Trying to say where the Palestine-Israeli conflict began, some start with the Bible, some with the ancient Romans, (for the Hollywood version, see the 1959 Ben Hur, though in some quarters calling the main character, Judah Ben-Hur, Jewis, is controversial. For a scholarly version of the story, see this) some with the Ottoman Empire, some with the British Mandate for Palestine and, beginning in 1917, events leading up to the 1948 establishing of the state of Israel.
Most young people haven't heard of Yitzhak Rabin. Probably not the mobs mixing up Palestine with Hamas and calling for the decolonization of Palestine.
The 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the fifth prime minister of Israel, is where I'd begin: he and President Clinton, immersed in the Oslo Peace Accords, appeared to be close to forging peace between Israelis and Palestinians when Rabin was shot by a right-wing Israeli extremist. I sat watching his funeral, listening to his granddaughter's eulogy, hoping things wouldn't get much worse.
Israel is the size of New Jersey. The Gaza strip is about the size of Las Vegas. And yet these tiny portions of land are the crucible of world politics. Arabic and Hebrew are classed by linguists as "Semitic" languages--they are related. To hint at the notion these two peoples are related does nothing to lessen the violence and bloodshed consuming them, but I wish what they have in common could lead to respect, if not love.
These things are true: Hamas stands for hatred and destruction, and will sacrifice its own people for anything. Israel believes in love of God and humanity. The only working democracy in the Middle East--even with Netanyahu still in power--it is an ally to Western Europe and the United States. Perfect justice is not possible now, if it ever was. 1948 was a catastrophe for the Palestinian people but it's a done deal. I still believe, even now, it is possible to find a compromise leading to peace. I'm whistling in the dark.
