Michael Totten On Caricatures Of "Settlers" and Palestinians

I posted last week about Michael Totten's piece about his visit to Hebron.

Apparently he got some flak for what some thought was lack of balance in his description of Hebron--failing to describe "settlers" as bigots and thugs and the like.

In response, Totten writes about the problem of stereotypes in the Middle East--both among Jews and Arabs:

I am well aware of the caricature of Israeli settlers as bigoted thugs, and I’m likewise aware that some of them fit that description. Some have attacked not only their Palestinian neighbors, but also Israeli soldiers.

The two Israelis I interviewed, though, don’t fit that description.
I hardly know David Wilder, but we talked for an hour on tape and he didn’t say anything racist or brutal. I’m courteous enough not to libel him as a bigot just because he’s a spokesperson for Jews living in Hebron. I may not have gone to journalism school, but I’m pretty sure the demands of my profession don’t require me to do such a thing.

And I personally know Eve Harow well enough that I can say with confidence that she’s not a bigoted thug. I can’t very well denounce her as one just because that’s a fashionable stereotype I’m obligated to feed.

Most who spend time in the Middle East quickly realize that the majority of people who live over there are just people. Most Israelis, including Israeli settlers, aren’t bigoted thugs even if some of them are. Most Arabs aren’t infidel-killing jihadists even if Hamas is somewhat popular. If they were, I’d have been kidnapped or killed a long time ago. Most American soldiers in Iraq aren’t like the grinning sadists in the Abu Ghraib photographs or characters in Vietnam War movies. Yet I get grief when I humanize Israeli settlers, I get grief from a different type of person when I quote moderate or secular Muslims without denouncing them as taqqiya-practicing Caliphate-mongers, and I used to get grief for refusing to caricature American soldiers in Baghdad. But I don’t go over there to stoke anyone’s prejudices.

The Middle East is a tragic and often violent place with more political extremists per capita than almost anywhere else in the world, but most people manage to be better than you might expect them to be.

This is one reason that reading Totten is so worthwhile: that he does try his best to present both sides. I suppose this is one of those rare examples where getting angry email from both sides really does indicate that Totten is doing something right.

Technorati Tag: Michael Totten and Hebron.