholy mess on many things: on pride, on hubris, on the appalling self-interest of the Palestinian leadership, on the almost-Shakespearean transformation of the Israelis from tragic, oppressed figures (“history’s ultimate victims , as Edward Said dubbed them) to its most potent oppressors.
But I’d be deluding myself; Gaza is where it is because shame (as anyone who works in advertising will tell you) is a better motivator than hope: people simply never take action when there’s a chance to do some good, only when we’ve crossed the threshold of outrage into the wasteland of desperation.
Or, to put it plainly, why are you so preoccupied with the Palestinian dead? It’s not like you cared much when they were alive.
Mohammed Nassar was kidnapped at birth and forced to work in advertising, in Cairo, New York and London. Today, his main concern is that archaeologists will one day stumble upon his desk, debate the value of his profession and judge him. Feel free to email him at [email protected].
