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Last update - 15:13 30/09/2006
The genocide myth - ours and theirs
By Bradley Burston

Note: This article will be followed by an experiment. In an effort to foster rational dialogue, Talkback responses to this piece will be subject to stringent new guidelines, as specified below.

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It is the nature of myth both to contain a kernel of truth, and to obscure the extent of the truth it contains.

So it is, that it is difficult for Israelis to free themselves from the sense that the Arabs want to see them all dead. Certainly there is some truth to the extermination myth, but no one knows how much.

Moreover, given the possibility that it may be true, and the inherent danger involved in really putting it to the test, no one really wants to find out.

In either event, the myth feeds into what may be called the First Law of Intractability, or the Law of Conservation of Anguish, which may be summarized as follows: The reaction of one side to its own specific pain, tends to directly accentuate the specific pain of the other.

Stated differently, our Holocaust pain and their Naqba (1948 war) pain potentiate one another.

Our chosen means of self-defense - incursions, body searches, discriminatory laws and regulations, refusal to recognize, refusal to negotiate, raids and bombings, house demolitions, imprisonments without trial, building walls through villages and over farmers' fields, kidnappings and assassinations of leaders - directly act upon the Palestinians' every humiliation nerve.

Their chosen means of redeeming their lost honor - suicide bombings, rocket attacks, masked paramilitary posturing, anti-Semitic incitement, refusal to recognize, refusal to negotiate, kidnappings of soldiers - directly act upon our every annihilation nerve.

So completely has this system taken us over, that it has manages to slough over the cultural borders between us, such that we have begun to react militarily out of humiliation - witness government actions at the end of the recent war in the north - and the Palestinians have taken it as a matter of course that the object of Israeli policy is genocide against the peoples of the West Bank and Gaza.

Both sides can marshal persuasive arguments in favor of the idea that genocide is the object of the other. For Israelis who lived through the 1948 war and the run-up to the 1967 war, there are no end of quotations from Arabs testifying to the idea that the motto Slaughter the Jews was meant to taken literally.

Hamas' resistance to recognizing the existence of Israel, currently backed by a large majority of Palestinians in a recent poll, only adds to the sense that all Israelis are potentially in their gunsights.

Palestinians - and Israeli Arabs as well - need only to look to the Teddy soccer stadium in Jerusalem to find Israelis willing to chant in delirious unison, "Death to the Arabs."

So it is that the myth of genocide has become an article of faith among both Jews and Arabs.

But what if it's not true? What if the original myth doesn't hold anymore? What if the Arabs don't want us all dead?

Forget, for the moment, the extremists.

There will be a pause, at this point, for the extremists in our own midst, who have convinced themselves that they are the only sane Jews, to state chapter and verse that the Arabs - all of them, or enough of them so that the others don't count - want nothing more than they want our extinction.

There will be a further pause for moderates to suggest that even if the vast majority of the Palestinians would be willing to live in peace with the Jews, the extremists are now in power, and might carry out genocide, if they saw a chance.

What is clear is that after years and years and years of bloodletting, Jews need to hear from Palestinians that they are willing to work for a solution that includes the Jews.

It is no less clear that the Palestinians, and their supporters abroad, need to hear a similar message.

Otherwise, the myth will remain a token of faith, a perverse badge of patriotic honor, deepening a rift that already defies healing.

Consider the following response, from a reader in Ireland:

"We simply can't see a genocide in Palestine and pretend it doesn't exist. Today, the Jews are starving, persecuting and killing the helpless Palestinians without any mercy, taking advantage of their domination over American policies and politics.

"But we in Ireland can't behave like political whores as many countries are behaving. We must stand up against the mad dogs of zionism. Will the Jews be angry? Well, who cares?"

There are good reasons to care. One of them is that the resort to the use of terms like genocide to describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict acts to cheapen the term, to divert attention from real cases of genocide, and to further confound a solution here.

There is something about the use of the term genocide that makes us feel better - Jew and Arab both. It gives us the ultimate moral edge. It gives us the justification for our every excess.

But it is time we saw it for what it is. A myth.

Would the Arabs like to see the Jews disappear from the Holy Land? Of course. Would the Jews like to see the Arabs gone? In a heartbeat.

Is it going to happen? Not on your life. Because that's not what the vast majority of the Israelis and Palestinians want. They want to find an accommodation. They want to find some way to separate and live, independently and in peace.

