January 14, 2024
My opinions concerning Israel's foundation as a Jewish state accepting most anyone as potential citizens who have Jewish birth heritage are mixed and ambivalent. Israel describes itself as a democracy but critiques of its lack of democratic practices and and antidemocratic pronouncements mostly point out that non Jewish citizens are often marginalized and have less protections. The label Palestinian also becomes a point of contention since the Palestinian can often describe a history of repression, an identity which has aspects of being a lower cast, and discrimination in education and economic advancement. Yet to some Jewish citizens and Jewish advocates of Israel, Palestinian is associated with anti-Jewish hatred, suicide bombers detonating themselves in marketplaces, terroristic attacks and extreme mistrust.
For example, Palestinians may use the history of Zionism, the settlements history since 1920, the history of the partition conflicts and wars and the written records of some of the Zionist pioneers such as Ben Gurion, The Stern Gang, and Hagenah to show how intimidation, threats of violence, and massacres were perpetrated by Jewish settlers and Jewish armed groups to drive out non Jewish inhabitants. Of course, then the rejoinder of the Jewish advocate is to do the same citing historic evidence of the same towards their group. My recent reading of this history leads me to conclude that there is ample evidence on both sides. Each side may attempt to convince you of there point of view justifying there sides attempts to broker peace or to defend themselves from attack. For example, you can have a debate ad nauseum over whether Palestinians were forced out of there homes and villages by intimidation, threats, and massacres including poisoning of these well water or they voluntarily left on the suggestion of the invading Arab armies and associated countries pronouncements to do so.
The unfortunate outcome of these wars and conflicts is according to the U.N. Refugee agency is 5.9 million people in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. According to my google search " As of June 2023, no Arab country has offered citizenship to Palestinian refugees. However, many Western nations have offered citizenship through their normal processes of naturalization. For example, most Palestinians and their descendants in Jordan are fully naturalized, making Jordan the only Arab country to fully integrate the Palestinian refugees of 1948. In 1949, Jordan amended its 1928 Law of Nationality to grant equal citizenship to Palestinians. In 1954, the Law of Jordanian Nationality extended citizenship to Palestinians who arrived in Jordan after the 1949 addendum. According to UNHCR data, in 2020, less than 2% of refugees (251,000) were repatriated to their country of origin, 34,400 were resettled in a third country, and 33,746 naturalized as citizens in their country of asylum. "
many of us to rationalized their arguments to justify continued mistrust.An example, of how our biases can influence our mistrust for me is my
reactions to viewing The Lemon Tree at the Doris Duke Theatre in Honolulu
at the Kurt Cashmere Film Festival of Jewish films. I hissed at the character of the
foreign minister who ignored the Palestinian Lemon Grove owners concerns. Some
in the audience took offense to my hissing. Recently a friend with strong opinionsconcerning the holocaust and the history of Israel concerning Palestinian mistrust
strongly stated that he could not empathize with a Palestinian protagonist and
seemed reluctant to watch the movie since he did not want to sympathize otherwise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Why are we so wedded to our belief systems that shared and verified information that negates these beliefs have no impact on helping us toward more complete understanding? An older colleague, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and friend from Israel Dan Hertz M.D. suggested that nostalgia, a yearning for a happier past is painful and may be related to holocaust survivor and Jewish refugee chronic depressions. The Jewish refugees settling in Palestine and then Israel from war torn Europe experienced many horrors of the holocaust and Second World War. They often came from vibrant communities with family, friends and community that they knew were gone so memories of these times were filed with nostalgia. Maybe my friends determination to hold to his belief that Zionist history is on the side solely for the Jewish defender point of view prevents him from having to feel the pain of ambivalence and then nostalgia.
I first became aware of Dan Hertz when I was preparing for a semester in my senior year in Medical School. I was interested in schizophrenia and I read some articles about a lower incidence of schizophrenia in Nigeria but I also came across Dan Hertz providing mental health services in Liberia. I received replies but correspondence was slow and needed to leave. I applied for an extended visa to Nigeria in New York City but this was denied so my wife and I were off to Liberia. We got a taxi in Monrovia to a small village a few hours away mostly traveling on dirt road. We arrived to finally understand that Dr. Hertz had left back to Israel a long time ago. So back to the airport we went to Lagos Nigeria. I’ve written about our adventures there in a previous post. Since coming to Hawaii for a Hawaii State Health Department job after 8 years I applied for and was granted a sabbatical and found a positive response from Hadassah Hospital and their medical school to be a visiting professor with Dan Hertz responding! He was very welcoming and supportive helping me spend 10 months in Jerusalem. This was a time of hope and possible peace since Sadat and Begin shook hands and a treaty of peace between Israel and Egypt was signed. In those days I thought a two state solution was possible. I have written about some of my experiences in Israel in previous posts. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-11019-001
My artist and art teacher wife shared with me some of the history with art at the turn of the 1900s. Futurism captured artists imagination with speed, technology, violence, and objects such as cars and planes. The artist of Italy wanted to change their culture from venerating Roman past to a more dynamic modern future. World War 1 with the horrors and cruelty of trench warfare led to Dada movement of art which highlighted the nonsensical and used satire to question our values. From Dada artist embraced unnerving illogical scenes and embraced techniques to express the unconscious. Abstract Expressionism art centered in New York portrayed our emotional life through abstract shapes, colors, and composition. Our current art and music have incorporated these movements so we have available auditory, visual, and ensemble pieces and events that boggle my mind. By us participating in this culture we are richer. Wars, forced migrations, holocaust, and other violent historical events have shaped our art.
So should I dwell on the horrors of the Israel Hamas war, the Ukraine Russia conflict, or other troubled issues such as China Taiwan, and of course our domestic problems associated with Trump or enjoy my music listening, my music playing, hiking, art performances etc?
We're going to the Brahmi's Serenade tonight and then maybe Mexican food. I wish you some peace and good living.
Leonard
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leonardsjacobs/albums/72177720311615293/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leonardsjacobs/albums/72177720310620378/
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