“The elephant in the living room” is the phrase used to describe an issue too large to ignore, but one that is ignored anyway, because it is also too large to grasp. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the elephant in the living room of left politics in America. We sit around and drink our micro-brewed beer and agree on the Iraq war, the illegitimacy of the Bush administration, globalization, gay marriage, genetically modified organisms and the corrupting creep of corporate power. Then, some tactless oaf brings up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the animated conversation stumbles and the ceases altogether. Unspoken tension, maybe even hostility, creeps into the room. One can sense the presence of strong opinions, but no one speaks; opening this topic has the potential to end friendships that have endured for years and who is willing to unleash all that rancor for an issue that may well be beyond solution?
Some on the American left take the Israeli side. Israel, they argue, is a democracy in the autocratic sea of Middle East states. Israel is a nation founded by survivors of horrific oppression; it has to defend itself from internal and external enemies that would like to see the Israelis driven into the sea. The Palestinians, this group argues, are organized around terrorists and criminals and Islamic fundamentalists, who make life hell for gays and women and all who dissent.
Some on the American left support the Palestinians, who they see as victims of imperial powers, from the Ottomans to the British to the Americans and their Israeli clients. The Palestinians have had their land and their rights taken without due process, this camp argues; they deserve their own state and the capacity to determine their own future. This group also points to the rock-solid support of Israel by the American right, and suggests guilty association.
Perhaps two reasons we keep our mouths shut are the Israelis and Palestinians themselves. Whether it’s Ariel Sharon and the Israeli Defense Force with its check points and heavy-handed incursions into refugee camps or Yasir Arafat and the bombers of Hamas and Islamic Jihad attacking civilians, it’s easy to see why so many are reluctant to go on the record one way or the other. Reciprocal brutality, however, is no reason to send intelligent people of goodwill into silence and inertia.
Last spring, I took part in a political experiment. I joined a dozen other people in a basement room at the local peace and justice center for a prototype workshop on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The workshop was conducted by two longtime activists, women who are sick of the “elephant in the living room” treatment the conflict gets on the American left.
The goal of the workshop was modest – to create a safe space where people could talk about the Middle East, vent frustration, take a position – or not take a position. Maybe it was just a chance to air our ambivalence and attempt to exorcise our cognitive dissonance. I won’t say much about what happened; other than to say I hope other people get to experience it. Those in the room were immediately struck by the difficulty of addressing the issue. One participant excused himself after the initial statements. He apologized to the group. He said it was too much.
I belonged to the “pox on both houses” faction before the workshop. The same is true today. There’s something to be said for the claims of each side and more than enough blame to go around. What is different is that having had the chance to work this all out in a non-judgmental environment helped me get past my own prejudices and muddled thinking and find a voice I can use.
As I said, that was six months ago and it was the first training of its kind. I spoke with one of the workshop’s designers recently, to see how it had been received elsewhere. It hasn’t been received elsewhere. Although several workshops have been scheduled, they have all been cancelled. Activists, Quakers, Jews, Muslims, Unitarians – no group save that very first one, has actually sat down and confronted this issue.
“What depresses me,” my friend said, “is that we do this to ourselves. We have the chance to make some progress and we give up our own power. If we can’t find a way to talk about this subject, then little by little, we’ll lose the ability to take a position on anything.”
In Israel and Palestine, the voices for peace and reason come from the people, not the leaders. Peaceful people there need help from peaceful people here. Let’s not let them down.
The Elephant
“The elephant in the living room” is the phrase used to describe an issue too large to ignore, but one that is ignored anyway, because it is also too large to grasp. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the elephant in the living room of left politics in America. We sit around and drink our micro-brewed beer and agree on the Iraq war, the illegitimacy of the Bush administration, globalization, gay marriage, genetically modified organisms and the corrupting creep of corporate power. Then, some tactless oaf brings up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the animated conversation stumbles and the ceases altogether. Unspoken tension, maybe even hostility, creeps into the room. One can sense the presence of strong opinions, but no one speaks; opening this topic has the potential to end friendships that have endured for years and who is willing to unleash all that rancor for an issue that may well be beyond solution?
Some on the American left take the Israeli side. Israel, they argue, is a democracy in the autocratic sea of Middle East states. Israel is a nation founded by survivors of horrific oppression; it has to defend itself from internal and external enemies that would like to see the Israelis driven into the sea. The Palestinians, this group argues, are organized around terrorists and criminals and Islamic fundamentalists, who make life hell for gays and women and all who dissent.
Some on the American left support the Palestinians, who they see as victims of imperial powers, from the Ottomans to the British to the Americans and their Israeli clients. The Palestinians have had their land and their rights taken without due process, this camp argues; they deserve their own state and the capacity to determine their own future. This group also points to the rock-solid support of Israel by the American right, and suggests guilty association.
Perhaps two reasons we keep our mouths shut are the Israelis and Palestinians themselves. Whether it’s Ariel Sharon and the Israeli Defense Force with its check points and heavy-handed incursions into refugee camps or Yasir Arafat and the bombers of Hamas and Islamic Jihad attacking civilians, it’s easy to see why so many are reluctant to go on the record one way or the other. Reciprocal brutality, however, is no reason to send intelligent people of goodwill into silence and inertia.
Last spring, I took part in a political experiment. I joined a dozen other people in a basement room at the local peace and justice center for a prototype workshop on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The workshop was conducted by two longtime activists, women who are sick of the “elephant in the living room” treatment the conflict gets on the American left.
The goal of the workshop was modest – to create a safe space where people could talk about the Middle East, vent frustration, take a position – or not take a position. Maybe it was just a chance to air our ambivalence and attempt to exorcise our cognitive dissonance. I won’t say much about what happened; other than to say I hope other people get to experience it. Those in the room were immediately struck by the difficulty of addressing the issue. One participant excused himself after the initial statements. He apologized to the group. He said it was too much.
I belonged to the “pox on both houses” faction before the workshop. The same is true today. There’s something to be said for the claims of each side and more than enough blame to go around. What is different is that having had the chance to work this all out in a non-judgmental environment helped me get past my own prejudices and muddled thinking and find a voice I can use.
As I said, that was six months ago and it was the first training of its kind. I spoke with one of the workshop’s designers recently, to see how it had been received elsewhere. It hasn’t been received elsewhere. Although several workshops have been scheduled, they have all been cancelled. Activists, Quakers, Jews, Muslims, Unitarians – no group save that very first one, has actually sat down and confronted this issue.
“What depresses me,” my friend said, “is that we do this to ourselves. We have the chance to make some progress and we give up our own power. If we can’t find a way to talk about this subject, then little by little, we’ll lose the ability to take a position on anything.”
In Israel and Palestine, the voices for peace and reason come from the people, not the leaders. Peaceful people there need help from peaceful people here. Let’s not let them down.