altered states — Israel / Palestine

a conversation about hatred, anger, & unprocessed fear — and Ayahuasca

Sep 22, 2024

this post is in response to recent feedback
from a number of open to change subscribers
who’ve requested that i share a few thoughts
about the perpetually intractable conflict in Israel/Palestine.

—
a version of this post was published (by me) in June, 2021.

my intention

to create an open space where we can breathe.
to create a supportive space where we can process our fears.
to create a non-judging space where we can grapple with difficult conversations…
- without shouting and/or losing our temper.
- without relying upon fictional tales of parting seas & desert prophets.
- without hiding behind invisible friends (in the sky) who demand to be praised & feared.

underneath the hatred & anger in our world is unprocessed fear.
Tara Brach, (1953 – ), American psychologist, author, meditation teacher…

disclosure

i understand that the following topic — the Israeli–Palestinian conflict — has the potential to be emotionally challenging for some of my readers.
i also understand that as an artist… my job is to reflect what i see… and to challenge my readers to consider another point of view.
i am not an expert on Zionism, Israel, or Jewish-Arab relations.
i am not an Israeli citizen… but i do have close friends & family… who were born there, who were raised there, & who served (& still serve) in the IDF.
as a child, i spent time on the beach (in Tel-Aviv) playing smashball & devouring shawarma.
in my early-twenties, i travelled the region quite broadly… spending months (almost a year) learning the land, its people, & their history.
- i watched the sunrise over Jordan with Josephus & a band of Romans.
- i hiked the hills of the Judaean Desert in search of goats & old scrolls.
- i learned Hebrew from an Arab-Israeli in an underground wine cellar.
- i sailed the Nile, in a felucca, with captain Mamadou.
- i played backgammon in a Bedouin tent.
- i picked olives with Dubi in a field of succulents & secularity.
- i smoked hookah & sipped Arabic tea (in a garden) in East Jerusalem.
- i read the Quran & the Hadith @ Al-Aqsa.
- i studied Talmud, Torah & Gemora @ the Kotel with rabbi Breslow.
- i whirled in circles with Hasidim in Mea Shearim.
- i asked what Jesus would do @ the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
- i compared notes with Matthew, Mark, & John in the Galilee.
- i played tennis & drank bira with Shlomi in Ramat HaSharon.
- i danced with an Arabian princess… & together we planted seeds of peace.
- i watched Cosmos (in Hebrew) @ the Weizmann Institute of Science.
i grew up (as a child) watching Cosmos (on PBS),
and i’m grateful for its enduring protection against viruses of the mind.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Carl Sagan, (1934 – 1996), American astronomer, philosopher, poet…

**sunrise over Jordan with Josephus** *— July ‘98*

regional history

about 100 million years ago…
a dinosaur lost a tooth (in the Sahara) in Taouz, Morocco.
- that tooth is by my side, as i write.
about 2 million years ago…
Homo erectus made a hand axe in Algeria.
- that axe is on my desk, next to my iPhone.
about 180,000 years ago…
Homo sapiens made our way (out of Africa) to the Arabian peninsula.
- our fossilized teeth were uncovered in a cave (in Israel) in 2002.

about 2,000 - 4,000 years ago…
a band of primitive, tent-dwelling humans…
had the hubris to suggest they had the answers to the questions of the Universe.
- they invented gods & built temples on land that their gods had promised them. ✡️ ✝️ ☪️

on February 14, 1896…
as anti-semitism was on the rise in Europe…
an Austro-Hungarian, Jewish journalist…
wrote a pamphlet that would birth the political ideology of Zionism.
- the goal was to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
on November 2, 1917…
the Balfour Declaration was issued (by the British),
after defeating the Ottoman Turks in World War I…
& taking-control over the land of Palestine.
- they promised…
  - a home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
  - protection of the rights (both civil & religious) of existing, non-Jewish communities.
on May 14, 1948…
in the aftermath of World War II & the Holocaust…
the British released their claim on Palestine…
clearing the way for the creation of a Jewish state.
- the state of Israel declared itself Independent…
  & asserted its right to security & self determination.
on May 15, 1948…
the non-Jewish communities in Palestine…
were expelled from their homes, dispossessed of their land,
& forced-to-flee to the West Bank & Gaza.
- the Nakba… the catastrophe…
  is remembered as the day the Palestinians became second-class citizens.

observations

on May 10, 2021…
after protests over evictions (of Palestinians) in Sheikh Jarrah,
rockets (by the hundreds) were fired from Gaza into Israel.
- Hamas has been explicit in its intent…
  - to kill as many Jews as possible.
  - to drive the Jews ‘from the river to the sea’.
- Israel has also been explicit in its intent…
  - to protect Israeli citizens, at all cost.
  - to weaken Hamas’s infrastructure through airstrikes.
  - to minimize unintended, human casualties.
on June 13, 2021…
a fractious, eight-party coalition…
of ideologically opposed, Knesset members…
unseated former corrupt/trumpian, Prime Minister, Netanyahu.
- a new, freer-thinking, unity government was formed,
  and it was faced with the unenviable task…
  of bringing peace (& security) to the most war-torn region on the planet.

Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice… and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs.
Leo Tolstoy, (1828 – 1910), Russian novelist…

on December 29, 2022…
Bibi Netanyahu returned to power…
by kowtowing to the far-right, ultra-Orthodox…
thus forming the most religious government in the history of the State.
- they increased the expansion of settlements in the occupied, West Bank.
- they attempted to undermine the judiciary…
  - prompting massive social outcry & protests.
- they took their eyes off their border to the south.
on October 7, 2023…
Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza…
catching Bibi & Co. by surprise…
with a brutal, terroristic attack (& capture) in the Negev.
- it was the largest massacre of Jews since WWII…
  - setting in motion a new, unsettling wave of anti-semitism.
on September 18, 2024…
after a year (almost) of warring…
pagers & walkie-talkies across Lebanon…
exploded…
- bringing the fight directly to the heart of Hezbollah
  and Iran.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein, (1879 – 1955), German-born physicist…

questions

is it sustainable for a democratic state… to occupy millions of people?
how important are the values of pluralism & tolerance in a democracy?
is Israel a democracy or an ethnocracy?
what are the parameters (going forward) of a lasting, peaceful solution?
is violence sometimes the answer? —> see what Sam says.
will Israelis (in the north) feel safe to return to their homes?
will Palestinians have a right to security & self determination?
will settlers continue to expand into occupied territories?
has the vision of peace turned out to be a desert mirage?

Because of the divine promises made about this territory, there will never be peace; there will never be compromise. There will instead be misery, shame, & tyranny… and people will kill each others’ children for ancient books, & caves, & relics.
Christopher Hitchens, (1949 – 2011), English-American writer, social critic…

hypothesis

until they learn to step away from old scriptures…
until they learn to see humanity in one another…
the riddle of peace (in the middle) will remain unsolved.

prediction

both sides will cleave firmly to their scriptures…
both sides will double down on fear…
& they’ll battle it out (over scrolls, in the desert) in perpetuity.