Well Hawkmoon, much to my surprise I find myself in almost 100% agreement with you. I did't expect that... maybe there is hope for Israeli/Palestinian understanding after all<ggg>.
Why does the world tolerate such rhetoric from militant Palestinians, while raging at any specific action by an Israeli where they display obvious racist tendencies toward Palestinians??
No doubt there is a bit of a double standard at play, but try to analyse why. Many expect more from Israelis because they see them as of their own culture. After all they expect Americans and Westerners in general to hold up a higher moral standard - and if Israel is part of this culture, than that should apply to - to say "well, Israelis can't be expected to hold up to our standards" could well be seen by others as anti-semitic - so there's a twist for you. Is it good, or bad that many expect more from Israel in this context? Answer yourself.
But here is the second problem and this is at the root of this. Simple - an oppressed people, victims, in general are given more lattitude than the oppressors. Now, regardless of how you feel about it, that is exactly how most of the world sees it: Israelis as oppressors, Palestinians as victims. Nobody recognizes the settlements. Nobody. The occupation is not seen as a noble Israeli burden by anyone in the world. The internationally recognized borders are the pre-67 ones. There's your problem. Now, a victim is seen as justifiably enraged, and people tend to forgive excess there. But they'll come down like a ton of bricks on any excess by the victimizer. Which really is the explanation of the phenomenon you are seeing. |
