Israelis deserve Gold Medal in the denial of Palestinian deaths
This week, three more Palestinians were killed by IDF fire in the West Bank and our righteousness is only becoming more and more transparent. The lies and the fables that we tell ourselves, mainly in order to fool ourselves in relation to this carnage, are becoming more visible.
By Karen Haber*
Here is something that has not the headlines this week, like it usually doesn’t: Since Friday, three Palestinians have been killed by IDF fire. Apparently none of them endangered the lives of Israelis. On Friday, Muhammad Munir a-Tamimi, 17, was killed in Nabi Saleh; on Tuesday Lutfi Salim, 41, was killed in the village of Beta; On Wednesday, Muhammad al-Alami, 12, was killed while sitting in a car in the town of Beit Umm. a-Tamimi is depicted as a rioter, Salim as a terrorist and as for al-Alami it is not yet clear how he will be depicted.
When blood is measured in Israel, only the blood of Jews is included in the tally. Arab blood is measured in the Jewish blood saved in consequence of their deaths, even if they had not touched a single hair on a Jew’s head. Most Palestinians are not murderers. It does not change the narrative we tell ourselves that if we veered our gaze away from them — they would rise to slaughter us. There have been nefarious acts of terror and there may be more. It can also be assumed that acts of terrorism are occasionally prevented. But much more than that — in every shooting incident of the kind I described, we pick a few aspects and puff them up so that we do not see the full picture.
If we counted the dead with the appropriate accuracy, we would have discovered long ago that more Palestinians have been killed than Jews. That for a long time we have not been the victim but the oppressor. But, while every Jew is a victim of unbridled terrorism, the Palestinian is always a terrorist or one who is harmed because of collateral damage and their death is their own fault. When a Palestinian kills they are viewed as animals possessing a human form, when an Israeli kills — it is part of a legitimate action of “the most moral army in the world”.
The lies and the fables that we tell ourselves, mainly in order to fool ourselves in relation to this carnage, are becoming more visible. We can attach the “terrorist” label to every Palestinian — that would not make it right, it would just make it justifiable in Jewish-Israeli society. Israel does not see the settlement enterprise as a violent force that, by its very illegal existence harms the fabric of life on the West Bank. After all, we rely on “divine promise” and do not see human in our greed for the land. The reality of the Occupation which was reflected in Yigal Mosko’s report on Friday Studio (Ulpan Shishi) will not crack the artificial reality that we have created.
So this week three more Palestinians were killed. They were not terrorists. Their only crime is that they are Palestinians in the wrong place and at the wrong time. That sounds terrible. It is easier to swallow it when they are too labelled as rioters or protesters or terrorists. To begin to move toward the end of the conflict, we must abandon the districts of denial. If denial were an Olympic sport, we would pick up a gold medal. Dropping the denial will not make Israel the sole culprit and the Palestinians a loveable teddy bear. It will only shatter the dichotomous reality we have created to deal with our lies. This week, three Palestinians were killed. Ask yourself again — why?
- Translated by Sol Salbe for the Middle East News Service, Melbourne Australia.
