Other People's Shoes

Count on Jeffrey Goldberg to come up small in the biggest moments:

I'm running around a bit doing some other journalism today (there are apparently other issues in the world besides the demand to create a 23rd Arab state)

-- Um. That's the most offensive possible way to put it. I'll be charitable and presume that Goldberg's running around and didn't think that phrase through. Since I'm constantly told what a fair-minded observer he is, I'm sure he doesn't actually believe that the aspirations of millions of Palestinians are just about getting yet another "Arab state." Nor does he truly believe that 22 states are indistinguishable aside from the fact that there's a bunch of A-rabs in 'em.

But c'mon, man. You should know better than this:

...but I'll try to watch the Abbas speech, and the Netanyahu speech, later on. I hope my expectations are wrong, and that these two sometimes-very small men manage to surprise us, though I doubt it. Mahmoud Abbas, in particular, doesn't seem -- these days especially -- interested in putting himself in the shoes of Israelis, when he declares that the occupation of his people's lands dates back 63 years -- namely, to the creation of Israel itself, not the Six Day War, which was provoked by the allies of the Palestinians, and then lost by the allies of the Palestinians. 

Do herrings come any redder? Whatever Abbas' rhetoric -- and his rhetoric was pretty damn good, to a liberal American Jew's ears -- Abbas' actions should give any sane Israeli leader a boner. Check the Palestine Papers for his extraordinary sensitivity to Israeli, uh, sensitivities. If Abbas put himself in Israelis' shoes any more, he'd have his own foot on his neck at a West Bank checkpoint.

Anyone who thinks that Netanyahu would make a deal with Abbas if only Abbas rhetorically started the Palestinian experience in 1967 is clowning himself.  And the Israelis have occupied the West Bank for over four decades. It's not Palestinians who need to put themselves in Israeli shoes. And if Netanyahu ever came close to even a moment of empathy, that would be the first emotional fact that would dawn on him.

Comments

[CJWhite]

"If Abbas put himself in Israelis' shoes any more, he'd have his own foot on his neck at a West Bank checkpoint"

And that sentence is why you are a National treasue, Attackerman. Well done.

[Jim Thompson]

I was reading a Buddhist text yesterday that described the tendency for people to think in terms of right and wrong. Perhaps we all think this way, however in this context it was dogmatic right and wrong being criticized, because when you take a situation and put it in a box, or line it up on some continuum you stop really looking at it. You think you know it because it fits a model, whether the model is right or wrong.

Its lazy thinking. It perpetuates errors and fails to acknowledge the truth that is apparent, if only we were truly concentrating and truly perceiving what lies before us.

So, I think now would be a good time for everyone to set aside right and wrong. I think now is the time to listen, to hear, to ask questions and assess. Right and wrong will be found within the situation, not within some system, not within some radically over simplified representation of what we now face.

I think in this instance I see one man expressing empathy and compassion bravely. I do not see it being matched by the other.

I read an essay by David James Duncan that explained that "Do unto others and you would have them do unto you" is a call to exercise compassion - to place yourself in the other man's place and to enable this neighbor to achieve his dreams. But this takes both bravery AND imagination.

I think we often undervalue imagination....and what is power without compassion?

[Fnord]

"Empathy? We dont do steenking empathy"

Its just weird to watch.

[jackelpdw]

I read that same article today and had the same gut reaction to the "23rd Arab state" comment. As if those sneaky Palestinians were trying to just trick us into making more A-rabs! That's where the terrorists come from!

[Jim Thompson]

I heard a complaint today, that included the three words "Instant Arab Majority." Did the Jewish people NOT exist prior to the foundation of Israel? This almost sounds like the Palestinians don't exist now....since they are bereft of a homeland. The dialogue is so charged, the language used now merely emblematic or cookie cutter representations of positions and arguments. This dialogue is as meaninful and significant as an average of an average of an average. There is no communication actually occurring.

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