Dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli advocates can benefit Cincinnati | Opinion

Opinion
Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer
Matt Check
Wed, June 12, 2024 

May 15, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; On the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, the displacement of Palestinian refugees from their homes in Israel, Palestinian Diaspora Movement, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Ohio State University, Pal Awda and SJP at the University of Cincinnati march through Downtown after protesting at the Ohio Statehouse.


I will not pretend that I understand the suffering which Palestinians have been experiencing in Gaza and the West Bank due to the current war − or before the war for that matter.And while I personally believe in Palestinian sovereignty, I am troubled by the political agitation I saw on the streets of downtown Cincinnati, just outside my home on Monday, May 27 when a rally for solidarity with Palestine encouraged the crowd to chant, "There is only one solution, intifada revolution. Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada!"

Did those at the rally even know what the term intifada represents? In the early 2000s, that particular wave of violence was responsible for suicide bombing attacks that killed innocent lives. Equally concerning at the rally was a man holding a sign that read "Israel = Nazi Germany."

Allowing for these elements to be part of Palestinian advocacy is offensive and misleading. And while neither terrorism nor antisemitism was explicitly on display with what I saw, a collective homage to both was palpable.

I believe that the United States of America is poised for dialogue right now between American Palestinians and American Jews. We have an opportunity to meet the moment, to come together and strive for peace and justice that considers all sides of the conflict in Israel and Palestine. Together we can advocate for Palestinian statehood, dignity-and-restitution for Palestinians (that includes the end of the occupation), while stripping these objectives of the antisemitic impulse and proverbial nod-and-justification towards terrorism that I saw at the rally last week.

I totally understand why there might not be an interest in dialogue from the Palestinian side. After all, their situation is one of extreme and perpetual disenfranchisement with no end on the horizon.

All I can say is I want peace, and I’m not the only one. I want there to be an Israel, and I want there to be sovereign Palestine as well. This desire of mine comes from my own life experience when I was a young man.

Long ago, I worked at a church in Wadi Nisnas, a Christian-Arab neighborhood in Haifa, Israel. Through my contacts there, I crossed over the Green Line and visited the Palestinian West Bank numerous times on my own, hearing stories and getting viewpoints that were not the ones I was raised on. If I learned anything from my time there, it’s that the acknowledgement of each side’s experience creates healing and sometimes even friendships too (that’s what happened to me).

I challenge all of us in Cincinnati to reach across the divide and create a new paradigm with each other where there is mutual respect. Together we can be an example for the rest of our country.

I emailed the rally organizers a few days afterwards telling them that I’d love to begin a dialogue − I have yet to hear back.

Matt Check is from downtown Cincinnati.

Matt Check feels building dialogue helped him understand new perspectives during his time working in Haifa, Israel.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Divisive rhetoric undermines peace efforts between Jews, Palestinians