of Israel Palestine Conflict

Revd Dr. Alexander M. Isaac

The origins of Israel-Palestine conflict can be traced back to antiquity. But the attempts towards a genuine resolution of the crisis started off over a century ago, yet with great casualties inflicted on both sides. The disputed issues largely remained the same over the long span of the conflict. The time has come to resolve the crisis through reconciliation to unlock the vast human and economic potential of the region, which has also been home for three Abrahamic religions. The future of Israel-Palestine coexistence thus has huge prospects and potential for humankind. What are the moral obligations facing the stakeholders and international community in the wake of unresolved conflicts? The questions raised are that of the right for habitat of a people who are forcefully uprooted from the land of their origins.

The Quest for a Habitat: The Plight and Fate of Refugees and Settlers

The quest of a habitat is the greatest human quest. In the novel Wandering Star, i Nobel Laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio tells the tale of two young girls uprooted by the Holocaust and its aftermath. The Palestinian refugee Nejma and the Jewish settler Esther turn out to be unlikely 'sisters.' Their names both mean 'star' in Hebrew and Arabic, their plights are mirrored at each other and interdependent. Esther arrives in the Promised Land just when Nejma is being evicted from her homeland forever. There is a pivotal moment in the narrative when Nejma, displaced by the partition of her homeland, on the way to re-settlement in Iraq, meets Esther by chance. Nejma is a refugee, losing her native land, facing a bleak future. Esther, escaping the memories of the Holocaust, is moving in the opposite direction, to an Israeli safe zone as a new immigrant, to begin a new life. Both are victims. Nejma reaches out to Esther with a notebook that narrates her story, which the latter refuses to take. Nejma is now forced to begin her journey, which duplicates Esther’s hitherto wandering journey. Towards the end of the story, Esther longs to meet her 'lost sister.' This story about the plight and fate of both refugees and settlers is repeated in history. History is replete with such chance encounters. The novelist shares his optimism that future generations will not carry the hatreds of past generations. There are contemporary stories as well that provide a ray of hope that enhance peace and reconciliation.

Reconciliation: A New ray of Hope

Randa Aweis an Arab Christian woman in Jerusalem received a kidney transplant from an unexpected donor: Yigal Yehoshua, a Jewish Israeli man who died in the wave of recent riots between Jews and Arabs in the Israeli town of Lod. Yehushua believed in "coexistence." The recipient of the organ Aweis has a message for the Jews and Arabs of the region: "We should live together. We should have peace. We should be happy."ii This incident is a clear indication of how the people of the land visualize a peaceful future.

Resolution of the age-old conflicts is both a theological and ethical question. Reconciliation is the key to resolve the long-standing crises. Robert J. Schreiter deals with reconciliation and healing as a paradigm for mission. Reconciliation is an act of God and oriented towards healing of the victim-rather than the guilt of the perpetrator. It is the victim who first experiences the reconciling grace of God and then, in turn, is enabled to forgive and "become the agent of reconciliation" in relation to the oppressor. Schreiter is of the view that reconciliation is "largely discovered rather than achieved." The process of reconciliation brings transformation to both victim and oppressor in the sphere of conflict.iii

Reconciliation is Shalom-living: Learning to Live Together in Tough Times

With the historic handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in 1993, a bold act of reconciliation, a promising chapter got opened in Palestine-Israel relations. The past 27 years saw intermittent periods of military conflict and terrorist violence that claimed thousands of Israeli and Palestinian lives. The period also observed the consolidation of Hezbollah and Hamas, and Israeli expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and severe restrictions clamped on the ability of Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza. Today the conflict continues, with bloody flare-up of terrorism and violence, rocket fire and tit for tat aggressions. Yet, the extremists and hardliners on both sides remained the villains sabotaging the peace agreements. Still optimism is in the air with continuing peace initiatives.

African American leader Jesse Jackson once met PLO leader Yasser Arafat and embraced him. It created a furor among the Jewish community. But what Jesse told Arafat then was: "Your objective should be a mutual recognition policy [with Israel], because you must learn to live together."iv While the world is hopefully monitoring how an outstretched hand for peace is extended, sporadic conflicts and bloodshed continue to tarnish such initiatives. Palestine has Hamas and Fatah yet to reconcile their conflict of interests and Israel still is struggling to form a stable coalition government. What the urgent need today is to continue the negotiations between the conflicting nations on the one hand, as well as reconciliation amongst the confliction partners in each nation on the other front. Otherwise, apprehensions are likely to prevail that any genuine drive for resolution of the perennial conflict will only turn out to be a faux reconciliation.

