What sort of people wait while others are forcibly removed from their homes and then immediately move in while the possessions of the dispossessed are still in the street?
I have spent some time this morning pondering that question and no matter the angle, arrive at the same conclusion – individuals of no conscience, no dignity, and more than both, no humanity.
I want to state upfront that I don’t care for any of it. Zealots on both sides are equally ignorant, equally despicable, and equally deserving of each other. What I do care about is those caught in the middle that just want to lead their lives in relative peace and with some semblance of normalcy.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: “Emancipation is the demand of civilization. That is a principle; everything else is an intrigue.” Emerson’s statement is an absolute. In the realm of human freedom no gray area exists – and that applies to us just as much as it does those that are denied what we consider freedom. At its core, true freedom is the utmost demand of any decent civilization. Mind you, that then begs the question as to whether or not a truly decent civilization has ever even existed.
Following the arrival of Europeans in North America, the native inhabitants of this continent were subjugated by those that that claimed themselves civilized. In doing so, civilized individuals displaced and killed millions. In truth, the native peoples of the United States and Canada got off relatively light compared to those in Central and South America, who were both slaughtered outright or enslaved during the early period of Spanish and Portuguese expansionism. Africans, too, were subjugated, with countless numbers kidnapped and sold into slavery for centuries. All of these things were the undertakings of supposedly civilized people, their actions setting the stage for a chaotic future that is still evident in many parts of the post colonial world today.
History is relative. Many parts of the world that we consider troubled or backward are examples of post colonial vacuums. After centuries of foreign interference, such inevitabilities were a foregone conclusion, and yet we have the audacity to view them without the inclusion of historic relativism.
Once, long ago, the Lenape, or Delaware, were the original occupants of what is now Manhattan. They, like countless other aboriginal peoples, were eventually stripped of their lands, became dependant on trade with foreigners, and were ultimately diminished. That being the case, what if descendents of the Lenape arrived in New York City next week and demanded it back? After all, their claim on the land is much older than that of the Europeans that settled what would become known as New Amsterdam and, eventually, New York City.
So let’s suppose that next week they arrive in New York and begin negotiating a settlement with the government of the United States to reclaim a part of Manhattan based on their historical rights, leaving a portion of it to those that currently reside there. Following that, the General Assembly of the United Nations votes to recognize the state of Lenape and, despite the fact that the majority of the 1.6 million inhabitants of New York City overwhelmingly object to the vote’s outcome, the island of Manhattan is transformed into something that looks like this…

After the mandate takes affect, those residents that live in what has become Lenape are forced to move to parts of the city still under US control. Under the terms of the deal, the financial district becomes a UN administered area. So, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are forced to leave their homes and either resettle in other parts of the country, or in what remains of the US controlled parts of Manhattan.
Obviously, this example lacks a variety of complexities that are, without question, engrained in such a monumental happening. But at its core, it provides a very simple example of what the Israeli precedent means with regards to the reacquisition of ancient homelands. While the movement to create a Jewish state in Palestine pre-dates the 20th Century, the horrific reality of the Holocaust is what ultimately played one of the most significant roles in the creation of Israel. That said, how is one supposed to view the illegal displacement of Palestinians by Israeli Settlers in the West Bank? Even more, how is one to stomach the reality that as Palestinians are being removed from their homes, Israeli settlers are immediately moving in with such ease and such a sense of entitlement?
Holocaust denial is, of course, utter lunacy. So is disregarding the history of Jewish oppression. There is no question that there are those in the Persian and Arab worlds that promote the denial of such history, propaganda quite obviously aimed at demonizing Israel. But that, as I have said, is lunacy, and only betrays the ignorance of those that would even attempt to spread such falsehoods. The ultimate irony is that Palestinians and Israelis have something in common – the endurance of suffering. Why that commonality cannot be seen by many on both sides is quite beyond me. Even more, that as a people that were long persecuted abroad, some Israelis fail to realize that the actions of Israeli hardliners besmirches the legacy of those trials faced, and that to not embrace a collective compassionate view is a betrayal of the millions that were victims of gross, compassionless, inhumanity.
Calling for the destruction of Israel is found only in the voice of stupidity. The oppression of millions of people that have, for over 60 years, lived in limbo is equally the province of stupidity.
In the end, the truth is that the Lenape probably wouldn’t want Manhattan returned to them. Any resemblance to what was once their ancestral homeland has vanished, replaced by skyscrapers and monuments to heroes that through the tempered employment of villainy helped lay the foundation of the new world. Palestine, a land of ancient memory, is filled with ruins built atop ruins, of temples built upon temples, of the forgotten bones of Arabs, Jews, Romans, Greeks, Persians, Europeans, Ottomans, and a host of others all buried beneath its sand and soil. Who then owns the earth? Even more, given the blood that it has swallowed, who would ever dare claim ownership of it?
In the realm of human freedom no gray area exists. Either we are all free or we are all in chains, no matter perceptions to the contrary.