The Gaza Freedom March Witches Brew

Boy, you miss a couple of days of action with the “Free Gaza” peace caravan and – lo and behold – they’ve finally managed to kill someone!

Given that the riot George Galloway and his Gaza Freedom Marchers triggered only did in an Egyptian policeman, don’t expect Alan Rickman to produce a play featuring this now-dead Egyptian lounging on his childhood bed reading excerpts from his diary. Alas, international “peace groups” like Gaza Freedom March (GFM) or the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) only bestow sanctified martyrdom on those they manage to get killed if it serves some “higher” (i.e., useful) political purpose.

But just maybe there is method in Galloway’s madness. Having succeeded in pointing out to the world that Gaza does indeed have two borders, perhaps by heating up the Egyptian-Gaza supply line (which will no doubt lead to increased closures and tighter security), the Freedom Marchers have ensured that their meager, symbolic deliveries to Gaza will be among the last.

Or perhaps there is no method to any of this, just the desire of several hundred political tourists to feel like they’re part of an action-oriented political vanguard (with First Class accommodations and return trip tickets, of course).

During the last couple of weeks when the global Israel-hating community has been trying desperately to recreate the hysteria that accompanied last year’s Operation Cast Lead, I’ve been thinking about why 100% of the attention has been heaped on Gaza with virtually no concern left over for Palestinians living on the West Bank.

There are, of course, simple answers to this question (which may be true, even if they’re pat). Gaza clearly suffers scars of the recent conflict, and Gazans do face security measures that have since been lifted in Palestinian territories less interested in exporting howitzer canisters and suicide bombers into Israel. But, then again, West Bank Palestinians certainly have needs and increased freedom of movement means the peace caravaners could easily get a percentage of their aid gifts to Ramallah if they wanted to.

There is also talk about Hamas as a “democratically elected government” vs. the “corrupt” Palestinian authority. But this seems to ignore the enthusiasm these Friends of Palestine had for the Godfather of the current corrupt government in the region, Yassir Arafat, who still found Western supporters flocking to pay homage to him ten years into his five-year elected term.

There is another explanation, one that forces us to confront the fact that the sympathies of “peace activists” of the Galloway, GSM, ISM, Code Pink variety tend to fall disproportionally not on those suffering the most, but on those most likely to pull a trigger, fire a rocket or self detonate. Paul Berman, quoting Camus, points out that “the sinister excites,” and that the “transgression of suicide murder” can arouse a vicarious thrill that is as passionate (and occasionally sexual) as it is perverse.

Those locked in a fantasy of their own unquestionable virtue and political potency don’t only open themselves up to manipulation by con artists like George Galloway. They also help dramatically increase the amount of suffering in the world by combining: (1) a fetishistic desire for the thrill of vicarious violence; (2) a willingness to encourage such violence (under the guise of supporting the weak); and (3) an impenetrable shield of self righteousness that prevents them from comprehending the notion that they might possibly be responsible for creating (rather than alleviating) the suffering of those they claim to care about.

Could even Severus Snape come up with a nastier and more volatile witches brew than that?