(No) Reconciliation?
29. November 2007
The lecture is based on Margalit’s Irving Howe Memorial Lecture at the City University of New York (CUNY). The following is a brief summary of the lecture:
Konstanz, 28. November 2007: Why are the parties in the Middle East conflict so irreconcilable? According to Avishai Margalit, lecturer in philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and co-founder of “Peace Now”, an initiative that promotes a peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians, the Middle Eastern dilemma is rooted in the prevalence of a sectarian world view. This sectarian world view differs fundamentally from its capitalist / free market counterpart in its religious approach to politics. The sacred and the holy are non-negotiable categories which lack any alternative.
According to Margalit, the sectarian outlook challenges democratic principles in a number of ways. Sectarianism marginalizes dissenting points of view and negates the possibility of achieving a compromise. Sectarianism does not care for figures and sidelines the principle of majority rule. Sectarian world views instill small groups with the sense of belonging to an elite minority on a holy mission. Sectarian groups tend to think in terms of the realm of light and goodness (us) and the realm of darkness and evil (them).
This outlook carries the seeds of conflict within itself. In the Middle East it fans the flames of strife between the Arab and Israeli peoples. Sectarians on both sides of the Middle East conflict are allowed to preach a doctrine of hate towards the respective ‘neighbors’. Israeli and Palestinian authorities tolerate the activities of sectarians for fear of provoking internal divisions. Why? Civil conflict between believers is a terrible sin and a religious nightmare in the Islamic faith. To many Palestinians the ongoing conflict between Hamas und Fatah is an example of such tragic internal conflicts (fitna). In a similar vein, many Jewish Israelis fear that their society will be torn apart by civil strife were the Israeli government ever to reach a compromise with the Palestinians.
The pre-state Israel that Margalit grew up in was split into several social spheres: the labor movement, middle-class, religious and ultra-religious spheres. These sectors covered every aspect of their member’s lives and had their own schools, doctors, newspapers, cinemas and restaurants etc. The “sectorial” world view that evolved in this context differs from sectarian attitudes in its subscription to a higher, inter-sectorial goal and the fundamental willingness of its members to establish compromises between conflicting parties. An example of this world view, according to Margalit, is the Jewish commitment to Zionism and the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
Ideologically the Jewish settlers in the occupied territories sway between this sectorial attitude and a more radical outlook. At the time of the evacuation of the Gaza Strip, elements more prepared to compromise had the upper hand. But young fanatics now appear to be gaining ground in the West Bank. Both of these groups, however, are convinced that their Jewish compatriots would prefer to fight the Palestinians rather than their fellow Jewish citizens.
The Palestinian fear of internal conflict gives Hamas the power to veto any agreement with Israel, just as Israeli fears of fraternal war enables the settlers to block any agreement between the state and the Palestinians. As Margalit explains, the belief that in this situation a compromise leading to peace in Palestine might be found, calls for a great leap of faith.
The complete English version of Margalit’s “Irving Howe Memorial Lecture” at City University of New York (CUNY) will be published in the next issue of the American magazine “Dissent”. Avishai Margalit: Sectarianism, in: Dissent, Winter 2008
Update: A German translation of the text has now been published: Avishai Margalit: Kompromisslose Weltretter. Wie der Friedensprozess zwischen Palästinensern und Israelis von ideologischen Eliten auf beiden Seiten bedroht wird, in: Kulturaustausch. Zeitschrift für internationale Perspektiven, 1 2008.