Letters - 29 March 2013
From Israel/Palestine to being taught
Israel/Palestine
I write following letters in the Friend (22 February, 1 and 8 March) concerning a comparison of the Holocaust with ‘what the state of Israel is doing to the people of Palestine’. I am distraught at the seeming unconcern expressed by the quietude of many in the Society of Friends on this matter.
This ‘trading of horrors’ is at best naive and, at worst, does nothing to commend the Society of Friends, if such views are held.
The oft repeated view that all the travails of the Middle East could be put to bed were the Palestine/Israel issue resolved begs too many questions and is blind to the reality on the ground. With decades of savage dictatorships and bloodbaths throughout the neighbouring countries, the human cost of the Arab Spring and today’s self-destruct across Syria, we should not be so ready to claim (once again?) ‘it is all the fault of Israel – I mean the Jews!’
Yes, ‘the whole region has the right to live in peace’. And we expect all Jews (because of the Holocaust? – or in spite of how a mainly Christian West has treated you over some 2,000 years?) to take the lead in peaceful cooperation, mutual respect and dignity.
Our Jewish Friend Jesus would, I believe, want to wish us all – and because of the past two millennia – a happier Easter and, perhaps, a Passover to celebrate.
Lionel Curtis
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