Dehumanizing Arab Palestinians Families

Dear Friends,

I'm sure you have heard the question: why do Palestinians 
send their kids to be killed?  It is a question that has repeatedly 
surfaced in both public and private discussions.  The question 
in itself is an interesting and provocative one, not unlike those 
asked in other context when a powerless minority is under 
siege by a powerful enemy.  The following short essay by a
Palestinian speaks to this question.  His analysis is simple 
and to the point: The Israeli effort to dehumanize Palestinians 
by asking these sorts of question is a technique used historically 
by the powerful to incite majority populations to accept and turn 
a blind eye towards the slaying and killing of weaker populations.  


The following was written by Ghassan Andoni, the executive 
director for the Centre for Rapproachment between Peoples in 
Beit Sahour, a Palestinian village that has been under military 
siege now for some 40 days.  Since the account comes
straight from a Palestinian writer experiencing the siege
firsthand, I especially recommend it to those who see 
Palestinians as an irrational mob of stone throwers.  It may
shed some light on questions of strategy.

Khaldoun Samman
----------------------------------------

Sandra

Rev. Sandra Olewine
United Methodist Liaison - Jerusalem

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In a BBC documentary film covering the recent crisis in 
Palestine, the issue of Palestinian kids participation in 
the Intifada activities was raised again.  In an interview 
with Yom Tov Samia, the Israeli Army commander of 
Gaza strip he was asked if he thinks that Palestinian 
parents are different from other parents including Israeli 
ones. And if he truly think that parents are pushing their 
kids to the front lines to be killed in order to embarrass 
Israel. His answer was "unfortunately yes they are different"

The name of this commander if translated to English is 
"good day."  He is the one who decides on the adequate 
Israeli military actions and reactions in the whole Gaza 
strip. He is the one who gives the orders for when and
how to use the military arsenal that the Israeli army has.  
If Mr. good day thinks of Palestinians as a different kind 
of creatures, no wonder that dozens of them where killed 
and thousands injured through direct orders submitted to 
his soldiers.

Dehumanizing the enemy is a well-known strategy in 
the history of local and national conflicts. The enemy 
should be presented as powerful, aggressive, inhuman, 
and dreadful. A major problem is encountered when the 
enemy consists of masses of civilians demanding an end 
to a long-standing inhuman occupation. The level of 
dehumanization have to be raised dramatically to
provide a moral justification for brutality used against them 
and a reasonable excuse to continue employing lethal 
methods against their protests.

When brutality and oppression reaches a level at which 
all the age groups of the oppressed society including kids, 
women, and elderly participate in the protests, the need 
for dehumanizing the whole society, raising doubts
about its internal human relations such as parenthood, 
family caring, and human sensibility towards human loses 
is even greater.

I wonder what was the dehumanizing process that the Nazis 
employed against their poor victims including the Jews. 
How did they manage to establish the internal moral basis 
to persuade Germans to massively get involved in the
dreadful holocaust? Out of this dehumanizing process 
I doubt that any of the Germans involved thought about 
Jews as being similar to others including Germans all 
thought they were different.
 
Nazis were as powerful as Israel is now and Jews were 
as poor and helpless as Palestinians are now. I guess 
even in some places Jews tried to resist and in other 
places some resorted to arms to protect their lives and
revenge against the enemy. And I am sure that part of this 
legitimate resistance was employed to dehumanize more 
the victims.

I am aware of the difference in scale and the different 
historical context but the techniques of dehumanizing the 
enemy are the same. Such employment of dehumanization 
techniques against Jews was not only a way to incite
Germans to be involved in the atrocities against Jews but 
as well to provide the basis for other nations to be able to 
live with and turn a blind eye towards the holocaust. 

Providing a false image of equality in power and wrong 
doings is one effective way of neutralizing others. The 
image of both are equally bad is one way to delegitimize 
the right of people to fight against foreign occupations. 
This right that is guaranteed in all the documents issued by
the United Nations and practiced almost by all the world 
nations at different historical stages.

Yes, it is important that Palestinians will choose the most 
effective and most peaceful means in their legitimate struggle 
for freedom and independence. But there should be no ambiguity 
about their right to use all methods including their right to 
defend their selves against occupation and aggression. 
I join my voice to anyone who demand from Palestinians to
choose peaceful means in their struggle but I will stand against 
anyone who allows himself to delegitimize and dehumanize 
Palestinians because they do not. 

Ghassan Andoni
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PCR's Exc. Dir,
Star Street, P.O.box 24 - Beit Sahour - Palestine
TeleFax: +972-2-2772018
Mobile: +972-52-299310 (George)    Mobile: +972-52-595319 (Ghassan)
Web: www.rapprochement.org