The perplexities of the Middle Eastern conflict - Communicating Vessels

8/10/2019 The perplexities of the Middle Eastern conflict - Communicating Vessels

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The Perplexities

of the Middle Eastern ConflictA Musing on Historical Relativism and Universal History

Ifwe cast a glance over the Worlds-History generally, we see a vast picture of changes andtransactions; of infinitely manifold forms of peoples, states, individuals, in unresting succession On

every hand there is the motliest throng of events drawing us within the circle of its interest, and when

one combination vanishes another immediately appears in its place

-GWF Hegel, The Philosophy of History, 1820s

Whatever ones ultimate perspective on the Middle East may be, it is undeniably true that thebleakness shrouding the region appears to grow blacker and blacker daily. The idea of mutual co-eistence between !rab and "ew seems to fade as the #sraeli state tightens its control of the occupiedterritories. Meanwhile, as a desperate response, those living in the occupied territories respond with

suicide bombings. There is no $ustification for the level of brutality and cold-blooded murder oneither side, but it remains a seldom spoken truth that the state of #srael holds a monopoly on weaponsand high-tech corralling agents. With a few eplosives, rocks and old guns, inhabitants underoccupation in this region are unable to defend themselves against the terror of the state.

There is, in the midst of this relatively modern crisis, something of a mystical %aura& to the landthat has whetted the appetites of 'hristian, "ew and Muslim alike. (alestine is associated with "esus'hrist among fundamentalist 'hristians who believe that his )econd 'oming will take place in this%*oly +and.& To many "ews, who refer to themselves as ods chosen people, this is the land that isrightly theirs for the simple reason that they, as an %eternally& persecuted group, deserve to dwellamong other persecuted "ews. There are also iblical notions floating about among certain "ews whoinsist that their od beueathed the land to their father !braham thousands of years ago. ut anumber of Muslims then retort and yell ferociously that they too descend from !braham and becauseof this are entitled to the land. !ccording to these Muslims they, as inhabitants of the land since the

days of the /omans, shouldnt be sub$ect to epulsion from, and destruction of their land. !fter all,"ews only reentered the land in relatively recent times. With the founding of the 0ionist movement in1234 by Theodore *er5l and the alfour 6eclaration in 1314 as well as the subseuent settlement in(alestine, the "ews, it could be said, are coloni5ers for deciding to evacuate those (alestinians residingin the land.

#t is here that we start to enter murky waters. !ny notion or claim that doesnt take into accountthe fact that the respective groups involved in this debacle descend from )emitic speaking peoples is

built on unsolid foundations. ut even the idea of people with the same linguistic tongue constitutinga %race& is highly suspect. ! more apt way of putting it would be those who were from the !rabian(eninsula 7!kkadians, *ebrews, !rabs, Egyptians and (hoenicians8 shared similar social patterns andtraditions. )uch shared influences in the social realm or the realm of religious traditions does notmean that there was a unity between each of these ancient peoples, but it did mean that each of thesesocial groupings drew from one another.1

To think that after centuries of migration, conversions from one religion to another 7"udaism to'hristianity or 'hristianity to #slam or any combination thereof8 and miing between "ews, 'hristiansor Muslims there still eists a purity of %ethnicity,& %race& or religion is as preposterous as believingthat those who have blond hair are superior or purer than those who have black hair. *ere biology

becomes destiny and the destiny of the specific %superior& ethnicity becomes a worldview. There issomething mystical about the suggestion that history is a mere constellation and concentration ofdifferent groups battling it out solely based upon what biology or genes they inherited from their

parents 7and the larger %ethnic& or %racial& configuration they are a part of8. The influential 9renchauthor, Michel +eiris, posits that:


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#t is;absurd to talk about an English %race& or even to regard the English as being of the %

ut why the revival of ethnic and racial notions of superiority? There is no clear-cut eplanationfor this turn to identity in the late >@ thcentury and early >1stcentury. The phrase ethnic group is the

politically correct word for race. The %enlightened& Western man looks back on legal segregation inthe )outhern states in the period before integration as a product of a racist mindset that was fortunatelyovercome, but never tires of suggesting that the conflict in the Middle East is an eternal problem thathas been festering in the *oly +and because of the inherent differences between !rabs and "ews.)imilarly, the ethnic studies professor would scoff at the idea of measuring skulls to determine theintelligence of a supposed %race& of people but has no ualms in endlessly prattling on about ethnicdifference. #nstead of trying to figure out what one has in common with other human beings, our agestrives to find an ethnic, linguistic, religious or seual characteristic that sets one group of human

beings apart from another group. !t its worst, this %special& characteristic 7or set of %special&characteristics8 is then used to $ustify persecution or eclusion of those who dont conform to therespective groups identity.

