December 10-27, 2015, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Nablus, and Bethlehem. Thoughts on Dignity.

(It’s now January 10, and this post has been hard to write. Long story short, I’ve been trying to figure out a reasonable and balanced way to articulate my view of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. Not easy. Anyway, as you’ll see, I try and approach this NOT from a social, historical, or political perspective, but rather, more from a relational and dignity oriented perspective. I’m also working on a laptop with a partially busted screen courtesy of Israeli Airport security. Anyway, I just decided to write whatever and post it…)

Featured image is of a cemetery on the Mount of Olives facing Jerusalem.

I had been planning on spending Christmas in Bethlehem after a conversation with a friend earlier this year, and fortunately for me, another friend, Marianne, got a job in Palestine- which meant that I had a free place to stay…!

Marianne and I spent 12/10 to 12/12 in Tel Aviv exploring- it’s a pretty fun town. Modern, well-developed, progressive, great beach and good bars. (Notably, a few very good cocktail bars.) It’s definitely a nice place to live.

From 12/12 to 12/24 we stayed at Marianne’s place in Ramallah, with day trips to Jerusalem and Nablus the next weekend.

Being in the “Holy Land” is still a pretty big deal in terms of religious/cultural stuff. I saw a lot of the stuff you’re supposed to see- Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, Via Dolorosa, and Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I also visited Bethlehem and the Church of Nativity during Christmas time.

While that stuff is interesting to see, at this point it just doesn’t really make much of an impression, and to me seems to just lack… relevance and meaning. Especially with the hordes of people wearing Santa hats taking selfies and other people trying to sell you stuff. More often then not, as I’ve said before, it feels like a massive hoax has been perpetrated… and also that whatever was sacred has been co-opted for some other agenda, or at the very least commodified.

One of the examples that I found particularly weird was the Milk Grotto in Bethlehem. There’s a picture of the plaque there. You can read it for yourself and come to your own conclusions. 

So for what it’s worth, trips to the sites of the Holy Land didn’t make much of an impression.

I think the thing that really made the greatest impression on me was the dignity and kindness of Palestinian people in the face of some pretty bad circumstances. Regardless of where you stand on the political or historical issues, the circumstances are not… “good.”

I met a Palestinian girl Marianne works with at the NGO. She grew up in a refugee camp in Nablus after her family was displaced. She went to refugee schools, and came out at the top of her class in high school. She was offered a place in the medical school, but turned it down to pursue engineering. She was admitted to study in a university in Germany, but was unable to enroll because of her nationality. She’s seen people who have been shot by security forces. She’s seen friends die. It’s a “normal” thing there- to have to make the decision of whether to run or hide from soldiers with guns; and if you run, whether to leave friends behind or not, and if you don’t run, maybe see some of them being arrested or shot, maybe killed. At least that’s how she describes it. As a child, her home was raided several times, and one of her brothers arrested, imprisoned, and from what I surmise tortured…

She’s also incredibly kind, generous, and welcoming. She invited us to a Christmas party, and also took us through Nablus, where she grew up. The Christmas party made an impression on me- celebrating Christmas with Christians and Muslims in Palestine was pretty special.

She’s educated, accomplished, progressive, independent, and also just really nice.  I share all this to try and help myself recollect and appreciate, and to help others understand the basis of the credibility she has to me.

Specifically, to me, she has a tremendous amount of credibility to speak on the nature of the conflict from an average Palestinian’s perspective. Her view, and her words, are that it is about “dignity.” It’s not about “land.” As far as she’s concerned, the land is gone. “Hallas…” as they say. (which, means, as far as I can tell… generally, “enough, finished, it’s over, no more, that’s it, whatever…etc.) The land isn’t the issue, in that the fight isn’t over getting the land back. The land is gone. and that’s, ok. That’s fine, that’s enough, it’s finished, it’s over. Whatever…

The issue now, is dignity. The struggle is about “dignity.” So what does that mean, and is that right or wrong?

Generally, the primary question I’m wrestling with is, “what kind of respect and consideration are Palestinians worthy of?” and the secondary question is generally, how does that relate to power and the obligations that are tied to institutions that hold power?

Some thoughts on dignity first. I’ll just make a list-

1. Individual dignity is intrinsic and immutable. Everyone has it, it cannot be changed. It’s absolute and complete. For me, the basis of dignity is the worth or the value of that person based on an objective and perfect reference point- which I hold to be “God.” That’s a whole different discussion. The important point here is it’s not something that can be forfeited or eroded…
2. Dignity functions only in the context of relationships. Without relational interaction, I think the notion dignity is kind of meaningless. This includes external relationships and internal relationship with yourself.
3. Dignity is a claim regarding the worthiness of a person for respect and consideration, and to some extent I would go as far as to say love. Dignity is to say, I am worthy of respect, I am worthy of consideration, I am worthy of acceptance, and I am worthy of love.
4. The important implications that follow from the idea that we all have dignity, I think, have to do with the obligations to, (or what are the right ways to treat,) a being that has dignity. I think the relevant questions would be:

• If I have dignity, how should others treat me. (Also, If I have dignity, how should I allow others to treat me.)
• If others have dignity, how should I treat them.
• If I have dignity, how should I treat myself.
• If others have dignity, how should they treat themselves.

