EDITOR’S NOTE: First of a three part series.
The question of Israel’s troubled relationship with the Palestinians is one I’ve grappled with on and off since I was a child. During my current trip in Israel in which I’ve taken shelter from rocket fire in basements, stairwells and inside public sculptures, it’s been a lot more on than off.
Over the years, I’ve read countless columns and articles, numerous books, a graphic novel, letters to the editor, and, most maddeningly, hundreds of reader comments on the Internet. I have discussed the matter with friends and family living in Israel; I have watched it debated on TV and on YouTube.
I know a lot more than some and a lot less than others about the issue. But this much I can tell you for certain: Few topics demonstrate so well the postmodern notion of the impossibility of arriving at certainty.
Professors and journalists, government officials and NGO spokespeople, bloggers and tweeters, can all cite convincing statistics and documentary evidence, offer compelling anecdotes, and muster mind-altering rhetoric to back up their arguments, but none of them – myself included – can transcend their pre-existing political, social and psychological biases.