JAKE TAPPER IS A LEAD NO ONE NEEDS TO FOLLOW
DOESN’T HE KNOW PALESTINE IS A HOMELAND, A WHITE NATION ISN’T?
A history of victimization provides the basis for the most pseudo ethical posturing. It allows the former victim to claim moral virtue for all of their acts, whatever the consequence, and allows the psychological preparation needed to make their adversary the beneficiary of blame. It is an old doctrine under a new administration; thus, any criticism voiced against the teachings of self-worth, self-love, and self-esteem is regarded as ipso facto proof that the speaker does not want justice and that a particular people should remain in their misery. This idea stretches all ethical credibility and is in stark contrast to the concept of democracy, particularly when theory is substituted from actual practice and loses itself to the disconnectedness of humanity. The rationale for this entitlement is bound together only when people are predisposed to allow it through the dynamics of entitlement psychology, vested interests, and successful neutralization of their adversary. These are the successful elements which prepare a nation for guiltless aggression. The logistics of ethics breaks down and there is no legitimacy because there is no explanation for how the former victim can wage war soon after their struggle for their liberation and their right to exist, while denying other men the same power, and denying them the opportunity to go beyond their status of a peon and into a entity with a social and economic viability of their own As human beings, we enlarge and preserve our self-concept through the process of taking action and then reflecting on what we have done and what others tell us about what we have done, thereby gaining support and solidarity. The worse failing of all, however, lies in ignoring what been done to others. Societies learn to erase their guilt with sacrosanct but inaccurate “certainties.”
The Israeli state, along with written history, is quite decisive in the evolution of human spirit and creed and is also the most potent and effective means of ethical manipulation. It is within the power of the state to exercise an overwhelming impact in the realm of moral values and social indoctrination. The most bitter evidence of this influence lies in its ability to have us forget, which leads to brutal self-deception. Stillness and the passage of time have led to a reflexive disconnection. It is only colder and above evil when it comes from those who, in the past, have been on the receiving end and who cannot help but recognize that another person’s devastation is close at hand. If we reminded such individuals that hunger and homelessness are more than symbolic depravity of an inhumane history and that freedom is the privilege of not following another person’s will, we would not be telling them anything they do not already know. If we should say to the Israeli government that the anguished inhabitants of the West Bank are in many ways a dying people, that they are slowly becoming a human scrap heap as a consequence of technological development, educational deficiencies, an environment of poverty, and other causes that disqualify them from employment in a skilled economy, and ask this government how it felt when the Germans erected a wall to alienate, humiliate and to minimize their existence, where would our conversation lead us? Examination of the problem must begin with a distinct overpowering sociopolitical condition that exists within Israeli society: Palestinians are obsolete. While this is not correct in a moral sense, nor in the biological sense, it is right in the minds and schemes of those who, with unreasonable power and authority, control that nation. While it may not be true among all Israeli citizens, their sentiments against tyranny, mass oppression and human destruction are not sufficiently strong enough to eliminate these schemes to fail. Once an economic advantage, the Palestinian is now expendable and replaceable by Jewish immigrants from Africa and other poor countries. The bread will still be baked, the olives will again be plucked from the garden, and the café’s dirty dishes will be washed- by others. The sweat chores of that nation will be done by someone other than the Arabs and the Palestinians who live on the perimeter of a society that is brutally pragmatic. Poverty and unemployment within the refugee camps are more, not less critical today than ten years past, and the people who dwell there continue to look at each other with a stubborn unwillingness to hope that things will ever change. Palestinians became refugees during the war of 1948, and in its aftermath, they were disowned in every significant way. Almost a million Arabs of historical Palestine left. They fled the country, leaving their homes, property, and in many cases, their extended families. Most went to neighboring Arab countries who did not want them. Even today, the majority of Palestinians live within a hundred miles of the historical Palestine border as they wait on the periphery to return to the land of their birth.
Privilege is an exclusive right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. In such an opportunity is the perceived rights or powers available only to a specific person or group of people. Regardless of what it is called in the context of honesty, it is social inequality and the brother of oppression. Tapper must revisit his mental dictionary to address his lack of articulation. In reality, now clear enough for him to see. There was no ballot, no referendum, and no special census of Palestinian residents. They simply awakened one morning to be told that Palestine had vanished without a trace. There was no way to reverse the political resolution in which they were denied justice, any remedy or complaint if they refused to accept the fundamental premise that their homeland ceased to exist, their homes were no longer their own and would strategically disappear into the consecrated of State of Israel.
The lives they had lived turned into unspeakable misery. With their hands, they had built a vast metropolis of beauty and Islamic culture, and now they could not be sure of a roof over their heads. With their hands they had plowed the earth, they had created olive gardens and farms of plenty. And then they did not have food to eat. With their hands, they had erected mosques that illustrated their beliefs and heritage, and now curfews forbade their attendance. The doors of their prayer places were locked, and greetings were replaced by guns. The Palestinian now was almost conquered prey, a caged object, and a bound and manacled captive in the land which first gave him birth. How would Tapper feel if the history of the Palestinian people became his own? If his children became homeless, he was denied entry into his home? What if he was stripped of his job, his citizenship, and the benefits of his birth? Would he be an extremist if he fought for restoration or a man fighting for his human rights?
History commands that all men must find a way to create acceptance and equality for all people. History will not be corrected until lies are rewritten into truths. For more reasons than can possibly be counted, all three religions must develop a peace plan that calls for equal recognition and opportunities for all of the people existing in that part of the earth. No one can change the past. All can now strive them to create a safe and peaceful environment which celebrates justice for all, respects the dignity of every individual and offers a future for all children.
Khalilah Sabra, Ph.D. (International Law)
Follow @khalilahsabra on Twitter.
