Conflicting Narratives
The day before this photo was taken our group arrived in Israel by way of the Tel Aviv international airport. The first night that our group was in Israel we went to one of the walls that surrounds the city of Jerusalem, king David’s tomb, and the location that the last supper took place. I remember our tour guide Amir saying that these sites could very well be the place that the last supper happened or where king David was buried, but they also could be way off. He expressed uncertainty about the historical sites in a way that I had never heard a tour guide do before. He mentioned that the collective narrative of the Jewish people claimed that this was the place it is true to them weather it is true in reality or not. When I heard this, I began to think about how many generations of people that have grown up in Israel believing that this spot was where these historical things took place, when they could be way off. We can be sure because we can’t reference the text of anyone to know exactly where It is. No one was around taking note of exactly where events happened. Before we left this place to see the western wall, I remember Amir saying that “facts don’t matter, it is belief that matters. Jews believe that these events happen here, so it is true”. This statement stuck with me because It emphasizes the importance of belif. I can only imagine what it would be like to be born and raised in a place where I can read something in my holy text and then get up to go see it the same day. This garners a high level of connection to the scripture and to the way of life that has been going on in the holy city for centuries. Having ones identity tied up in something that can be proved true or false involves having faith that what they belief is fully true. This type of belief is great in the sense that it garners trust between those who share it, but it is also dangerous. It is dangerous insofar as it can lead to a conflict between two people that hold unprovable notions as a part of there identity. For is you refuse the idea the person that holds that idea to be true feels as though you are refusing them and everyone else that holds that belief to be true.
When a heard that we would be hearing from a negotiator that is working to bring make peace between the Israeli’s and Palestinians I thought that he would be going in to the technicalities of the negotiation and describing what each side has to offer the other. This was discussed in part, but the main topic that he covered was the difference in the narratives that is held between the two sides. He mentioned that there is a sort of “oppression olympics” that is going on between the two sides. He went on to say that this means that both sides of the conflict have adopted a narrative of victimhood and that neither side is willing to admit the harm that they had both to the other because neither side wants to be seen as the oppressor. He mentioned that both sides are victims to some extent and that both sides are aggressors to some extent. The importance of narrative truly took center stage on the trip when Tal said that a negotiator on the Palestinian side brought an idea that he thought was good to the negotiation table and when the Israeli negotiator agreed that the idea was good the Palestinian negated the idea as being a good one. This story highlighted the importance of narrative. The Palestinians don’t see themselves as a people that can come to an agreement with an Israeli simply because they are Israeli. This was eye opening to me because there have been many teams of smart and savvy people form all over the world that have tried to devise a solution to the conflict that have been unsuccessful, and I was wonder how this could be. How have the most educated and talented negotiators in the world failed to bring about peace here? I had to come to the conclusion that the conflict supersedes logic and reason. To either side it is a moral conflict of good versus evil and both sides are convinced they are nothing but good.
