On the evening of Oct. 29, 2006, in the Busch Student Center, I attended the presentation by Saint Louis University alumna Magan Wiles and Washington University alumnus Sebastian Raul, entitled “Non-Violent Resistance in Occupied Palestine.” Both Wiles and Raul traveled to the West Bank and Gaza Strip the previews summer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The purpose of the presentation was to share with the audience, composed mainly of SLU students and faculty, their experiences “in the spirit of dialogue.”
In my view, however, very little potential for dialogue emerged from a presentation that gave a totally one-sided interpretation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. If we’ve learned anything at all from recent events, we should be aware that this conflict cannot and should not be reduced to a simple morality play of good versus evil.
Both Wiles and Raul are certainly motivated by a legitimate moral concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people, as are all other individuals of good will as well. But some of their evidence, presented in both pictures and videos, is open to alternative explanations. For example, we were shown a video of young Palestinian children throwing rocks at the (armed but restrained) Israeli soldiers while ISM activists ran along with them or videotaped them. Do ISM activists consider it proper to incite young children to use violence against Israeli soldiers?
More troubling was the photograph Wiles showed of a Palestinian woman from the Balata Refugee Camp, whom she had befriended. The woman is, in Wiles’ words, “the mother of a martyr.” She also showed photographs of plaques honoring other “martyrs” throughout the Balata Camp. Tragically, there have been a number of Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli counter-terrorist operations in Gaza. Perhaps this is what Wiles is referring to when she uses the term “martyr.” But, more darkly, “martyr” is also the term used to describe Palestinian suicide bombers (many of them no older than the average undergraduate) who blow themselves up solely for the purpose of killing as many Israeli men, women and children as possible on buses, in restaurants and in hotels.
The ISM may hate the security barrier built by Israel in the West Bank. But it is precisely to protect Israeli citizens from suicide bombers that the security barrier was constructed in the first place. Many Israelis themselves don’t like the security barrier any more than they like the occupation of the West Bank itself. And many have protested the disruptions that the barrier has brought to the daily lives of Palestinians. But the reality is that, for the most part, the barrier has fulfilled its security rationale by significantly reducing the number of suicide bombings within Israel proper.
In their presentation, Wiles and Raul said absolutely nothing about the ongoing violence perpetrated on Israeli civilians by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who consider Israel-even within its 1967 borders-as “occupied territory.” Even after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, for example, huge numbers of rockets continue to be fired into southern Israel, making daily life in S’derot nightmarish.
Equally absent from the ISM presentation was any mention of the internal corruption, disagreements and violence among Palestinian political organizations. While Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas has indicated on many occasions his desire for a permanent, peaceful resolution of the conflict, he is engaged in a virtual civil war with a number of groups who completely reject Israel’s very existence. This includes the ruling Palestinian party Hamas, whose charter not only rejects any notion of compromise but is also full of hateful anti-Semitism that goes well beyond any legitimate criticism of either Israel or Zionism.
One-sided presentations, like the one made by the ISM, may make people feel good by allowing them to “morally witness” in a black-and-white political universe populated only by victims and oppressors. But they fail to promote the goal of real education, which ought to be about understanding the nuances, difficulties and tragedies of the decades-old conflict between Israel and its neighbors.
And, more importantly, such presentations do not contribute to dialogue among individuals of good will, both in the SLU community and elsewhere, who have no political agenda but who truly care about the pain and suffering of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
Julia R. Lieberman, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages in the College of Arts & Sciences.
