Opinion: US civil discourse on Israeli-Palestinian conflict ambiguous and counterproductive

The Yale Herald- Yaman Salahi- When did the Israeli-Palestinian conflict become nothing more than a conversation? Over the past two weeks, the Yale Daily News has published three op-eds purportedly about the conflict, yet not one is actually about Israel or Palestine.

Instead, each is a dizzying attempt to dictate how one should talk about Israel. Yishai Schwartz attempted to explain the difference between “legitimate criticism” and “unfair attack[s]” on Israel, however, his entire piece centers on the nebulous theme of identifying “productive conversation” and “discourse.” Here, the reality of the situation has become secondary to a self-centered conversation about conversation.

...Though these issues strike the heart of the matter, they are not evident here. Hecht makes absolutely no reference to the Palestinian reality; Kamin and Degnan refer ambiguously to “Israel’s actions toward the Palestinians” and their “plight,” but do not elaborate; and Schwartz euphemistically refers to the “disruptions” Israeli security brings to Palestinian life. Nowhere is the magnitude of Israeli violence and dispossession, and the resistance they have provoked, adequately addressed. This erasure of the Palestinian struggle for freedom is precisely the problem, one that the discourse of “legitimate conversation” only exacerbates. Read more