Opinion Sur
In this note, I consider two contemporary diasporas and a third destiny that, although sad, could overcome the infernal circle of persecution and revenge.
Jewish Diaspora then partially solved with the founding of Israel in 1948
Palestinian Diaspora that will grow after the current war (2024)
In the Middle East—an area of vast deserts—two images stand out as metaphors: the oasis and the mirage. In the current conflict between the State of Israel and the Hamas organization that claims to lead the Palestinian resistance, these two images are present.
Again and again, world powers resurrect the two-state “solution” as a peace exit, actual or eventual. For the moment, that is nothing more than a mirage, as ineffective as it is unrealistic, at least as they put it[1]. Another distant solution is on the horizon: that of two oases (two enclosed states in Palestine and Israel) as points of reference, on the ground, for larger diasporas across the globe. The solution of a single, broad, multi-ethnic, and peaceful state would be ideal (the unity of opposites), but it is, I fear, a greater mirage, that is, an unrealizable dream, far removed from real geopolitics.
In 1949, Jorge Luis Borges published a short story that I often think about. It is the terrible and sad story of the rivalry between two theologians: Aurelian and John of Pannonia.[2] The former is surpassed again and again by the latter, more knowledgeable, in the exposition and denunciation of various heresies, until at the end, Aurelian comments on one of those heresies where he quotes a phrase written years earlier by his rival. The text was once orthodox. But in the new circumstances, those words are interpreted as heretical. Aurelian is forced to name the author, his rival, and the latter is condemned. John of Pannonia dies an atrocious death at the stake and Aurelian, his ambiguous accuser, survives in a long wandering life in which he purges his guilty conscience. One day, lightning strikes from the stormy sky and the next fire consumes Aureliano in a bonfire like that of his enemy years ago. What happens next? The two rivals who have been burned to death meet in heaven, where the God who shelters them ignores their differences. Divine indifference shows them the futility of hatred and reveals the stupidity of human cruelty. In God’s benevolence, behind every crime there is always an error. Despite our differences, we are all the same: e pluribus unum.
Borges’s story is, in my opinion, a parable of the continuous and circular hatred (as in the heresy of the monotonous, which consists in preaching “that history is a circle and that nothing is what has not been and will not be”) between Jews and Palestinians. Positions of victims and victimizers, pursuers and pursued are exchanged, when “Never Again” is transformed into “Yet Again.” Both sides act passionately for justice and vengeance, on paths that lead nowhere.
Jean-Paul Sartre is credited with the expression “hell is the others.” I would add that heaven only opens its doors when we realize that if we continue down the path of hatred and rift, hell is us.
I allow myself the insolence of transcribing the last paragraph of Borges’s story in this key but changing some names. This version is my own heresy:
“The end of the story is only referable in metaphors, since it takes place in the kingdom of heaven, where there is no time. Perhaps it could be said that the Palestinian conversed with God and God is so little interested in religious or ethnic differences that he took him for a Hebrew. This, however, would suggest a confusion of the divine mind. It is more correct to say that in paradise the Palestinian knew that to the unfathomable divinity he and the Hebrew (the hater and the hated, the accuser and the victim, the displaced and the displaced) were one person.”
Could this unity of opposites be a consolation and hope that one day peace can be realized on earth and not only in heaven? Let’s get back to geopolitics.
Speaking of diasporas and the unity of opposites, I would say that it will take a long time, if at all, for true reconciliation between the two sides, Israel and Palestine, to be born. Will they continue to commit mistakes and crimes until the end of their days? Perhaps the future will hold a third half-solution for each of them: for both it would be the model, or the naturally modified destiny, of the Armenian diaspora: two limited states with strong security guarantees, as oases of planetary dispersions.
On the map below you can see the little black dot that marks what remains of the very small but not unpleasant Armenian state – something like an oasis – while the majority of the population is dispersed, like the seeds, to the four winds of the planet. Will it be possible for each of these other two peoples? Is it likely? Would it be worth it?
The Armenian Diaspora in Colored Countries
What would be the conditions for a more lasting peace in the Middle East without neglecting Palestinian just claims and Israel’s just security guarantees? This is not a mirage, but an acceptable regional and international compromise.
First: A determined effort by neighboring Arab states to normalize relations with Israel and to extend trade and security ties with the Hebrew state.
Second: a replacement of the Netanyahu government with a more inclusive and more skilled one.
Third, a concerted and determined effort by the Arab states to rebuild the Gaza Strip into a small, prosperous, seaport-like state that is unarmed but protected by its Arab security sponsors.
Fourth: A similar effort on the western bank of the Jordan to form a Jordanian federation with the neighboring kingdom and with the optional and negotiated exit of illegal Israeli settlements in that territory.
Fifth, an international and coordinated effort to welcome the Palestinian diaspora into various advanced countries.
I’m not seeing a mirage. But I’m dreaming, and it’s good to do it once in a while.
[1] It’s the argument of Tareq Baconi, “The Two-State Solution Is an Unjust, Impossible Fantasy,” The New York Times, April 2, 2024. For a more realistic (non-glaring) position, it is worth reading a recent article in Foreign Affairs (12/04/2024) “The Only Way for Israel to Truly Defeat Hamas“, by Ami Ayalon.
[2] Jorge Luis Borges, “The Theologians,” Obras Completas, Buenos Aires: EMECE, 1974, pp.550-556.
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