9or a time that is said to be inclusive we see a whole host of eclusions occurring right before ourvery eyes. )uch eclusion is being acutely played out in #ra where the Western media never tires of

promoting the idea that there is no way )unni and )hiite Muslims could ever mutually co-eist. #nthe same breath, we hear of how the A) is 7virtually single-handedly no less8 building a seculardemocracy which will allow for all sorts of ethnic co-eistence. What some have speculated aboutyears ago regarding the Middle East has almost come true: an %Bttomani5ation& of the region. #n

practical terms what this would mean is that instead of Turkey being in the center #srael would playthat role with A) backing. Bn the periphery of #srael would be ethno-religious groups murdering oneanother.


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!t the height of the /ussian /evolution of 1314, the world was in the throes of ma$or turmoil andclass conflict. #ndeed, the bourgeoisie was fearful that the revolution in /ussia would spread far andwide. !nd it did to a very limited etent 7more than weve ever seen historically8. #n ermany in

D )talin took over definitivelywith his crude notions of socialism in one country and the sacredness of the family. Then came)talins purges and mass murder of peasants. )imilarly, erman workers, a large minority of whom

was once militantly opposed to class society, allied themselves along nationalist lines with *itler inthe


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oppression. This opposition, to be sure, wasnt limited to assuring rights for their own ethnic group.!fter the /ussian /evolution of 1314 many "ewish socialists and anarchists returned from eile totheir native /ussia to participate in the reconstruction of society as a whole. #f eamined carefully itcan be seen that what we know as political 0ionism had very little influence on "ews at the time. !s!ghis )tinas writes in his ama5ing"emoirs # $i%ty &ears under the 'lag of $ocialist (evolution abouthis life fighting for internationalist socialism in reece:

We knew about the %alfour declaration,& the official promise made to the "ews by the ritishgovernment during the 9irst World War that it would set them up on the soil %of their fathers.& The "ewishcommunity and the Thessaloniki synagogue had called the "ews together to celebrate the news. Thegathering took place in the morning, and behind closed doors. The afternoon of the same day masses of"ewish workers and intellectuals took to the streets, waving red flags, with these slogans: %#t is not in thestate of #srael but in the world socialist society, united fraternally with all the peoples of the world, that we,the "ews, will guarantee our lives, our security and our well-being,& %+ong live the world socialistrevolution,& %6own with 0ionism.&

There is something we should note here. #t was not only the "ews of Thessaloniki but millions of "ewsacross the world who put all their hope in socialism and struggled for it.

!fter the defeat of the revolutionary wave in the 13@s and the death of millions of "ews in theholocaust, the idea of a separate state for "ews started to look more and more appealing to a group of

people who had felt utterly betrayed by the refusal of the A), 9rench and ritish governments toadmit them as refugees. !s a conseuence countless numbers of "ews rallied to the cause ofnationalism. Even the +eft 0ionists, with ideas of mutual co-eistence between !rab and "ew, had

been silenced after the )econd World War 7as ambiguous and lacking in coherence as many of theirperspectives and visions tended to be, # fail to see real malicious intent in many of their writings8 bylunatics who wanted to forcefully uproot and transfer a whole population from a land they lived in forcenturies. )uch coloni5ation was different than most past forms of epropriation in that the !rabicinhabitants were, by and large, not made use of for their labor power, but were forcefully transferredfrom the land. 7Traditionally colonists have kept the native inhabitants on hand to serve as laborersfor the accumulation of capital.8 0ionists have been known to say that this transfer was $ust dessertsfor the


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Elites the world over will use whatever means to continue to hold onto their wealth and politicalpower. Eploitation of notions of identity and group suffering are useful tools to keep the worldfunctioning as it is. When *annah !rendt wrote her classic trial eamination of


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The etermination of European "ewry could become the Holocaust only on 3 "une, when, in theaftermath of a remarkable victory, the )tate of #srael celebrated the return of the people of #srael to theancient wall of the Temple of "erusalem. Bn that day the etermination of European "ewry attained the C ifnot happy, at least viable C ending that served to transform events into a myth, and to endow a symbol witha single, ineluctable meaning.3

#n a nutshell, what such a perspective has come to mean in practice for the state of #srael is that all

those who are not the %chosen people& C as epressed by ods edict C should be viewed withsuspicion, fear and hatred.

