Israel, Palestine and Europe: The Demonstrations Offer a Moment of Catharsis - Opinion - Haaretz.com
The mass pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Europe are more than an _expression_ of support for the inhabitants of Gaza or enmity towards Israel. They represent a moment of catharsis that is related to the internal European identity in this generation. They have enabled at last a long sought-after social encounter that has until now seemed impossible.
It can be said that many Muslims in Europe, mostly the Arabs among them, have not yet become Europeans. Of course, some have become well integrated into the cultural, economic and academic life of the countries that accepted or sheltered their parents or grandparents. One can find among them those who may be considered traditional, others who are less so, as well as followers of a religiously observant way of life, whose devotion to Islam does not extend to militant fundamentalist dimensions. In this respect, their situation resembles that of Jewish immigrants to Europe in the second half of the 20th century and their descendants.
But among the Muslims there exists an additional, parallel phenomenon: Many of them remain "immigrants" far into the third generation. Their identity is "broken": They are not exactly French, but are no longer Algerians. Algeria is in fact alien to them. They live in suburbs that have been transformed into semi-exterritorial enclaves inside European France. The dominant identity in these neighborhoods is based on a cocktail of hatred for bourgeois France, for the values of the Republic, for liberalism, for America, for Jews, for Zionism, for Israel. It is thus a culture that is defined in the negative – by what it is not. The stabilizing element that represents a positive identity is Islam, through the mosques, imams, clubs and sports. They lost their Algerian side, which was replaced by a pan-Muslim identity transcending national boundaries. This is quite far from the anticipations of the first generation of immigrants, who had sought refuge in the Republican and secular principles of the French state.
Islam is thus a source of pride in an encapsulated life characterized by a mixture of despair, pursuit of fast money and continuous friction with law enforcement. It resonates with the quest for identity of those who have lost their motherland without having been absorbed in the countries in which they were born. This explains the captivating impact that ISIS had on young Muslims in Europe a few years ago; it allowed them to identify not as Britons or French, while they could not truly identify as Algerians, Yemenites, or Libyans. In this vein, they were, and are, the children of the magnificent Muslim civilization that seeks to renew its golden era.
Europe's young Muslims have been marginalized, but they still benefit from a large area of maneuverability. Many of them no longer seek to participate in the European project, in the set of values offered by Europe; Europe may serve them as a platform, an adequate one at that, but it is certainly not the embodiment of their ideological aspirations. Its values, for them, are to a large degree an object of contempt.
A woman with a placard reading 'From the river to the sea' protests against the Israeli military operation in Gaza, in Paris, November 11, 2023.Credit: Mehdi Chebil / Hans Lucas via Reuters
Europe's left is bound to recognize the failure of integration. Ideally the socialists and the social democrats regard the "immigrants" as their allies, but they struggle to share their values with them: workers' rights along with pluralism, tolerance, personal liberties, women rights and gender inclusiveness. Generally, a true partnership over these topics with the young Muslims of the continent has not been created. For the left-wing parties this is a defeat.
The immigrants are positioned outside the typical bloc dynamics of Europe's politics. The parties of the right are either detached from them or fearful of them. The moderate left fails in forging a common vision with them. The radical left, however, led or inspired by figures like Jean-Luc Mélanchon in France and Jeremy Corbyn in the U.K., found at the outset a certain affinity with the immigrants, at least over a few matters, resulting primarily from abhorrence of anything that is depicted as a U.S. agenda, along with a hint of antisemitism, which brings it closer to its hidden partner, the extreme right, that just like itself rejects liberalism. This is the "meeting" of the extremes from both sides, a pattern that has repeatedly surfaced in the course of Europe's history.
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But for the center-left, the "immigrants" are not just a failure, they are also a source of frustration. As long as the latter do not join the French Republican dream, there is a peril that the right-wing parties would be seen as a more realistic option ("whoever arrives in our country and execrates our culture and institutions is asked to leave"). The left that had hoped to connect the immigrants to its vision has not succeeded in creating with them a community with shared values. This may be one of the reasons for the left's decline in certain countries.
With the weakening of the old guard, a new left has emerged. It is considered young, progressive and linked to global trends while opposing economic globalism. It has identified with the Palestinian cause for many years, and it embraces anti-colonialist terminology. Yet like the moderate left, it fails in creating a true partnership with "the immigrants from the suburbs." Its set of values, at the core of which lie feminism and environmental issues, is usually quite far from the everyday concerns of Europe's younger Muslim generation.
Demonstrators protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in London, Britain, Saturday.Credit: HANNAH MCKAY/ REUTERS
The criticism of Israel alters the landscape. The mass demonstrations become a unique place where the immigrants and the left, both "the old" and "the young," at last experience a convergence of values. The theoretical anti-colonialism is suddenly channeled into a concrete destination. It is more than a momentary partnership, it is a moment of catharsis, for both sides. The left can finally find grounds for optimism over the formation of a joint vision with the immigrants, who suddenly feel they have not been abandoned in gloomy ghettos. This catharsis erupts in the streets, and it explains the passion, the large-scale mobilization. Israel and Palestine trigger something that goes beyond the tragedies of the Middle East, an exhilaration resulting from an encounter which has long been yearned for. This is the backdrop upon which the mass demonstrations are fomented. They reflect the spirit of our times, the flag of which is the Palestinian one. The content of the protest is symbolic in nature, mythological, and therefore it is relatively easy to shout out slogans without a real knowledge of the facts.
This encounter may be short-lived. The Muslims walk on a tightrope stretched between the legitimate sympathy for the Palestinians and a jihadist impulse which is bound to lead to a split with the socialists and the social democrats. (Hamas is a challenging entity, in this regard, because it is unacceptable to the moderate left, while it has co-opted support from the communist factions, with their nostalgia for "revolutionary violence.") Nevertheless, this is a formative encounter, and its ramifications will have long-lasting effects. In this context, Israel is bound to be labeled an outcast. And it is hard to deny that it actively contributes to its rising unpopularity.
The momentary euphoria of the Muslim immigrants and the left that we are witnessing in Europe's streets draws new features of Western Europe's identity and redefines its internal politics.
Israel and Palestine are not just two nations in conflict (necessarily in the Holy Land); they are eternal myths, capable of shaping a whole generation, of spawning excitement or provoking repulsion.
Edly Dollar is the chairman of Yad Haim Weizmann and an investment adviser.