COMMENTARY: How Do We Keep This From Happening Again?

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In the more-or-less calm aftermath of the Hezbollah-Israel war, both Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Israeli President Ehud Olmert have declared victory. Pundits are scrambling to assess the physical, psychological, social and moral wins and losses, with each side lamenting the other’s strengths and bemoaning their own weaknesses. The […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) In the more-or-less calm aftermath of the Hezbollah-Israel war, both Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Israeli President Ehud Olmert have declared victory. Pundits are scrambling to assess the physical, psychological, social and moral wins and losses, with each side lamenting the other’s strengths and bemoaning their own weaknesses.

The real question, however, should not be who won or lost, but how do we keep this kind of war from happening again?


We should not accept the notion that the conflict between Israel and its neighbors will go on forever until one side or the other is destroyed. We cannot accept the callous taking of civilian lives in pursuit of political ends _ be they Israeli, Lebanese or Palestinian lives, although clearly the Arabs have always suffered far greater losses.

Nor should the wholesale destruction of the Lebanese infrastructure, or the starvation siege of the West Bank (largely unnoticed in the public eye once the fighting in Lebanon began) be considered business as usual.

The war was, despite all claims to the contrary, remarkably inconclusive. Hezbollah was not destroyed; in fact, many more Lebanese have now embraced Hezbollah because of its resistance to the overwhelmingly disproportionate Israeli response. Israel did not suddenly decide that its objectives are costing too much in terms of Israeli lives or material. Neither did Israel decide that the Jewish state should be dismantled and everyone should pack their bags and go back to their homelands.

In the end, the only thing achieved was an angry stalemate, one in which both sides are more hardened in their hatred, anger, sense of outraged injustice and fear of destruction at the hands of their enemies. The Western/Israeli demonization of Arabs (and by extension all Muslims) continues apace, with countless depictions of them as mindless, uber-violent and inhuman mad dogs. Meanwhile the Arab demonization of Israelis (and by extension all Jews) as callous, fascist descendants of monkeys and swine has only intensified.

Given this state of affairs, a repeat war _ after each side has retired to lick its wounds and recoup _ is not only likely, it is a near certainty. How, then, can the world act to change the situation?

The first step is to acknowledge the essential humanity of each side. Israelis are not demons, nor are the Hezbollah fighters or Palestinians. Until we accept the value of every human life, white or brown, Jew or Muslim, it will be far too easy to dismiss horrific collateral damage and civilian loss of life as sad but unavoidable.

The second step is to acknowledge the legitimate desires of each side for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on equal terms with their neighbors. Until a dignified and secure life that is uncomplicated by excessive restrictions is assured for all in the region, conflict will continue. Arabs will have to accept the existence of Israel, and Israelis will have to accept that Palestinians have a legitimate right to their own existence in their own lands. Sixty years of open and simmering warfare should have taught us by now that neither side can be pounded into submission.


Third, it is time the global community said enough is enough. The United Nations needs to get involved. Individual countries should not be allowed to continue arming and financing one side or the other, and U.N. peacekeepers should enforce a no-fire zone. The international community will have to force a solution, much as a solution was forced upon the former Yugoslavia.

Until these things happen, it’s going to be business as usual. Nothing has changed, except attitudes, which have gotten worse. Until the rest of the world finds the spine to step in, there is no reason to believe things ever will change.

(Pamela K. Taylor is co-chair of the Progressive Muslim Union and director of the Islamic Writers Alliance.)

KRE/PH END TAYLOR

To find a photo of this columnist, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by last name.

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