View From a Prairie Home

by Hege Hernfindahl, Columnist

Despite Israel/Palestine being called the Holy Land, there seems to be no end to the conflict there. It is easy for me, an elderly white woman sitting in an old, but comfortable house in the midst of the peaceful prairie in West-Central Minnesota, to criticize and offer advice to the world at large. Bombs do not rain on me and my family. My relatives are not kidnapped and held by a hostile force in the deserts of Gaza. Neither have I nor my family endured endless, forceful restrictions in a land where the borders are impenetrable and the future seems hopeless.

It is so easy to judge. The Israelites who, after the horrendous treatment during the Holocaust and other pogroms, fled to their homeland. But in doing so, displaced the current inhabitants and forced them to live under harsh and unforgiving conditions. For me, the solution seemed simple, just live together in peace, accept each others’ differences and let go of prejudices and hatred. But, of course, the reality is much more complicated. I am not going to explain to you the history of Israel/Palestine. It goes back to ancient times and is complex and ripe with strife. And I am not qualified to go there. We know that hatred begets hatred. And that revenge begets revenge upon revenge. For each action, there is a reaction and everybody loses.

Looking at the conflict, I also think that it is hard to know where the truth lies. Truth depends on your point of view, where you are in life and what sources of information you have. Sadly, truth is not objective. And if someone kidnaps an old Holocaust survivor and her family, it is not easy to stay calm. Likewise, it seems unfair to me to turn off sources of electricity, water and food to a population who cannot escape and who is just ordinary people trying to survive. Most Palestinians are not extremist. Most of them do not condone violence, neither do most Israelites. But if your family is murdered, it is easy and understandable to demand revenge. What is new in this conflict-laden corner of the world, is that now, civilians seem to be targeted. Women, children and old people.

It seems counterintuitive that people who live in poverty and hopelessness tend to have many children. But they do and therefore in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, families are big.  In the affluent state of Israel, on the other hand, most people have only one or two children. Therefore, they lack workers and let the Palestinians in to work. And now the quandary; are the Palestinians who come to Israel to work, all spies? And how can the modern state of Israel function if they close the border and thus the supply of cheap labor?

Most experts agree that an invasion of what is left of Palestine is eminent. And, what then? Will there be a genocide of all the Palestinians?

Having grown up in the shadow of the invasion of Norway by the Nazis, I have heard firsthand accounts of what can happen to civilians during an invasion. I am not comparing the Israelites to the Nazis! But in the fury and chaos of war, atrocities happen. And it makes my heart ache thinking about it.

And what can we do? In a war, we as a nation, can support only one side and in modern times, we have always chosen Israel. Which I understand and endorse. But as an individual, I wish for peace for both sides. I wish and pray that the people in the Middle East, where Jesus and Mohammed both did their ministries, could agree to put down their weapons and work on a solution that would be profitable and acceptable to both parties.  I know it is easy for me to say. But I believe that whereas hatred eats your soul and makes you miserable, love and forgiveness are the source of peace both between countries and in the souls of the human race. The main message of Jesus, after all, is one of love.