Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz's intrepid correspondent, gives his account of some of the Palestinian casualties (in Gaza and the West Bank) of the Jewish year of 5767. As he says, a "pretty quiet" year, "only" 457 Palestinians and 10 Israelis were killed. But for children, horrible: 92 Palestinian children killed (but not a single Israeli child), and one-fifth of the Palestinians killed: children and teens.
Too bad that most of kufiya wearers I keep obsessively tracking aren't, for the most part, aware of such issues (the honorable exception: Aki Nawaz).
Is it your opinion that if somebody wears a stupid faux rebellious hipster rag, he or she naturally supports the cause of Palestinian nationalism? Maybe they don't know the details, or maybe they do and appreciate the moral complexity of this struggle, a struggle that is increasingly one of Islamic fanatics against secular liberals.
ReplyDeleteI think that's obvious, from a reading of my kufiyaspotting posts: wearing a kufiya DOESN'T necessarily mean support for Palestinian nationalism. However, putting on a kufiya may well signify a certain kind of dissent from the simplistic and very stark way in which you describe "this struggle"--between "Islamic fanatics" and "secular liberals." Although you say it (whatever "it" is) is morally complex, you've managed to reduce it to black vs. white, good vs. evil. The Palestinian struggle is about basic human rights, the right to an end to military occupation (now in its thirty first year) and the right to self-determination.
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