Elie Wiesel on Gaza

Elie Wiesel writes in the NY Times today. Interesting article. But in the end, it doesn't say much and you'd expect more from a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The injustice for the Jewish Israeli settlers is indeed that Israeli policy was to settle Gaza, and now they're pulling them from their established homes (with compensation, of course, which Wiesel doesn't mention). Home is home. But the root of the problem is less in the evacuation or displacement than it is a war-begotten land with a history of forced displacement of Palestinians by a bullying nation-state. Wiesel's conclusion borders on racism -- that the Palestinians are morally ugly people because they've celebrated the pullout rather than expressed sympathy for the departing Jewish Israeli settlers. He forgets the long history of bull-dozed Palestinian homes and constant shootings. And he repeats that old image in the American media of dark, rock-throwing Palestinians versus long-suffering, noble Israelis. Why? One should be pissed at long-term Israeli policies, rather, having little to do with Jewish or Arab reactions. But it seems to me that Wiesel is fanning the flames rather than doing any peace prize worthy work.