Written in 01-13-09
Mario Vargas Llosa is a notable writer. Both inside and outside, that is to say, due to the intelligent and judicious fluidity of his prose and his moral integrity. Someone once said that behind a great writer “a man” should exist, in other words, a character. How is it possible to admire, without a bitter taste (in the soul and even the mouth), a writer who is highly intelligent but false, deceiving, tremendously egoistic and indifferent to the suffering of others? In truth, a “monster”. A moral abortion, flashy diarrhea of nature, only interested in earning money and duping those more ingenuous readers (thousands of them) who think that they are now part of the so-called “intelligentsia” - such an elegant term! - just because they bought and perhaps partially read the most recent best seller? By the way, not really sold in such great numbers. In a large book store, if someone were to take the time to examine the dust-jackets of pocketbooks and add up the “millions of copies sold” (as editors exaggerate on the flaps) the conclusion drawn would be that the world is drowning in books. The great enemy of the environment would not be oil, but the book industry, responsible for devastating forests.
If superior intelligence were a gift granted by God strictly for personal and egoistic use - which it is not, as some are born without it and one cannot presume nepotism on the part of the Creator - He is likely thinking: “Please, don’t interpret My work badly...” As the old saying goes, “to err is human”. Never divine.
Returning once again to the esteemed Peruvian writer, yesterday (Monday), on page A-11, the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper published an article of his entitled “O fim moral da política israelense” (The end of moral values in Israeli politics), although this article would have been accessed to a greater extent had it been published on Sunday. The texts is a balanced, sincere and eloquent assessment of the air and land incursion made by the well-equipped and extremely highly trained Israeli army into the Gaza Strip, with the alleged intention of solely bringing an end to the firing of rockets and mortars against areas of Israel near the borders. As the author says (seconding the vast majority of international commentators of non-Jewish surname), if it is the intention of Israel to reduce Hamas to total passivity, such an objective will not be attained, because any independent person who has traveled through towns in the Gaza Strip can see that this region has become a type of ghetto, due to the bureaucratic and military “fence” erected by the Israelis. The removal of Jewish settlers was to little avail if, in the words of Vargas, Llosa, “implacable quarantine - prohibiting the possibility of import and export, closing off the use of air and sea routes, allowing its inhabitants to only leave this ghetto in a limited manner, after being subject to oppressive and humiliating official formalities” continues in Gaza. The objective of this policy has been that of “proving” that “the Palestinians are incompetent as far as governing themselves is concerned”.
It is not difficult to foresee the short, medium and long term consequences of this short-sighted, not highly intelligent and ultimately brutal and election orientated policy that goes against the recognized culture of the Israeli people which, paradoxically, benefitted intellectually from the second diaspora - not brought about by the Palestinians, but by the Romans.
Based on my modest knowledge of History, several European countries prohibited the acquisition of land by Jews. Finding it impossible to cultivate land, they returned to those activities that were not prohibited, namely: finance, commerce, goldsmithery, philosophy, sciences, the arts and knowledge of foreign languages. Scattered throughout the world, most notably in the USA, their commercial and financial know how brought them wealth and power, in fields that include the media. It is exactly this force, this support on the part of Jews residing abroad (free from immediate personal danger) that encourages the aggressiveness shown by Israel’s current leaders, who are not only interested in protecting their nation, but also their own personal interests in the political dispute with other leaderships.
It should not be forgotten that public opinion in any country is molded by the media. If the media is prejudiced and aggressive, such characteristics are transferred to ordinary citizens, who do not have time to keep reading and analyzing that which is really happening behind the news - which is served up to them as a “ready-to-eat” dish.
I have already recommended the reading of Vargas Llosa’s text (a courageous summary of what is happening in Palestine), but even more surprising - almost incredible - is the boldness shown by an Israeli journalist, Gideon Levy, who, even living and working in Israel, has the courage to proclaim the bitter and undeniable truth regarding that which is occurring in the Gaza Strip. He manages to be fair even when the majority of his fellow countrymen, uneasy about the future, think or feel to the contrary (more feel than think).
Reading the biography of this journalist (who, due to his dark-skinned physical appearance, looks more like an Arab than a Jew, despite being an “authentic” Jew) on the Internet, the first and refreshing impression of any reader, if he or she is really honest, is that the human species still deserves credibility and hope. Levy, when adequately understood, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
Gideon Levy, 54, the son of European immigrants, is an important journalist working for the Israeli Haaretz newspaper. He worked for Shimon Peres from 1978 to 1972 (and therefore has inside knowledge of politics) and has already been given an award for his defense of human rights. Irrespective of being a Jew and a great patriot (in the more intelligent and ethical sense of the term), he did not content himself with forming a mental image of the life of Palestinians according to descriptions disseminated by the Israeli media. He resolved to personally investigate the way in which the Palestinians were being treated by the all-powerful State of Israel. With this intent, he traveled through areas inaccessible to ordinary Israeli citizens. And what he saw horrified his indisputable sense of justice.
