If you don’t immediately notice two things that are seriously wrong with this cartoon, which appeared in the Manawatu Standard on August 25, 2010, you have almost certainly accepted the “Zionist narrative” and still have a lot to learn about the Israel-Palestine conflict. The first, most obvious thing that is wrong with the cartoon is its use of two figures of the same size to represent Palestine and Israel — as though this were a conflict between equals, and as though both sides were equally to blame for the current situation. In reality, the Israeli figure represents an expansionist colonial-settler regime that possesses the third- or fourth-strongest military force in the world (complete with 200 or so nuclear warheads). In contrast, the Palestinian figures represents an assortment of dispossessed, virtually defenceless native people, both Muslim and Christian, who have been confined to what is, in effect, a series of open-air prisons — if they haven’t been driven into exile in what can only be described as ethnic cleansing.
The “peace talks” aren’t really peace talks, but talks on whether these prisons for the Palestinians, which are completely encircled by Israeli walls, fences, roadblocks and state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, can somehow be strung together, sometimes by means of tunnels, to constitute a “state” that the Palestinians will roll over and accept. If you understand that, you will see that the comment of the little figure at the bottom of the cartoon, “Neither wants to get screwed”, is mendacious. The Palestinians have been “screwed” at every turn since 1947, if not earlier. In fact, they are being screwed today, as I write these words. In contrast, the Israelis have been able to exploit every development, over the years, to their own advantage — to seize a position, to consolidate it by means of “facts on the ground”, and then to go on to seize more, even as they attempt to portray themselves as victims. It’s one of the cleverest tricks in the history of the world, which people remote from the action are only just beginning to see through.
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