Palestine: Reflections

Headlines provide signs of hope that Israeli-Palestinian tensions will ease and that peace will prevail

As I was recounting my Palestine/West Bank travel experiences and observations, I made notes to myself about how I wanted to wrap it all up. After all, this wasn't just a sightseeing trip featuring antiquities and sacred places. It was an experience that put me and my traveling companions on the cusp of "future history." Through my membership in the Society of American Travel Writers, I became aware of, but I am embarrassed to admit, not active in a not-for-profit group called the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism.

Originally, I intended wrap up my thoughts and observations unfiltered by politicians' spin and advocates for one side or another. I also was going to include links to IIPTT's site and to peace organizations working specifically in the Middle East and more specifically on the Palestinian-Israeli situation, because I believe that tourism can be a valuable tool for peace -- not just economically in troubled lands but also in allowing visitors to see a place and its people first-hand. This trip certainly was enlightening, even though we did not meet any overtly militant Palestinians or any Israeli Jews at all other than Army guards at checkpoints and security screeners at Tel Aviv Airport.

But today's headline in the New York Times, "U.S. and Israel Shift Attention to Peace Process," reports that "President Obama said Tuesday that he expected direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to begin 'well before' a moratorium on settlement construction expired at the end of September, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel pledged to take 'concrete steps' in the coming weeks to get the talks moving."

Since I'm trying to restrain myself, perhaps I should not point out that in the past, Netanyahu's "concrete steps" have taken the form of pouring more concrete for more settlements in the Palestinian territory. 'Nuff said. I'd rather express a hope that it might be better this time, and that perhaps neither side will provoke the other into escalating retaliation measures. This eye-opening trip beyond the headlines and the rhetoric pointed out the social injustice of the current situation. I mentioned to some of my traveling companions that I am shocked that Israel, a nation established because millions of its people were the victims of such ruthless genocide, could treat other people so badly. One who is smarter than I pointed out that individual people who been abused often become abusers. The analogy was not lost on me or anyone else within earshot.
So I close this series with a wish that maybe, just maybe, the new talks will amount to something and the peace process will begin again -- and maybe, just maybe, it will be honored by all sides and be longer-lasting than in the past.