What would Elizabeth Bennet think of Israel? Victims or Occupiers?
by Imane Fawzy Nofal
If you want to be ranked amongst the top human activists and free thinkers in the world, if you want people’s mouths to drop open whenever you open yours or to be puzzled by your ‘open mindedness’ and ‘broad worldviews’, then have two perspectives: Israel is the victim of the world and homosexuality is normal. Well, WTF? Excuse me!
I remember Elizabeth Bennet, the defiant Jane Austen’s female character in Pride and Prejudice, who was so proud and strongly opinionated, her view starkly contrasting those of other girls in those days. Amongst other things, Elizabeth believed she didn’t have to attend balls to find a groom like all the other females were doing. She was above that. Her thoughts and views were so opposite, her personality very different.
What started these thoughts in my mind was a conversation I had with a person I met on Facebook. As an open minded Arab, I didn’t mind accepting her friend request although she is a Jew; simply because I believe in freedom of belief and faith. I respect all religions as well as everyone’s choice of worship. I bear no hostility towards Jews; however I do harbor some prejudices against Israelis. It seems that such perspectives of mine somehow annoyed her. We started the discussion.
She explained to me that Israel has existed since 13 century BC, but was long invaded by other nations such as Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Sassanians, and Byzantins, which explains why the modern nation-state of Israel was not created until 1948. She held the argument that Arabs have long forsaken Palestine, so why are they now so keen on establishing a Palestinian country?
I never thought of Israel that way though. History is so blurry, some parts of it forged and tampered with that it’s hard to determine what really happened. I only understood the hard fact that Palestine has been and still is a sovereign country with borders of its own and has been for many many years; until The Balfour Declaration of 1917, which was the first significant declaration by a world power in favor of a Jewish “national home” in what was known as Palestine (taken from BBC news).
Personally, I think that no matter to whom the land of Palestine belonged decades ago, no one has had the right to invade that land. Look at it this way, Indians cannot go into America claiming that the US land was once theirs and now they want it back! How feasible is that … It is not a matter of inheritance.
Moreover, I strongly respect human existence and basic rights of people. I believe that Israel has long violated Palestinians’ rights of basic dignity and freedom. Hilariously, they have presented and continuously broadcast themselves as victims of the scattered bombings by Hamas targets at them! Documented massacres of Palestinians outweigh any attempts Palestinians have made on Israelis. It is nonsense to give Israel the right to torture others because they were once victims of the holocaust.
Towards the end of our conversation, this lady proudly told me that Israel provides asylum to Palestinian gays who are rejected and condemned to death in their own societies. If I wanted to prove myself to be an open minded free thinker, I would have said ‘oh, kind Israel!’ On the contrary, I replied that gays are a deformation to God’s laws on earth. Homosexuality is not an expression of ‘freedom of sexuality’ as they claim, but a form of deviation of what should be. I personally believe that if gays prevail, then that would be the plague signaling the end of the human race. Why should I support the start of the spread of a disease that’s leading to human destruction? Actually, it adds up to the fact that Israel is a combination of a bunch of occupiers and gays!
Imane blogs at Express It 2 Live It
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