The idea that there are specific groups who will always ehibit oppressive behavior 7)erb orerman8 and then other groups who will always be oppressed by such behavior 7"ew, 'roat orosnian Muslim8 imputes a uality onto human groups which is plainly false. *uman behavior variesdepending upon each particular situation human beings find themselves in. ecause certain ermansturned to


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!mong the many myths we have come to associate with groups who share the same skin color orreligious affiliation, the myth of a pure unspoiled nature or %race& is a common one. The idea thatthere is a pure untrammeled %race& or ethnicity is the boon of capitalism which is founded on

eclusion and dispossession. 6uring the height of the breakup of the alkans in the mid-133@s wecan see notions of ethnicity becoming stronger as workers and the poor searched for scapegoats fortheir declining standard of living.


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As%&ena'i (e)s

The %founders& of the state of #srael %descend& from what is known as !shkena5i stock. !skena5i "ewsare roughly referred to as those "ews whose dialect was erman but spoke Giddish which is an amalgam of)lavic languages like (olish. 6uring the 1Dthand 13thcenturies several million "ews lived in the relativelysmall geographical area of Eastern Europe. "ews who lived in this area tended to be poor or working classfarmers and artisans. +ife was precarious and "ews were sub$ected to the rampant anti-)emitism thatemanated from the /ussian Empire. (ogroms in /ussia and Eastern Europe had the effect of driving "ewsout of their homes or off their parcel of land. #n the late 12@@s and early 13@@s such sweepingly brutalpogroms caused the untimely deaths of innumerable "ews.

ut how did such a vast number of "ews come to dwell in this area? ! theory has been postulated byhistorian !rthur Joestler in his book, )he )hirteenth )ribe.11 !ccording to Joestler the Turco-Mongoliansconverted to "udaism in 4D@ !6 as a means to stave off the attempts made by the y5antine Empire andthe #slamic rulers to convert them to their respective religions. ecause of their conversion to "udaism C orat least the assorted rulers, the king as well his courts conversion C it became the state religion of thekingdom. The Jha5ars lived in a region that was of strategic importance to y5antium and (ersia 7as wellas tribal invaders like the Magyars and ulgars8. This region constituted an entry point for the 'aspian andlack )eas.

9rom the research of 6unlop and Joestler we can draw the conclusion that the 9irst 'rusade of 1@3F!6 did not lead to the mass migration of "ews to (oland. #f such a migration had taken place it would havemeant that erman "ews 7who, along with Muslims, were some of the victims of the 9irst 'rusade8 made a

treacherous $ourney through the /hineland on into Eastern ermany and then out. Joestler remarks that,%We are made to reali5e that the "ewish community in the erman /hineland was numerically small, evenbefore the 9irst 'rusade, and had shrunk to even small proportions after having gone through the winepressof the lord.&12 The )econd and Third 'rusades, in line with Joestlers theory, elicited little or no eodus to(oland among erman "ews.

6espite all of this, many scholars and historians, continue to insist that the reason as to why (oland wasinhabited by so many "ews was by dint of the 'rusades. )umming up, Joestler states that the idea ofmigration from the /hineland to (oland %is incompatible with the small si5e of the /henish communities,their reluctance to branch out from the /hine valley towards the east, their stereotyped behavior inadversity, and the absence of references to migratory movements in contemporary chronicles.&1*

Joestlers final assessment is that modern "ewry is largely of 'aucasian, not (alestinian, origin.Encapsulating his research, Joestler forces us to carefully rethink commonly held assumptions by assertingthat:

The mainstream of "ewish migrations did not flow from the Mediterranean across 9rance and ermanyto the east and then back again. The stream moved in a consistently westerly direction, from the 'aucasusthrough the Akraine into (oland and thence into 'entral Europe. When the unprecedented mass-settlementin (oland came into being, there were simply not enough "ews around in the West to account for it= while inthe east a whole nation was on the move to new frontiers.

;the Jha5ar contribution to the genetic make-up of the "ews must be substantial, and in all likelihooddominant.1#

#f there is any truth in this fashionable assertion, it decidedly demolishes the idea that the bulk oftodays "ews are of )emitic speaking origin. Bf course, it has been suggested that not a large enoughnumber of people who were part of the Jha5ar empire converted to "udaism which makes it difficultto confirm the Jha5ar hypothesis. !dditionally, those arguing this point have stated that the "udaism

of the Jha5ars was at best superficial. The documentation in support of the Jha5ar speculation is alsolacking. Bne should nottake our summari5ation of Joestlers book as an endorsement of it. #n any

event, it is a postulation that deserves to be eplored further.