Popular understandings of reconciliation imply that all sides must admit guilt, when in reality those powerful,

FOCUS, October, 20 21, Vol. 9,Part 4

economically and politically, often exhort hegemony over the weak and oppressed. We must reclaim the essential components of reconciliation. There has never been ‘conciliation,' a relationship of unity and harmony between Palestinians and Jews, except for the fact that they share the Abrahamic tradition along with Christians. Reconciliation then requires a harmonious reuniting of centuries-long alienation of the different communities. Each of them bears the burden of guilt of creating and perpetuating the everwidening rift. Each of them must admit their guilt, forgive the other, and move forward to a harmonious future. The resolve to forgive one another arises from the basic premise as narrated in Romans 3: 10, "there is no one who is righteous, not even one." The basic understanding that all share the same human nature provides the foundation for reconciliation. There is an inevitable unity in diversity that has potential to enrich human communities rather than divide them.

Proposals for Peaceful Settlement

A single joint state solution is troublesome for many reasons. Israel will consider that as detrimental to their existence. The alternative two-state resolution will be problematic too which requires movement across the borders of Jewish settlers and Palestinians having a right to return to the native land. Another hurdle is with equitable distribution of common resources like sharing of water. Both these options are not practical with hard-core Zionists on one side and militant Palestinians on the other. There is yet another dubious move for a three-state pact emerging as the ‘deal of the century,’ with a hidden agenda to separate Gaza from West Bank as a Palestinian entity. Among the various options, a peaceful coexistence of stakeholders becomes the best option for a lasting and permanent solution of the conflict. This calls for a peaceful co-habitation of the people of the land, both Israel and Palestine. The South African experiment of a peaceful reconciliation amidst racial divisions and a joint governance of the land is a modern paradigm that could well be emulated elsewhere. The world today needs a stronger United Nations to help mediate and bring reconciliation of people involved in international conflicts and enforce continental agreements and peace initiatives. The holy city of Jerusalem is the seat of all three Abrahamic religions, and therefore, it could well be the rallying point for the return of the people of the land for a peaceful co-existence.

Reconciliation: Learning Lessons from History

There is no one road to reconciliation. There is no one right answer or one model for reconciliation. In any process of reconciliation, there will be numerous initiatives, and several steps toward success or failures. As a prolonged process, reconciliation finally evolves through small steps forwards success with both individual and collective initiatives. If left unresolved, any conflict will inflict more pain, frustration, anger, apathy, keeping the cycle of violence roll beyond any course for reconstruction. Therefore, it is imperative that the push towards reconstruction must go hand-in-hand with any initiative towards reconciliation of conflicts. The crucial actors in any dispute are the victims and oppressors. History is often said to repeat itself. If one forgets history and its painful lessons, there is a likelihood of repeating historic blunders. One must learn from history and steer a corrective path forward. The processes of reconciliation and reconstruction involve both unlearning and relearning.

Conclusion

Reconciliation contains strong moral elements like human rights, justice, mutual respect, and equality. Reconciliation is the means to change relationships from bad ones to sustainable ones, from those, which maintain distrust, suspicion, and accusation to those that uphold justice, peace and integrity. Reconciliation entails a durable commitment towards reformation and reconstruction of Shalom communities. It facilitates a movement from a divided past to a shared future.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has taught us similar lessons. It calls for a global reconciliation and solidarity in tough times such as this. It has taught us to forget our past hostilities and embrace a new future with a sharing of global common human resources, which include the sharing of medical technology and essentials like vaccines for the global health of humanity. It is an irony that the recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine emerged when the world is still struggling with the subsequent waves of the Pandemic. Let us not forget the fact that reconciliation and a global cohabitation has become the ‘new normal.’ The story of reconciliation will have rich overtones with the establishment of an eschatological ‘New Jerusalem.’ While the vision is still ambitious, it is achievable.

Palestinians and Jews are two people sharing one land. It is a land of three faiths rooted in Abrahamic tradition. From the same roots emerged three prophetic traditions with belief in one God. All of humanity has one beginning, one destiny. We share one planet, one sky, one ocean, and one space. Let our prayers be for an action plan for reconciliation today and a cosmic vision for tomorrow with a shared future of all humanity with nature our common habitat.

*Revd Dr. Alexander M. Isaac is an associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Ethics at the United Theological College, Bangalore and an ordained minister of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar.

Reference:

1 J-M.G. Le Clézio, Wandering Star, translated by C. Dickson. (Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2004). 1 Hadas Gold and Michael Schwartz, "Kidney from Jew killed in mob violence goes to Arab woman," May 22,2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/22/middleeast/jewish-man-organdonation-arab-woman-intl-cmd/index.html (Accessed on June 7, 2021). 1 See Robert J. Schreiter, Reconciliation Mission and Ministry in a Changing Social Order, Boston Theological Institute Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992); Robert J. Schreiter, "Reconciliation and Healing as a Paradigm for Mission." International Review of Mission, 94 (January, 2005) 74-75. 1 Jonathan Kaufman, Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times between Blacks and Jews in America, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 254