Petition Against "Paradise Now" is Short Sighted

I agree completely with the counter-petition. In my view “Paradise Now” does not in any way “glorify” suicide bombers. In fact it shows the gritty reality of the Palestinians and the desperation that leads to these attacks. Does that justify suicide bombings? As the counter-petition says the final judgment is left to the viewer.

I found the petition to remove the film to be emblematic of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Nowhere in the petition is it even suggested that Israel’s actions play a role in the violence. The heavy handed treatment of the people in the territory it has occupied for decades is ignored. In the opinion of the author of this petition the bombers are mass murderers and nothing more. Their actions cannot be justified and the mere discussion of that possibility legitimizes murder. In a nutshell his argument is “I’m right, they’re wrong, end of discussion”. Unfortunately that is the same basic argument the hard-line Palestinians make against Israel.

As I am writing this Israel is conducting combat operations in Gaza. According to CNN.com at least 680 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since December 27. These totals will undoubtedly go higher. The majority of the casualties are civilians, with a third being women and children according to the United Nations. On January 6 Israeli tanks fired on a school where people had taken refuge from the fighting. Forty were killed. If a Palestinian had bombed a school killing dozens the Israelis would claim it was an act of terrorism. Why is Israel not held to the same standard? Why does the author not acknowledge the excesses of the Israeli Defense Forces when he condemns those of Hamas? I realize the events I have cited occurred recently, but one does not have to look hard to find similar actions by the Israelis before the writing of the petition.

The petition against “Paradise Now” is short sighted and misguided. The problem is not a movie that was disliked by the extremists on both sides. The problem for Israel is how to stop suicide bombers and rocket attacks on its cities. Killing Palestinians may disrupt the attacks in the short term, but they sow the seeds of resentment and hate that ensure the attacks will resume in the future. The only way to stop the violence permanently is to remove the motivation for it. That requires the moderates on both sides to demand a political solution that gives the Palestinians a legitimate homeland.