The much-abused conflict

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has accompanied us for 74 years. It’s notorious in its complexity and by the number of failed attempts to solve it.

It’s also widely publicised, and more often than not, in black and white. Unlike normal conflict in which there are two or sometimes more sides, this conflict, as presented by the media, seems to have apparently only one side while the other is described solely as a victim.

This description is never challenged as it seems to be politically incorrect to question the weaker side.

Dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to be the most favoured past-time of many so-called human-rights organisations. For example, the United Nations Human Rights Council. This “esteemed” organisation includes 47 states, many of whom have at best a purely coincidental connection to human rights.

Nevertheless, between 2006 and 2017, at least half of the council resolutions were dedicated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and were staunchly anti-Israeli.

Amnesty International published a new report on Israel on 1 February 2022. In this document, the organisation claims that the mere fact that Israel is a Jewish state is already a war crime and expression of racism.

On the other hand, in 2015, when Amnesty International was asked to conduct a campaign against antisemitism in Britain, it categorically refused. From a human-rights organisation, Amnesty has become a propaganda tool. The same goes for a number of other organisations.

The other interesting characteristic of this conflict are the numerous committees of investigation or fact-finding missions. The common trait of all these is that the results of the investigations or the facts that these missions are allegedly trying to find are already known to the members of the committees or the missions well in advance.

The mandate of these committees is limited only to one side and therefore, by definition, they cannot be objective. The personalities involved are also known for their solid and staunch opinions and therefore, there’s no chance of an unbiased approach.

These missions exploit the fact that Israel is a free and democratic country. So, they can arrive whenever they want to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories without any hindrance. There, they can meet people who share the same views and then return to their countries, spreading the same demagogic propaganda. Only because of the freedom they had to visit can they use their mission to the areas to reinforce their dogma.

Unfortunately, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict channels the frustrations of potential liberation fighters who seek an appropriate good-versus-bad battle into which to get immersed.

On the other hand, there are also those who see redemption for the sins of the colonialism by sacrificing the Jewish State on the altar of indigenous empowerment.

Both groups present a simplistic, distorted perception of a victim to generate an emotional identification with the weak.

This presentation has no space for any factual analysis, but rather strives to conceal facts so as to prevent a creation of any possible alternative narrative. This means they continue to prevent any dissonance and a new dogma by concealing fact.

The question, of course, is how do these reports, missions, and committees help the cause of peace? How much time, energy, and money was spent to produce these documents, and where do they take us? The clear answer is nowhere. Unfortunately, they serve only to preach to hatred of Israel.

The main victim of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the truth. It becomes a convertible currency that’s easily traded and transformed to fit the political expediencies of those who seek to gain out of the suffering of the people on both sides.

These merchants trade with altruistic slogans and emotional appeals, but at the end of the day, they couldn’t care less about the people they supposedly represent.

The only way out of the conflict is by talking to each other, understanding the other side, and finding a compromise that will provide our people a better future.

• Eli Belotsercovsky is the Israeli ambassador to South Africa.