Paradise Deferred

With the never-ending daily toll of death and destruction in Iraq occupying the headlines, Israel has had a free hand, away from the limelight of the world media, to continue to savagely pummel Gaza. Yes, one can say much about the Palestinians' own culpability for their current predicament, but the fact remains that it is ultimately Israel that has complete control over every facet of Palestinian existence. The homemade rockets are no match for the savagery and destructive power of the Israeli military machine. And as if that is not enough, Israel's economic stranglehold on Gaza and the West Bank is making the lives of ordinary Palestinians miserable.

It is with these events unfolding that I finally watched Paradise Now the 2005 film by Hany Abu-Assad about two childhood friends recruited to become suicide bombers. It is an emotionally intense film that examines the issue of suicide bombing in an unflinchingly direct and objective way; all without resorting to a single scene of violence. The movie provides no easy answers. It is not that the director tries to justify or glorify suicide bombing. To be sure, the viewer is left with the distinct impression that the impending act is horrific and repugnant both for the victims and the perpetrators. Let me say that I too find suicide bombing immoral and that the vacuous excuses made in support of such acts by some is completely unacceptable. If all Israelis are fair game then we (Arabs) cannot complain when the Israeli army uses the same guilt-by-association reasoning to justify the targeting of civilians. It is in fact this mind set on both sides that has contributed to the unending cycles of senseless violence. What Abu-Assad does best in this film is to provide the context in which these acts become possible. He manages to convey the sheer misery of Palestinian existence under Israeli occupation. It is a claustrophobic, humiliating and ultimately dehumanizing existence. This is felt all the more acutely as the scene shift from the misery of the occupied Palestinian territories to the immaculate appearance of an Israeli city, literally minutes away.

I often wonder what the Israeli endgame in Gaza and the West Bank is. The stated short term goal is to get rid of Hamas, but then what? Do they really think that after brutally punishing every Palestinian man, woman and child that they will find someone more amenable to their vision of a peaceful solution?

Though the neocons and their supporters here and in the Middle East want to shift attention away from the festering Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it remains the greatest threat to regional stability as it radicalizes public opinion, empowers extremists, and helps keep autocratic rulers in place. I wonder what the Middle East would look like today had the United States after 9/11, instead of invading Iraq, spent its considerable resources and influence into finding a permanent solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is not an insurmountable problem, what constitutes a fair and just solution is known to all. What is lacking is the political will to push for such a solution.