Saturday, March 15, 2008

An island of hope in a sea of darkness

From The Weekend Australian, Editorial, March 15, 2008:

Australia cannot be bullied out of backing Israel

SIXTY years after its creation by a UN resolution, any discussion about the state of Israel continues to stir heated debate. Kevin Rudd's statement to federal parliament this week, commemorating Israel's 60th anniversary and offering Australia's continued support and goodwill, gave another insight into the depth of emotions that have so far defeated all efforts to broker a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbours in the middle east.... a collection of individuals and groups, including the militant Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, took an advertisement in this newspaper to dissociate themselves from the bipartisan support given to Israel.

Correspondence to The Weekend Australian has been further proof that deep divisions contine to exist....

...The Jerusalem Post's columnist Amotz Asa-El, who is visiting Australia, is also critical of Western reporting in the Middle East, which is responsible for shaping public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Asa-El argues that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict receives too much coverage at the expense of reporting on the broader social and political issues that dominate life from Damascus to Algiers. He says under-reporting gives a skewed impression that the Middle East is confined to a small number of people concentrated in a confined area, rather than the quarter-of-a-billion people spread over a wide region whose political future has big implications for the rest of the world.

Ironically, Israel's success in building a tolerant First World society is the reason that many Western journalists base themselves there and concentrate on the familiar narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel's success also explains why many academics have chosen to blame Tel Aviv for the continuing conflict rather than the zealots on the other side who have no interest in any settlement that recognises Israel's right to exist. Neither Hamas nor the Iranian leadership in Tehran that sponsors Hezbollah is interested in any settlement that recognises Israel's existence and they are prepared to use the continued suffering of ordinary Palestinians in a propaganda war to win supporters in the West.....

.... Israel was once widely admired in Left circles for its social innovation, such as the Kibbutz movement and its ability to establish vibrant agriculture in what had formerly been barren, arid areas. But many left-wing thinkers have since turned on Israel as a symbol of colonial power. In doing so, they ignore the UN process that established the state of Israel, as outlined by Mr Rudd in his statement to parliament this week. Australia played a key role in the UN debates....

.....One of the most dangerous misconceptions is that Israel is the source of all Arab or al-Qa'ida hostility towards the West. The truth is, if the US withdrew its support for Israel, radical Islam would still find an endless list of reasons to hate the West. Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'ida did not refer to Israel at all until there was a political reason to do so. Such misconceptions about radical Islam support Asa-El's call for a greater sophistication in reporting of Middle East affairs.

The Weekend Australian supports the bipartisan goodwill shown to Israel in parliament this week that acknowledged the unique relationship that exists between the two countries and the shared commitment to democracy, the rule of law and pluralism. ..... As Brendan Nelson told parliament, in a region of the world that is characterised by theocracies and autocracies, the state of Israel is the custodian of the most fragile yet powerful of human emotions, and that is hopeful belief in the freedom of man, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.

[Perth-based readers should note that Amotz Asa-el will visit Perth on Tuesday and Wednesday, 18th-19th March]

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