Revenge Is The Word In The Background

[Violet_Crumble]

by Amira Hass
February 08, 2006



The young woman who came into the corner grocery in the Jenin refugee camp did not hide her hostility when told there was an Israeli guest. It seemed that it was even difficult for her to sit in the same room as the guest, whom the grocer honored with sweets and jokes while commented on the various political parties running in the elections. Without any prelude, the young woman asked the guest, "So, what do you think about 'sacrifice operations?' "

It was clear she was not interested in an answer, but only wanted to deliver a lecture on why she thinks it is the proper response.

"So a dead Palestinian girl is okay? And to bomb us in our homes is okay?"


What really angered her, more than anything else, was the answer that revenge is not a liberation struggle. The grocer hushed the young woman, saying "That's not how to speak to guests."

When the young woman left, the grocer said that the young woman's brother, a member of Fateh, committed an attack in Israel and was killed. Another brother was killed when the IDF invaded the refugee camp in April 2002.

In similar arguments from Rafah to Jenin, the terms used for suicide attacks are "response," or "answer." Sometimes, for example in the context of Qassam fire, the sentence, "we also have the right to defend ourselves," comes up as an explanation. The more forthright and sincere, meaning those who don't deceive themselves and others about the capacity for "defense," say, "we also have the right to frighten you, like you always frighten us with your shelling and bombings and sonic booms. Your citizens should also feel threatened."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=9693

[eyl]

1. Let me get this straight

she wants vengeance for the death of her brother while comitting an attack?

[bemildred]

2. I don't think that's quite it.

I think it's that she thinks her brother's attack, and the like, are justified as revenge for the treatment of the Palestinians. It's much easier to justify violence by referring to big, vague collectivities rather than one's own petty concerns. It's pretty much the "an eye for an eye" idea, Israel intimidates us and tries to instill fear in us, so we may do the same in return. You might call it "moral equivalence", she is asserting "moral equivalence".

[gulfcoastliberal]

3. Historically speaking, Jews are the most oppressed, abused, vilified, and

hated people in the world. Jews lived in Israel before the creation of Islam. They fought the Romans, known as "The Great Jewish Revolt" and comitted suicide rather than surrender. Jerusalema and Israel have rightfully been the homeland to Jews for millenia. That's a fact:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Jewish_Revolt

[Violet_Crumble]

4. What did that have to do with the article I posted?

n/t

[Englander]

6. Absolutely fa. n/t

[Englander]

5. Where's the relevance?

Also, with such an argument as the one you've constructed, you could justify
anything you like, even 'transfer'. You're in effect saying anything is justified.
Isn't that similar to what the ultra-nationalists say?

Talking of which, here's some award-winning photos of the latter-day zealots;

"Series of pictures taken by Haaretz photographer Uriel Sinai,
winner of World Press Photo contest";
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/681483.html

[Tom Joad]

7. I think this paragraph sums up so much pain and suffering endured

by the Palestinian people:

The attempt to explain to Israelis that such acts of vengeance are puny compared to the intensity of the Israeli assault on every individual, and against the entire Palestinian community, is doomed to failure. On a daily basis, Israel attacks every Palestinian with systematic variety. The aggregation is lethal, even if the killing of a nine-year-old girl or setting a dog on an elderly woman are not daily occurrences. It's that aggregation that undermines any attempt to conduct a normal life. It's being locked up in the West Bank's enclaves, so that simple routines like going to school, work, or visiting family are impossible. There's the unceasing expropriation of land for roads and security fences for settlements; the trees uprooted by the army, livelihoods that are cut off daily, and the insult of that; the army's prohibition, on security grounds, against accessing farm and grazing lands; the break-ins to houses in the middle of the night, which the Israeli public rarely if ever hears about; the hours of waiting at checkpoints; the frightened children; the aimed rifles.

If there is ever to be any kind of peace in the region, this is what must end. The total assualt on Palestinians' ability to lead a normal life.