His quest to discover what reality was like for the Palestinians almost cost him his life. On one occasion, intending to visit a Palestinian town named Tukarem, he made a request to the Israeli army for issue of all the necessary authorizations. After obtaining them, following a long wait and many inquiries, he took an Israeli taxi (white in color with yellow license plates) to a military post of his own country, in all certainty for further authorizations. However, when at a distance of around 150 meters from his destination, he was startled by five shots - three bullets hitting the front windshield and the remaining two other parts of the vehicle. The journalist and the taxi driver only escaped death because the windshield was bulletproof.
When interviewed (see Wikipedia on the Internet) some time after this incident, Levy did not show himself to have any doubt whatsoever regarding the real intent of this “mistake”, when he had already provided the military authorities with all necessary clarification, obtaining a permit to visit the area in question. Besides this, he was in a taxi that was clearly Israeli. The army later apologized for the attack and punished the soldier who fired the shots, if only because the media brought the fact to light, requesting explanations.
Gideon Levy’s articles do not divert their focus (for convenience - in order to remain “dear” to his fellow citizens) from the great political wound that is the expulsion, pure and simple, by force, threats or cunning, of Palestinians from lands that they have occupied for almost two thousand years. It is this that explains the revolt of many Arabs who feel that they have been treated unfairly.
Almost as extraordinary as the courage of the aforementioned journalist is the moral (and even financial) courage shown by the editor of Haaretz, Amos Schockem, who loses readers of his newspaper by publishing articles by Levy. Editors of periodicals are generally subservient to the opinion of majorities, even when they believe that such majorities are mistaken and incomplete. What they are generally interested in is selling newspapers. By adopting such spiritual submission, they strengthen the errors of the country in which they are active, contributing to its eventual ruin in the future. With the ruin of the country, their own ruin follows. If the source dries up, the newspaper also falters. Truly independent newspapers, with no internal censure, certainly have a longer duration. They are more reliable.
Irit Linur, an Israeli novelist, cancelled her subscription alleging that Levy had adopted the ideology of Israel’s enemies. I am not familiar with any of the works of this novelist, but even if I were not familiar with them, I can prophesize that - unless she changes her opinion - she will never be a great writer. Either for reasons of lacking a spirit of justice (essential for the survival of literary prestige), or for not having the courage to say what she thinks, even at the cost of losing readers.
Why do I say that Israeli public opinion has been wrong with respect to Gaza? Because it has avoided facing the basic, primary, essential, unpleasant and unconcealable fact that drives the firing of rockets (obviously foolish, as it “authorizes” massacre-type reprisals): the Palestinians were expelled, without prior consultation and with no compensation, from an area that they had occupied for almost two centuries. If the Jews were treated unfairly by the Romans, with the destruction of Jerusalem, obliged to become scattered throughout the world, and suffering, furthermore, persecutions and massacres, it was not the Palestinians who were the authors of this injustice. This being the case, the international community should also have been concerned with them, when the Jews wanted a “homeland”. This was granted to the persecuted sons of Israel, but the wound of forced relocation remained, palpitating and infected with hatred. Such Jewish intellectuals as Gideon Levy are unable to “turn a blind eye” to this basic side of the conflict.
Obviously, it is not possible to go back in History. Israel is a country with around seven million inhabitants. It makes no moral, economic or any other kind of sense to “wipe it off the map” - the foolish flight of fancy of the braggart. And if the two neighboring peoples are unable to reach an agreement soon, creating two sovereign states (I have no great hopes of this happening), the only rational solution - much too late! - is for the international community to take a step forward - after all, it is not an incurable paralysis - attributing responsibility for resolving the issue of frontiers to an independent agency. Whoever loses land will gain the equivalent in financial compensation, as well as the possibility of starting life again, decently, in other countries. No longer in refugee camps or ghettos. The burden of compensation payments will be much less than that spent on armed conflicts, humanitarian assistance, the building of high walls and a troubled spirit.
Current international rules are no longer the same as those that existed one thousand years ago. They are able to be modified. If they are not, the World Bank will have to deal with financing the widespread construction of nuclear shelters, as there remains an irritating question, as yet unanswered, in the minds of those in weaker countries: “Why is it that some countries can possess nuclear weapons, whereas others cannot do so?”
Barack Obama will go down in History as one who is foreordained, if he manages to convince his country to agree with several modifications to the United Nations Charter, and related texts, attributing the mission of resolving conflicts with the potential of setting the whole world ablaze to an independent international agency. Widespread fires almost always start in small areas.
