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A Tribute to Tanya Reinhart  | | Dr. Tanya Reinhart by Ben Heine / MWC NEWS |
I learned of the sudden, sad passing of Dr. Tanya Reinhart late Sunday evening, and spent a restless night pondering how much her courageous voice inspired all of us who value peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. We have lost a brilliant spirit and intellect who, despite rancorous accusations, never ceased speaking out against injustice. An expert in linguistics and comparative literature, her rigorous research into her homeland’s political and cultural crisis described a doomed, tragic morality play.
Dr. Reinhart exposed, much to the consternation of the official Israeli government propaganda machine, the carefully cultivated myths of Zionism. Since its creation, Israel has sought to establish a peculiar mindset amongst her Jewish population and the Diaspora. This alternate reality, firmly supported by the media both in Israel and abroad, has depicted the brave Jewish settlers fighting for survival in a vast sea of hostile Arabs: hated for being Jewish, hated for not succumbing to threats, intimidation, and random acts of terrorism. The Palestinians, we are told, are not willing to negotiate; they will not make concessions; they elect governments that espouse violence. Dr. Reinhart, often labelled as anti-Semitic, dared expose less than stellar truth behind the Israeli façade, for which we should all be grateful. Truth, nowadays, is a precious commodity; lies are abundant and cheap. Reality, as this wise scholar saw it, is quite different from perception. What has she taught us during her all too brief life? Israel adopted, as a natural result of Biblical promises and the horrors of the Shoah, a modern program of ethnic cleansing to rid herself of the scourge of Palestinians. “They live on our land,” is a common rallying cry. Yet Dr. Reinhart quickly drew an analogy between the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans by settlers and the American government and the oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel: an issue of widespread genocide since the creation of Israel in 1948. Homes razed, millions displaced, possessions and lands confiscated, appalling refugee camps, an apartheid wall dividing families, the violation of basic human rights, control of resources (water, aquifers), arbitrary imprisonment, and even the murder of children: the Occupation is a shameful humanitarian disaster, particularly when one considers Israel in light of the Shoah. The Palestinians, Dr. Reinhart pointed out, live under systematic, state sponsored oppression that violates numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions. And if one considers the Palestinian perspective of an oppressed people occupied by a brutal, foreign, militaristic power, the despicable suicide attacks can be understood (if not justified), however tenuously. The situation in Iraq today is not much different: the Iraqis are fighting not just each other, but the American occupiers. Desperation inevitably breeds hopelessness and contempt for life; one has nothing to live for, but much to die for as a martyr. Palestinian children, of whom far more have been lost to Israeli violence, are not worth less than Jewish children; all life is sacred. Do not tolerate intolerance. Dr. Reinhart understood well that lax Israeli immigration policies place enormous pressure upon Israel to obtain more and more land, by illegal means, if necessary. Indeed, David Ben-Gurion envisioned the northern border of Israel along the Litani River – the section of Lebanon decimated during the summer of 2006. Israel is in constant need of fresh territory and, it seems, is not averse to the use of force; military might blindly, unconditionally, supported by the United States. And, as Dr. Reinhart frequently reiterated, the Israeli political leadership deliberately manipulated the hope of the Oslo Accords into a justification for continuing, even expanding, the Occupation. The situation, Dr. Reinhart knew, was not temporary, nor did it mean Israel would dismantle illegal Israeli settlements and withdraw from the Occupied Territories. She saw through the carefully cultivated myth of Ariel Sharon, “peacemaker”: how a war mongering, brutal and oppressive leader managed to create a mantle of humanitarianism by disbanding the Gaza Strip settlements. Israel made this enormous concession, so what are the Palestinians willing to do? Nothing. More propaganda, Dr. Reinhart insisted; Sharon acted under pressure to further a brutal agenda. Appease Western scrutiny and allow the Israeli military to continue political assassinations, intensify the psychological duress of Palestinians regardless of age or gender, and refuse to negotiate with the democratically elected Mahmoud Abbas, despite the latter’s repeated overtures. Sharon, due to this one misinterpreted and misunderstood act, is now hailed as a hero of peaceful moderation amongst irrational Arab warmongers. Dr. Reinhart had the uncanny ability to understand the brutality that led to the current animosity; she freely admitted Israel will not survive if such tactics continue. However, she acknowledged that if Israeli citizens do not become aware of the reality, no real consensus on the solving the problem can be effected. What we need is moral outrage against the Occupation, less media and government control over the mind and conscience of the Israeli population, as well as a systematic breakdown of the mythology abroad. Less propaganda and more truth: in watching Israeli television, I have been all too acutely aware of negative Arab stereotypes. I see the racism of this American administration, who would label Middle Eastern people as “evildoers” and “the enemy”. It is people like Dr. Reinhart who would hold the mirror to our faces, and demand we see the monsters inside. She understood all too well Israel’s internal vulnerability, the desperation in keeping an artificially constructed and maintained country alive. I am fully convinced she loved Israel, and only left it last December when the pain at betrayal became too great. The world has lost a great humanitarian and voice of conscience, a teacher and potential healer. If only she could have seen her visions come to fruition during her lifetime. We will miss her. Irene Rheinwald is a writer, artist, historian and former social worker residing in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is a member of PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity), has travelled extensively in the Middle East, and studied foreign relations. Recommend this article...
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