War

I will not be drawn into the Kaka circus. For once, I find myself siding with Arsene Wenger, and, like Simon Hattenstone, I must admit to feeling a little bit ashamed of all these goings-on.

Instead, for what they're worth, I will express some opinions on the current atrocities in Gaza.

I recently spoke about this with an ex-pat Iraqi who drinks in my local (he is an educated man, who has studied Islam in detail, along with other philosophical tracts, and has as a result discounted the requirement to abstain from alcohol, which is a decision I can respect) who a while ago spent some years in Palestine working as an engineer. He even - and I thought this was quite impressive - met Arafat, whom he described as a 'sloppy kisser'. As such, I believe he has something of a greater authority to speak on the issue than I do. This does not mean, of course, that I don't have my own opinions.

In any case, this is a summary of what he said:

The people of Palestine are steeped in blood. It is all they know. He has given up on the whole area because there is no hope of a solution. He recalls a football match with teenage boys where a rough tackle was met with the injured party producing a hand grenade and getting ready to destroy everyone on the pitch. He said that the referee rushed over, blowing frantically on his whistle, and clasped his hand over the grenade, thus preventing a horrific incident. The children of Palestine play with weapons in the same way that children of the west play with toys. At public meetings, he would stand up and rail against the calls for brother (Fatah) to wreak death and destruction on brother (Hamas) but his words would go unheeded.

Many believe (as does he) that the Hamas was funded early in its history by the Mossad in order to provide a balance against the leftist PLO and Fatah movements, but now it suits the Israelis' purpose, and fits with the current US Crusade, to demonise and destroy them. Israelis, he says, were given the land in which they live by the countries of the west, in order to suit the political manoeuvrings of the time, and have no choice but to live there. In essence, like Pilate, he washes his hands of the whole affair.

For myself, I see something a little deeper. An illustration of the nature of the human beast. We all know that Yahweh is a jealous god, who has not been afraid to smite his enemies terribly when they have stood in the way of his chosen people. Throughout the OT are stories of merciless decimation of entire populations by the armies of the Israelites, of slaughter so terrible as never to be forgotten. The current conflict can be seen as just another of these. We are sorely deluded if we think these people will pay the slightest attention to what Ban-Ki Moon (I feel sorry for this guy) or Barack Obama (might) say.

Of course there will be a ceasefire, just in time for the inauguration, and Israel's position will again be strengthened, leaving behind a trail of murdered children and shattered lives.

Devil in the detail

I have been reading Joe Sacco's Palestine, and I am very impressed.

Someone - a stranger - who saw me reading it remarked - a little sneeringly I thought - that it was an attempt at 'impartiality'. He didn't elaborate. I haven't finished it yet, and had barely started it at that time, but so far, I would strongly disagree. I will leave aside the literary arguments about the 'graphic novel' (Sacco himself prefers the term 'comic'. As he rightly points out, Palestine may be graphic, but it could hardly be described as a novel) form, and Sacco's authorial stance as device, etc., and focus purely on the political aspects of the debate.

To begin with, it is incredibly rare to hear any kind of reportage about Palestine and Palestinians. To hear anything at all which isn't to do with rocket attacks on Israelis, or Bushco, Olmert and the 'politics' of Hamas, Fatah and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

For me, as the late Edward Said pointed out in his introduction, the book's power lies in the way that it humanises the people who are embroiled in the horrific and degrading events in the West Bank and (worse) in the Gaza Strip. The portrayal is not of kuffiyeh-wearing fanatics or child suicide bombers, but of ordinary folk, drinking tea, talking about music, and enduring the extreme hardships of their everyday lives.

But by far the most moving sequence I have yet read is that which deals with the imprisonment and interrogation of a Palestinian man held in detention in the Occupied Territories. The man is violently arrested in front of his family in the middle of the night and taken to prison because he is suspected of being among a group of stone-throwers at a settler's home. He suffers terrible physical and psychological torture, being made to wear a hood, to stand for hours in a brace position, tied to pipes, or squatting. He is beaten regularly, made to listen to seemingly interminable loud music and deprived of sleep for days on end. No confession is forthcoming, no new evidence is found, but on returning to court, the period of detention is extended 3 times, so that he spends over a month enduring these agonies without charge. Such is the psychological damage that he begins to hallucinate that members of his family are dead and lying in front of him in his cell. At last, he is released - seemingly on the whim of a judge, which just happened to be different to the whims of previous judges.

I found all of this to be extremely affecting, and made me begin to think about the mechanics of these things. Clearly, the Israel/Palestine situation is incredibly complex, part of the wider geo-political situation, and it evokes powerful emotions. I have my views, but will save them for another day. What did strike me, however, was the detail of the torture. What kind of people are those who would actively carry out such acts against another human being? I don't mean those at the top who are responsible for the policies, because - not to excuse them for their pusillanimity - they are several steps removed from the reality on the ground. I mean the goons who micro-manage the torture, who administer the kicks, turn on the CD player, apply the electrodes, or (perhaps not strictly related, but I think relevant) pump seven dum-dum bullets into the head of a Brazilian electrician.

Much of the argument has already taken place, following the atrocities at Abu Ghraib, where the focus was on accountability at the highest level, but would posit the view that we should look in the opposite direction. If, as reasonable people, we want to stop this brutality, if we wish to move towards a world which is less evil, then I think we must focus on this question:

Who are the torturers, and why do they do it?

israel

palestine

politics

torture