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An anti-history historian By Tom Segev Tags: alon confino, history Alon Confino is a professor of modern German and European history at the University of Virginia and an expert in the culture of memory. In an article he published in the periodical Alpayim - A Multidisciplinary Publication for Contemporary Thought and Literature (in Hebrew), Confino calls for eliminating history from the discourse between Jews and Arabs in Israel, "to get rid of the arrogance of the past" and to overcome it. The debate as to what did and did not happen in the past only deepens the rifts, in his opinion. "It may be strange that a historian, whose craft is to construct representations of the past, posits such an argument," writes Confino, "but I don't think that the role of the historian is always to recommend a recipe that includes another dosage of the past in order to reinforce identity [preferably three times a day]." At the same time, he also calls for suspending the debate on the question of whether the State of Israel should be "Jewish and democratic" or "a state of all its citizens." This is a call in favor of pragmatism: "The Jews must desist from the obsessive need to turn the Palestinians into Zionists, to be loved by them, and to hear how wonderful, justified and humane Zionism was [as a whole]. It certainly was not so for the native Palestinians. The Palestinians must get used to the Jewish nation-state that is supported by 80 percent of the country's inhabitants." Confino is talking about the Israeli Arabs, not those in Gaza and the West Bank. Advertisement Both Jews and Arabs do in fact draw their identity from history, as do most of the nations of the world. The conflict over the Land of Israel is anchored in the past, as are many conflicts between nations. But "the past is not necessarily the best tool for shaping the present," says Confino. "We must exist in the present, we must dream, build, create. We must live." There is no need to forget everything, he says, but neither is there a need to remember everything. Confino does not spell out what should be remembered and what forgotten, but asserts that holding on to the past exacerbates the tension, especially in conditions of inequality. Instead of arguing about history, he suggests therefore that we concentrate on creating political, civic and cultural equality between the Jews and the Arabs in Israel, including the payment of compensation to the Arabs for property that was confiscated from them, and a recognition of their right to return to the villages they were forced to leave, "insofar as possible." In his opinion, more equality will reduce the tension between Jews and Arabs, will improve the integration of the Arabs into Israeli society, and then it will also be easier to work on shaping memory, in order to harness it for everyone's benefit. About 1,000 people gathered last week in a small village in Vietnam to commemorate the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest war crimes committed during the second half of the 20th century: the massacre at My Lai. In attendance were several of the survivors, most of whom retain the horrors of the massacre among their childhood memories, and several Americans who were fighters in Vietnam at the time. It happened on March 16, 1968: American soldiers entered the village in order to find Vietcong fighters, but when they left - they left behind piles of corpses, most of them civilians, including many women and children; 504 of the dead are known by name. They were shot or impaled on the bayonets of the soldiers' rifles; some were beaten to death and some were set on fire. Women were raped; there were acts of torture and abuse. The U.S. Army tried to whitewash the massacre, and the story was published in the press only a year and a half later. Investigations began, several of those involved in the affair were court-martialed, mainly for the offense of false reporting. They were all acquitted except for one, Lieutenant William Calley; he was sentenced to life imprisonment, but then president Richard Nixon hastened to release him to house arrest. Three and a half years later, everything was behind him. He lives today in Atlanta, Georgia. Recently he was said to have demanded $25,000 for an interview. Calley was a war criminal who claimed that he was only carrying out orders. The Allies, headed by the United States, refused to accept this claim from Nazi war criminals after World War II. The period between Auschwitz and My Lai saw the development of international law, but the understanding shown by the U.S. for its own war crimes in Vietnam dealt a serious blow to efforts to pass international legislation against such crimes. The My Lai massacre gave rise only to short-lived soul searching; everyone tried to understand "how it could have happened." On the tapes from the Pentagon investigation, which were only recently discovered and broadcast on the BBC, one can hear the answer: "I would say that most people in our company did not consider the Vietnamese human beings." That explains everything. Fifty years ago, on Good Friday, a demonstration against nuclear armaments set out from Trafalgar Square in London. One of those in favor of the idea proposed to the organizers of the demonstration that they provide its participants with a symbol. His name was Gerald Holtom, a graphic designer; during World War II he had been a conscientious objector. First he thought of using the Christian cross, but later decided to use the semaphore alphabet. He put together the letters N (Nuclear) and D (disarmament), and arrived at what soon became the universal peace symbol. A new book, "Peace: The Biography of a Symbol," published 50 years after the invention of the symbol, tries to reconstruct its path from England to America, and primarily tries to decipher the secret of its power. It's not easy; Holtom saw it as the figure of a desperate man, his arms spread to the sides helplessly. By the time he died in 1985, he had come to regret what he had created. In a prolonged correspondence with the author of the book, Ken Kolsbun, he had second thoughts: It would have been better to design a symbol of hope. In the U.S., the symbol was used by opponents of the Vietnam War, and from there it spread to the entire world, expressing a culture of rebellion and peace. One of the reasons for its success is related to something its creator neglected: He did not copyright it. One of every three pupils in elementary schools in Britain confused Neil Armstrong, the man who took the first steps on the moon, with Winston Churchill: They replied in a test that Churchill was the man on the moon. A few months ago, one of every four pupils in Britain said that Churchill never really existed: It turns out that they confused the prime minister with a dog whose head moves from side to side, which stars in a commercial for an insurance company. A two-seater sports car, Pescara Spyder, which once belonged to Benito Mussolini, was sold in London for half a million pounds sterling. Mussolini used to stand between the seats and give a Hitler salute to the masses who cheered him in the city streets. He believed in his nation: The sides of the car are not bullet-proof, the windshields are not protected. Two weeks ago, I cited an article in the monthly magazine Vanity Fair, about the American plan to forcibly bring down the Hamas regime in Gaza. The article was based, among other things, on a document the U.S. consul in Jerusalem left with Abu Mazen in Ramallah, perhaps by mistake. Not so, wrote Ed Abington, who served as the U.S. consul in the 1990s: "Diplomats do not leave such papers 'by mistake.' After they deliver the message orally, they leave the points for discussion with the host, in order to ensure that no misunderstanding has arisen. That is a common diplomatic practice. I did it many times with Arafat." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Devil's weed New campaign equates smoking pot with terrorism. Bad company A BBC poll says Israel world's most hated country after Iran.   1.   Peace Symbol 03:22  |  Dave 30/03/08   2.   the picture in this article is not a peace symbol 07:07  |  judah 30/03/08

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