We cannot let anger speak for us, for either of our peoples, any longer. Too many have died on both sides.

______________________



Talkback Guidelines

The guiding principles of the talkback forum for this article will be mutual respect and an openness to dialogue. Participants, even if they rule out, dismiss or oppose coexistence, must, within the confines of this forum, practice it.

Censorship will be unapologetic.

Political orientation will have absolutely no bearing on whether a comment is posted or rejected.

The following will be grounds for deletion:

****For the purpose of this piece, restrictions forbidding respondents of accusing Israelis and Palestinians of genocide will be lifted.

Respondents are urged to relate with seriousness to the issues raised, rather than out of rote allegiance to slogan or slur.

1. Racist remarks, as well as slurs on the basis of religion, ethnicity and gender.
2. Use of the terms Nazi, Hitler, ethnic cleansing, to describe the actions and policies of Israelis, Palestinians or other parties to the Israel-Arab conflict.
3. Disparaging remarks, personal attacks, vulgarities and profanities directed at other participants in the forum.
4. Advocacy of violence against individuals or religious, ethnic or racial groups, including statements which may be construed as urging attacks on leaders, officials, security forces or civilians.
5.Use of the phrase: "There are no Palestinians" or derivatives thereof.

________________________


Previous blogs:

The 10 most useful lies about terrorism
What's right about Islam?
The Pope did us all a favor
Why the jihad is doomed

