Competing Narratives: Philosophical Reflections on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

In: Holy land studies: a multidisciplinary journal, Volume 2, Issue 1, p. 73-84

Abstract

Assessing competing narratives is central to our understanding of the current crisis in the Holy Land. The histories of the region give us invaluable perspectives, which, in turn, take the form of stories. The stories attending nation-building, such as 'socialist pioneers' 'making the desert bloom', effectively have shaped the world's perception of the fledgling State of Israel, obscuring even the faces of the indigenous people of Palestine (not to mention their 1948 Nakba catastrophe). The same mindset, tragically, continues to prevail among American media: lines of questioning by the 'anchor persons' on the evening news simply presume that Israel is 'us' and Palestine 'them', no matter how 'fair' the presenters try to be. This article is a philosophical attempt to reflect on the evolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, giving both the historical background and the political context within which the current tragedy in Palestine-Israel is unfolding.