Palestinians, Zionists must try to find common middle ground

This past Sunday, I attended a lecture by Dr. Kaukab Siddique, supposedly on the topic of "Zionism and the Current Peace Process." In the course of his lecture, rather than discuss in-depth his opinions on the validity of the current peace process and/or possible alternatives to it, Dr. Siddique called for serious "discussion" on "what really happened" during the Holocaust (citing in particular the need to consider revisionist beliefs), along with an end to Jewish/Zionist "control" of the Western media. These two factors, he claimed, were allowing for Zionist manipulation of public opinion and the continued existence of the oppressive, Israeli controlled states of the Middle East and North Africa. Oddly, and most frighteningly, it did not appear that many of the non-Jewish students attending the lecture felt it necessary to challenge Dr. Siddique's classically anti-Jewish statements.

Growing up in a largely Jewish area, I became accustomed, at an early age, to bomb threats at my mostly Jewish public high school, to pipe bombs in the parking lot, to swastikas burned into the yard and to bagels thrown at our visiting sports teams by students from other schools. During the years that I lived in Israel, I learned to cope with the nervousness associated with the constant threat of terrorist attacks. It was easy for me to disregard all of these actions as the work of the fanatic, hateful extremists, or as the notions of ignorant young people who would eventually, through the course of their education, learn about the similarities between all people and thus overcome their prejudices. Now, as a student at Oberlin, an institution considered very progressive, I am being taught that there can be no discussion of commonalities, no attempt to find a common ground between Jews and non-Jews; between Zionists and Palestinian rights activists.

As a Jew, an Israeli, a Zionist and an ardent supporter of Palestinian self-determination, I find it difficult to cope with this new knowledge. Yet it is equally, if not more, disturbing for me to see the specter of anti-Semitism rising in a way that, for the first time in my life, causes me fear and anxiety. Not because of its strength, but because it arises from a professional educator, and is accepted by intelligent, educated peers. If I cannot trust my peers to discredit such overt anti-Jewish statement, then whom can I trust? Dr. Siddique's speech not only preached anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist paranoia, it also did its best to delegitimize the Jewish identity as a cohesive people with a rich cultural history. By claiming that Judaism is purely a religion, and that the Jews are not a people, Siddique allows his listeners to ignore the rights of the Jewish people to a homeland, the same type of homeland that he (and I) sees as imperative to the Palestinian people. This willful ignorance in turn leads to the demonization of Zionists, and by extension to all Jews, as the ultimate danger to the Palestinians, and to the rest of the world.

As we move into the 49th year of Israel's statehood, it is disturbing to find that there remain those who deny the legitimacy of the State (and of the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own), and believe that it is merely a matter of time until the political entity of Israel disappears. Israel is not going away! It exists, with a population of over five million people, and it will continue to exist into the foreseeable future. Those who deny this reality accomplish no practical end. In fact, they deny the Palestinian people any possibility of improvement of their political and financial conditions through the establishment of a Palestinian state since the only way that a Palestinian state may come about is through direct negotiations with the government of Israel. In addition, both Jewish and Muslim extremists who deny the legitimacy of the Oslo Accords (the peace agreements between the Palestinians and Israel) fail to offer any realistic or feasible alternative. Dr. Siddique's lecture fit this model perfectly.

Now is the time to protest the ongoing human rights abuses and collective punishments inflicted on Palestinians within the Occupied Territories! Now is the time to revile the Israeli attacks on civilian targets in Southern Lebanon! We must also insure that the peace process, with all its flaws and inconsistencies, continues and improves, as this is the only way that the Palestinian people will ever recover from the past decades of oppression, to flourish as any free and independent people. What we do not need any longer is a nihilistic view of the future, and a demonization of the parties involved in the political affairs of the Middle East. This hatred and paranoia can only serve to hurt everyone involved. Unfortunately, this is precisely what Dr. Siddique aimed to accomplish during his Sunday night lecture, as he painted a phantasmagoria of Israeli/Jewish/Zionist infiltration into the politics and culture of nearly every nation in the Middle East and North Africa, and of Jewish/Zionist control of the United States government and Western media.

Despite the hatred of Dr. Siddique's lecture, and the infinitely more disturbing sight of intelligent students endorsing his paranoid fantasy world, I continue to believe that there exists a middle ground. There must, since I am standing on it. I would like to invite others to join me here. Let us see Students for a Free Palestine, Oberlin Zionists and all other interested parties come together in an ongoing dialogue group in order to educate ourselves on the issues, to talk through our differences, to come to an understanding of each other's positions, and, at the very least, to agree to disagree. This is my challenge to the Oberlin community, and, as I see it, this is what higher education, Oberlin, and the Middle East Peace Process are all about.