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Sephardic Jews)ephardic "ews populated Eastern )pain. 6uring the rule of !ndalus they spoke !rabic. !lthough

"ews living in this area had to pay a special ta which was levied upon them, "ews and Muslims co-eisted rather peacefully. #ndeed, the period between the 2thand 11thcenturies, is freuently 7and notinaccurately8 referred to as the olden !ge of )panish "ewry. "ews derived from the Muslims awhole manner of cultural tableau like dress, musical melodies and poetry. We find that in modern

discussions of the Middle East there is a tendency to forget to mention that when the "ews were drivenout of )pain during the inuisition, Muslims 7in greater numbers, in fact8 were forced to flee alongwith them.

Bnce the "ews were driven out of the region in 1D3> they came to speak a language derived fromtheir /oman conuerors. This language is known as )panish-+adino and those who spoke thislanguage spread to the Bttoman Empire.

riental JewsThe Briental "ews are often referred to as )ephardic "ews. This amalgamation between the two is

not entirely accurate. Briental "ews did not speak )panish but rather spoke !rabic. The trick of the#sraeli state is to sow divisions between those "ews who descend from Europe and !merica7!shkena5i8 and those who are from the Mediterranean,


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Briental "ews, were treated as outsider blacks 7like blacks in the A)8 by the state of #srael. With thisunderstanding something of a class consciousness began to emerge among those involved. This wassmothered when many of the members of the group were offered integration into #sraeli society.


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+

Bne may then ask him or herself: Why are you bringing these distinctions to the surface? #n ourmind, it only makes sense to do so. This conflict is as much based upon the policy of apartheid the#sraeli state practices internally as it is based upon its eternal policy of bulldo5ing and dynamiting

(alestinian dwellings, infrastructure and basic means of life. BrientalL)ephardic and !skena5i "ewsoccupy separate spheres within #sraeli society. Those who are working class and poor tend to be theBrientalL)ephardic "ews while those who wield positions of institutional authority tend to be!shkena5i "ews. This is all based upon a mythologi5ed identity which holds that a certain kind of "ew7!shkena5i8 is more connected with his or her ancestry than those "ews 7BrientalL)ephardic8 whomight speak !rabic or ehibit traits associated with !rabic culture.


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#f we are to believe the logic of Western conscience it is imperative for us to think that the MiddleEastern conflict has been bla5ing on and on since time immemorial.


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#f one can get past oiteins illusion that the !rab people were somehow liberated by the !lliesduring the 9irst World War and that the rich oil deposits would benefit %the people& who inhabited theregion 7in actuality the oil deposits have only been beneficial towards national and internationalcapitalists as well as fat consumers in Western Europe and particularly !merica8, his commentaryconfirms what we have tried to present.

ut it is necessary to back up a bit. #f the %!rab& world at the time of the Bttoman Empire had yet

to establish their own independent nation-states then how is it even plausible that nationalism eistedin the modern form we usually conceive of it?


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the (alestinian proletariat who regarded the "ews as tools of the ritish. oth sides came to lockthemselves in the imprisoning shackles of nationalism. Bne side had the backing of the great imperial

powers like ritain while the other was reliant on proven to be unreliable !rab sheikdoms. #t is notsurprising that the "ewish national movement has to this day been the winner in this conflict. The A),arguably the most powerful nation in the world, contributes a total of H.H billion on an annual basis tohelp the #sraeli state maintain its hegemonic role in the region as a buffer against angry !rabic

nationalists who have been bred on a daily diet of hatred and animosity 7a logical result ofoccupation8. This desperation is a conseuence of being sub$ected to an established state that is

backed by a military, police force and a fair share of the worlds nuclear weaponry. #n the fenced inlands (alestinians reside in, as well as the suicide bombings that tear apart any hope of mutual co-eistence, we see the seeds being sown for the completion of a garrison state that is built on fear of theother 7the suicide bombings are a hopeless response to what many (alestinians Nand those !rabic

people residing in the surrounding areaO have, not so surprisingly, come to see as a hopeless situation8.9urthermore, as the (alestinian !uthority comes to a friendly agreement with the state of #srael to actas the policemen of %their own& people in the occupied territories, it is easy to see that this fear of theother obscures the contradictions inherent in class societies. !s far-fetched as it is to discuss thesocial relationships produced by class society when the whole nature of the conflict is centered on

purity of %race,& %ethnicity& and %religion,& it will only come to an end when the eploited from thearea unite on the basis of their own dispossession and oppression. This, by necessity, implies putting

an end to the conditions which breed nationalism 7capitalism and all national state entities8. ut giventhe current level of escalation by #srael, through propaganda, and violent action taken against those inthe occupied territories 7which also drives specific (alestinians to retaliate against innocent civilians8,this is a pie-in-the-sky dream.

