Disengaging?
So time to write this latest post one more time. It will be quickly followed with some reflections on the terrorist attack in London, but one iminent problematic issue to another...
Watching the news these days over here has become a traumatic experience. Wherever you stand on the political debate over the withdrawal from Gaza, pictures of Jews being hauled away and fighting with other Jews are pretty heart-wrenching. Its worth remembering of course that the Israeli government encouranged and paid a lot of money for its citizens to move there in the 70s and early 80s. To this end i have a certain amount of sympathy for the Jewish communities in Gush Katif (Gaza) who understandably do not want to leave their homes and the communities they have created there. This is particularly relevant as the government still doesn't seem to be entirely clear as to where its going to move all these people to.
In this country where political pidgeon-holing and stamping your political colours to the marst is second nature it has been an interesting and eye-opening experience to entire the political debate as i did recently. For the last two-weeks ive been walking around with a blue ribbon attatched to my right-hand walking stick. The society has quickly latched onto the colour coding that goes with the two sides of the political debate, Orange for anti-disengagement and blue for pro. Even shops are cashing in with extra stock of a swath of orange items, t-shirts, skirts, head-coverings, cycle helmets and the like. Its reached the point that people are no longer prepared to wear a favourite item of clothing as it may mistakenly identtify them with the 'wrong' side of the debate.
And this essentially is the absurdity of the situation. As i was walking along moments after having acquired and attatched my new blue-ribbon it occured to me just how readily so many people here seem to be prepared to subjectify themselves and others. I had become as 'blue' as the other people had become 'orange'. Seeing a 'blue-person' quickly translates into 'oh what a relief another sensible 'blue-person', just as orange becomes code for 'there goes that raving right-wing nutter' (ofcourse this phenomenon is easily reversed according to ones respective politics). This is nothing short of ridiculous! I began to think of many of my most respected teachers at Pardes, many of whom are politically to my right and anti-disengagement. Whilst i disagree with them politically, they are multi-faceted people whom i am still able to respect for so many other reasons. The other side of this coin, ofcourse is that it could quite easily be the case that many of the people sporting blue ribbons are in fact anti-Zionist Jews the kind of whom make my blood run cold.
On a slight positive, it was encouraging to see that the settlers who were removed from the hotel by the IDF the other day, surrendered peaceful without resorting to any kind of violent tactics.
One way or another this is going to be a long and difficult summer. Israeli society has not dealt well in its recent history with upheveal, i hope we as a nation will be able to look back on this coming summer with relief in years to come.
Watching the news these days over here has become a traumatic experience. Wherever you stand on the political debate over the withdrawal from Gaza, pictures of Jews being hauled away and fighting with other Jews are pretty heart-wrenching. Its worth remembering of course that the Israeli government encouranged and paid a lot of money for its citizens to move there in the 70s and early 80s. To this end i have a certain amount of sympathy for the Jewish communities in Gush Katif (Gaza) who understandably do not want to leave their homes and the communities they have created there. This is particularly relevant as the government still doesn't seem to be entirely clear as to where its going to move all these people to.
In this country where political pidgeon-holing and stamping your political colours to the marst is second nature it has been an interesting and eye-opening experience to entire the political debate as i did recently. For the last two-weeks ive been walking around with a blue ribbon attatched to my right-hand walking stick. The society has quickly latched onto the colour coding that goes with the two sides of the political debate, Orange for anti-disengagement and blue for pro. Even shops are cashing in with extra stock of a swath of orange items, t-shirts, skirts, head-coverings, cycle helmets and the like. Its reached the point that people are no longer prepared to wear a favourite item of clothing as it may mistakenly identtify them with the 'wrong' side of the debate.
And this essentially is the absurdity of the situation. As i was walking along moments after having acquired and attatched my new blue-ribbon it occured to me just how readily so many people here seem to be prepared to subjectify themselves and others. I had become as 'blue' as the other people had become 'orange'. Seeing a 'blue-person' quickly translates into 'oh what a relief another sensible 'blue-person', just as orange becomes code for 'there goes that raving right-wing nutter' (ofcourse this phenomenon is easily reversed according to ones respective politics). This is nothing short of ridiculous! I began to think of many of my most respected teachers at Pardes, many of whom are politically to my right and anti-disengagement. Whilst i disagree with them politically, they are multi-faceted people whom i am still able to respect for so many other reasons. The other side of this coin, ofcourse is that it could quite easily be the case that many of the people sporting blue ribbons are in fact anti-Zionist Jews the kind of whom make my blood run cold.
On a slight positive, it was encouraging to see that the settlers who were removed from the hotel by the IDF the other day, surrendered peaceful without resorting to any kind of violent tactics.
One way or another this is going to be a long and difficult summer. Israeli society has not dealt well in its recent history with upheveal, i hope we as a nation will be able to look back on this coming summer with relief in years to come.
posted by Ben at 10:57 pm
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