The Fine Line Isn't Always Straight

In my last post I discussed how my interest in trying to understand all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had left me feeling like a right-wing conservative.  In trying to approach the issues as comprehensively as I knew how, I found myself bringing up (pro-Zionist) arguments that I didn’t necessarily agree with, simply because nobody else was. I arrived to the Arava thinking myself left wing; to suddenly feel myself categorized as right wing was at once frustrating and distressing.  

Shortly after my last post a friend from Duke came to visit Israel. She was traveling with about ten other Duke students on a school trip for a class on Israeli Environmental Technology. I spent a few days traveling with the group visiting wastewater treatment facilities and restaurants, touring the markets in Tel Aviv and the desalination plant in Hadera, discussing environmental technologies and, of course, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On a car ride to lunch I was discussing the different experiences of visiting and living in Israel with an aspiring journalist who would be going on his second Israeli anti-defamation trip at the end of the semester. An inquiry on whether I would ever make aliyah launched us into a discussion on the sense and reality of security for a Jewish state, which then quickly devolved into a debate on the feasibility and desirability of a two state solution.

At some point I began talking about the politics of the occupation: settlements as detrimental to the peace process; the current paradox of maintaining Israel as both a Jewish and fully democratic state; the desire for an independent Palestine and the differences between being pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. I felt like I kept coming up against a wall, so I kept on with the “pro-Palestinian” argument.

Since then I have noticed how I approach these kinds of conversations. When I talk with someone who is (fervently) one sided on a particular issue, I frequently find myself offering the counterpoint, “Here’s how someone else—the ‘other side,’ if you will—might see this issue.”

To me, the peace process necessitates that individuals not only recognize that there are other legitimate perspectives, but that they understand the content of those perspectives. Only then can you begin to conceptualize a feasible solution that will be agreeable to all parties and all perspectives.

It’s taken me most of the semester to find my voice in the conflict, and I think I’ve finally found it: balance, but not centralism. It’s not a singular opinion that is acceptable by both sides; it’s a zigzag between every discussion: it’s voicing a Palestinian narrative to a Zionist and voicing a Jewish Israeli narrative to an anti-Israel activist.

I’d like to think that I tread the fine line of being both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel. And like any fine line, walking it requires balance.