Taking all of this into account, it is more than plain to see from this brief historical survey that thisconflict largely began in the late 13thcentury and early >@thcentury as the European powers and0ionist leaders and the founder of 0ionism, Theodore *er5l, were fied on establishing a "ewish

1 #sraeli (rime Minister, olda Meir, of the +abor (arty once asserted

coldly that, %#t was not as though there was (alestinian people in (alestine considering itself as a(alestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They didnot eist.&>>

The turning of the land and (alestinian houses into a hail of desolation and settlements that blightthe land closely resembles the process whereby human beings are turned into slaves and eiles. )ucha process can be acutely seen in the discovery of the !mericas by the )panish conuistador'hristopher 'olumbus. Apon his arrival, natives were forced to labor for him and his mafia while theland was turned into a vast wasteland.

The cautious reader will ask him or herself: *ow can it be that onlywith the coming of Europeanimperialism to the scene of the Middle East there suddenly arose %ethnic& animosity? The argumentwe are making here is not that there was always peace and harmony between !rab and "ew, but thatwith rise of modern capitalism and the democratic state in (alestine 7and the outlying area8 the stonewas cast for nationalism. To say that the Middle East wasa land of pristine beauty untouched by foul

hands of any sort is like saying that the alkans prior to the death of Tito was a lush verdant paradise.oth eually false notions take a part of reality and mistake it for the whole. !s we will brieflyattempt to show, the contacts made between !rab and "ew at various points in time were not static andchanged with the shifts of various empires, states and rulers.

ut what can generally be stated with a certain amount of assurance is that as the democratic stateof #srael arose in the early to mid >@thcentury, (alestine 7and the Middle East itself8 was transformedfrom a relatively primitive %unproductive& region to one that was placed within the orbit of capitalaccumulation. The ancient (alestinian communal order based on familial, tribal or clan bonds wassevered to make way for the democratic state which in turn paved the way for the rise of the private


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atomi5ed individual. This necessitated either the dispersal of the (alestinians or pushing their hidesinto unrewarding $obs. The political architects of #srael chose to found the economic and politicalstructure of their society on the inclusion of the "ews 7a specific kind of "ew was, however, favored Cthe !shkena5i "ew8 and epulsion of those deemed as gentiles 7in this case the (alestinians8. Thesesupposedly innate divisions were solidified to lunatic proportions and the result is nothing short oflogical: mutually hostile groups battling it out with one another.

This development cannot be euated with the Middle East that eisted before the late 13th

centuryand early >@thcentury.


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#f we turn our attention to the interactions and relations between !rab and "ew before the creationof the modern Middle East we can ascertain that these relations were built upon assimilation of certainvalue systems 7creative symbiosis between the two groups8, mutual influence derived from *ellenic

culture, conversions from "udaism to #slam or vice versa, miing with one another seually 7whichhad the effect of producing anything but a so-called %pure race&8 and /oman as well as (ersian

penetration into these respective %ethnicities.& H@-1H148.>

The communal organi5ations of "ews and 'hristians also played a role in maintaining something ofa balance between the doctrines of the Muslim world, and 'hristians as well as "ews who didnt

adhere to Muslim religious practices. The synagogue and the church in many instances made sure thatthe protective contracts agreed upon by Muslim and non-Muslim were adhered to. !dditionally, "ewsand 'hristians in positions of authority put effort into supervising the maintenance of general stability

between their respective group and the Muslim order.ut if we allow ourselves to go back further in the historical record, it can be highlighted that

during 7and after8 the formation of the #slamic order 7F@s !.6.8 many Muslims regarded 'hristiansand "ews as %(eoples of the ook.& Mohammed, in his effort to knit together a %'ity of od,& made itknown that the #nfidels were the pagans C not those 'hristians or "ews who worshipped the Bne od.The idea of %(eoples of the ook& has steadily withered away through the years. !fter over a centuryof coloni5ation of the Middle East by followers of 'hristianity and "udaism, it is no a real surprise thatmany !rabs have come to see devotees of either of these two religions as odless infidels. The0ionist !had *aam C who retained a modicum of concern for the (alestinians until the end of his lifein 13>4 C remarked in a 1231 essay, %The Truth 9rom (alestine& that:

Bne thing that we certainly should have learned from our past and present history;is not to createanger among the local population against us;We have to treat the local population with love and respect,

$ustly and rightly. !nd what do our brethren in the +and of #srael do? Eactly the oppositeI; They behavetoward the !rabs with hostility and cruelty, infringe upon their boundaries, hit them shamefully withoutreason, and even brag about it. Bur brethren are right when they say that the !rab honors only those whoshow valor and fortitude= but this is the case only when he feels that the other side has $ustice on his side. #tis very different when the !rab thinks that his opponents actions are iniuitous and unlawful= in that casehe may keep his anger to himself for a long time, but it will dwell in his heart and in the long run he will

prove himself to be vengeful and full of retribution.>D


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! religious-humanist like !had *aam is concerned in this essay about the implications of treatingthe (alestinians as nonentities. #ndeed, !had *aam implicated the 0ionist colonists in an enterprisethat, to him, was wholly out of line with the teachings of the prophets.

