Thursday, August 18, 2005

A handful of land



As long as deep within the heart
The Jewish soul is warm
And toward the edges of the east
An eye to Zion looks
Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of two thousand years
To be a free people in our own land
In the land of Zion and Jerusalem.
To be a free people in our own land
In the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

(From the
song Ha-Tikvah (The Hope), the anthem of the Zionist movement and the state of Israel)



On that day, God made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates. The land of the Kenites, Kenizites, Kadmonites; the Chitties, Perizites, Refaim; the Emorites, Canaanites, Gigashites and Yevusites."
(Genesis 15:18-21)
"And I will give to you and to your descend
ants after you, the land of your temporary residence, all the land of Canaan as an eternal possession and I will be a God to them." (Genesis 17:8)

Year after year, generation after generation, mothers in the land of Israel must be telling their children one of the oldest stories humanity knows - about a man named Abraham; An old man who was promised a piece of land by god himself that he was to rule and showcase to the world as a model nation.

And for thousands of years, every jewish child carried this story close to his heart. Even when the nation itself didn't exist, even when there was not even a glimmer of hope that all jews would one day be under one roof, he kept it alive as a hope, as a prayer, and as a dream for a better tomorrow for himself and his children. He lived and died in the hope that he would one day be able to set foot in the land of Israel and escape from the road to perdition.

And through every line of history, they have been damned and bruised. They have been chased out of their homes by the romans, then by the arabs and finally the ottoman empire. One man was crucified on a fateful friday and an entire diaspora bore the cross for centuries forever without redemption. They were killed at the drop of a hat - A jewish captain was caught for passing secrets to Germany during World war I and thousands of jewish names filled mortuary registers. The nation he (is supposed to have) helped lost the war and history carries its aftermath as an irrepairable stain, as an albatross around its neck. And when men were gassed and killed, children experimented upon, not ONE country opened their doors for them citing appeasing immigration laws.

And finally at the end of the war, the destitutes declared the land of Israel as theirs and since then the borders of the nation have been bleeding. But every man there holds to his land as his own, for he knows it's not about the edifice that he's built on top, but about a millenium old dream that's woven as a canvas on which the nation stands.

And so when men and women are asked to evacuate their homes so that people they have been fighting against for centuries to hold on to their handful of land, can come and house themselves there, I have an inkling of an idea of how that might feel. Forget losing your entire eco-system, your home and every dream and memory that you built it with, your neighbours and friends and dispersing as nomads into lands seeking a new destiny. They have been doing it all their lives - from the romans, from the nazis, from the gullitone of fate. This runs deeper than that - this refutes his entire existence for he has a tryst with the land that he belongs to that he will breathe his last there.

I know a thing or a two about losing one's land - for I belong a country that's lost thousands of men on guarding a state and calling it ours. Our scriptures don't call it our promised land, we haven't fought the entire world to make it ours, our destinies aren't woven into its landscapes, but I would HATE to part with even a single speck of it for it has long ceased to be just a piece of land for us. It defines our pride, our collective existence. I know no country man who gives a damn about losing it to anyone else who may call it theirs.


You find them everywhere -
CNN, BBC, Reuters, Rediff - Read them! Each one of them! Read about men who have left everything they have had and dropping into the gaza strip from timbukthu for a cause they believe in, See the soldier who's doused in acid but doesn't hit back at the protesters because he can understand what the other one is going through, Look at the kid who's holding the holy book for the soldiers to read. These men who have to quit their homes, and these soldiers are forcing them to do it, and an entire nation that follows it on TV, I am sure it's not easy on any of them. Yet less than a dozen are killed (Touch wood!) - Men who do lose it and kill fellow men are collectively blamed and I truly respect them for that because in a time when lives are lost for no reason at all, to value it amidst so much loss is TRULY remarkable.

The one question that demands to be answered is WHY?
To part with something that you value as much or probably more than your own existence is extremely painful. But what is worse is doing it for something you don't believe in. Not even one bit. I am not questioning the validity of this move for right to this land is an international issue that has been discussed, compromised upon and finally endorsed by both sides. But why would Ariel Sharon do this? Because he believes this is the right thing to do? Because he finally wants to mark his page in history with one good deed? Or probably because he has finally been forced to compromise on his share of the land. Why?

Centuries of hopelessness has removed any benevolence from our opinion of politics. Politics at best is about representation, leave alone reform. It's about representing the views of a million diverging views that agree on a tiny miniscule point of inactivity where 545 people house themselves and call it a parliament. No one believes a man who wages a war for welfare or for means of warfare.

You can always justify a victory, for it's finally victors who write history? But a loss, a sacrifice - from an erstwhile soldier. Why?
I am probably being cynical and fail to appreciate the goodness in him, in humanity. Do you see any?

14 Comments:

Blogger సतीsh said...

What about the other side of the story?

And then, are you justifying their occupation of Palestine based on a fable?

I would HATE to part with even a single speck of it for it has long ceased to be just a piece of land for us
True. That's probably what the Palestinians feel too. It'd probably hurt more if it was taken from you by a third party to be given away to someone else.

2:53 AM  
Blogger సतीsh said...

I supposed I should have been clearer in my last sentence.

... as it was taken from them (the Palestinians) by the British.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Israeli-Palestinian_conflict

2:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those jewish SETTLERS now being evacuated, its a sad story. But notice the word SETTLERS. They moved in in 1968 when Israel occupied the Gaza strip by force. I agree these ordinary civilians shouldnt be put to all this trouble caused by politics and government, but jewish people in general deserve it all the time.

