Beyond Common Ground

 Israel versus Palestine — is it “complicated”?
There is so much misinformation out there surrounding this conflict. Propaganda, too. I think many people have a warped view of the dynamic. And it’s understandable as to how this happened. 
People imagine Israel to be an underdog, the sole democracy in the Middle East, surrounded by countries that want to destroy it. They believe that Israel is a homeland for Jewish people— a refuge, where they gained independence after the Holocaust, and that neighboring countries are full of terrorists who constantly attack it.
But we need to look at all of the historical context here. Yes, Israel was formed after the Holocaust. Many displaced Jewish people did relocate. But Israel wasn’t large swaths of unoccupied desert, it was full of people. After so much violence and ethnic cleansing in the Holocaust, a new campaign was enacted, this time towards Palestinians. Over 500 Palestinian villages were cleared of residents, with hundreds of these vill...

 Let’s talk about "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Many people have been taught that that phrase is a call for terrorism and genocide. I understand the caution, especially after brutal history like the Holocaust. But when we call for Palestine to be free, we mean freedom from apartheid and violence — NOT from Jewish people.  Jewish people have rich ancestral ties to that land. This is undeniable, and they absolutely have a right to self-determination. People using "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"*** do not want to expel Jewish people from the land. We want an end to the apartheid and occupation.  (***Of course, as with every movement, there will be disingenuous people using it as an excuse for hate. Antisemites who attempt to co-opt the Palestinian liberation cause for their vile bigotry are not welcome in this movement. Fortunately, they are very outnumbered.) You might think: "What apartheid? Israel is a democracy. And ...