A question of identity
Allowdley I was a little bit excited last thursday. What would be the outcome of the voting at the UN General Assmbly I wondered. In preparation of that voting I was happy to learn that brave European countries such as Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Luxemburg, Norway and Denmark declared to support the Palastinian suit. In my mind those states have understood one thing: this ballott is not about taking sides with the Palestinians and to support their struggle against Israel. No, to my understanding of this situation, this is about granting the Palestenian people identity as identity means according to Erikson (1994), that you know who you are and how one fits into the society. People, not owning passports and living in a country that does officially not exist, can be given a perspective by such recognition. Saying “Yes” to the observer status of Palestine does something really important to those people: the official and international acceptance that they exist! The voting is an important step towards peace in that region, because a nation that enjoys recognition and respect, is able to build up self-esteem and can look its negotiation partners directly into the eyes because they are “somebody”! The observer status of the Palestinians was overdue and drives the people away from illegality. It must be and should be a way for the Palestinians to build up self-respect and a perspective for the future. For having a future one will not destroy this perspective through attacks of any kind. Israel should not forget that a self-conscious nationa will not only fight against terror from the outside but also from the inside as can be witnessed right now in Egypt. If both sides are really interested in having peace and a fair solution for everybody last thursday should have been a day of joy, equally to the Palestinians as well as for Israelis.
Almost 40 years ago the most famous leader of the Palestinian people Yassir Arafat, am held its speech on 13.11.1974 at the UNO . Imagine this, nearly 40 years later and the so called “Palestinian question” could not have been answered so far. Can one really blame the Palestinians for trying and trying again to get the recognition of the international community? It made me happy to see that also on the Israeli side there are on-again and more often voices that do not portrait the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one-sided and unforgiving as many Israeli and Palestinian politicans do. Instead they admit that the world at large can – if it wants to – form its own opinion about the conflict. I refer to names such as Shlomo Sand (“The invention of Israel. Legend and truth”) and Peter Kosminsky’s film “promised land” and Social Media Tools.
Further readings:
- Deutsche Welle: 13.11.1974: Arafat at the UNO
- Spiegel Online: Arafat at the UNO
- Lexikon: Definition Identity
- Hintergrund.de: Happy Birthday, Palestine
- heute.de: Palestine being recognized as UN-observer state
- drradio.de: Support of palestinian national authority “meaningfull and right”
- Qantara.de: Israel’s Social Media and the Gaza Crisis: Truth comes through
