Gaza (3)

Today came an on-line column from an historian I really respect concerning a topic we are all forced to confront.  You can read it here.  I hope you take the time to not only read but think and act about it.  Read it before or after you read what follows, but I hope you read both.  Every single one of us can make a positive difference.

Of course, since I’m the one sending it on, it exposes my own bias, which means I should at least try to explain myself,

Like everyone, I’m a single ‘grain of sand’ among the 8 or so billion of we humans currently on earth.  My bias: we have devolved into a tribal world; but we sink or we swim, together.  We can’t survive, tribally.

This post is once again about Gaza.  It could be about Ukraine or other places as well.  But Gaza is where I start.

My personal lifetime started in 1940, and I’m lifelong Catholic, with the Passion, and all of that kind of introduction to Judaism.

Along the way, in 1953, without my knowing it, I became part of what was a vibrant “Mohamedan” (as spelled by my Dad sometime in 1953-54) community in western North Dakota, whose original migrants had come from what is now border-land Syria-Lebanon about 50 years earlier, the earliest migrants migrating to avoid conscription by the then-dominant Ottoman Turks.

One of that community remains a close friend to this day; his Mom and Dad were hospitable to us, and I’ll never forget a singular visit to their home as an 8th grader.  Their mosque, unknown to me at the time, was one of the first in the United States, and it is so recognized to this day.

In 1965, my first wife died in Minneapolis, and I will never forget the kindness of the Jewish community that was the then-Lincoln Del in St. Louis Park.  I don’t remember how I got connected with them, but they were truly life-savers for me in a terribly difficult time.  I worked essentially full-time at Lincoln Del for 6 months.  It was a great gift, I’m forever grateful.

Later came trips to Israel (Jan. 1996), and to Holocaust sites in Czech Republic and Poland (Spring, 2000); then 2005-07, presidency of a large coalition of peacemaking organizations, including two advocate groups for Justice for Palestinians.

In the trip to Israel, I had some unexpected learnings: two months before the trip a radical Israeli assassinated Yitzhak Rabin (Nov 5, 1995) – we visited the temporary memorial when we arrived at Jerusalem; the Saturday before we left for home a week later, a Rabbi at a Saturday service expressed angrily his concern about the ultra orthodox efforts to get control of the Israel government.

I learned a great deal in the above experiences, some of which are in the three previous posts on the topic: here, here and here.

Along the way, I came into possession of my Grandma Bernard’s Bible, c 1911, which included a large number of maps of the Holy Land, one of which shows the 1911 land, today commonly referred to as Israel.

Here is the map in pdf and jpeg format: Palestine ca 1912 Catholic Bible.  (This pdf is enlargeable).

The Holy Bible (1911 – Catholic) The E.M. Lohmann Co, St. Paul MN

Over these many years, viewing from my perspective as a ‘single grain of sand’, here are some impressions.  Take these as they are offered: non academic observations from someone who cares a lot about this question.

Israel was an artificial creation of the victors, flowing out of WWI, and its creation was important given the atrocities towards the Jews we have all learned about over the years.

We have all learned the biases towards the Jews from the beginning, if we happen to be Christian and ever studied even a tiny bit the Passion story.  At minimum it was an annual centerpiece of the Easter season.

Don’t forget the Crusades….

I have always had the impression that the Palestinians, as a group, actually had a close family relationship with the Jews, from a genetic sense at minimum, but were not looked upon with equanimity by the surrounding Arabs nor by the Jews.  The Palestinians were more likely to be Christian, but most were Muslim.

I have always had the sense that Israel from the beginning was a small country surrounded by unfriendly neighbors.  Most recently, I have described to myself (and now to you), Gaza as a prison, within another prison, which is Israel, and the matter of the settlements question, which is a long festering sore to the Palestinians in particular.

Breakouts from prisons seldom end well for anyone, and those responsible are very well aware of this, I would think.

It is difficult to imagine any ‘winner’ coming out of this, especially the dominance of a ‘win-lose’ mentality shared by almost everybody, across the ideological board.  Losers immediately prepare to get even, and on the cycle goes.  We are enduring this in our politics in this era, especially.  That’s another story for another time.

Just yesterday I was observing to a good friend my sense of dialogue in this divided day and age.  I put my pen in the middle of the restaurant table we were seated at, and simply observed that today the general rule seems to be “I’ll deal with you only you are willing to go more than half-way, first”.  In other words, I won’t talk to you unless I win.

It doesn’t work in day to day life; it doesn’t work in national or international relations either.  We are stuck with some tough lessons left to learn…but we candy our part to change the conversation.

POSTNOTE Nov. 22:  The Tuesday Minneapolis Star Tribune had a long article about a controversial Minneapolis teacher’s union action.  The article speaks for itself and is worth your time: CMFT re Israel-Gaza Nov21 2023.

It’s been years since I’ve been to such meetings myself, but as a full-time teacher union representative, I attended probably thousands of them in my career.  People who make the difference are the ones who show up and participate, and likely this is solely what happened here.  In short, as best I can tell, this was simply an expression of freedom of expression which took on a life of its own when one side didn’t like it.

Ironically, I wouldn’t even know about this action, unless it was made to be a public matter….