Recommeded Reading

“Exile” by Richard North Patterson

Although a work of fiction it is clearly very well researched. The story line is that the Prime Minister of Israel is assassinated in San Francisco. A Palestinian woman is arrested as the leader of a conspiracy to carry out the assassination. She is defended by a Jewish attorney.

Most of the book is a search for the root cause of the assassination, which is obviously the root cause of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The author, a NY Times Bestseller several times, is a wonderful story teller who goes to great lengths to examine the issues from both the Jewish and the Muslim points of view, with a couple of Christian Arab characters thrown in.

The primary question of the book is “When does history begin?”

How one answers that question is the key to how one views the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (and probably most others as well.)

As Americans, it is difficult for us to relate to people who are still caught up in the past. There are people all over the world who are constrained by the history of their ancestors in ways we do not understand. We believe history started either at our birth, 1836 if you are a true Texan, or 1776 . Maybe at 1492, but nothing much happened for nearly 300 years after that.

And we don’t worry much about what happened in the past either. We don’t hold a grudge against the British. We Texans don’t even hate Mexico. But other people are obsessed by history and the land of their forefathers. They are consumed by hatred for wrongs perpetrated generations ago. That is difficult for us to understand, but important for us to realize.

The only war Americans can’t seem to get over (other than the one we can’t currently get out of) is Vietnam. We don’t hate the Vietnamese, but we are obsessed with the Vietnam War and its reason and its outcome anytime we consider another conflict.

Of course, Vietnam is also the only war we didn’t win.

They say that history is written by the victors, but it seems it is perhaps remembered more by the losers. They remember and it festers, for generations. Understanding that is hard, but it is very real.

The lesson is likely that Muslims will hate our great-great grandchildren because of George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. We are not winning “The War on Terrorism.” We are creating a feud that will never end.