Mandela’s Truth and Reconciliation — A Good Lesson for the Rest of Us

Earlier this month, my friend, who happens to be Iranian (we shall call him “Hal”), posted an interesting story on his Twitter page. A good friend of his happens to be Jewish. They were talking politics (something to do with Israel-Palestine… whaddaya know) and Hal challenged his friend to put on the Palestinian lens and see things differently. His friend showed great courage and empathy; he challenged his own beliefs and world views, and, as a gesture of compassion, added the Palestinian flag next to the Israeli flag on the profile pic for one of his messaging accounts.

I wondered, situation reversed, if the same would have happened. As in, had an Israeli challenged a Palestinian to empathize and see things differently, would the Palestinian have added an Israeli flag next to the Palestinian one? Would he or she have the courage to do that? What would stop them from doing that in the first place?

I asked these questions as I commented on Hal’s post. It wasn’t an easy question to ask, but I did anyway. I never got any responses. I now realize, since my wife pointed it out, that people may have viewed that as an attempt (by me) to present the case for the Oppressor and the case for the Oppressed as equivalent ones.

They aren’t. Not even close.

In South Africa, the case for the white South African and the case for the black South African were, obviously, not equivalent either. But, what happened once the ANC took power? Mandela’s party and those represented by it (and the international community as a whole) wanted “justice”. The former apartheid government wanted “collective amnesty”. The result? The Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Mandela and his fellow reps felt that there was a great, immediate need for national unity and order. This need, they finally decided, should be addressed on the basis of “understanding and not vengeance” and “reparation and not retaliation”; a need for the generosity of spirit and “not for victimization”. Those who were involved in gross crimes against humanity (and focused on the period between the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 and 1994) had the opportunity to apply for amnesty for crimes committed during that period.

The wisdom there? Full acknowledgement by the former apartheid regime of their heinous crimes and racism, in exchange for order, unity and, essentially, love and forgiveness.

Acknowledge my grievances and admit to your vile crimes against humanity, and I will forgive you.

Keeping it simple.

Whether you believe in a one-state solution, two-state, some kind of confederacy, or a consociational form of government, Jewish Israeli and Palestinian grievances must be addressed. You cannot deny that two, polar-opposite national narratives exist –one Jewish Israeli, the other Palestinian.

There must be some kind of reconciliation. The Jews must stop underestimating the Palestinians’ great sense of loss and pain and alienation experienced since the Nakba. A very big portion of the land where indigenous Palestinians were living (Christian, Muslim, and Jewish), was stolen, entire villages demolished, and scores of people (to this day) murdered or forced to leave. Jewish Israelis should start to think about things like “Plan Dalet”, Dayr Yasin, Al-Lydd, Kafr Sabt, Al-Ramla, Ayn Ghazal, …

Palestinians, for their part, must stop underestimating the collective fear, resentment and sense of injustice felt by Jews for being persecuted and massacred in Europe (and elsewhere), and their resulting longing for a state of their own as a vehicle for achieving their cultural and security ambitions.

Palestinians must reflect on the civil war that broke out between 1936 and 1939, and the resulting pogroms against Jews in certain kibbutzim and small communities. Also, it goes without mention, Palestinians who choose to resist the colonial Israeli forces through violent means by endangering the lives of innocent Israelis (settlers or otherwise) must be condemned.

I believe that Jewish Israelis have the bigger burden, as in receiving absolution from the crushing burden of land theft and colonialism. But, once grievances are acknowledged good things will inevitably start to happen, and, one day, I may have the choice to live by the beach, the way it was always supposed to be.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” — Nelson Mandela