Beautiful
Madness
By Am Johal
15 July, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Haifa
- War and chess is what mathematicians and economists call a zero sum
game. It is a game built on a model which requires one winner. The problem
with developing international diplomatic policy on something as unforgiving
as game theory means that civilian deaths become the de facto reality
when the struggles of the ego cannot be averted by either side.
Stopping this march to madness is a daily struggle of perseverence,
patience and determination. Unfortunately, in this context, there are
no ends, only means. And the game continues. It is war all the time.
It is so thoroughly depressing,
I don't want to come back here for another ten years. I will miss drinking
with the Ethiopians in the Haifa market or eating at Fattoush on Ben
Gurion Street, having orange juice on the rooftop patio of Papa Andreas
in the Old City where you can see the Western Wall and the Dome of the
Rock, and ice cream at Rukab's in Ramallah on a hot summer day. On days
like this, I dream about the 'almost perfection' of my home town of
Vancouver, Canada.
Civilians disproportionately
pay the price of this misguided aggression on all sides. The dynamic
equilibrium of this place in reality means about 1,000 deaths a year
and has nothing to do with addressing root causes. How can you be inspired
by a place when half the peace movement in the country supports the
Separation Wall?
I came here to have a vacation,
work on research for my Masters thesis, meet old friends, eat great
food and write some articles. But, as long as there are idiots in power
who have no respect for human life and continue this vicious circle,
the base instincts of human behaviour all throughout history would inform
us that there is barely a foundation to build upon to take this conflict
in a more positive direction. Virtually every collective narrative here
is built on fundamental lies. What is happening today is not new - it
has been building since September 2000 and even before that. It is the
legacy of Sharon and Arafat being carried out by even lesser men. What's
happening today is exactly what everybody predicted would happen at
some point.
This isn't war, but it is
war all the time. The public sphere here is built upon a kind of cognitive
dissonance aided by mass communications. The global reality that defines
power today in this conflict can be summed up in a basic and crude way:
An Israeli life is more important than a Palestinian life. There, I
said it - what many people know is true, but
no one wants to say for fear of offending.
Where else can elected people
openly talk about killing democratically elected leaders as a legitimate
form of public policy in the name of security? Where else can 2/3rds
of elected leaders of the Palestinian Authority be jailed without charges?
But the West doesn't really seem to care, nor does it take responsibility
for disproportionate Israeli responses
to Palestinian resistance.
Hamas also deserves deep
criticism for its actions and misplaying opportunities that were presented.
The Palestinians without an effective peace movement that can act non-violently
in a collective way, will always suffer more casualties when put against
the military might of Israel. Violent resistance is not a game worth
playing for the Palestinians - they have lost that game for over 58
years. Why would it work now?
The sheer impotence of the
US, the European Union and the UN is remarkable in the depth of its
inability to harness the deeply radical agendas that serve to undermine
any realistic option for peace. Any permanent peace plan, will no doubt
radicalize 45% of the population in both Israel and the Palestinian
Territories against such an action. But in the end, it's the only way
to move forward based on negotiations and not unilateralism. The failure
to break the present impasse means the status quo of almost daily deaths.
When the politicians and
the news media start using the same language it means that we have now
crossed the threshold of distortion. When you go out for lunch here,
all the TVs have tanks rolling through and talking heads providing commentary
24-7.
Kidnapped soldiers, rocket
attacks, naval blockades, airport attacks and now Hezbullah is threatening
to attack Haifa. The flags are out everywhere and jingoism is in the
air. The siren went off in the morning warning that the port was under
threat. Soldiers are walking the streets with guns. The root causes
of the conflict such as the occupation of the
West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem is left off the public agenda.
The Mossawa Center, a human
rights NGO, was busy moving this morning from an office tower in to
an old heritage building in to an Arab neighbourhood in Haifa. As we
were lifting boxes, our only implements of war were scrapers, brooms,
dust pans and a cement mixer in the yard. The Israeli secret service
known as the Shabbak will almost be their neighbours here in this location
- such are the contradictions of this heated place. Since we have all
been under surveillance at some point in our lives here, it's nothing
to lose any sleep over.
It was blistering hot today.
We went to sleep last night knowing about the Israeli soldiers that
had been killed on the northern border so we were expecting a massive
response. By morning, we heard about the rocket attack on Nahariya,
that something landed north of Acco and that there were numerous other
rocket attacks along Israel's northern border. And of course, Lebanon
was being hit hard and there were dozens of casualties.
Rather than talk about the
rising tensions and the fact that Haifa was now being mentioned as a
possible target, we instead talked about the cultural ramifications
of the Zinedine Zidane head butt. Abir Kopty, usually Mossawa's articulate
media spokesperson who I shared an office with for the better part of
a year a few years ago, had her sleeves rolled up with a cleaning rag
in her hand and her cell phone turned off. Referring to Zidane she said,
"Am, I'm glad he did it. It was kind of like establishing a 'position.'
Everything is political you know." Earlier this year, YNET named
her one of Israel's newsmakers of the year. There was madness all around,
but we had paint to scrape and garbage to haul out of this labour of
love that the new building will be.
Later, we sat out for lunch
and had cigarettes. "Well Am, if you die here, at least you will
die with the Arabs. You should be honored," she said with a laugh.
I said, "Abir, I neither
want to die with the Arabs or the Jews. I want to go back to Vancouver
and drink beer on the beach and live in multicultural bliss when this
is all over."
Gaza is being demolished.
The casualties are rising. There are soldiers being kidnapped. The papers
are worried about another front opening up on the Syrian border. I don't
know whether I should be leaving Haifa and heading for Tel Aviv or Jerusalem
to get out of missile range. On days like this, I think to myself that
I'm neither a Palestinian nor Jewish - what the hell am I doing here?
We here are all human rights
activists. But now, in this context, when real power reveals its ugly
head, we are thoroughly irrelevant.
All of us have the right
to live without fear. Whoever has taken that away from us are our enemies
this afternoon.
Perhaps we'll put the linoleum
on the floor tomorrow. The Mediterranean is a gorgeous blue. It's hotter
than hell and I'm meeting friends for coffee tonight. There are birds
on the window sill and I am wondering what they are making of all this.
Tomorrow's another day -
hopefully it will be better than this one.