What is my duty to share information on international conflict?

I have been thinking about the Palestine/Israel issue and other conflicts a lot since a recent Facebook discussion with a friend about why I don’t focus on more pertinent human issues like the said-conflict, Syria, Iraq, etc., rather than violence against animals.  I think I responded to the criticism well, but I do continue to ask myself what is my responsibility to share information on FB about Palestine/Israel like my friend suggested? Why don’t I share more?

I think it comes down to a few reasons:

1) The Palestine/Israel is just one conflict among many, but it is highly politicized and publicized due to the geo-politics of the middle-east. There are many other human conflicts and tragedies that are also important and of interest to me that don’t get shared on FB, especially those in Africa – the militia in Congo, the starvation of millions of Somalians in the 2010s, the recent terrorism in Kenya, the killing of 30 miners by South African police in 2012, the violent attacks on foreigners in SA in 2008, etc. So why must I focus on Palestine/Israel and not all of the other human conflicts? 

2) Due to the highly politicized and emotional nature of the Palestine/Israel conflict, I feel that I am likely to offend people and receive criticism no matter what I post or say.  This in itself isn’t a bad thing, but I am really sensitive and since I don’t have an excellent understanding of the situation I’m not sure how well I could defend myself. 3) While I do have some opinions about the Palestine/Israel conflict and I tend to sympathize with the Palestinians, believing that their human rights are being severely impinged upon, I am still afraid that my information is biased, one-sided, incomplete and/or simplistic. In fact, this is very much likely the case since things are always more complex and grey than they seem. I really don’t want to spread simplifications and misinformations into the world, especially in any way that may increases hate towards any side.

3) Just because I sympathize towards one side or the other and have my opinions, it doesn’t mean that I have any really good ideas about how a peaceful solution could be reached.  So what would be the intention or point of sharing information with others? What do I hope for them to do?  However, I do see a need to share information/opinions in response to other people’s posts which may be bigoted or ill-informed and I have done that in past.  Sometimes I just delete these people.  Is that wrong, should I try to engage with them?  It’s so exhausting.

4) Finally, if I never communicated about atrocities to animals and only shared messages on FB about my holidays, purchases, careers, etc., nobody would every criticize me for not saying anything about Palestine or other human issues.  That speaks of a severe and deep-seated prejudice against animals. Why is it that speaking up about animals offends people so much? Is it because they are implicated?  This is the very reason why I feel so compelled to speak up for animals. That’s for another blog post though.

However, given all my misgivings about speaking about Palestine/Israel, this is my simplistic understanding and opinion.   England gave land in Palestine to Zionists in the early 20^th Century. It was not their land to give. It was essentially a form of colonization.  Palestinians, with the support of other Arab countries, fought colonization as most colonized people do and a series of wars erupted over the 20^th Century. Israel, backed by the west and the U.S.A. was the stronger of the two forces and increased its land area during these wars. Millions of Palestinians became refugees. 

There’s no doubt that the history of this region stinks, but the past doesn’t necessarily tell us what we should do about the future. Not everything about the Israeli state is bad - they have some very progressive laws and I’m sure I would like Israeli people if I met them. As a South African, I know what it’s like to be born into a society that’s based upon the oppression and violence of others and yet think that’s a normal state of affairs.  I also know this as a former meat-eater.  It’s very hard to see outside of what seems normal, especially when there is deliberate propaganda to justify the status quo and information flow is controlled.  (South Africa only got T.V. in the 70s!) Most people are not willfully bad, they just don’t know better. That being said, I do not mean to let people off the hook for murder and torture!

I don’t want to see Israel destroyed or Israeli people killed or evicted, but since Israel is the stronger of the two nations, it falls upon Israel to make peace. It needs to start valuing Palestinian lives equally to Jewish/Israeli lives.  It needs to begin to restore human dignity and human rights to Palestinian peoples. At the very least it must stop the expansion of Jewish settlers into Palestinian areas! This is absolutely essential! If they do not do this then how can anyone believe that they want peace?

I do also wonder what the responsibility of Europe and the U.S.A. is to help resolve this conflict. I would say it is large. We know that millions of Jews fled to Israel after the Holocaust and I don’t blame them for that. Surely Europe has a responsibility to invite Jews of European origin back into its embrace and promise them safety and security? When has Europe taken responsibility for its past actions, including colonization?  Africans must suffer from the devastating effects of colonization and still send their wealth overseas via European corporations, while Europeans live such a pleasant and safe life.  I know the children are not responsible for the sins of their parents, but surely neither are the African children? So why should they bear the greatest burden?