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Sixty years of Nakba, 60 years of nothing
By Bradley Burston
Tags: Burston, Israel, Palestinians 

In a nation as coiled and embroiled as this, with a language fraught and zip-filed as the bible, it's only fitting that a single daily newspaper headline will often say more than the thousands of words that follow.

So it was, that on the day before Israel was to celebrate its independence, Maariv's banner read, simply, "60 Years of Bereavement."

In a narrow sense, the headline, stark white on a field of black, marked Israel's memorial day for its war dead and its victims of terrorism.

At the same time, the brief headline may have said more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and about Israelis themselves, and Palestinians as well - than all of this week's floodtide of 60th anniversary punditry put together.

They are filled with dread here, these people, my friends, the Israelis and the Palestinians both. Part of the dread is the realization that, no matter what direction the conflict takes, the result will in no way justify the violent deaths since 1948 of more than 24,000 Israelis and uncounted thousands of Palestinians.

If we look back 10 years, to Israel's 50th Independence Day, we see a time of much greater hope. Despite widespread dissatisfaction with then-leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat, there was a sense on both sides that the peace process was irreversible.

Since then, we've grown up. A decade of collapsed negotiations and inconclusive fighting has left us at a desolate emotional ground zero. First we lost our belief in the power of peace to solve our problems. Then we lost our faith in the power of war to do the same. Israelis and Palestinians both, we are in a state of unaccustomed loss of ideals. Revolution after revolution has betrayed us, divided us, failed us. Marxism, religious fundamentalism, nationalism, nothing has worked.

Now, after 60 years, we are at our proudest when we have nothing to offer. All we have left, we think on both sides, is the little we have left. We can't give in anymore. We can't give up any more. All we have left to offer is nothing.

We have confused manhood, self-worth, true independence, with the doctrine of Just Say No. No to recognition of the other. No to territorial compromise over Jerusalem. No to territorial compromise over the Holy Land. No to discussion of shared sovereignty of sacred shrines. No to compromise, even if only verbal, over return of refugees.

Both sides have their monsters, who see themselves as the keepers of the holy flame, ready to bring down and/or do violence to anyone on their own side who dares to work for peace.

Both sides have their diaspora, with its armchair martyrs and La-Z-Boy commandos, its online ideologue and its Talkback Cato the Elder.

We have done iniquity to one another and felt only victimhood. We do it still. Every single one of us, on both sides, suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Too many of us cause it as well.

We have seen that if the first casualty of war is truth, the second will surely be compassion.

We have seen that humans - or we, at any rate - have an innate need for revenge. We have also seen that vengeance does absolutely no good.

If we look back 60 years, and look closely, we will see that what happened in 1948 was a tragedy, a disaster, a Nakba, for both sides. The Palestinians who lost their homes and their dreams decreed that there would be no peace, no assured future for these newly decreed people, these Israelis, one out of every hundred of whom lost their lives in that war.

Today, we - Palestinian and Israeli both - look into the future, and see nothing. We are blinded by the enormity of our bereavement. We are unable to look into each other's eyes with anything other than pain. Even the extremists among us are beginning to wonder about how their messianic visions have played out. All of us have been betrayed by some one on our own side.

Paradoxically, though, there may be something in all of this that promotes healing. Psychologists tell us that coping skills which enable children to survive horrific childhoods, may turn disastrously self-destructive if carried into adulthood. Perhaps we need to have our habits, comforting illusions, conforting misconceptions about the evil of our enemies, taken from us by force. Or by force of disillusionment.

There may be something healthy in the sense that the past 60 years themselves have betrayed us. Maybe that's how a people weans itself from its illusions. Maybe that's how a people begins to have self-awareness. Maybe that's how a people finally, perhaps just before it's too late, grows up.

_______________


Previous blogs:


