Origins determine stance on IsraeliPalestine conflict

HERE is something that everybody in South Africa seems to agree upon regarding the Israeli-Palestine conflict: everybody agrees that they, themselves, personally, understand the complexities of the crisis, and exactly who is to blame.

I have never met somebody with an opinion on this matter who was not absolutely certain of their correctness, and often clamouring to die for it. Coincidentally, every Jewish person I have met is pro Israeli state, and every Muslim person I know is pro-Palestine and anti Israel.

It's as if your stance on this issue is actually just determined by the accident of where you were born, and into what religion and culture your views were nurtured through childhood.

Our ignorance of the crisis is understandable, though, when it's all happening on the other side of the world, and we are all relying on a mish-mash of truth, lies, heartbreaking anecdotes from both sides, fake news, real news, cellphone footage of explosions and blood, letters and telephone calls from family members who are actually THERE (all of which contradict the accounts of other people's family members who are also actually THERE).

It all makes me suspect that I am not unique in my ignorance – that I, and millions of others, some of whom have deadly passionate opinions, have no clue what is happening in Palestine/Israel; and I have no reliable way to inform myself. But I do wish, in the name of human brotherhood, we could set aside our obsession with the ancestral ownership of ancient stone walls, our flimsy scrolls and jealous deities – and embrace a tolerance and maybe one a day a love for one another that transcends our need to be “right about God”.