commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Zizek and Israeli Denial
Writing in today’s Guardian, Slavoj Zizek the rock star philosopher, makes the crucial point that,
“When peace-loving Israeli liberals present their conflict with Palestinians in neutral, symmetrical terms – admitting that there are extremists on both sides who reject peace – one should ask a simple question: what goes on in the Middle East when nothing is happening there at the direct politico-military level (ie, when there are no tensions, attacks or negotiations)? What goes on is the slow work of taking the land from the Palestinians on the West Bank: the gradual strangling of the Palestinian economy, the parcelling up of their land, the building of new settlements, the pressure on Palestinian farmers to make them abandon their land (which goes from crop-burning and religious desecration to targeted killings) – all this supported by a Kafkaesque network of legal regulations.”
This is it for me. I have been debating with many, both in the cyber world as well as in person, and often the response is that there are bad people on both sides. Another standard response is that we are both doing horrible things but we are not happy in doing these things, we are forced. Zizek’s article deconstructs this dangerous argument. The occupation does not stop. It has not stopped since 1967 and will not stop until…well, according to Zizek, there will be no possibility for a Palestinian state. Perhaps, but the issue is that it is no longer possible for Israelis to dismiss the occupation as the major problem in this conflict today. Don’t hold your breath because I do not see a sea change on the horizon.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Joseph Dana on 18/08/2009 at 05:43, and is filed under Villages. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 11 months ago
I suggest that you look a little more closely at Zizek’s approach to deconstruction in his post:
http://tinyurl.com/lysn3n
And then ask yourself about the quality and representativeness of the evidence he presents.
about 11 months ago
I think you (Joseph and Mairav) and Zizek are exactly right on this. In the US, for the most part the ony time this gets discussed is when violence erupts from one side or another, or both, but little to no attention is paid to the underlying problem. The violence from both sides is essentially a symptom, or an effect, and not a cause of the problem.
The underlying cause is the occupation and the dispossession. Occasionally Palestinians attempt to revolt against it by violent means, and Israelis attempt to reinforce it by violent means. Getting into a discussion of who started the violence first, or who’s more violent, or more to blame for the violence is a pointless sidetrack. The issue is the occupation and dispossession. The very existence of occupation and dispossession will always result in mutual violence. It can not be otherwise. No peace or justice will come until the dispossession stops and that what should be the focus of anyone trying to work for peace. I highly commend you for your efforts.
And Judy, you lost me at your title. “Anti-semitic lies” is such a canard. Joseph and Mairav don’t have to look at Zisek’s evidence because they see it with their own eyes everyday Maybe you should go to the West Bank and see it with your own eyes too. It might help with your recovery from couch potato.