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  1.   Bradley Burston - the Moral Equivalency King 12:12  |  Richard 25/09/06
  2.   Thankyou Bradley 12:23  |  Neutered observer 25/09/06
  3.   Bradley Burston and Moral Equivalency 12:35  |  Richard 25/09/06
  4.   But should we remain silent until a genocide occurs? 12:35  |  Khalid 25/09/06
  5.   This Is Totally Disingenuous 12:43  |  Rowan Berkeley 25/09/06
  6.   Self defence? Humiliation? 12:57  |  H50 25/09/06
  7.   Vioalation of Burstons Guidline #2 13:09  |  Alex 25/09/06
  8.   Where the heck have you been Mr. Burston 13:11  |  Gee 25/09/06
  9.   Between the Myth & Reality 13:16  |  Karim 25/09/06
  10.   annihilation vs. humiliation 13:19  |  Akiva Patysh 25/09/06
  11.   The myth of "defense" 13:21  |  Maral 25/09/06
  12.   Boring boring Khalid 2. 13:27  |  Nik Miller 25/09/06
  13.   The Myth of Moral Relativism..... 13:33  |  Klaudia 25/09/06
  14.   you are wrong Alex 13:34  |  Maureen Ann 25/09/06
  15.   Yes Maral, terrorists blowing up in busses in murder 13:35  |  Richard 25/09/06
  16.   Genocide is a second choice for both sides 13:36  |  Natallie Durson 25/09/06
  17.   #11 Maral 13:36  |  Itsik 25/09/06
  18.   According to you, Richard... 13:54  |  Maral 25/09/06
  19.   Itsik 13:56  |  Maral 25/09/06
  20.   Boring boring Khalid 1. (Again) 14:12  |  Nik Miller 25/09/06
  21.   You`ve got it backwards Maral 14:20  |  Richard 25/09/06
  22.   ARABS USE THE WORD "GENOCIDE" IN THE WRONG CONTEXT 14:20  |  Nicole 25/09/06
  23.   Maral`s peaceful heart 14:21  |  Nik Miller 25/09/06
  24.   Maral - how about Mummamed Atta? 14:30  |  Ariel 25/09/06
  25.   Is Bradley saying transfer of 700,000 people in war is like Shoa? 14:44  |  Dudu 25/09/06
  26.   #19 Maral 14:46  |  Itsik 25/09/06
  27.   Richard you`re getting personal 14:47  |  Maral 25/09/06
  28.   Miller 14:51  |  Maral 25/09/06
  29.   Ariel... 1 15:00  |  Maral 25/09/06
  30.   Yes Maral, Je Accuse, Vous 15:01  |  Richard 25/09/06
  31.   Maral 15:04  |  Nik Miller 25/09/06
  32.   Ariel... 2 15:04  |  Maral 25/09/06
  33.   Think - But Be Ready To Act 15:08  |  Tony Anthony 25/09/06
  34.   maral 15:29  |  bev 25/09/06
  35.   Richard 15:38  |  Maxime 25/09/06
  36.   Richard (2) 15:39  |  Maxime 25/09/06
  37.   We Know It When We See It Alright 15:42  |  Jane 25/09/06
  38.   Nik Miller 15:54  |  Maxime 25/09/06
  39.   Agreed bev... 15:57  |  Maral 25/09/06
  40.   Natallie Durson # 16 16:01  |  ChanahS 25/09/06
  41.   "Man from next door" game 16:05  |  Maxime 25/09/06
  42.   Khalid , Bradley, question (seriously)? 16:14  |  Gabriel 25/09/06
  43.   to KARIM, THE SIMPLE REASON BEHIND ZIONISM. 16:26  |  gabriel 25/09/06
  44.   Khalid 16:27  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 25/09/06
  45.   Karim in Tyre 16:36  |  Stephen Duke 25/09/06
  46.   Burston again resorts to journalistic manipulation 16:36  |  Bennie 25/09/06
  47.   Maral - I am accusing you 16:37  |  Richard 25/09/06
  48.   #40 ChanahS and Slogans Today 16:41  |  Boycott 25/09/06
  49.   To Maxime 16:42  |  Ariel 25/09/06
  50.   Burston: What about attempted Holocausts of 48, 67 & 73? 16:42  |  Yaakov 25/09/06
  51.   But, Richard... 16:52  |  Maral 25/09/06
  52.   Gideon Hausner On The Palestinians 16:56  |  Sam The Sham 25/09/06
  53.   Richard you haven`t a clue 16:59  |  sol Kashberg 25/09/06
  54.   Maxime! 17:05  |  Nik Miller 25/09/06
  55.   TO NATALIE DURSON 17:05  |  Nicole 25/09/06
  56.   But Maral, I was referring to your first post 17:09  |  Richard 25/09/06
  57.   Well Sol, since it`s the end of the argument... 17:15  |  Richard 25/09/06
  58.   #50 Loose language, Yaakov 17:28  |  Boycott 25/09/06
  59.   Maral - it the Iraqis that suffered 17:32  |  Ariel 25/09/06
  60.   myth of Israel usurping rights 17:33  |  peter 25/09/06
  61.   Responsibility of Arab League 17:43  |  peter 25/09/06
  62.   A Miracle! 17:46  |  sol Kashberg 25/09/06
  63.   The Politics of Accomodation 18:03  |  Amoz 25/09/06
  64.   Sol Kashberg? 18:12  |  bpaul 25/09/06
  65.   There seems to be a lot of hate! 18:23  |  Le Maudit Anglais 25/09/06
  66.   #64 18:56  |  sol Kashberg 25/09/06
  67.   DON`T MISS THE SRIOUS WARNING HERE, FOR BOTH SIDES. 19:17  |  Virginia 25/09/06
  68.   False equivalence 19:21  |  Joseph Baines 25/09/06
  69.   Amoz (Amos Oz?) 19:51  |  Jasmine Murphy 25/09/06
  70.   To Le Maudit Anglais 19:55  |  Josh 25/09/06
  71.   a finality that feeds itself 19:58  |  shaun 25/09/06
  72.   no equivalence 20:02  |  Paola 25/09/06
  73.   #58 Boycott: You think the Arabs came to eat pita ? 20:39  |  Yaakov 25/09/06
  74.   The genocide myth - ours and theirs 21:00  |  Jukka Moisio 25/09/06
  75.   #73 Yaakov 21:12  |  Boycott 25/09/06
  76.   Boycott 21:32  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 25/09/06
  77.   Boycott #75 21:36  |  Gee 25/09/06
  78.   Complex of superiority? no, just fear 21:37  |  Amir 25/09/06
  79.   `Sol ` we are certainly not guests 21:37  |  Jasmine Murphy 25/09/06
  80.   Perhaps Khalid 21:49  |  Jacob Blues 25/09/06
  81.   At a certain point H50, one needs to look at the other children 21:52  |  Jacob Blues 25/09/06
  82.   The genocide myth- ours and theirs 21:57  |  Eolis123 25/09/06
  83.   I don`t think you understand Natalie... 21:58  |  Jacob Blues 25/09/06
  84.   Response to 78 22:02  |  Bruriah Sarah