Commentary
Students and faculty at SAIC have had the privilege of witnessing the emergence of two student groups that deal directly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While this phenomenon has the great potential of increasing awareness on campus for this little-understood part of the world, neither group has been successful at bringing the full complexity of the situation to the student body.
On the one hand, one group has dramatically named themselves Artist Emergency Response (AER), and on the other, we have a group who, somewhat misleadingly, call themselves Students for Peace in the Middle East (SPM). AER opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and, as a result, opposes the financial support that Israel receives from U.S. taxpayers. AER's main product thus far has been a video petition which gives voice to those Americans who do not want their tax dollars supporting what, in their eyes, is an illegal occupation and an unethical oppression of the Palestinian population.
SPM, founded in response to AER, is trying to dispel what they feel are the myths that AER is propagating about Israel. SPM has put up flyers advertising positive things about Israel. One such poster features a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King stating that Israel is "one of the greatest outposts of democracy in the world." Another poster reads, "Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality." In addition, they have also hosted an event in conjunction with Hillels Around Chicago, in which a group of young men who served in the Israeli Defense Forces came to speak about their experiences.
The reality in Israel-Palestine is neither the one-sided oppression of the Palestinians that AER would have you believe, nor the pure and unadulterated Israeli self-defense that SPM is presenting. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians are committing grievous ethical and legal transgressions. Furthermore, the intentional killing of civilians on either side of this conflict is neither justifiable nor excusable. I cannot excuse the Israeli Defense Forces when they intentionally, or recklessly, kill innocent civilians by saying that they were acting in the defense of Israeli citizens, just as I cannot excuse Palestinian suicide bombers for their heinous crimes by saying that they are desperate, or that they have no other recourse. We hear such attempts at excuses in the rhetoric wars that are fought over this issue in the media and we would do well not to follow such sophistry here on campus.
The truth about AER and SPM is that they are not really about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, per se. Rather, they are about working out of Jewish-American identity issues, in light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jewish students who feel strongly one way or the other about the situation started both of the groups. This is not to deny that many AER members are non-Jews, but in their video petition, a disproportionate number of the people featured are American Jews. I'm not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with these expressions of Jewish identity. Indeed, I feel very strongly that it is important for the U.S., as well as for Jews themselves, to understand that being Jewish does not necessitate blind support of Israel. I am also not saying that SPM is wrong in wanting to balance the record with regards to Israel. It is, however, useful to keep in mind that while the intentions of these groups are good, neither of them really deals with creative ways of solving the crisis, nor engages in a deeper exploration of its causes.
In a way, the positions that these groups are staking out are almost an exact replication of the typical political positions that one sees expressed within Israeli society. AER are analogous to the Leftists and the SPM are analogous to the Rightists. Herein lies the problem. American Jews must understand that they are in a position to actually do something to end the bloodshed. Instead of mimicking the polarized nature of Israeli-Palestinian politics, we must pressure our elected officials to work towards a real and lasting peace in Israel-Palestine. This involves both the understanding that being an American Jew does not mean blindly supporting Israel's policies, and the imperative that mandates respect for Israel's right to defend itself. It also means (as AER obviously understand very well) that they must take the plight of the Palestinian people more seriously than it has been in recent history. Unfortunately, some Jews here have adopted the unhealthy habit of hiding behind the pain that their oppressors cause them, instead of coming up with fair and creative solutions to their problems.
I would like to see both of these new groups grow beyond their current polarized boundaries, as they both fail to reflect the multifaceted nature of this complex conflict. While it may be interesting to work out varieties of Jewish-American identities in light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this should hardly be the focus of student groups at SAIC. It would be nice to see AER and SPM collaborate in some way that wouldn't deteriorate into a superficial shouting match. For example, they could bring an exciting, yet civilized debate to the student body, or start exploring the enormous ramifications that this conflict has on international politics. I fear that without such improvements, both groups will continue to merely cancel each other out and remain irrelevant to the vast majority of the student body.