Visiting scholar from the University of Haifa, Yisrael Ne’eman, spoke to students this week, both on campus during a Modern Middle East Lecture and at the Masonic Temple.
Professor of Religious Studies Seth Ward opened up his office on Wednesday night for an intimate sit down with Ne’eman. The discussion focused on the political instability of the Middle East, Israel’s unique and turbulent situation and the involvement of the United States politically, economically and militarily.
Ne’eman said the failures in U.S. foreign policy faced in recent years has the Israeli and Palestanian divide is one that has garnered massive amounts of attention. This is due to the fact that progress made in the attempt to create a two-state solution to the issue is one that displays actual forward momentum.
“Look at the situation in the Middle East right now, it’s in total turmoil, and the U.S. has no power there,” Ne’eman said. “Even in the rest of the world the U.S. has not had one substantive development in foreign policy recently, so the Israel-Palestinian issue is very important for perception purposes.”
Even if peace talks between Palestinian and Israeli diplomats go well, the situation is extremely complex.
Accusations are often thrown at both sides for gross human rights violations, the Palestinians for the Hamas backed suicide bombers that often kill dozens of innocent children in crowded school courtyards or buses, and the Israelis for heavy handed military actions that cause far more destruction than many say is necessary.
However, what often makes the news is the Palestinian perspective, stories of Israeli abuses and subjugation. Often the focus of the public’s attention is the Jewish settlers who ignore geopolitical boundaries already agreed upon to set up farms and towns in Palestinian lands.
The lack of initiative to discuss these events from the Israeli point of view is bothersome, Ne’eman said.
“People moved out to what’s called the West Bank, because it’s the biblical land of Israel,” said Ne’eman. “These people are very devout, and committed to the Jewish people and bringing the Messiah. Which means bringing settlements and all the Jewish people to the land of Israel to live under religious law. But what they really want to do is bring world peace. But you never read about it in the news.”
What is speculated in the media’s sphere is often misrepresented or even false speculation, Ne’eman said. The idea that the younger generations of Israeli’s are more prone to compromise and finding a peaceful agreement isn’t true.
“About fifty percent of Israelis were for the two-state solution back in 1969, and now, it’s still about fifty percent,” said Ne’eman. “And there are still plenty of far right leaning [Israeli’s] who only support all of the recent discussions because people don’t actually know what’s being said in them,” Ne’eman said. “If everyone knew how much of a compromise was being made, no one would be happy and support for peace talks would go down.”
The U.S. involvement in the conciliatory peace talks is an example of the most proactive the country has been in its foreign policy in the Middle East recently. The reticence to become involved in the Syrian Civil War, taken in tandem with the slow but steady withdrawals of troop from both Afghanistan and Iraq paint a picture of a more and more detached United States.
“I feel like this generation specifically is one of an apologist America, where you feel as though you should stay out of world affairs because of all the U.S.’s mistakes in the past few decades,” Ne’eman said. “But I think everyone focuses too much on the bad and ignores all of the good that the U.S. has done. The world would not look the way it does now without the help of the U.S. and I think that’s very important to understand.”
Ne’eman teaches a course that students involved in the UW Israel Study Abroad summer program will be enrolled in. The course is called Israel: A Mosaic of Culture, Religion and History.
