Sad and Sordid Similarities

In the Palestinian Territories there is an active war with its neighbour, Israel. Not a military war, but a war of minds. Palestinians are captured in a net of unforgiving, unrelenting resentment that fuels their sense of victimhood and hatred against Israel. This is a deliberate, institutionalized policy of Fatah, every bit as much as it is of Hamas, rival political-ideological foes, each representing themselves as the true champions of the Palestinian 'cause'.

The Palestinian cause could readily be solved, which is to say its wish to be recognized as a sovereign state could become reality. But it comes at a price. To accomplish that goal it must be prepared to sit down at the bargaining table with its neighbour, to negotiate terms and conditions to establish a lasting, reliable and honourable state of peace between the two. The land to be shared; one portion allocated to Israel, the other to the Palestinians.

Hamas simply scorns the very idea of Israel having any legitimacy whatever in the Middle East, and certainly not on land which they deem to have been accredited to Arab rule, by the Palestinians who came to the area primarily from Jordan and Egypt. The two solitudes represented by the West Bank and Gaza are representative of the different culture and heritage obtaining in Jordan and Egypt, informing the current culture of both Territories.

What they do have in common is that both Territories' peoples are taught from an early age that the formation of the State of Israel was a tragedy, a catastrophe of monumental proportions for the Palestinians; their land and their right to autonomy within the land, although traditionally denied them by Jordan and Egypt, was horribly infringed upon by Jews who stole the land from under the rightful owners.

This is a story without end, just as the 'refugee' syndrome that the Palestinians clasp dear to their hearts is a tragedy without end. It might end only with the departure of the Jewish State in a Muslim-dominated geography, one that was wholly consecrated to Islam, until the upstart Jews made their mark. The heritage of Judaism, and the reality that Jews have always lived in the neighbourhood is denied unequivocally. And the Palestinian Authority has no intention of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.

As such it would have to surrender its demand that the Palestinians living in what is now Israel, along with their countless descendants, must all be allowed to return to what was once theirs to reclaim it in perpetuity. Without that agreement which in effect would destroy the intention and nature of the State as one while not limited to Jews only, is meant to reflect the Judaic presence as a majority, legitimizing it as a Jewish state, would be accomplished.

School texts are written for the express purpose of emphasizing the criminal illegitimacy of Israel, occupying Palestinian heritage, a heritage that had its questionable presence in the modern era, alongside that of the original Palestinians, Jews who had lived there for millennia. Children are taught of the blessings inherent in 'resistance', in the restoration of Palestinian pride, honour and belonging. They are taught hostility toward the occupiers.

And children become adults deeply steeped in the pathology of suspicion, hatred and revenge, creating a population functionally incapable of living in peace and harmony with those next door. A situation that makes it just about impossible for the two sides - Arab and Jew - to sit down together with confidence and trust that each will be prepared to make reciprocal sacrifices to satisfy the needs of the other so that an effective settlement for peace can be reached.

Who might imagine that a somewhat similar situation exists in Canada? For it does. Quebec speaks of itself as a nation. Its institutions are called national institutions, not provincial ones. French-Canadian schoolchildren are not taught the history of Canada. They are taught the history of Quebec, outside and without Canada. They are led to believe that they are in essence, living within a nation, just as Canada itself is a nation, but without Quebec.

The words "Canada" and "Canadian" are despised, incendiary nomenclatures within Quebec French-Canadian circles. This is a matter of politics, of culture, of pride, of determination. And, hugely, resentment. And it is not necessarily traditional, but it is reflective of the second half of the 20th Century attitudes in the province. School texts teach Quebec history, inclusive of the existence of Front de Liberation du Quebec.

The FLQ was a terrorist group. They focused attention on themselves, on their radical separatist purpose and their violent conflict with the federal government by setting bombs, by the violence of their language and their threats, and by their abduction of those whom they felt were symbolically responsible for the purported suffering of the French under English rule. Canada may be officially bilingual, but despite legislation to the contrary, Quebec is officially unilingual.

History texts speak of the FLQ-murdered Pierre Laporte as an incident where the man was "found dead", and no elaboration given, no mention of murder, no explanation that those responsible were convicted in a court of law of murder. The French language must be protected at any cost from the malign presence of English, and students are to be taught all about "the Quebec space", but there is no mention of a corresponding "Canadian space" for balance.

All school texts teach about Bill 101, in protection of the French language in Quebec, and the need to repress English, to diminish its influence, to give it little official status. There is never any mention that French is protected as an official language across Canada. The day that all Canadians celebrate as "Canada Day" is simply referred to in Quebec as "July 1". Students are exposed to a history chapter with a unit titled "Must we celebrate July 1?"

It concludes by asking the student: "Last year, did you celebrate on July 1? Why?" July 1 in Canada appears to be Quebec's version of the Palestinian Nakba calamity, a day of mourning.