To Give Peace A Chance, One Must

The protests at the Gaza border with Israel have produced some grizzly results. Since the beginning of the protest on March 30, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed and 12,000 have been wounded (click here). Of those who have been shot with live ammunition, at least 250 have been children (click here), 7 have been journalists (click here),  and at least 1 was a doctor.  In one day, at least 60 were killed and 2,700 were wounded (click here). Some of the protests have been part of a commemoration of Nakba (click here) while there have been protests against the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

The problem is that Israel has responded to mostly peaceful protests with live ammunition, and, by its own admission, has not tried to minimize the casualties in its response (click here). One of Israel's justifications for using live ammunition on the protesters is that the protests were organized by Hamas and of the 62 Palestinians killed in one day, 50 belonged to Hamas. Another excuse is that some of the casualties were the result of IDF soldiers missing their intended Hamas targets--that excuse is quite understandable considering that some of these soldiers were shooting from hundreds of meters away. Another excuse is that some of the protesters threw stones. Another excuse is that the Israeli leadership was afraid that if Gazans cross the border, then they would attack Israeli civilians.

That last explanation shows the epitome of the problem with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well other conflicts. The problem is that one side is allowed to find those from the other side guilty by suspicion, while the first side is allowed to claim to be innocent of all wrongdoing. And it finds itself innocent despite investigating itself (click here). Doesn't that problem sound similar to many of the scenarios that exist between members of our police departments and those who are from minority races?


The Gazan protesters have been, for the most part, unarmed, so why is Israel allowed to use live ammunition on them? Does it really matter that many of those who were killed were members of Hamas? If they were unarmed when involved in those protests, then to allow Israel to shoot them with impunity is to allow Israel to assassinate any Palestinian at any time it so desires.

Why do we allow Israel to shoot unarmed Palestinians who are protesting? For many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians, the answer is always that Israel has the right to defend itself. But one needs live ammunition to defend itself against unarmed protesters? Here, we should note that many of these same Christians believe that the Palestinians have no legitimate reason for protesting. Such a belief is the result of either a determined attempt to either remain totally ignorant of the plights of Palestinians who live in both the West Bank and Gaza or total apathy.  There apathy is due to their religious beliefs that the land where Israel is located belongs exclusively to the Jews. However, those who regularly read about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict know about the horrid conditions Israel has forced on the Palestinians (click here and there).

It seems that the Palestinians cannot win with many Americans regardless of what they do. If they respond to the Occupation and Israeli violence with violence, many Americans call them terrorists. But if they protest without weapons, many Americans blame them for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.


Of course, Israel will conduct its own internal investigation like it has before (click here).

Here is the issue regarding the conflict at the Gazan border. If the protesters are unarmed, then to give peace a chance, one must give peaceful protests a chance. And to give peaceful protests a chance,  one can't fire live ammunition on unarmed protesters because of their associations or the fears of the Israeli government. For if one can be convicted based on association or suspicion,  there is no hope for justice and thus there is no hope for a peaceful settlement. But perhaps eliminating all hope for a peaceful settlement is the reason why Israel used live ammunition on the Gazan protesters.

Finally, though in this instance it is clear that Israel is grossly violating international law, the context of the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians show that both sides have innocent blood on their hands. And to say otherwise is to embrace a tribalism that will not see the end of the conflict unless one of the sides suffers military defeat while the other side commits moral suicide.