“Why Isn’t Gaza Like Singapore?”

We tend to think in black and white. To label anything into two categories. For or against. Good or evil. Life becomes much simpler that way. And left with two choices we can stay confident that we are right.

 Complexity disrupts such overconfidence.

–  Black or White? – Black!
–  Or green? Or yellow, violet, red, or blue?
– …hmmm…

When presented with complexity, we become more uncertain and humble.

Is that important?

Yes, because humility and doubt make us accept how little we know and spur us to find out more. That is how science works.

Humility and doubt also stop us from taking sides on issues we know much less about than we think.

A case in point is the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

I assume you know something about that conflict, so I am not providing you with the basics.

Whatever your own opinion is, I‘ll present you with some aspects and opinions about this long-standing conflict you probably have not seen or heard before.

And while you read and listen, contemplate the question: “Why isn’t Gaza like Singapore?”

Let’s start with the picture above.

Gaza after World War II

The picture above is from Gaza.

Click the link and find more pictures of what Gaza looked like in the decades after World War II.  Before the Israelis occupied Gaza in 1967. Long before Israel withdrew, and Hamas took power over Gaza in 2007.

In the 1940s, photographer Kegham Djeghalian opened the first photo studio in Gaza City. His images show life in the city before it was transformed by war.”

Gaza & Global Order: A Conversation with Yuval Noah Harari

(This is not the whole episode from Sam Harris’ Making Sense podcast. That is for subscribers only).

Yuval Noah Harari, an Israeli writer and historian, denounces Netanyahu:

“It is clear to a lot of people, that, yes, there were immediate failures of the military, but this was the result of fourteen years of being ruled by a populist strongman, who divided the nation against itself, and put his personal interests before the national interest. And appointing people to key positions based on loyalty and not on competence.”

Harari on Israel: “This fantasy of (Israelis being) colonialists from Europe. Most Israeli Jews are indigenous Middle-Eastern people.”

Harari on Israeli Muslims: “Among the victims (of the October 7 attack) was a significant number of Muslims.”

Harari also mentions the role the peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia had on the October 7 attack.

Christopher Hitchens on Israel and Palestine

It is hard to find a starker anti-religion, anti-Islam spokesperson than Christopher Hitchens. Still, he was sceptical towards the creation of Israel and much critical towards how the Israeli government acted towards Palestinians:

“Securely recognised borders should not allow for Israeli colonization or occupation of the territory of its neighbours. The Israeli government has never said where the borders of Israel ought to be or what it would settle for.”

“If Jews born in Brooklyn have a right to a state in Palestine, then Palestinians born in Jerusalem have a right to a state in Palestine.

An ex-Muslim Who Supports Israel

Luai Ahmed, is an ex-Muslim living in Sweden (not a Muslim as the title says) and originally from Yemen. This is about his support for Israel, and about the severe impact of Islam, not just on Gaza, but on the whole Muslim world.

“There is no such thing as politics in Yemen, Iran or Saudi Arabia. There is only religion.”

Why Isn't Gaza Like Singapore?

What are my thoughts? I endeavour to practice what I preach. To not have strong opinions about something I know little about (not always easy). To listen to those who do know what they are talking about, while not embracing everything they say.

However, based on what I have learned about this entangled cobweb of a conflict, my conclusion is that religion is the big perpetrator here.

Without religion there would have been fewer, if any, Jewish settlers on Palestinian territories, triggering this long-standing conflict. Those who believe that the more of the “holy” land you grab, the quicker the return of the Messiah, would have been shipped back across an acknowledged border. Without religious voters, Israel would likely have had a government working on a two-state solution.

Without religion, there would be no Hamas in Gaza. No Islamic republic in Iran to support it.

So, back to the question raised by Sam Harris in another podcast: “Why isn’t Gaza like Singapore?”

Gaza could have been if religion hadn’t played a dominant part in people’s lives. Including the indoctrination of a glorious afterlife. “We are proud to sacrifice martyrs,” one Hamas leader said. That wonderful afterlife seems to be reserved for men only, by the way. Life on this planet has little to offer, and you have been subdued to believe there is nothing you can do about it. Add to that the promise of hell and murder if you leave the religion.

What if Gaza, instead, had developed from the pictures above to an even more modern and secular society with a non-corrupt government dedicated to serving its people, instead of serving itself? 

A Gaza that lived peacefully side by side with Israel. 

A Gaza that prospered on the open trade with its neighbours and a huge influx of tourists.

A Gaza where women could go for a swim in their bikinis, where youth of both sexes could gather in a café on Saturday night, and where everyone could criticise the government as loudly as they wanted. A Gaza where no child had known what a missile was.

In other words: Much like Singapore. 

"You can be a victim and a perpetrator at one and the same time."

Despite all the complexity embedded in this conflict, what I am sure of is that outsiders who claim to be entirely “for Israel “ (whatever they mean by “Israel” ) don’t know what they are talking about, and that those who claim to be entirely “for Palestine” (whatever they mean by “Palestine”) don’t know what they are talking about.

I agree with Yuval Noah Harari:

“In most ethnic conflicts around the world, you can be a victim and a perpetrator at one and the same time. A fact that most people seem incapable of grasping. And so many people refuse to accept this simple fact. And thinking one side must be 100% evil, and one side must be 100% good.”

Photo by: Kegham Djeghalian 

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