Khirbet Khizeh
Wow! What an incredible, forceful story. It's so good. I picked it up after hearing a bit about it on NPR, and was intrigued by the comment that the author was a devoted Zionist, even though this novella dwells on the problematic things that Israeli occupation forces upon the Palestinians. I've always been on the fence about the whole Israel issue; it struck me as a fundamentally wrong idea, but I didn't want to indulge in an anti-Semitic position, and plus I can kind of sympathize with the basic desire for a nation. Even so, I still think, ultimately, that home is where the heart is, and any piece of land should do just as well as any other. But then I'm not particularly religious, so I should plead ignorance here...
So the next question is, religion aside, is Zionism something I can get behind? Khirbet Khizeh doesn't address in detail the pros, as I was hoping it would; and so as of now, I have to say no. I think there's further justification in the fact that to a lot of young Jews, and even some Israelis, I hear, now regard Zionism as a defunct movement. The eyewitness account of the expulsion of the town Khirbet Khizeh convinces me more that they are right. No cause could be justified if it inflicts that much suffering...
...or can it? The wonderful thing about this novella is that it really makes you question what you would do if you were faced with the same choices. We'd all like to think that we'd stand up and speak out if we see an injustice, but maybe that's not true. Every cause attracts adherents because they make themselves sound beautiful - WORTH THE SACRIFICE, and sacrifice is essentially what defines a cause as a worthy one. There's a moment when the narrator thinks about walking away and refusing to take part in the task he considers morally objectionable; but then he rebukes himself:
"Because if it has to be done let others do it. If someone had to get filthy, let others soil their hands. I couldn't. Absolutely not. But immediately another voices started up inside me singing: bleeding heart, bleeding heart, bleeding heart. With increasing petulance and a psalm to the beautiful soul that left the dirty work to others, sanctimoniously shutting its eyes, averting them so as to save itself from anything that might upset it, with eyes too pure to behold evil, who has looked upon unbearable iniquity. And I hated the entirety of my being."
Then I thought of my own great nation, which I love. How much suffering did it have to cause in order to be the strong and just (?) civilization that it is today? I can't say that the suffering was worth it, because I did nothing but reap the benefits, but maybe there wouldn't have been anything if there wasn't so much violence at one time - rectified, of course, by a "cause," that dream that is America.
The amazing thing about Khirbet Khizeh is that it shows the soldiers acting pretty much like you'd imagine Nazi soldiers acting. At first you feel outraged. Particularly, when the soldiers deride the villagers for fleeing and submitting without even trying to defend what's theirs, you think angrily, "Happy now, fuckers? They're fighting back now!" But gradually you come to discern the pressures that make them harden themselves against normal human compassion, and justify their actions by demonizing their victims ("they're like animals" or "they should have thought of this before they started the war"). One minute of softness or pity could bring about chaos, the threat of violence, and a failure of the mission. So by necessity, you have to dive wholesale into this culture of cruelty.
There was a psychology professor at Stanford who once did a controversial experiment in which subjects played out the roles of prisoners and their guards. In a ridiculously short span of time, like a day, the prison guards were acting cruel and abusive, really exercising dominance and superiority over the prisoners. The conclusion of that experiment was that it's in human nature to embrace the roles one finds oneself in, and often, to abuse authority. It's a frightening thought. If I were an Israeli soldier in Khirbet Khizeh, I don't know if I would have been proud of my choices.
So the next question is, religion aside, is Zionism something I can get behind? Khirbet Khizeh doesn't address in detail the pros, as I was hoping it would; and so as of now, I have to say no. I think there's further justification in the fact that to a lot of young Jews, and even some Israelis, I hear, now regard Zionism as a defunct movement. The eyewitness account of the expulsion of the town Khirbet Khizeh convinces me more that they are right. No cause could be justified if it inflicts that much suffering...
...or can it? The wonderful thing about this novella is that it really makes you question what you would do if you were faced with the same choices. We'd all like to think that we'd stand up and speak out if we see an injustice, but maybe that's not true. Every cause attracts adherents because they make themselves sound beautiful - WORTH THE SACRIFICE, and sacrifice is essentially what defines a cause as a worthy one. There's a moment when the narrator thinks about walking away and refusing to take part in the task he considers morally objectionable; but then he rebukes himself:
"Because if it has to be done let others do it. If someone had to get filthy, let others soil their hands. I couldn't. Absolutely not. But immediately another voices started up inside me singing: bleeding heart, bleeding heart, bleeding heart. With increasing petulance and a psalm to the beautiful soul that left the dirty work to others, sanctimoniously shutting its eyes, averting them so as to save itself from anything that might upset it, with eyes too pure to behold evil, who has looked upon unbearable iniquity. And I hated the entirety of my being."
Then I thought of my own great nation, which I love. How much suffering did it have to cause in order to be the strong and just (?) civilization that it is today? I can't say that the suffering was worth it, because I did nothing but reap the benefits, but maybe there wouldn't have been anything if there wasn't so much violence at one time - rectified, of course, by a "cause," that dream that is America.
The amazing thing about Khirbet Khizeh is that it shows the soldiers acting pretty much like you'd imagine Nazi soldiers acting. At first you feel outraged. Particularly, when the soldiers deride the villagers for fleeing and submitting without even trying to defend what's theirs, you think angrily, "Happy now, fuckers? They're fighting back now!" But gradually you come to discern the pressures that make them harden themselves against normal human compassion, and justify their actions by demonizing their victims ("they're like animals" or "they should have thought of this before they started the war"). One minute of softness or pity could bring about chaos, the threat of violence, and a failure of the mission. So by necessity, you have to dive wholesale into this culture of cruelty.
There was a psychology professor at Stanford who once did a controversial experiment in which subjects played out the roles of prisoners and their guards. In a ridiculously short span of time, like a day, the prison guards were acting cruel and abusive, really exercising dominance and superiority over the prisoners. The conclusion of that experiment was that it's in human nature to embrace the roles one finds oneself in, and often, to abuse authority. It's a frightening thought. If I were an Israeli soldier in Khirbet Khizeh, I don't know if I would have been proud of my choices.
posted by Rex at 10:33 PM
1 Comments:
I am not down at all with Zionism. It is the only system of apartheid government, massive population displacement and deprivation, and systematic torture that the world is supposed to get behind and support. It is horrible that the Jews were persecuted for centuries, but after WWII they really had an opportunity to make a stand in Europe and hold those persecuting nations to account. They would have had tremendous moral weight behind them. They could have forced national dialogues or soul searches. If this is about a struggle, they should fight where they had actually lived and contributed to the national culture. By withdrawing to a fictional nation in the Middle East and perpetuating crimes against humanity in the cause of Zionism, the Jews have actually left themselves more open to European anti-Semitism, and the European anti-Semites can use Zionism as an excuse to hate the Jews. And with the Palestinian and Arab Israeli population growing as it is, the prospect of a Jewish state becomes more and more preposterous, and Israel will be forced to either concede territory or to enact even harsher policies. There would seem to be biblical and talmudic prohibitions against such actions, but of course examples from the bible can always be found to support any course of action.
An interesting book to read would be Norman Finkelstein (who was just banned from entering Israel by the way)'s The Holocaust Industry, where he makes the case that the "Holocaust Industry" has had a negative impact on Zionism and on Jewish image. This is what made Alan Dershowitz lobby externally to deny Finkelstein tenure, and which has now made Finkelstein unemployable in the United States. Talk about Zionism being contrary to democratic action. And, in recent analysis, it's always Zionists who don't live in Israel who are the most strident and militaristic, whereas Israelis themselves are just exhausted.
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