There are many people in the West who view the existence of Israel in & of itself as more important than anything that happens to the Palestinians, and will continue to view our fate as being of secondary importance. Many of them simply cannot be convinced otherwise.
Yes some of this comes from religious dogma, but also, a lot of it is simply the deeply/emotionally held political instinct of a generation that grew in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust. They'd rather if Israel exists than doesn't exist, regardless the cost.
As hinted, this is generational. When you see that the older Western voters are, the more supportive they are of Israel (and vice versa), this is what you're seeing. The long shadow of the Holocaust, which was, I remind, a Western crime.
Biden belongs to that generation and it is within this prism that his lifelong support for Israel should be understood. The maximum such people can be expected to support is "measures to alleviate Palestinian suffering" (literally palliatives)
The Palestine movement should plot a course looking towards the long future, the next 20 years, when a new generation of leaders will be taking charge. We should not be defined or restricted in our vision, for better or worse, by the current moment.
Yes, we the Palestinians are being made to pay the price for centuries of Western antisemitism culminating in the Holocaust. Our plight cannot be fully understood without this framing. Neither can the behavior and neuroses of the state of Israel. But this too shall pass.
So many responses to this thread are simply confirming the central premise that the fate of the Palestinians is a far afterthought to these people. And they literally expect us to agree with them that our fate should be a far afterthought and that Israel is more important.
A good Palestinian to them is one who agrees to go quietly into the night, who is at peace with his own extermination. Deep down they'd rather if we didn't exist, for our existence complicates their worldview. You will never get justice from them, the max you'll get is "sympathy"
Meanwhile I proceed from the truth that no human being is more valid than another, that nobody should be expected to deny the facts of their existence for someone else's comfort. Nobody should be made collateral damage, and we can't pick and choose who gets rights and who doesn't
My late night thoughts before I pray and go to bed
Some next morning thoughts: This knee-jerk pro-Israel bias isn't (for most) a strategic sense but a twisted kind of moral sense. Yes there's a generation whose *moral* sense is to atone antisemitism at the explicit expense of the Palestinians
I don't know what makes them so willing to throw Palestinians under the bus, it could be that they never knew any Palestinians growing up (or now), or could be that they aren't particularly clear moral thinkers. Could be just rank racism. But it is what it is.
Another next morning note: Time does not automatically "work" in anyone's favor unless they do what is necessary. Simply waiting is a loser's strategy, you don't win by default by just outlasting. You outlast by outlasting. You don't necessarily win.
Final next morning note: I am stating all this as fact. Yesterday I said we should not waste our emotional energy on what we cannot change. Here's something we can't change - these people exist and this is how they think. We don't have to like it, but we must accept this exists.
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