Understanding Israel-Palestine: A Way By Which The Oppressed Becomes The Oppressor

 Perhaps the best explanation for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict comes from an article written by an important friend and fellow activist, Rita Corriel. Her article, Redeeming The Promised Land (click here for the article), talks about how and why the state of Israel has become an avenue of change not for the better. By an avenue of change I mean that it has become the cause and provided the methods for how the oppressed have become the oppressor. And we see in the retaliatory strikes by some of the Palestinians and in the hate crimes against Jews around the world that the oppressed becoming the oppressor is not a Jewish thing, it is a human thing.

In her article, Corriel states that the current way of seeking the Promised Land has made that piece of real estate an idol. And in serving the idol, she makes the following observation explaining the oppression of not just with Israel over the Palestinians, but of all who seek revenge for past injustices:

Why haven't you learned from your own historically tragic experience, that when we dehumanize the 'other' we dehumanize ourselves? When we pretend that 'others' do not have hearts and souls; when we make our 'enemies' into two dimensional cartoon characters, we defile and degrade ourselves as well. I grew up feeling the pathos expressed in the declaration, "Never again!" However, you must understand that this not an exclusive directive. When it is not applied to *all* human beings it rings a hollow tone. You appear to have learned far more from the behavior of your oppressors, than from the experience of being oppressed. Yet you continue to see yourselves as victims.

The last two sentences are especially telling and explains not just the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but other metamorphoses such as how how religious oppression in England helped enable the Christian colonists who came here for religious freedom to make war against and take land from the Native American tribes that resided here. It explains how and why Palestinian sympathizers become oppressors when they commit hate crimes against Jews.

And our label for hatred against the Jews, the term 'Anti-Semitism,' shows our own participation in the conflict. For when we restrict the terms 'anti-Semitic' or 'anti-Semitism' to apply to hatred against the Jews only, , we show our own proclivity for minimizing the humanity of others.since Palestinians and others are also considered to be Semites by definition (click here).

Anyway, enough with my words. Read the article by Rita Corriel called Redeeming The Promised Land (again, click here for the article) to see how and why oppressed people can become oppressors.