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The Failure of Dialogue
by Carlos
Recently Simon commented that he would like nothing more than for Muslims with whom we could have a meaningful dialogue to join the list.
I made a similar invitation on Peace with Realism.
It will never happen.
I was recently talking with a friend - not even a Muslim - and the subject of the Middle East came up. She said she had very strong views about it. An Egyptian friend of hers had "opened her eyes" and now she knows why the Arabs hate us. It's because America gives Israel a blank check no matter what Israel does. And the Palestinians are the underdogs. And religion is to blame - specifically the Jewish belief that God gave Israel all the land of Palestine - but no mention whatsoever of Islamic extremism. And Israel never should have been created in the middle of All those Arabs. And on and on like that.
Well, this woman seemed like a nice person, so I tried to meet her halfway. I admitted that Israel had made mistakes. I thought the settlements policy was a disaster and the occupation of Gaza immoral. But could we not agree that both sides have transgressed? Could she not also recognize the Arab campaign to destroy Israel and massacre its citizens?
Nothing doing. She rudely and abruptly ended our friendship.
There is something deeply irrational about people's attachment to the Palestinian cause. I wish I understood it. One cannot reason with it. People who hold that belief are impervious to any input of information that does not corroborate it. I went a long way in voicing my own criticisms of Israel and asking for a dialogue. I got nothing back.
And so it has also been with every Muslim with whom the subject has come up. There is an almost universal unwillingness in the Muslim community to engage in a true give and take, to see any merit at all in the other side. Virtually all of the outreach has come from the Jews, from the Tikkun crowd, the Jewish revivalists, B'tselem, many other similar groups, and even centrist Jews like me who are willing to respect the reality of Palestinian suffering but who want in return some acknowledgment of the Arab contribution to maintaining the conflict.
Dialogue is not a one-way street. I have witnessed several "dialogues" in which the Jewish side truly strove to reach out, and were met only with self-righteous contempt from the Arab contingent. We need to process this reality. What we do about it - I don't know. I must admit I have no hope for the future. But when the cataclysm strikes, it will not be for lack of effort on the Jewish side to try to reach an understanding.
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