International medial again fill the news about how and who is going to provide humanitarian aid to the war-stricken Gaza. Just comparing the headlines of international media about humanitarian aid to Gaza, it sounds very much like the popular song by Abba, "The Winner Takes It All." (and the loser awaits outsiders' help for survival?)
Does the winner really take it all? Or who is the winner in this decades old conflict? It seems easy to think Gaza is the innocent powerless victim who can only survive by international concerns and humanitarian aid, and Israel is the selfish powerful winner. To make the matter even more culturally fit for some of you, it might sound politically correct to support Gaza, the have-nots, and criticize Israel, the haves. Does it really? I think it is way more complex than siding with one or the other. Some smarter people suggest that it might be useful to support an alternative view of "pro-two-states and anti-conflict" as some of the Arab states these days prefer issues of "interests" to issues of "ideology." I find myself quite sympathetic to the view expressed in this blog, thanks to the author.
In search of deeper understanding on the complex issues in this region, I started reading various local sources of information and I must admit that Haaretz quickly became one of my favourite newspapers of the month. I have been following the news since the first day of the war and I must admit that it is fascinating to read this side of Israeli life and culture that are much hidden to the outside world. Israeli media are busy reporting different issues of aftermath: how much this war is going to cost Israeli people to recover and how to boost "business as usual" in the southern region (click here for an Israeli view on the war costs, and here to read a story concerning the life in the south whether one is a farmer or a business person).
Last night I was on the bus coming home after my small group meeting. Just less than 24 hours after the ceasefire, a little after 8 p.m., the bus was packed with people going home. What really stood out to me was that there were a few children and youth without their guardians accompanying them on their journey to wherever they were going. These Israeli young people on the bus - whether Jews or Arabs - seem to me just like any middle class children. They didn't seem like poor children who had no choice but to travel alone and risk their own safety like some poor children in many countries today. This one fact, no safe urban streets for children, is one development indicator that is often worse in developed countries than in developing countries. So I have developed this anthropological antenna to watch children on street wherever I travel. It took me a while to feel it's normal to see children traveling alone on the bus. It made me feel safe too.
Then suddenly it struck me what someone told me about Israel before I came here. She said in her past travels to Israel, she always felt that it is safer to be inside Israel than coming into Israel. In fact, I have not heard a single petty crime case on the news for the last two weeks since I arrived in Israel.
Today I received a parcel from a friend in the USA. I had to go to the post office to pick it up with my passport to give a full ID report. And this sticker was added on the box after four days of customs clearance in Israel and it says:
Dear Citizen - for your security!!! Do not open this parcel before verifying if you were expecting a parcel from this return address. Should you have any doubts, please inform the postal employee.
The fear of power and the power of fear.
Perhaps one can measure who has more power between Israel and Hamas, therefore who should fear whom. At the same time, threats and fear of terrorist attack and suicide bombers are real in this part of the world. Again I have to reorient myself about what security concern means in this part of the word.
No comments:
Post a Comment