Palestine, Israel and Lebanon

People of the Middle East (All photos: Norwegianblogger)

I haven’t really written much about the situation in the Middle East in this blog. It’s incredibly difficult to be objective and there are many load voices wanting us to share their views. In spite of this I don’t think we should be silent. We are all responsible as part of the human race to care, to use our thoughts and hearts to contribute and to say it out load and clear that we are all brethren: Israelis, Palestinians, the Lebanese and the rest of us. There’s so much suffering and pain in the region and the question is: Are we entitled to speak about this conflict when we’re living far away, not being personally involved? Am I entitled?

At times I’ve spoken to people from the region and I’ve heard that as a Norwegian I can’t understand the situation, and I guess there’s truth in this, but that’s when we look at ourselves as Israelis, Palestinians or Norwegians. We shouldn’t forget that we’re all first and foremost human beings, in need of others, craving for understanding, love and someone who cares, and frightened to death by war, pain and loss. Most of us have experienced loss, the emptiness and rage we feel when a loved one has lost his life, in accidents, in sickness or in war. At a personal level we’re living in a situation where death is as evident in our lives as life. It’s a part of being human.

How are we to understand and how are we to be able to lift our voices in a situation as the one in the Middle East? It takes time and I guess we have to listen for what we have in common; our humanness. Are we able to forget the dividing lines and listen to the joys, the pain and the fright in the voices of the people in the region? I’m not saying that we are not to criticize or argue about politics, but I think we have to start with acknowledging our common humanness.

A few years ago I was in Southern France, in a little idyllic town called Menton. From the hostel there’s a view of the Mediterranean and the beautiful coastline of the Cote D’Azur. A very peaceful setting and the porch is a wonderful place for conversations with people from different parts of the world. One evening I met an Israeli couple in their early twenties. This was during a very turbulent time in Israel with a lot of suicide bombings, and they said that it was incredibly difficult to get it off their minds. Even in peaceful Menton they were not able to let it go. At the beach they’d seen some luggage and thought immediately that it was a bomb. They had to convince themselves that they were in France and that nothing would harm them there. Every time they went out to a café, a disco or to meet their friends in a public area in Israel they went out with the knowledge that they could be killed. From a very early age this was a part of their daily lives, and after twenty years with this kind of fear, it was a part of their mindset.

How are we to comprehend this? Do we have these kinds of experiences as Norwegians? Probably not, but it’s very close to what could be called a phobia. Some of us are scared of heights, of open places, of masses of people, of birds or of insects – it’s a part of our mindset. Sometimes it really makes life difficult. Living with fear is not easy, but probably also a part of being human. Being scared could either make us distance us from others or draw us closer to each other. To acknowledge your own fears and to share your thoughts about them could help us understand and recognize our common humanness. By listening to this Israeli couple I was connected to them, because I could relate to my fears and was able to get an impression of how it is to live in conflict. The difference between a phobia and the situation in Israel is that in this situation the fear is justified. This couple had lost friends and family, and knew that next time it could be them. As a fellow human being we should be outraged of the fact that someone has to live with fears like this!
Later I’ve listened to Palestinians who are forced to stand in lines for hours just to be able to visit relatives or get to work, being abused, yelled at and treated like second-rate citizens, treated differently because of their ethnicity and background. A sad, sad situation! Are we able to relate? Have we been abused, yelled at or treated differently because of ethnicity, gender, orientation or age? Yeah, unfortunately it’s a part of being human, but who are we to make walls, to separate people because of their ethnicity, to abuse, to look down at, to treat differently? We should be outraged!

Lebanon – a country caught between the actions of their neighbors, a more or less innocent bystander to groups and countries making this beautiful country into a battleground. Losing inhabitants in massacres and attacks that should make the world outraged!

Well, the peoples of the Middle East are outraged, and they have every right to be filled with rage, but where does it leave us as human beings? Our rage could separate us or draw us closer. Do we see each other as human beings or as representatives of nations or groups or as the enemy? Politics is not about actions between politicians, it’s about fighting for the right of the Israeli couple to live without fear of being killed when they dance to celebrate life, it’s about the Palestinians right to lift their heads and walk freely to their neighbors, to be met by a smile instead of a gun, it’s about the Lebanese people’s right to live peacefully, but when it all comes down it’s about our rights as human beings to live in peace, to love, to talk freely, to share life with all, and to see our neighbors as brothers and sisters, here to make this earth our common HOME. Please politicians, please Palestinians, please Israelis, please Norwegians and Africans, Americans, Asians, Europeans, Australians; make this world a home for all of us!
People of the Middle East & me (All photos: Norwegianblogger)