!s #lan *alevi reveals in his * History of the ews/ *ncient and "odern the influence of theprophets runs through the #slamic faith as well:

etween the #slamic state and "udaism, there was a sort of echange, which went back to the idea heldby #slam of its own relationship to the law of Moses and the impact of this idea on the behavior of the "ewsthemselves. #t was a history in which the #sraelites, an old !rab tribe, had the privilege of the first/evelation, laying the remote foundations of the 'ity of od. #t was the very manner in which the oldaristocracies survived that made the abandonment of "udaism unthinkable, $ust as it was the survival ofclanic modes of organi5ation that made it useless;this wonderment 7of amalgamation, editors note8 didnot last long, and does not fully do $ustice to the ambiguous and comple relationship that came between"udaism and !rab #slam and between Muslims and "ews. When insecurity came, it would become possible,as under al-*akim in the 11 thcentury, to flee to Egypt and go and take refuge with asil ## in y5antium.Get it was under the decadent protection of the Bttomans that the "ews of the !rab world eperienced thelongest period of peace and security, if not of prosperity, in their history. >H

The historical record is also telling in the realm of *ellenic influence on the elaboration of both

"udaism and #slam. 9ar from being %unsullied& by the paganism inherent in those cultures of antiuitythat worshipped nature 7usually represented in nature gods who were assigned different functions8rather than the one od, *ellenism can be seen in the arts, philosophy and sciences that have come todefine "udaism, 'hristianity and #slam. (latos dream of the philosopher kings rule over society wasmade manifest by the rule of a theocratic priestly caste. The /omans became masters of this game.

#t could be easily said that certain ethical notions that permeate the whole "udaic faith weredeveloped as a response to a changing world. With the eile and years of persecution under theabylonians and !ssyrians, the religion tended to be transformed depending upon where "ewishrefugees set foot. F Eile,according to Jautsky, forced many "ews to become involved in trade.

The abylonians eerted a transparent hand in how "udaism emerged. Jautsky alleges:

The priesthood of "udea borrowed the pretensions of the abylonian hierarchy, and also adopted manyof their religious notions. ! whole series of legends in the ible are of abylonian origin: for eample, thecreation of the world, (aradise, the 9all, the Tower of abel, the 6eluge. >4

)ocieties cant be reduced to merely inert forces that are not sub$ect to the whims of shiftingempires, kingdoms, nation-states and capital epansion and contraction. *egels idea of history as

unfolding and evolving in dialectical interaction C in which development, growth, synthesis and decayare seen as interconnected webs C is therefore useful for our purposes.

The worship of the Pirgin Mary among 'hristians is said to stem from Egyptian sources. To uoteJautsky again:

Bsiris was represented on earth by the bull !pis. 2


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"ust as the Egyptian pharaohs hover over 'hristian mythology, reek myths like those of MountBlympus are drenched with Egyptian imagery and allegory.

*egel, in addressing the reek world in his5hilosophy of History, spells out that in ancient reeceit was impossible to tell who precisely the %original& reeks were. The multitude of tribes that cameto the land surrounded by the Mediterranean )ea became virtually indistinguishable from one another.

Bf course, each tribe made different contributions to the elaboration of reek society. ut once thesevarious nomadic tribes settled down and transformed their nomadic life into a sedentary one, they

began to develop commerce and trade. #n order to continue to survive as city-states it was necessaryto erect borders and fortresses to protect surplus and property from %barbarian& invaders. !nd this, byimplication, gave way to national identity.

To develop this argument further, there was, in the early 13 thcentury, a turn to the Brient among afair amount of European "ews. The effects of this desire to get in touch with the East are revealing.We can see a pronounced MoorishL"ewish synthesis in the construction of "ewish synagogues.#ndeed, the first "ewish prime minister in ritain, en$amin 6israeli, was uite fond of integrating themystery of the Brient into his novel, )ancred.

