This post is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
We all know what it feels to be passed over. It’s a strategic decision. The person passed over is a past best left behind. Such is life.
Over the years we come to understand that most of these decisions are illusions of forward movement. Our past is always close at hand.
On the collective front, we see this in the immigration debate in the United States. Obviously immigration policy or the lack thereof is important. Living in the shadows is difficult and demeaning. Yet surrounding immigration are other questions of American history.
For some it’s comforting to welcome Hispanics and leave the great unresolved question of race behind us. Sure, we have an African-American president but the masses of African-Americans are increasingly off the radar screen.
As a country we’ve moved on. Or is the emphasis on immigration a strategic choice to bury a more disturbing part of our history?
The fate of Palestine brings this to mind. Leaving Palestine behind is a strategic choice to keep the lid on Israel’s history vis-à-vis Palestinians and the dubious part Middle Eastern states have played in their history as well.
Leaving Palestine behind has something to offer everyone in the Middle East – except Palestinians. Israel gets over its ethnic cleansing. The Arab world gets over their defeats, complicity and collaboration in its ongoing relationship with Israel. Wipe the slate clean and begin again.
Obviously, this is an illusion. Palestine is always close at hand.
Passing over Palestinians, like passing over Jews, is likely to backfire. Palestine is a symbol, sure. At the same time, Palestine is a reality that isn’t going away.
Palestine remains a moral and political challenge for the international community, for Israel and the Arab world. Palestine is a religious challenge for Muslims, Christians and Jews.
Palestine is not about Jerusalem in and of itself. Or the Abrahamic inheritance. It’s better to leave the “We-All-Believe-In-One-God” sentiments for the liberal clergy of the three faiths. Most of this symbolism lacks political bite. Bumper sticker sloganeering rarely adds up to much.
When the world is trying to forget the unforgettable, declarations, conferences and peace processes become the norm. The verbal and aid-to-the-needy tourniquets have a short window of usefulness. Sure, something can be saved – it’s worth the effort – but when the larger issue is abandoned that which survives is diminished.
Speaking as a Jew, what does this mean?
Leaving Palestine behind represents the victory of Empire Jewishness.
Leaving Palestine behind represents the end of Jewish history as we have known and inherited it.
Leaving Palestine behind represents the most serious challenge to the Jewish prophetic since the Biblical prophets.
For Jews, leaving Palestine behind is the ultimate attempt to bury the Jewish prophetic. Are Middle Eastern leaders increasingly co-enablers in this venture of burying the Jewish prophetic?
If you ask what stake Middle Eastern leaders have in the Jewish prophetic take a moment to reflect. Translate the prophetic beyond Jewish.
Since the Arab Spring had its own prophetic elements on public display, is leaving Palestine behind a determined effort by the powers in the Middle East to leave behind the Arab Spring?
We need to think these issues through. The political agenda of the powerful isn’t always what it seems.
Isn’t it strange that whatever power wants to bury – Palestine, the Jewish prophetic, the Arab Spring – is close at hand?
“Palestine is not about… the Abrahamic inheritance.”
Perhaps the reverse is also true? The Abrahamic inheritance might not really be able a physical piece of land in the eastern Mediterranean. If according to the ancient scriptures Abraham becomes the father of many nations and the whole world praises the Lord, where does the Promised Land start and where does it end?