Israel's dual reality

Israelis believe in peace, yet the Palestinian issue is met with apathy – except by our leaders, who see it just as a PR problem.

Aluf Benn
guardian.co.uk
Thursday 4 February 2010 10.00 GMT

Israel's image problem abroad is down to one issue: the stark and growing difference between how Israelis view their country, and how it is seen from outside. This explains the anger and insult that Israelis feel when they watch themselves on the BBC or CNN. It can't possibly be us, they protest, the networks must be biased and pro-Arab.

From the outside, Israel is defined by its everlasting conflict with its Arab neighbours, the Palestinians in particular. The vast majority of international news stories reflect this perception, depicting Israel as one-half of either war or peace talks. Occupation stories like Gaza under siege, new construction in West Bank settlements, or demolition of Palestinians' homes in East Jerusalem, are prime-time stuff.

Israel per se attracts little interest abroad, with its relatively small population of seven million. Think Denmark or Paraguay. Who bothers to cover its internal politics? Who would recognise its leaders' names and faces? Thanks to the Middle East conflict, Israeli leaders have always been internationally recognised figures, and our political system is closely watched.

Israelis define their country as a western democracy with an advanced high-tech economy, a bastion of innovation, modernity, and technological development in a backwards region. We see the conflict as a fact of life, like the weather to Englishmen. Most people are more excited about money, sex, real estate, and travel abroad. The media makes comparisons with America, Britain, or the OECD average, and not with our immediate neighbours Egypt, Jordan, Syria, or the Palestinian Authority.

It wasn't always like that. When I was a little kid, the conflict was all around. Children's books described brave, good-looking Israeli heroes defeating ugly, ridiculous Arab villains. On Lag Ba'omer, a holiday celebrated with bonfires, we used to burn effigies of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's then-leader and our arch-enemy. Yasser Arafat's figure followed. Today, few kids would bother to express similar public hatred towards Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, or the Hezbollah leader, Hasan Nasrallah.

The separation policy of the former prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who strove to isolate Israelis from the conflict through the Gaza pullout and the construction of the West Bank security barrier, paid off handsomely. The vast majority of Israelis, who live in and around Tel Aviv, don't interact with Palestinians, or even with Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Only a small number of conscripts and reservists, deployed across the barrier as part of their military service, would go there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/04/israel-palestinian-territories-war-crimes

that criticism of Israel is based in antisemitism rather than Israel's actions towards "those people" an idea lauded by some of Israel's media and most certainly it's supporters