Taliban Coup vs Free Palestine
The news is awash with stories of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Some pundits opine that it was all foretold and the Pentagon…
The news is awash with stories of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Some pundits opine that it was all foretold and the Pentagon should have seen this coming — which everyone did, for the record, they just didn’t know when — but I’m guessing the people most surprised by the rout are the Taliban themselves. They were girding for a fight, they were organized and motivated, but there’s no way they could have imagined such an effortless victory.
The proof? It will take them months to consolidate power. They clearly had no plan for August governance. I’m guessing it won’t be until winter when they more granularly define what they want and how they achieve it. By then of course, rebel groups will also have consolidated, which we’re already seeing. While we’re all justifiably horrified by Taliban hegemony, I think there could be a return to civil war. Provinces may break off, a new cadre of warlords may rise. It’ll probably be ugly for a long, long time to come. I wish there was something I could do about it. I pray, somehow, against all logic and news reporting and analysis, that things get better for Afghans.
The one small thing I can do in this moment is to note the parallels with the universal abhorrence about what’s happening in Afghanistan with the space Israel vs Palestine holds in the liberal imagination. It’s not much in light of all this suffering and panic, but it’s important to call out so it hopefully doesn’t happen again.
Let me surprise you by disclosing that I’m an educated Jewish guy living in New York. I’m a self-described Progressive and Zionist, which to me are one and the same morally: all minority groups should have the right of self-determination, a right to live in peace and to take a shot at being middle class. I get that I’m alone with my zeal for the Jewish nation and my desire for an inclusive, anti-racist economy with socialized healthcare, regenerative agriculture and fair taxation. I feel isolated, not because I don’t have friends, but because I’m 100% rejected and alienated by the leftist fetishization of Palestine, a politics of so-called liberation that is more Instagram story than well-thought conviction.
Free Palestine is a current catchphrase, so is the unfortunate Palestinian Lives Matter, which undercuts the specificity, relevance and potency of Black Lives Matter. But let’s focus on the Middle East. Free Palestine? Free how? The Israeli army leaves the West Bank and the Gaza border?
What do you think a Free Palestine will look like? Turn on the news and you’ll see.
Hamas and the Taliban, both violent fundamentalist Sunni movements, are opposed to Western-backed kleptocracies like the Afghan government and the Palestinian Authority. Hamas and the Taliban are also power hungry zealots backed by fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia madrassas. And… they’re pretty persuasive. They’re clearly very successful. They are in charge while Enlightenment-era liberals who cherish universal human rights have zero power.
Think about it this way. Far too many Palestinian Arabs are poor. Afghanistan is one of the poorest nations on earth. Where does all that foreign aid funneling into Ramallah go? Where did all that foreign aid funneling into Kabul go?
It went to apartments in Paris (where Yasir Arafat’s once wife lived), it went to Mercedes-Benz dealerships, it went to hotels in Dubai. The money went anywhere and everywhere except the pockets of Palestinians and Afghans who might want an investment in an education, a corruption-free business loan, support for a community project, a little governmental help to take all the steps one needs to be middle class.
What person in their right mind, in the streets Jericho or Mazar-I-Sharif, would willing die for bureaucrats who line their pockets and impoverish you and your neighbors? Is it better to let jihadists run amok? At least they’re coreligionists who don’t steal quite as grandly? I don’t know. I don’t think so, I’m no fan of burqa mandates and public stonings. I’m very, very lucky to never have to make that awful decision.
But what I’m telling you is, if Israel withdraws from the rest of the West Bank like it withdrew from Gaza, then many more innocent people will be doing this same mental math. Better to fight for whom, exactly? While they’re figuring that out, Hamas will rout the corrupt Palestinian Authority. Perhaps it won’t take days, but hours.
How do I know?
It happened in Gaza, now controlled by Hamas after a quick and violent coup against the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Journalists, government officials and American protesters rarely ask how women, children, LGBTQ people, or religious minorities fare in Gaza. Weird. It just never comes up…
It happened in south Lebanon, which Israel once controlled. South Lebanon is now occupied by Hizbullah, a fundamentalist client of Iran. The routing happened in the Sinai in a slower-moving takeover. The former resort-studded peninsula now teems with Al Qaeda. The Egyptian army has no control.
Don’t get me started about the Arab Spring. It captured the passions of Western liberals like myself, but now we know how the story ended: in civil wars, in violence and despair.
You get where I’m going. If you’re gnashing your teeth about Taliban suzerainty, think about the lessons being learned in Israel. And, for that matter, in the West Bank.
This isn’t to justify an endless Israeli occupation. That’s also not durable nor does it foster a peaceful middle class life where people are politically empowered, but it’s worth asking, is it better than a violent theocracy that turns to civil war?
If that’s impossible to answer, at least we can agree that both situations, occupation and theocracy, are terrible and unendurable, just in different ways.
What we can do is look clearly and carefully at the region and ask better questions when it comes to Israel and the rest of the region. And pray for better days.