5. The actions people take in life and in relationships can affirm or deny the dignity of others. The actions that we take in regard to ourselves can also affirm or deny the dignity of ourselves.

• So for example, to do something that is not consistent with my worthiness would be an undignified thing to do. It would not erode my innate dignity, but it would be something inconsistent with it.
• To do something to someone else that is not consistent with their dignity would be to do something inconsistent with their worthiness for respect, love, consideration, and acceptance.
• I think we can also do things to ourselves that are inconsistent with our own dignity. If we don’t believe we are worthy of love and acceptance, we’ll treat ourselves that way, and generally we’ll allow others to do that too…

• So the really hard, complicated, probably unanswerable questions that follow might include:

• What kind of respect and consideration are people with dignity due? What does that mean, and specifically how should they be treated if they have dignity?
• How can you tell when someone is being treated inconsistent to their innate dignity?

OK, so that’s as much as I think I believe about dignity at the moment.

About institutional power, relationships and dignity-

So the question for me is what happens when there’s inequity in power in relationships. (Which is pretty much every single relationship, but just in varying degrees.) Assuming, as established before, that all people have equal dignity, what are the implications when people with equal dignity are in relationships that are unequal in power. My sense is that it adds a certain weight and culpability to the individual who holds the power. As said by Uncle Ben in the Spider- Man comics, “with great power comes great responsibility.” When you have power, you have more options and greater ability to impact the lives of others. When you don’t have power… you have fewer or no options to impact the lives of others. If you have power, you’re responsible for whether your actions are consistent with the dignity of others in your sphere of influence.

So the next question is about the interaction between institutions that hold power and individuals who are within the sphere of influence of those institutions. The thing is, I guess the goodness of an institution, (and to some extent, the justification for the existence of that institution,) might be measured by whether it has policies and effects that are consistent with and affirm the dignity of those within its sphere of influence… equally. An institution would be bad to the extent that it does things that systematically offend and are inconsistent with the dignity of some people.

OK. So that’s… just… all there for me to get to what the hell it means when someone says the struggle of Palestinian people is for dignity. Given all the shit that I’ve said prior, what does the struggle for Palestinian dignity mean?

I think there’s a few parts to it. The first part is the belief that all people have equal dignity. If institutions that hold power treat people differently on the basis of racial, national, or ethnic identity or origin, then I think you have something that’s inherently discriminatory on that basis, and immediately suspect for being inconsistent with dignity. Generally, people should not be systematically treated differently based on these characteristics. There’s an infinitesimally remote, fantastical possibility that institutions could treat individuals differently on the basis of stuff like race/citizenship/ethnicity, and also equally affirm the dignity of all, but I’m pretty fucking skeptical.

The second part is the question of whether institutionalized, systematic policies lead to actions and effects that are inconsistent with the dignity of a certain group. I think some examples would be actions and effects that violate rights that fall within the categories of “human rights” or “civil rights.” So that might be stuff like the right to vote and choose your government, or the right to religious exercise. Or stuff like freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and a right to fair trials. Or even… the right to visit your family when you want to, and to be able to have a home that’s safe and secure, that you can leave and return to when you want to. Maybe to be able to have a job, and make living to support yourself and your family… 

I guess I’m not sure what else to say, but that I believe that the Palestinian claim to dignity is right, and that the claim that they are being treated differently based on their race/nationality is also right, and finally the claim that many of the actions (and subsequent effects) of the institutions in power (regionally and globally) are inconsistent with the dignity of Palestinian people is also right.

I guess what I’m trying to do here is parse my friends claim… and I think her claim and assessment of the situation is correct and justified.

It is about dignity, and there’s something going on that is a systematic and institutionalized offense to the dignity of Palestinian people.

I’m not sure where to go from here. I guess if you apply this framework to other conflicts, you’re going to find that there’s a lot institutionalized and systematic offenses to human dignity in a lot of places. (I’m for damn sure the US is not exempt from this…)

That being said- I believe much of the beauty and joy in life is found in what happens after the sadness and the injustice… those are the conditions where things like grace, compassion, and redemption can incarnate. I’m saying this partly to make myself feel better, but also because… I actually believe it too. Anyway…

*Thanks to Alaa for inspiration, and to Kristi for helping me refine some of these thoughts.*

A few other things worth recording so I don’t forget. Had a really good conversation with our tour guide in Jerusalem. Raised in Cleveland, born to Jewish and Christian parents. Laid back guy who happens to have multiple degrees in theology and divinity. At first Marianne and I thought he might be stoned, cause of his demeanor and manner of speaking- turns out he’s probably one of the most informed and culturally aware people there. He’s lived in Jerusalem for 11 years- married a girl from the UK he met there, and they live in Jerusalem with their kids. From the outside, I think the most prevalent narratives and views of Jerusalem are fraught with fear and the notion of a pervasive and significant risk for violence and strife. From the inside, from his perspective… it’s actually pretty safe. Safe enough to have a family. Safe enough to go up to the Dome of the Rock if you have time. It’s pretty profound how different the views of life and risk are from the outside and from the inside…