Great read! I appreciate your attempt to look at this with a nuanced perspective. I also appreciate the many voices you included. I have often been accused of "both siding" this. Our need as humans to identify who is the good guy and who is the bad guy helps no one - let alone Palestinians. I have made a concerted effort to listen to voi…
Great read! I appreciate your attempt to look at this with a nuanced perspective. I also appreciate the many voices you included. I have often been accused of "both siding" this. Our need as humans to identify who is the good guy and who is the bad guy helps no one - let alone Palestinians. I have made a concerted effort to listen to voices from both sides who are interested in peace. That means Israeli and Jewish voices - and the voices of the Palestinian diaspora. The approach they all have in common is this. Neither Israel , nor Palestine is going anywhere. Try as both parties might to eliminate each other, it will not happen short of a real genocide. It is 100% necessary to critique the Israeli government, Hamas and other Iranian proxies (Hezboula, Houthis, etc) for their actions. It is necessary and effective. Advocates for peace do this well. It is possible to "both side" this conflict because both sides are wrong and at the same time justified. One of the things that many of these peace advocates talk about is the need to listen and understand each other's stories. One thing this conflict has taught me is that history is about perspective. Until we are able to sit down and listen and accept that each side has a different perspective of the same history - there will never be peace. I would argue that our constant positioning here in the west as either pro Palestine or Pro Israel perpetuates this and damages the chances for any kind of lasting peace, and from the voices of Palestinian activists - it infantilizes Palestinians. When someone asks me where I stand here is what I say. "I am Pro Palestinian, Pro Israel but most importantly I am pro humanity.
With everything, it matters *how* you 'both sides' an argument. As you point out, Cheryl, if it means actually considering all sides in a complicated conflict: How, on earth, could that be a bad thing? Demanding people set their position based on half the facts is absurd.
The bad kind of 'both sides'ing means never criticizing anyone — or always criticizing everyone — and never taking a stance on anything.
But as you point out, actively advocating for peace is very much taking a side! Thanks for the comment.
Great read! I appreciate your attempt to look at this with a nuanced perspective. I also appreciate the many voices you included. I have often been accused of "both siding" this. Our need as humans to identify who is the good guy and who is the bad guy helps no one - let alone Palestinians. I have made a concerted effort to listen to voices from both sides who are interested in peace. That means Israeli and Jewish voices - and the voices of the Palestinian diaspora. The approach they all have in common is this. Neither Israel , nor Palestine is going anywhere. Try as both parties might to eliminate each other, it will not happen short of a real genocide. It is 100% necessary to critique the Israeli government, Hamas and other Iranian proxies (Hezboula, Houthis, etc) for their actions. It is necessary and effective. Advocates for peace do this well. It is possible to "both side" this conflict because both sides are wrong and at the same time justified. One of the things that many of these peace advocates talk about is the need to listen and understand each other's stories. One thing this conflict has taught me is that history is about perspective. Until we are able to sit down and listen and accept that each side has a different perspective of the same history - there will never be peace. I would argue that our constant positioning here in the west as either pro Palestine or Pro Israel perpetuates this and damages the chances for any kind of lasting peace, and from the voices of Palestinian activists - it infantilizes Palestinians. When someone asks me where I stand here is what I say. "I am Pro Palestinian, Pro Israel but most importantly I am pro humanity.
With everything, it matters *how* you 'both sides' an argument. As you point out, Cheryl, if it means actually considering all sides in a complicated conflict: How, on earth, could that be a bad thing? Demanding people set their position based on half the facts is absurd.
The bad kind of 'both sides'ing means never criticizing anyone — or always criticizing everyone — and never taking a stance on anything.
But as you point out, actively advocating for peace is very much taking a side! Thanks for the comment.
Thank you Justin for your ongoing effort to make sense of the senseless! I appreciate you!