Are you Condoning Israel or Palestine? And does it Matter?

Years back, while I was in my last trimester of pregnancy, I found myself in a number of heated online debates concerning the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Watching people point fingers at who was to blame (as violence was escalating at that time as it is now), and my being ignorant to the history, I spent a number of weeks researching from as many possible sources as I could find. I buried my face in online history sites and current newspaper articles on top of it all. The Israel/Palestine conflict became an obsession for me.

As I dug deeper and deeper into the horrific mess of violence, pointless bloodshed, and sheer biases that surround this topic by anyone involved in it, or even those who just want to analyze and debate, I became sick; both psychologically and physically. I stated to dream in vivid images of terrorized children, both Israeli & Palestinian. I would wake in the middle of the night almost hyperventilating, unable to conceive the thought that anyone; Muslim, Jew, or Atheist could condone the senseless killings that have been taking place since long before I was born and will most likely continue until long after I’ve passed away. Yet, everywhere I looked, someone was cheering on the Israeli’s or Palestinians, someone was defending rights to take more and more lives for whatever reasons.

Not many people bother to take the time to even glance at the history of this tragic situation. Far too many want to spit opinions, take sides and debate a topic they know little or nothing about, other than recent events shown in the media. And debating with someone who is stubbornly blinded by hate and media propaganda makes for nothing more than mental torture for anyone who bothers. Unfortunately, by the time I got there I was too emotionally attached to the topic and too determined to convince everyone and anyone to at least do some proper research before they entered a debate.

As the violence escalated and more horrific images soaked our local newspapers and televisions, I started to vomit on sight of them. I suppose the hormonal reactions in my very pregnant body combined with my utter disgust and the truly unjust nature of the whole situation caused such a nasty immediate reaction. I’ve never been one to be put off by images no matter how violent, but this was something different.

Whether it was more the pregnancy or my new found obsession or a combination of the two didn’t matter, I was killing myself and doing my unborn child no good. Eventually, I stopped buying the papers and I refused to watch the news. I ran from any mention of this topic. I withdrew myself from any sort of debate. And until the recent violence in Beirut, I’ve kept my back turned to the whole situation. I’ve since forgotten a lot of the historical facts I once knew by heart. I know what I believed then and I still hold the same opinion, though I no longer retain the facts that molded it.

I didn’t want to blog about this topic. But today, I came across a number of blogs that defended, analyzed or that were simply based on one aspect or another of the violence that’s once again on the rise in this region. The closest to my own opinion was written by Shaykhspeara Sha'ira, and can be found here.

I have no ancestors of Arab or Israeli decent. I am a Muslim. But being Muslim isn’t an excuse to take an uneducated biased stance on any situation; let alone one that is so passionately engraved in the hearts of so many people. No matter where you’re from or what your opinion is, respect the people that are innocently dying and will continue to die without labeling them a Christian, Jew, Muslim or whatever term you’ve found yourself coining the enemies of your stance, with. Respect the fact that lives are being shattered, beyond the comprehension of any of you, who only know the reality as seen through a photograph, a television broadcasting, or a piece of literature. And respect the fact that no matter how strong you stand in your opinion, no matter how loud you shout them out, people aren’t going to agree with you and chances are, you will not change anything; history has already proven this.

And remember that this is not the only place on the planet that is suffering the senseless terror that you are currently seeing in the media.

My heart goes out to all the innocent who are slaughtered and the families of those left behind who still suffer the loss of their loved ones and live surrounded by the perpetual threat of violence.

Wikipedia: Israel/Palestine Timeline