#n summary, it would reuire a fuller study to do $ustice to the syncretism that permeated theancient


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very step we ta!e on earth

brings us to a new worldvery foot supported

on a floating bridge

*nd I !now that there is no

straight road in this world -

only a giant labyrinth of intersecting crossroads

*nd steadily our feet

!eep wal!ing 6 creating

- li!e enormous fans -

these roads in embryo

-Federico Garcia /orca, Floating !ridges

#n this essay we tried not only to eamine the myths surrounding the conflict in the Middle Eastbut we also made an effort to elaborate on a specific historical method. Whatever one might think of*egels ueasy notion of the world spirit guiding human thought and activity toward historical unity,his5hilosophy of Historypresents an important guidepost for a lucid interpretation of the Middle East7both ancient and modern8 and the history of the world.

'ontrary to *egel, however, lived history is consciously created by human activity. The idea thatthe world spirit is responsible for human activity or inactivity can be used to $ustify anything, for

better or worse. )uch a road is not one we want to travel down. #n the worst of cases such a *egelianformulation has lead to a pronounced wait-and-see approach among revolutionaries who areconstantly waiting for the golden moment to do anything 7it is as if all of the ob$ective conditions needto be there before we can try to raise consciousness and discuss with others8. #n still a worse case

scenario *egel is induced during the course of struggles that are nakedly nationalist or reactionarybecause it is virtually believed that the world spirit will iron out the reactionary kinks in suchsituations 7in other words, the world spirit will cast off lingering illusions in nationalism and the like8.#n any case, the best element we have found in *egels 5hilosophy of History is his focus on theuniversal history of humankind.

#n our age there are number of historians and cultural critics who have replaced what is oftenreferred to as a Western centered historical framework for an Briental one, indigenous one orwhatever methodology falls outside the pale of the %West.& We have tried to avoid this false dualisticconundrum. Bn the contrary, we have posited that history is universalin that human beings fromdifferent societies were more often than not driven together by various circumstances which effectedtheir own respective culture, for better or worse. When looked at in such a way it makes more senseto discuss a cross-cultural process whereby world history was shaped by syncretism, not by a singularentity C as multiculturalists and relativists would like us to believe.>3 !s we already briefly made note

of, from around the 2thcentury to the 1thcentury cultural life in the Muslim world C which etendedfrom !ndalus to parts of the modern Middle East C flourished. This was in marked contrast to Europewhich, at that time, was not nearly at such a level of cultural development. This factor alone providesa powerful counterpoint to those who suggest that Western Europe has always been at the center of theuniverse. What cant be forgotten is that the Bttoman Empire 7which was a class society where thedominant religion was #slam8 ruled large amounts of territory for a few hundred years. !fter the 9irstWorld War the Bttoman Empire was neutrali5ed and Western Europe started to gain an upper hand inMiddle Eastern politics.


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Which brings us to how the past and present coalesce into a vast series of events that seem outsideof our reach. We are accustomed to believing that humans have always been sub$ect to the whims ofdespots and masters because such men write history. Their personal testimonies of battles, and thedecorative medals, peoples as well as lands theyve %won,& are testaments to a historical-social timewhich is colored by their eploits.

ut if we step back for a moment we can also see that the victors history is not fied into the

genetic make up of humans. *umans are still capable of rebelling against their situation, and with thatrebellion establishing a free society. There have been 7and continue to be8 ruptures, so to speak,which broke 7and break8 through the supposed rockhard stability of state and class rule. Tentative asthe revolutions 7and near revolutions8 were which ended the 9irst World War, such upheavals posed athreat because history would have been snatched from the sinister clutches of the bourgeoisie andgrasped directly by humanity as a whole. 9rom out of nowhere, in a society which was said to haveattained a solidly stable standard of living, 9rance was breathtakingly sei5ed in May 13F2 by 1@million workers 7who, on this score, sei5ed their own history for a moment8. May F2 belied the myththat there is no discontent lying underneath consumer capitalism.

The idea that what is presented before on a daily basis is eternal and the final resting place for allhuman potential and possibility is part of what makes the current reality so much more pervasive andfro5en in time. /evolution, uite to the contrary, bubbles to the surface at points only to be crushedwhile a few years down the road humanity breathes once again in an effort to grasp history for itself.

The crossroads at which we have yet to cross are not inevitable pathways to a sane and rational world.We could as easily perish tomorrow in a nuclear holocaust but the important thing to remember is thathistory isnt predestined.

ecause humanity is capable of inflicting wanton cruelty on itself, and amassing mountains ofskulls on the landscape, does not imply that generous acts and deeds are noneistent. )uch generosityand reciprocity can be eperienced in close friendships in which the self and other merge into a unityand bond C however temporary those moments may be. ut if this relationship was etended to the

broader world in the course of transforming that very world, new ways of being and relating couldemerge. )uch an emergence and flowering of potential would affect a whole new sensibility. !sensibility whereby cruelty and self-interest would integrate with love and reciprocity would therebysee the creation of full, developing human beings.