Our Defense Forces, our war crimes, our terrorism
For our worst enemy, Hamas, just two words
The New 12 Tribes of Israel
A place at the table
I want the Palestinians to win
The jihad against the Jews
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French court: Claim that Al-Dura tape doctored isn`t libelous.
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Olmert: Peace talks with Syria are a 'national duty'.
  1.   A Miracle Not Disaster 16:54  |  ERSB 06/05/08
  2.   our naqba occurred in the year 634 CE 18:11  |  bob 06/05/08
  3.   The Occupier and the Occupied 19:52  |  Lars Hansen 06/05/08
  4.   Burston, take a Xanax 20:21  |  dyinglikeflies 06/05/08
  5.   "The Naqba to the Palestinians, is what the Shoah is to the Jews. 20:57  |  Tarek 06/05/08
  6.   What was there in 634 20:58  |  Tarek 06/05/08
  7.   "The Naqba to the Palestinians, is... continued" 21:04  |  Tarek 06/05/08
  8.   Tarek 21:20  |  Elihu 06/05/08
  9.   60 Years of Nothing...WRONG! 21:54  |  Ed 06/05/08
  10.   Distorted values 23:16  |  Realist 06/05/08
  11.   Elihu #8 23:40  |  Adam 06/05/08
  12.   Tarek 23:44  |  Ed 06/05/08
  13.   rubbish Tarek 00:01  |  Gordon Peltz 07/05/08
  14.   Tarek thinks 00:02  |  Ed 07/05/08
  15.   Occupation 00:12  |  Ed 07/05/08
  16.   it`s called the naKba, not the naqba 00:28  |  Tamara 07/05/08
  17.   Tarek - re synagogues under muslim rule 00:40  |  Reuben 07/05/08
  18.   More discussion for Reuben 03:50  |  Tarek USA 07/05/08
  19.   Naqba is Arab terrorist propaganda - Only Olmert believes in it 04:33  |  ROB GOTTESMAN 07/05/08
  20.   Israel is home 05:03  |  Yaron (an Israeli) 07/05/08
  21.   Tarek 06:47  |  John 07/05/08
  22.   Please stop equating the two sides 08:25  |  Josh 07/05/08
  23.   To Tarek -- The Shoah is like the "Naqba" 08:32  |  Josh 07/05/08
  24.   To Lars Hansen 08:44  |  Shoshana Thomasson 07/05/08
  25.   To Lars Hansen (continue) 09:14  |  Shoshana Thomasson 07/05/08
  26.   ISRAEL IS BEING CURSED TO BE AT WAR FOREVER 11:57  |  indrajaya 07/05/08
  27.   Islam is to blame! 11:58  |  Akiva P 07/05/08
  28.   sixty years of triumphs 12:09  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 07/05/08
  29.   Palestinians Have A Point 12:11  |  Yosemite 07/05/08
  30.   to Indrayaya 12:16  |  Harry 07/05/08
  31.   634 jews welcomed muslims as liberators 12:22  |  Manolo 07/05/08
  32.   Nakba mentality 12:27  |  Akiva P 07/05/08
  33.   In Light Of 9/11 And Al-Qaeda... 12:27  |  Yosemite 07/05/08
  34.   Time to say YES 12:37  |  El-Birawi 07/05/08
  35.   Yes, We`re At War Forever. We`ll Win. 12:38  |  dyinglikeflies 07/05/08
  36.   dating the nakbah 12:45  |  Manolo 07/05/08
  37.   Akiva P # 27 12:48  |  Coldstream 07/05/08
  38.   # 35, DYINGLIKEFLIES 12:56  |  indrajaya 07/05/08
  39.   60 years Israel, the land of the "EXTREMES"............. 12:57  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/05/08
  40.   Israel economy 13:02  |  Manolo 07/05/08
  41.   Coldstream@#37 13:18  |  Akiva P 07/05/08
  42.   indrajava: ISRAEL IS CURSED TO BE FOREVER 13:23  |  Boris 07/05/08
  43.   Palestinian ethnic cleansing 13:27  |  Said 07/05/08
  44.   ohhhh the reconciliation blues dum da da de dum 13:52  |  peter 07/05/08
  45.   Adam yes you`re credulous. 14:03  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 07/05/08
  46.   Said if any country has no provisional plans for defence 14:08  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 07/05/08
  47.   Answering Manolo on Israeli economy 14:13  |  Shoshana Thomasson 07/05/08
  48.   His Word is Life. His Word is Judge. He is the lifter of my head 14:27  |  Blessed be His Name! 07/05/08
  49.   "our existence is in our own hands." Are you sure about that? 14:44  |  Think again 07/05/08
  50.   Margie in Tel Aviv 14:47  |  Said 07/05/08
  51.   Said Daled was an extreme fallback and one of many 15:16  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 07/05/08
  52.   Akiva P #41 15:31  |  Coldstream 07/05/08
  53.   60 years of Constructive activity vs 60 destructive 15:32  |  B 07/05/08
  54.   You telling us to lie, Bradley? 15:48  |  Burned Liberal 07/05/08
  55.   From 1948 TO 2008- IT SAYS IT ALL!! 15:56  |  Arthur 07/05/08
  56.   To Said from London 15:58  |  Shoshana Thomasson 07/05/08
  57.   Siamese twins 15:59  |  Michael N 07/05/08
  58.   Bradley`s equating the two sides is way overdone. 16:00  |  S 07/05/08
  59.   What is left, Bradley, is Fatigue 16:01  |  Tzfonit 07/05/08
  60.   Tarek- Building a state 16:09  |  Arthur 07/05/08
  61.   Reconciliation with Israeli Arabs 16:10  |  Tosefta 07/05/08
  62.   A Brave Voice that is gonna get a lot of heat here 16:18  |  just a jew 07/05/08
  63.   #5 Tarak. Your land from generations.. 16:20  |  John Allen 07/05/08
  64.   Tarek: You Come To Terms With YOUR Past.... 16:20  |  Tex 07/05/08
  65.   Mr. Burston...great article 16:24  |  Lynn 07/05/08
  66.   Israel chooses peace, Arabs choose war 16:27  |  David 07/05/08
  67.   arabsforisrael.com 16:30  |  Shmuel 07/05/08
  68.   #5, thats disgusting. 650,000 people move vs 6 million killed 16:33  |  David 07/05/08
  69.   Israeli economy can`t aliked EU 16:36  |  Manolo 07/05/08
  70.   EL-BIRAWI- WE ARE going somwhere 16:37  |  Arthur 07/05/08