Speaker proposes dialogue in Holy Land struggle

Intermountain Catholic

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Physician and writer Alice Rothchild tells of her experiences in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip at the University of Utah Aug. 24. Photo by Barbara S. Lee

SALT LAKE CITY — Alice Rothchild was born in Boston, Mass., in 1948, "in the shadow of the Holocaust," she said during an Aug. 24 presentation at the University of Utah. A doctor and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Harvard School of Medicine, Rothchild serves on the steering committee for Jewish Voices for Peace, Boston. She has worked with medical delegations to Israel and the Occupied Territories with the Jewish Voices for Peace Health and Human Rights Project.

In her first book, "Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience," Rothchild tells her personal story and the stories of Jews and Palestinians working together for peace and just treatment for Israelis and Palestinians alike in the Occupied Territories of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

"Too often, the difficult problems facing Israel and its relationship to the Palestinian people are presented as more a question of misunderstanding and bad public relations than as substantive, critical analysis," Rothchild wrote in the last chapter of her book. "Marketing and image making have replaced an honest discussion involving the serious issues facing a vibrant but complicated Israeli society and its own security concerns. This is all painfully intertwined with documented Israeli human rights violations, the horror of Palestinian suicide bombings, Palestinian difficulties and aspirations, and the contribution of the U.S. to this tangled morass."

It is that elusive "honest discussion" Rothchild seeks as she goes about the country speaking on behalf of the suffering Israelis and Palestinians whose lives are caught up in and governed by powers over which they have no control.

"We have to recognize that Israel and Palestine are equally deserving of peace and security," she said at the University of Utah. "They are all human beings suffering the effects of trauma experienced by all. The Palestinians have had 58 years of victimization by Israelis who also claim they have been victimized. As we work for peace, we encourage both sides to look at the issues from different angles, to stop using "hot-button rhetoric," and to engage in civil conversation with respect for one another and concern for the human rights of everyone."

"The Palestinians see the Israeli destruction of their homes and olive groves, but no one calls it terrorism. Historically, the lands holy to Jews, Muslims, and Christians have always had armed factions and terrorism. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and Israel refuses to recognize Palestine’s right to exist. Since 1967, 467,000 Israelis have moved into the Occupied Territories, and no one calls it terrorism.

"Today we are involved in the politics of the last atrocity, with Israelis claiming victimization due to the Holocaust. What are we to say, those of us who realize that our own Jewish sense of victimization has caused us to victimize others? A person can be both a victor and a victim at the same time."

Growing up in the 1960s gave Rothchild a growing sense of discomfort with who she had become as an adult, she said, "especially after the 1967 War." Quoting the Jewish Scholar Hillel, who lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod and Augustus, she said, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary."

What is needed to achieve peace in Israel and the Occupied Territories, Rothchild said, "is dialogue, more political activism based on aspirations for peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

"If we are going to see the end of oppression, an end to the U.S./Israel policy is crucial," she said, repeating words that got her blacklisted in her own Boston community.

Participating in projects that included working side by side with Israeli and Palestinian health and human rights activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) gave her a unique and meaningful glimpse into "a slice of life we see only as distant and unrelated to our day to day lives. But it gave me enormous inspiration and the opportunity to bring the stories home. The voices in this book are the voices of people who are not usually heard," Rothchild said.

"The Holocaust was a horrendous genocide, but it is not justification for another Holocaust, nationalism that leads to the creation of martyrs and heroes, and the ghetto intimidation that is going on in the West Bank and Gaza by way of the security wall.

"We must move from ‘how I live’ to ‘do I live?’" she said. "We must ask ourselves if we are truly capable of committing abuses. Does being a victim allow us to do evil things to others? The legacy of the Holocaust is a powerful force, but Jewish suffering does not justify Jewish cruelty. We are all suffering.

"Listening to and talking with ‘the other’ is the first step," said Rothchild. "Only that will bring and end to checkpoints and the separation wall. Dialogue based on mutual respect and dignity will make the difference between safety and oppression."

The West Bank is a piece of land the size of Delaware that hat 500 checkpoints," Rothchild said. "Checkpoints and walls hinder movement and they are a source of humiliation. I saw the humiliation myself while trying to pass from one side of the West Bank to another. Unfortunately, this is the only time some Israelis and Palestinians interact. Between the checkpoints are bypass roads only Israelis are allowed to use."

The Gaza Strip, she said, is a five-mile by 26-mile area where 80 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

Rothchild said pregnant Palestinian women have gone into labor at checkpoints, have not been allowed to pass, and have lost their babies and even bled to death at the checkpoints.

"Patients can’t get to clinics and hospitals, and there is no preventive care," she said. "Palestinians who are ill are not allowed to leave their villages to get health care. The separation wall and the checkpoints are institutionalized obstruction of movement, a humiliation and an outrage."

Sixty percent of Palestinians are under the age of 18, Rothchild said. "They live in a state of de-development. There has been no build-up of work, and their factories have closed because so many have left the area. Gaza has been described as a huge prison where people can’t get in and they can’t get out. But unlike a prison, their guards take no responsibility for the prisoners. The children in the Gaza Strip throw stones at Israeli soldiers and are shot for it. They throw stones because they are enraged, defiant, and angry. Even as children they know their lives have been devalued."

Despite the area’s many problems, Rothchild is hopeful peace can be achieved.

"Peace equals dignity to Palestinians, and peace equals security to Israelis," she said. "What protects Palestinians are dignified Panestinians and the knowledge that 75 percent of Palestinians don’t support Hamas.

"To heal, we all must face our wounds and our pain; the wounds and pain we have suffered and the wounds and pain we have caused. We have to re-define ourselves; understand that occupation is corrupting and atrocity-producing. We have to say ‘never again’ for the sake of each other, and we have to mean it."