04-02-2024, 04:14 PM
Janit wrote:
A better model might be family therapy, where two related parties are fighting over their shared inheritance, burdened by a history of trauma and deep dysfunction, seemingly beyond reconciliation.
I have heard it said that the land belongs to neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians, but rather that they both belong to the land.
I think that hits at the emotional heart of it. Two peoples with histories with the land that is enough for them to feel a deep personal tie to the land. A lot of the heat is focused on quarrels over those histories and explicitly/implicitly those arguments are meant to undermine the other's historical claims on the land - which leads both to feel that their deep personal ties to the land are being invalidated.
Which is why I really like your "they both belong to the land" framing. It puts the focus on the land being what it is independent of their history and having feelings of ties to it. But, as you say, the feelings are "seemingly beyond reconciliation" and religious validation of those feelings make it so such a framing is highly unlikely to take hold with the people who have conflict over the land. But maybe such a framing can shape smaller discussions - like here.