The
Politics of Violence!
Dr
Harry Hagopian, KSL-KOG
No
one can remain indifferent to the injustice of which the Palestinian people
have been victims for more than fifty years. No one can protest the right of
the Israeli people to live in security. However, neither can anyone forget the
innocent victims who, on both sides, fall day after day under the blows of
violence.
HH Pope John-Paul II
Address to Vatican
Diplomatic Corps
10 January 2002
One of the biggest hurdles, and one of the most
daunting challenges, for any public speaker is to get up and talk about 'peace'
in the Holy Land at a time when both parties are waging all-out war! No matter
how well intentioned the person, and regardless of the inexhaustible reservoirs
of optimism or commitment, the temptation to admit defeat and call it a day
often becomes alluringly unavoidable!
I am not ashamed to admit that this temptation has
also been my faithful companion over the years - in fact, ever since I joined
the so-called speaking circuit a decade ago! I have frequently seesawed between
optimism and pessimism, vision and nightmare, reality and illusion! Getting up
and standing in front of scores of people who are willing to give a speaker the
benefit of a doubt as much as the opportunity to articulate a scenario for a
peaceful Holy Land is - quite frankly - tough! Mind you, it can be quite exhilarating when one can get up
and talk about peace-driven successes! Conversely, it turns depressing when one
has to interpret conflict-ridden failures. And as I look at the Holy Land this
week - or to debar euphemisms for once, at Israel and Palestine - what do I see
that instils in me the confidence of faith or the diffidence of politics?
Let me examine - ever so perfunctorily - the facts!
The three-week 'ceasefire' or 'truce' between Israelis and Palestinians has
been shattered already. Tit for tat killing has taken hold again, and the
culture of violence has reared its ugly head once more. Palestinians are being
murdered by Israel everywhere in the West Bank in fresh cycles of
extra-judicial killings. Consequently, Palestinians are killing Israelis in
retaliation - and both sides are once more upping the ante for violence.
But why is all this happening anyway? It is happening
largely because Israel has steadfastly trampled upon the legitimate rights of
the Palestinian people. Israel has occupied their land, and after long years of
protracted negotiations, handed over to them small, isolated and disjointed
parcels of territory to call home! Israel has built settlements upon their
expropriated land so that Israeli Jews can live there at hugely subsidised
rates! Israel has set up military checkpoints that keep Palestinians hemmed in
their little cages and disallow them from travelling from one pocket to another,
one village to another, and one demographic cage to another! Israel has
maintained a policy of inhumane humiliations by dealing with Palestinian women,
men or children as if they are expendable dross to be bullied and belittled at
any moment and for whatever reason! Israel has controlled the water from their
underground aquifers in the West Bank, or else overpriced it for their
consumption. Israel has blocked their agricultural produce from going out of
the territories, and has limited the number of Palestinians who can come out to
seek gainful employment! And not least, during PM Sharon's term, Israel has
imposed collective and large-scale punishments for the actions of a number of
terror-exporting fighters.
It is undeniable that Israelis - women, men and
children - have equally suffered from the Palestinian Intifada that started
almost sixteen months ago. Israelis have been killed in large numbers too - a
most recent incident being the wanton murder of Avi Boaz. Israelis - women, men
and children - have been blown up in suicide attacks. Israelis have had their
economy impacted and their tourism industry shaken by the daily confrontations.
In fact, Israelis have become as much fed up with the constant violence as they
have with Chairman Arafat - who may, or may not be, a leader who snatches
defeat from the jaws of victory. But what have Israelis done in return to calm
or steady the waters? They have tightened the screws even further, and applied
even more stringent (sic, repressive) security measures against the Palestinian
people. So, the vicious cycle continues, the humiliations and indignities are
kept up, cause and effect scenarios clash, and the situation is far from
redeeming itself!
Where do Israelis and Palestinians go from here? For
that matter, where do I - an Armenian Christian from Jerusalem - go from here?
What have I got to share with you today that might sound a tad more
knowledgeable than the headlines in the press or on your CNN channel? Plainly,
precious little! It is difficult to think of a course of action that nourishes
vision and feeds hope when the region itself has become increasingly more
steeped in a quagmire of violent and vicious standoffs, hatred and reprisals.
However, I suppose 'hope springs eternal' for someone
who looks at this conflict as much from a political slant as he does from a
faith-centred perspective. Indeed, in his homily for New Year 2002, His
Beatitude Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem reminded the Christian
leaders assembled at the concathedral of the Patriarchate of the urgency to
establish peace in the land of the prophets - one that is predicated upon
justice and forgiveness. Recalling the story about the sufferings of Pope
John-Paul II during both the Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes, he drew
the conclusion that peace can indeed be attained through justice and
forgiveness. But most importantly, he reminded the faithful, forgiveness is not
a concept that opposes justice. Quite the contrary! Forgiveness is in
opposition to the spirit of vengeance and vindictiveness. In view of the fact
that human beings cannot replicate God's perfect justice on earth, he added,
forgiveness becomes a permanent invitation toward a deeper and more genuine
healing of wounds.
I do not believe that many people would wish to see
violence continue in the Holy Land - or even take hold for much longer. Nor do
I believe that the large majority of Palestinians or Israelis would wish to
mourn further deaths or injuries, or else to witness more houses demolished and
more freedoms crushed. However, Israel must wake up to the reality that peace
requires justice, and that implies withdrawal from the occupied territories so
that Palestinians could have their own credible and sovereign state next to
Israel - equal in peace, equal in security, equal in dignity, equal in
responsibility and equal under international law. This option is the only
lasting formula for peace! And it does not matter whether Israel believes the
Palestinians can pull it off! It
is not up to Israel to dictate to the Palestinians their choice of leadership
or governance!
Next week, the Churches of the Holy Land come together
to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This annual ecumenical drive has become even more concrete
over the past few years when the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Churches
have managed to put some of their differences aside and work in fellowship
toward common causes that grant their people a smidgeon of promise and hope.
And let us not choose to forget that the majority of indigenous Christians also
happen to be Palestinians - hence, the need to realise that the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not pit Christian against Muslim, but rather
pits one extremist against another - whether Jewish, Muslim or Christian.
Indeed, the Bethlehem to Jerusalem 'March for Justice' that took place on the
last day of 2001 with the participation of all the Churches of Jerusalem is
just one small illustration of the perfervid desire of most Christians -
leaders and congregations alike - to express their solidarity for a peace that
secures justice, forgiveness and above all freedom.
Will this ever happen? As a lawyer, I would say that
the jury is still out! As a
politician, I would also hedge my bets and aver that it depends on whether the circumstances
would be conducive for peace! But as a Christian, hope and compassion are what
sustain me - and therefore I say that it is bound to happen … soon?
Only respect for others and
their legitimate aspirations, the application of international law, the
evacuation of the occupied territories, and an internationally guaranteed
special status for the most holy places in Jerusalem can bring about a
beginning of pacification in that part of the world and break the hellish cycle
of hatred and vengeance. One
against the other, neither Israelis nor Palestinians can win the war, but
together they can win peace.
HH Pope John-Paul II
Address to Vatican Diplomatic Corps
10 January 2002
harry-bvH @ 18
January 2002