Chidem Inch: My Israel Conundrum

 

Institute for Mideast Understanding

A cool fifty years ago, in my senior year of high school, I read a biography of David Ben Gurion and another, basically, pro-Israel book.  I was trying to make sense of the 1967 war and how Israel, surround by enemies who grossly outnumbered them, forged a nation and was able to soundly defeat, in the case of the Six Day war of 1967, Egypt.  I concluded that righteousness was on the side of Israel.  After the Holocaust, they had to create a nation for the survival of their people.  They had to have self-determination and defend themselves so as “never again” to be herded and slaughtered like sheep.

I drew parallels to the Jews and the Armenians.  We were both persecuted throughout history.   Neither of us had been independent for centuries.  Our enemies were all Moslem and wanted nothing more than to see us erased from the face of the earth.  I thought Armenia, if ever free again, would have to be exactly like Israel:  organized, fierce, and technologically superior to our enemies in weaponry and command and control.

I was both naïve and correct at the same time.

The correct part was that Armenia would have to be organized, fierce, and technologically advantaged on the battlefield.  We would have to protect our borders.  When attacked, as Israel had been and I am sure Armenia would be, we not only had to repel the enemy but take lands that were righteously ours.  We had to have that iron ladle Khirimian Hayrig challenged us to forge. 

The naïve part was Jews are simply more influential and wealthier than the Armenians.  They were able to garner and sustain the support of the US and the UK.  We were not.  We think Russia is our ally and I am not sure they ever were or will be. 

Armenians in Armenia have lived on the lands Turkey and Azerbaijan are coveting and carving up for centuries.  We are indigenous to those lands.  The Jews took lands that other people, Palestinians, who were of the belief (a good belief I now admit) that they were indigenous.  I rationalized this in my high school mind simply by believing Jerusalem and the surrounding biblical lands were Israel and belonged to the Jews.  I was actually elated when Jerusalem became fully part of Israel (looking forward to the day Armenia would repatriate Ararat, Erzerum, Kars, Ani, Van, of course Kharpert, and more).  I was actually wanting the restoration of temple where the Dome of the Rock now sits. 

Talk about naïve.

What is bothering me about Israel today is their treatment of the Palestinians.  A country founded on the ashes of the Holocaust quickly become quite adept at the practice of ethnic cleansing.  At least 1 million Palestinian have been displaced by Israel’s consolidation of land and control in what was Palestine and what is now Israel.  Since 2008, “5,739 Palestinians and 251 Israelis were killed” (Al Jazeera) which is a 23:1 ratio.  The map above shows the shift in controls of the land.  I now find this wrong, unjust, and very sad.

My views changed.  I will admit that back in high school, I really only had or only sought out pro-Israel sources.  They obviously influenced my perspective into believing the Israelis were righteous and the Palestinians were terrorists.  The lands being historically Israel and their fierce taking of it and holding it were an inspiration to how I believe Armenia should be. 

Over the years, having gotten to know and become with friends with Palestinians and has gotten me to shift my perspective.  The happenings in Armenia and Kharabagh this past year solidified the shift.  Israel supplied munitions to Azerbaijan.  Israel and Turkey battle tested their drones in Kharabagh.  We were fierce in our defense but not as organized as we should have been and most certainly, we were at a technological and command and control disadvantage.  To top it off, Israel would love to have all the Armenians in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem leave.  They are making it difficult for Armenians to stay there.  So much for any kinship between peoples that experienced genocide in the two World Wars. 

I hope a true and lasting peace can be established where the peoples can live and thrive freely together.  I want this for Armenia and Azerbaijan.  I want this for Palestine and Israel.  I do not see much chance of this happening in either case.  The world has changed in so many positive ways, I am saddened that age old animosities cannot be resolved peacefully.  Am I done learning about this... not by a long shot.