A Non-Zionist Reflects on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

But the real problem lies not with the amount of attention given to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but with the kind and quality of attention. On the one hand, defenders of Israel, particularly in the political class in the United States, don't want to hear any serious criticism of Israel, while within Israel itself there is a ferment of criticism and self-criticism—a healthy reflection of its democratic character. Why shouldn't such criticism be tolerated outside of Israel? On the other hand, critics of Israel, mostly though not exclusively European, tend to obsess about Israel's violence toward the Palestinians, challenge its very existence, and pay little attention to the destructive policies and behavior of its adversaries. Criticism need not be mechanically balanced, as if every fault found on one side needs to be accompanied by a fault found on the other side. What is required is something close to the mediating spirit conducive to peace: an avoidance of an obsessive one-sidedness, which fails to hear and respond to the legitimate claims of the other side.