Look at this headline: “This Israeli 'settler' is human,” a
title that adorns an article which appeared in the September 6, 2015 issue of
the Pittsburgh Tribune. It was written by Debby Titlebaum Neuman, a native of Pittsburgh who now lives in occupied Palestine ,
a place she calls Judean Hills ,
Israel
That title might have been chosen by the editors of the
newspaper, but they had good reason to do so given that the writer ended her
piece with this: “Please remember I am human.” But, in truth, if someone felt
so compelled as to remind the world she is human, there is no way that we can
evade asking the question: What is being human, after all?
The best way to try answering that question is to set-up a
spectrum that spans the gamut from being the least human at one end, to being
the most human at the other. So now we ask: What are the attributes that make
us the least human-like? And what are the attributes that make us the most
human-like? This is where we get surprised because the answer is simple. Also,
to find the answer is to respond to both questions at once.
The answer is this: The measure of our humanity lies in our
ability to empathize with others. It is a trait that does not exist among
animals. Friend or foe, in happiness or in sorrow, the degree to which we
naturally identify with others, places us at one extreme of the spectrum or the
other extreme ... or somewhere in-between.
So now, we look at what the settler is saying; and from
there, we shall determine the degree of her humanity. She begins by saying she
wonders how she got to the hilltop where she now lives. She does not attempt to
explain her wonderment but tells why she likes to remain there. She says the
loves the sky, trees, jackals, the silence, sunsets, pine nuts, the stars,
wildflowers and birds.
While loving those things, she says there are other things
she doesn't love. One of these being that: “across the valley live people who
call this place home.” And that's not all because she also doesn't love the
fact that she was “branded – marked as evil and inhumane – by the very liberal
sisters and brothers with whom I once shared my early dreams as we stargazed
and boogied, kicking up tornadoes of dirt and good vibes at Grateful Dead
shows.”
That, of course, is when she used to live in Pittsburgh . From her
description of things, we must deduce that she had a happy childhood. And then,
because of an obscure reason she still wonders about, she says she found
herself on the Palestinian hilltop where she now lives. But that hilltop was
someone else's home, she says; and she doesn’t love being reminded of that …
especially not by the sisters and brothers with whom she used to share the good
vibes of the Grateful Dead.
She now gets into the business of legitimizing what she has
done. She says this: “I did not intend to live on contested land. I still
don't.” No, miss; that is not contested land. It is someone's land … someone
that lived there continuously since the beginning of time. These people too
loved the things that you now love. They were not nomads; they never were – but
they ache to get back to the soil that used to connect them to their roots.
This is the powerful country, the very land that was bequeathed to them by
forefathers and by ancestors that go back to the dawn of human existence.
No, Miss Neuman, you cannot call that land contested land,
anymore than a thief can rob a bank and call the heist contested money. This is
property you stole from a family that had nowhere else to go, whereas you had
somewhere else to be. It was Pittsburgh
where you were born, had roots and dreams you shared with sisters and brothers
while enjoying the good vibes of the Grateful Dead.
Instead of keeping what you had and letting the Palestinian
family keep what it had, you chose to inflict misery on those who could not
defend themselves against the advancing tanks of the Israeli army … the tanks
that took you there and gave you what was never yours.
You say you are a mother, daughter, sister, wife etc., etc.,
a woman who is kind. You also say we may call you settler that should move from
your home, but we must remember that you are human.
You got it all wrong, miss. There is no kindness in what
you're doing. You are no more privileged than the mothers, daughters, sisters,
wives etc., etc., that were chased out of their homes to make room for you who
has a home in Pittsburgh to which you can return and reclaim all he things you
used to enjoy. As to the home in which you now live; it is their home and they
want it back.
Return to Pittsburgh
and we'll consider thinking of you as human. But as long as you demonstrate
that you're incapable of empathizing with the pain of others – especially that
you're the source of the pain – you cannot ask to be considered human.