9:37 AM  
Blogger Rathish said...

@A.noname moose - Not at all! My intention is not to justify the occupation and the further evacuation. As I have mentioned in my blog,

"I am not questioning the validity of this move for right to this land is an international issue that has been discussed, compromised upon and finally endorsed by both sides."

I was looking at the issue purely from the standpoint of those who have been asked to evacuate and was asking myself why did Ariel Sharon accept to something like this now. And as for the british link, it's a long story ANM - depends on where you start from and you will see that the land has transferred hands too many times for us to judge the rightful owner.

@Anonymous - "but jewish people in general deserve it all the time" - This is what I don't agree with :) Why would any religious group "deserve" it?

12:26 PM  
Blogger Rathish said...

@kopos - I totally agree with you! There are three questions here.

1. Was the evacuation right or wrong? As I mentioned before, I really don't know enough to justify or question it and it's been agreed mutually.

2. How would the jews who have been asked to move from there feel? My personal opinion considering the land is woven into their religious and cultural beliefs and the turmoils they had to go through for making this land theirs.

3. Why did Ariel Sharon agree to do this now? How many times have we seen compromises being made in such stand offs? Why did Ariel sharon compromise on an issue that he knows is very sensitive? I raised the question because I don't know why he did it and I wanted to know what others feel about it.

Hope I have answered to your point :)

2:21 PM  
Blogger Kumari said...

"The one question that demands to be answered is WHY? To part with something that you value as much or probably more than your own existence is extremely painful. But what is worse is doing it for something you don't believe in."

-- I don't like posts that has layers.Or maybe it is my eyes tricking me. Guess i need a vacation :)
As for this issue i am biased towards the Jews. So i am sad.

8:39 PM  
Blogger Rathish said...

And you picked it :) There are always layers! ALWAYS! You should know that daughtie darling! :) Yet, vacation sounds like a good idea. You should have one.

9:55 PM  
Blogger pagala'k' said...

http://pagalak.blogspot.com/2005/08/inheritance.html#comments

10:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ennada kaaka, comment whoring-a?

5:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

rathish,
perhaps, sharon did this now simply because it was strategically the right thing to do, from the larger point of of view of Israeli self-interest. (the american left even has "water resource" theory to all this.)

sacrificing the few for the many is not new. your country, my country, does it all the time. and it does so with not half the decency and humaneness nor half the media focus in the current evacuation.

perhaps, you're arguing that noone should have to sacrifice. well, then that is an abstract question, to which I daresay noone really knows the answer. but the answer, whatever it is, should have nothing to do with the elaborate mythology of the Jewish homeland. it holds for everyone, the peasant in the narmada valley as much as the most religious gazan settler.

anyway, you write well, man. very readable. keep it going.

7:13 PM  
Blogger Rathish said...

@Anonymous -

"Sharon did this now simply because it was strategically the right thing to do, from the larger point of of view of Israeli self-interest."

Agree with you on that. The west bank, which is substantial amount of the settlement, is still in the hands of Israel and in Sharon's own words, beyond discussion.

As for no one having to sacrifice, Of course that's the ideal solution. But I do realize it's not possible as vengeance has a way to proliferate and once someone errs, generations hence have to pay for it.

I guess the apparent confusion in this post is because of the following fact - I am looking at this event in isolation without its history and future repercussions (which definitely is not the most appropriate way to do it). I am looking at a lot of people who are asked to leave their homes. I saw the visuals on TV and realized there's a lot of religion involved in the whole protest. So, I did my little research and tried to put to words that image I saw of people who are trying to leave their homes for a reason they don't believe in.

What I am not doing is to question whether this is right or wrong in the greater scheme of things and time because it's a long discussion. But in all fairness, there has to be part 2 to this post because even if I am treating this event in isolation, there is an otherside of the story about how the pullout is affecting the people from palestine and that's missing right now. Give me some more time and I shall post it a.s.a.p.

thanks everyone for taking your time and letting me know what you think! :)

1:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looking at a situation in isolation is like watching a corner square of a full movie; without sound. You won't get the full picture (lol); infact you would be led to the wrongest conclusions.

Being moved by touching scenes is one thing; but moving for the right reasons is another. Picture this: A soldier with a bullet in his leg; A doctor is operating him on the battlefield to cut his leg off; The soldier is screaming in pain. Would you ask the doctor to stop? Your heart would immediately go for the soldier but your rational brain tells you that this momentary pain is for the soldier's good only.

2:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

rathish, I meticulously went through each and every one of your posts and I could NOT find one post that talked about the iraqis. Either you are halucinating to yourself or you are a lying hypocrite.

Prove me not and show me the blogs where you talked about iraqis.

7:27 PM  
Blogger Rathish said...

@Anonymous - Some really strong words anonymous :) I really appreciate you taking time to read through all my posts though I am not sure what you were expecting. As I mentioned, there are always subtexts, like for example this one

"I have always believed, I knew the difference between the good and the bad. When I was ten, the difference was crystal clear. Dictators are evil. Democray is good ..... Who's evil? A man who for his personal gains kills thousands of people and rules his country? Or a man who for his business gains kills thousands of people and rules another country?"

And a line in this very post,

" No one believes a man who wages a war for welfare or for means of warfare." (means of warfare meant WMD).

And some more like this. Probably you expected a much more explicit reference. If so, I have indeed disappointed you.

Quite frankly, I don't have to justify myself like this but I really wanted to clarify any confusion that might have arisen.

Thanks for dropping by.

8:06 PM  

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