Politics: Report from Gaza on Israeli atrocities

Dispatches: The Killing Zone

British report on Israeli violence in Gaza against not only Palestinian civilians, but international aid volunteers and foreign reporters as well.

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See also this illuminating article by Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/taylor1

Of particular interest is this paragraph:

“One more source of categorical violence must also be mentioned. Today, we rescue and recognize victims and punish perpetrators and victimizers. Concern for victims is, for Girard, the religion of the modern world. It is a force for battling injustice, but it, too, draws lines and denounces enemies. For if I am a victim someone must be the victimizer. Claiming victim-hood asserts purity. Our cause is good, so we can inflict righteous violence. We have a right to do terrible things, a right others don’t possess. Here is the logic of Terrorism: because I suffer at the hands of others, I am justified in wreaking mayhem.”

Taylor goes on to praise especially Nelson Mandela for his “renunciation of the rights of victim-hood.” That is, he gave up the quest for revenge and retribution for the wrongs against him and his native countrymen and women. He instead gave amnesty to all who openly admitted their wrongs during apartheid. Taylor also mentions Adam Michnik’s work in Poland during and after the Cold War and the Dalai Lama’s stance on China and Tibet.

All of these leaders resisted the urge to identify themselves as victims. All resisted the urge to incite fear of future violence. All resisted acting violently themslves and fought instead to build anew, to forgive and move forward while not releasing anyone involved of their responsibilities. All of them display a political and moral courage which we can only hope to see more of in our own country (and in other ‘civilized and advanced’ nations).

[Also, if you’ve read Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” and watch the video, see if you can pick out statements by Israeli troops and officials that sound eerily similar to the experience of Meursault on the beach.]