- Share This Post
- submit
- 139
-
Sparkle (0)
I'm not an expert on matters of the Middle East. I make an effort to read the newspapers and watch the news, but most of the information I discover usually pertains to the war in Iraq and our American troops.
About a month ago, BlogHer's Kim Pearson and I had a brief chat discussion about Middle Eastern history and I was surprised (and somewhat embarrassed) with how little I knew about the territory and it's many crises and religious conflicts.
In my high school history classes my teachers barely skimmed the surface of the complex histories of the geographical regions of Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. We learned of the many controversies between the lands and the numerous failed attempts to make peace among the people. Any discussion of Iraq consisted mostly of anti-Saddam Hussein rhetoric. Looking back on it now, it's a shame that we didn't delve into the details.
I do remember learning about the Holy Land in catechism class, but only as it pertained to the Roman-Catholic faith, the Bible, or Jesus Christ himself.
I once asked a teacher why there were so many conflicts in the Middle East, why people were always fighting with each other, but I never received an answer that made any sense. My questions were often answered with generalizations or personal assumptions.
One teacher avoided my question altogether and instead suggested I pray for these quarreling nations, "so that they may find God's grace". Even now, eleven years out of school, the conflicts of the Middle East overwhelm and confuse me.
Perhaps my desire to find answers to my questions inspired me to read the book Quo Vadis, Israel?, in which author H. Peter Nennhaus examines the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian people.
"For Jews and non-Jews alike," Nennhaus writes, "the State of Israel has become the source of disappointment and concern. The world has witnessed the never-ending tragedy that has befallen the Holy Land with its wars, bombings and intifadas, and the United States, in spite of its unmatched influence, has been unable to resolve the crisis."
Nennhaus offers a substantive history of Jewish persecution and constant stigmatization, and the many attempts of eastern Europeans to induce social assimilation and christianization among the Jewish people. He talks about the deep-seeded hatred that is projected toward the Jews and gives a basic explanation of how antisemitism has occurred throughout the world, and still exists today.
"They [the Jews] were seen as an unacceptable infestation, an alien people who had to be either subdued or exorcised from the Motherland. They spoke their own tongue, they had persisted to adhere to an unchristian faith, they believed in absurd superstitions, they were a pathetic people provoking derision and contempt, and to top it off, they were now carrying the banner for the subversive movement of Marxism. In many different ways they were given to understand they were an unwanted and outcast race."
The author believes that peace in Israel cannot be achieved if things stay as they are and always have been, and offers that the solution may lie in relocating the State of Israel to a geographic region where there is no hostility.
I wonder how this would work? Would it solve the many conflicts that arise between Israelis and Palestinians? Where would the State of Israel relocate? Should the United States end the war in Iraq and assist the Israelis instead?
Nennhaus' suggestion is "to follow the recipe, which history employed in Israel and Palestine during the past six decades.... It is not unreasonable to fear that this mountain of loathing and abomination will be an irremovable fact dividing the Israelis and Palestinians and that in the unlikely event that some day in the future permanent peace between them becomes reality, it would still not extinguish the flames of mutual aversion."
Quo Vadis, Israel is a fact-based book and at first glance was rather intimidating to me. Perhaps because of my lack of knowledge, it didn't seem plausible to move an entire country. But, after reading the book I acquired a better understanding of the Jewish people and their history, and I can see why Nennhaus believes it may be in Israel's best interest to be transplanted to more suitable land in eastern Europe.
Nennhaus proposes that purchase of the land called the Kaliningrad Oblast from Russia, would encourage Russian immigrants to return to Russia by means of financial enticements, and the transfer of the Israelis
