First, Put Down the Guns

On PBS is a brilliant documentary called Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland. Watch it. Its overall message to the troubles in Israel-Palestine is if you want peace, you can have peace. But first, you have to put down the guns. Ceasefire and talk. Then, talk some more, and keep talking until you reach an agreement.

If you don’t think this is possible in Israel-Palestine, this is understandable. But violence is a tactic; it is not a real solution in geopolitics or social conflicts. The documentary’s message at the end is clear: talk. When people say don’t talk, ignore them.

“The Troubles”

In the documentary, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Protestants, and Catholics are engaged in a senseless period of violence. Everything going on in Israel-Palestine happened similarly in Northern Ireland for about 30 years, beginning in 1969. It was called “The Troubles.”

There was/is a divide based on religion, culture, and history. Innocents were killed for being Catholic, Protestant, for enlistment in the British army, for disloyalty, or just by association.

Writer Douglas Woodwell wrote in 2005 that the conflict in Northern Ireland was “the scene of the worst political violence in Western Europe” at the time. According to Woodwell, the death toll was at least 3,281 deaths, with tens of thousands injured (Hayes and McAllister 2001; Smith 1999). The roots of “the Troubles” are very old. In the 1920s, Ireland was partitioned by the Brits, and the largely Protestant Northern Ireland was separated from the mostly Catholic Republic of Ireland and remained part of the United Kingdom. A minority of Catholics remained in parts of Northern Ireland were treated unequally and harshly.

Great Britain’s bigoted laws towards Catholics bestowed preferential treatment on Protestants and divided the groups going back to the 18th century, at least. It continued after a war in 1920 and the partition. The Catholics in Northern Ireland, a minority, launched a civil rights movement of their own seeking better treatment. The economy was lousy; life wasn’t good.

The Catholics eventually encountered violence and resistance to their nonviolent marches for basic equal treatment. They decided enough was enough, and so the I.R.A., the Irish Republican Army, took things into another direction. Northern Ireland, loyal more to the British crown, fought back against the I.R.A. Loyalists and unionists battled nationalists and the I.R.A. for nearly 30 years. The I.R.A. even tried to bomb Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain. In the film, the fear on her face after the attempt is unforgettable.

“The Troubles” was irrational. Violence is almost always irrational. But it was not impossible to fix or end. All the same kinds of players are part of the conflict in Israeli-Palestine. There is a big colonial power (the U.S.) supporting the dominant power in the region (Israel). There is a committed resistance willing to die for self-determination and freedom (the Palestinians). There is preferential treatment. There is a colonial partition of land that triggers division.

Israel and Palestine

Can the people of Israel and the people of Palestine (the Palestinians), have peace like what was achieved for now in Ireland and Northern Ireland? When you watch the series, you might say — Yes. But to get to peace, regardless of who did what, the guns, bombs, killings, violence, and occupation must end first. That is how “the Troubles” came to an end. It is only then that progress can be made.

“The Troubles” ended with the Good Friday Peace agreement. This agreement did not end the violence immediately or get rid of all the bad blood between the parties. However, it did lead to peace in 1998. The peace has also held. Sacrifices were made. George Mitchell, the long-time U.S. Senator from Maine, played a key part in the negotiations and in fashioning the peace agreement. It was complicated. No one side got everything it wanted, but they got enough of what they wanted.

Israelis always speak of Hamas and describe the hatred Hamas has for the Jewish people all the time. This is often described as an impediment to any solution in the region. Yet, I assure you, the hatred that the Protestants in Northern Ireland had for the Catholics and the I.R.A. and vice versa is just as vicious. The Irish Catholics in the Republic of Ireland wanted a united Ireland. They didn’t get it. Yet, they settled the matter and put down the guns. Northern Ireland had to make sacrifices as well. Great Britain also somehow cooperated to make the deal happen.

Will the conflict in Israel-Palestine come to an end anytime soon? I have no idea. I did not write this to demand that the Israelis and Palestinians do this or that. I am not a diplomat. I wrote this because “The Troubles” proves to me that human beings are capable of finding a way out of seemingly hopeless conflicts.

But also this: yesterday, online, I was called a “Nazi” because I said I thought it was good that a Jewish hostage released yesterday said she wasn’t treated badly. A commenter called her a liar and me a “Nazi.”

It is crazy out there now. Put down the guns and talk.

SOURCES

Report Part Title: The “Troubles” of Northern Ireland: Report Title: UNDERSTANDING CIVIL WAR Report Subtitle: Evidence and Analysis World Bank (2005)

The Making of the Troubles in Northern Ireland Author(s): Ronnie Munck Source: Journal of Contemporary History , Apr., 1992, Vol. 27, №2 (Apr., 1992), pp. 211–229 Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.

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This post was previously published on Brian G (aka ‘bumpyjonas’) – he/him.

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