I've lived in various ME countries, as well as Israel. I've tried to understand the core issue and frankly, failed. Both arguments about this historical conflict between Israel and the Palestinians seem as close to being morally equivalent as I could imagine. I have sympathies but I keep them to myself. I don't feel as though I have a right to take a particular side: I am not existentially threatened on a daily basis as both peoples feel they are. I have no history of being both threatened and abandoned by the world as both side feel. I have no experience of living as a people whose every political choice is one of zero-sum cultural survival. Who lives, who dies? Who prospers, who does not? I have no moral expertise on this subject to pick a team.
So on this topic, when pressed, I say I have no right to comment. The irony of course, is that in many circles, one is attacked for being too bewildered to form an opinion.
So on this topic, when pressed, I say I have no right to comment. The irony of course, is that in many circles, one is attacked for being too bewildered to form an opinion.
It's daft.