November 09, 2014
The Palestinian-Israeli
conflict understandably has taken a back seat to other dramatic events across
the Middle East in the last few years, and a lively debate continues about
whether that conflict played any role in the uprisings that have overthrown or
challenged half a dozen Arab regimes.
I am among those who believe that the
Israeli-Palestinian and wider Arab-Israeli conflicts have consistently played a
role in the condition of the Arab region, including providing an excuse for
military regimes to rule many Arab states, and fueling radical or opposition
movements that have often led to destabilization and polarization within Arab
countries.
Therefore, in this context of the
Palestine-Israel conflict influencing the condition and direction of the Arab
world, it is important to note any signs of movement or hope in the central
battle between Zionism and Arabism.
We witnessed just such an event last week when
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited the town of Kafr Qassim, which was the
scene of one of many massacres committed against Palestinians by the young
Israeli state. On October 28, 1956, Israeli police killed 49 Palestinian
civilians, including 28 women and children, who were not aware of a recently
announced curfew. Ever since, the Kafr Qassim massacre has been remembered by
Palestinians as an example of the pre- and post-statehood violence conducted by
Zionists whose aim was to cleanse the land of Arabs in order to create their
desired Jewish state. Kafr Qassim, Deir Yassin and many other massacres and
acts of ethnic cleansing and expulsion against Palestinians have long captured
the central grievance of the Palestinians — their forced exile and refugeehood
at the hands of Zionist militants and the Israeli state. Resolving this core
trauma, which Palestinians experience universally and pass on to their children
organically, is a top priority for any attempt to negotiate a peaceful
resolution of the conflict.
There has been no significant progress in this
arena, but the visit to Kafr Qassim last week by President Rivlin is an
intriguing event that deserves acknowledgment and analysis, because it is one
of the few times in recent memory that a senior Israeli official makes a
personal gesture that touches the core of Palestinian pain. Rivlin said he made
the visit to pay tribute to Palestinian victims killed by Israeli troops, and
he attended the annual memorial ceremony and placed flowers at a monument
engraved with the victims’ names. “I have come here today as a member of the
Jewish people and the president of the state of Israel to stand before you, the
families of the slain and injured, to mourn and remember,” he said.
He went on to say, “The brutal killing in Kafr
Qassim is an anomalous and sorrowful chapter in the history of relations between
Arabs and Jews living here. The state of Israel has recognized the crime
committed here. And rightly, and justly, has apologized for it. I too am here
today to say a terrible crime was done here … the murder of innocents.”
Rivlin was the first Israeli president to attend
the annual commemoration ceremony, though his predecessor Shimon Peres visited
the town in 2007 and apologized to the residents for the 1956 massacre.
Rivlin also said that future generations must be
educated about the tragic events that occurred there, and the lessons that must
be learned, while noting that Arabs and Israelis have no option but to learn to
trust each other in order to live together on this land.
Of course, Israelis have a very different notion
from Palestinians of how the two communities can coexist, as we have learned
from the second-class status of Palestinians inside Israel since 1948, and the
Apartheid-like power structures in the West Bank and Gaza regions that Israel
occupied and has colonized since 1967. Nevertheless, President Rivlin’s gesture
is potentially significant because it reveals that some Israelis are capable of
appreciating the significance of events like the Kafr Qassim massacre to
Palestinians, and going a step further and making a very basic human gesture of
visiting the site and acknowledging the crimes that were committed there by
Israelis.
Much more needs to occur for the two sides to
fully acknowledge the deeds they committed against each other in the past
century, and acknowledge the core legitimate demands that each sees as
existential needs.
President Rivlin’s visit and words on their own
do not achieve this, but they are an important sign of what Israelis can do to
acknowledge their role in the subjugation and exile of the Palestinians. Such
acts are essential small first steps towards a much more complex negotiation
that must happen in the future if this deadly conflict is ever to be resolved,
which is essential for calming down the entire region.
Rami G. Khouri is published twice weekly in
the Daily Star. He was
founding director and now senior policy fellow of the Issam Fares Institute for
Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. On
Twitter @ramikhouri.
Copyright © 2014 Rami G. Khouri—distributed by
Agence Global