)here can be no 7uestion of a new humanism until the day when history, rewritten after discussionby all peoples and limited to $ust one version, will agree to ma!e its sub0ect all of man!ind, as far asdocumentation permits, and to ta!e account completely ob0ectively of past deeds and gestures without

any special regard for the land where so and so lives and for the language he spea!s

-Andre !reton,Arcanum 17, 1"##

The Middle Eastern conflict illustrates the fundamental argument we have taken pains to put forth.What differs is that in the Middle East fear and hatred of the other has reached a level of enmity that,

by the looks of it, is impossible to redress. The window that opened up at the time of the #sraeliinvasion of +ebanon in 132> C whereby a number of #sraeli citi5ens were outraged at what the statedid in their alleged name C was tightly shut in a relatively short period of time.@ Get because thatwindow closed violently does not mean that it is incapable of opening again. #n #srael there have beena small, but growing, minority of refuseniks. Their courage in refusing to fight the states war against

the (alestinians should be commended and encouraged.!s the days go by the Middle East reads as a neverending apocalypse that scars the minds, bodies

and landscape of the whole world. Anlike those storybooks of parable and fantasy we read as childrenC where truly anything seems possible C the apocalypse that certain 'hristian fundamentalists,0ionists and #slamic fundamentalists portend necessitates that we lock ourselves in the same roles,conventions and inactivity we have grown comfortable in maintaining. When we talk to one another

based upon our common humanity C rather than in eclusive terms of what separates us from oneanother C and with our talk establish points of class solidarity, there might then be a basis forcollective action. The cycle of inhumanity that has descended upon the Middle East like a plague


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must be able to see and act beyond its whirlwind of death and destruction. ut is it possible?


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1The word )emitic has its origins in modern socio-biology. 9or instance, Ernest /enan C who was a scholar of some importC thought of %)emitic& peoples as inferior to #ndo-ermanic peoples. /acialist notions such as this tell us absolutely

nothingabout how societies emerged, how they became altered with time and how some societies were even abandoned. #ntimes of war and social crisis these ideas are helpful in that ruling institutions can liken eisting social strife to %inferior&peoples with an %inferior& genetic make-up.>Quoted in !rthur Joestlers )he )hirteenth )ribe7@-13>1 in the second largest city of reece, Thessaloniki. )tinaswas a dissident member of the reek 'ommunist (arty and a socialist militant throughout reece for the course of his life.

Anfortunately, his "emoirs have yet to be published in book form in English. 9or those with internet access a roughEnglish translation is available at: Rhttp:LLwww.geocities.comL'apitol*[email protected](eter estruction of uropean ews7Joestler, )he )hirteenth )ribe, p. 1FD.1#bid., p. 1F2.1D#bid., p. [email protected] in 1'homsky,'ateful )riangle, p. 3F.>>Quoted in #bid, p. H1.>!lbert *ourani,* History of the *rab 5eoples 7'ambridge: elknap (ress of *arvard Aniversity, 13318, pp. 112-113.*ouranis book is a sweeping account of the development of the !rabic world from the pre-#slamic period to the late 132@s.*is book is a valuable general history.>D )hlomo !vineri, )he "a!ing of "odern Dionism 7-1>D. !n engaging eamination of theemergence of modern 0ionism is in !bdelwahab M. Elmessiris )he +and of 5romise/ * 2riti7ue of 5olitical Dionism74#bid., p. 13@.>2#bid., p. 1D>.


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>3 Eually as worrying is the trend towards post-modernism, relativism and structuralism 7and its corollary, post-structuralism8 among radicals. The defining 7and unifying8 tableau that runs through the way most people 7radicalsincluded8 think about the world is not how various parts relate to the whole, but how the parts are transitory and notpart ofany clearly definable whole. 6iscontinuity has been invoked in contrast to continuity= %random happenings& in history havereplaced the historical process= and totality has been sub$ected to ill-reputed re$ection in favor of particularity and%difference.& #n the $argon populari5ed by post-modernism and relativism, power, in and of itself, is a barbed fence that noone should cross. The conclusion that can be drawn from such a notion C that is, to be sure, fu55ier than a cotton ball C isthat all social struggles are struggles for power and because of this it should be avoided like the plague. The problem is not

power as suchbut who has the social power. #f one $ettisons the necessity to retake our own power against the power of thebourgeoisie, one is merely accepting reality as it is.@

The perplexities of the Middle Eastern conflict - Communicating Vessels

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