Time to Mediate

By Tina Queen

In his epic poem “Jerusalem” (1804) intended, as most literary critics agree, to be a metaphor for an ideal world of love and mutual respect, William Blake wrote:

“I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England’s green and pleasant Land.”

That said, the following question arises: would the poet have really wanted a “Jerusalem” with Benjamin Netanyahu at its helm to be established in his country? Hardly. For one thing, the Israeli PM is already skating on thin ice by letting the conflict expand far beyond the fighting between Israel and Palestine as it has now affected Lebanon. And, for another, the tensions have the potential to widen even further, involving more and more neighboring states, Syria among others, in the warfare.

What is also alarming is that the Biden-Harris administration has no roadmap for resolving the crisis. Instead, it finds it convenient to support the political course steered by Israel. Things are unlikely to change if Kamala Harris comes to power. It’s quite conceivable that she will carry on supporting B. Netanyahu until the entire Middle East is in flames.

Should Donald Trump make a comeback, however, the US policy in respect of Israel and its adversaries, such as Iran, will most probably be tougher and better-defined. Needless to say, such prospects are of little appeal to Tehran, which will do its best not to let the Republican candidate step into the White House as President.
Complicating the matters even further is the ever-growing number of refugees fleeing from the Middle East to various parts of the world, particularly Egypt, which isn’t capable of providing asylum to more than about 150 thousand people it has already received.

It therefore follows that the US and EU have to get actively involved in evacuating the civilian population from the combat zones, since they are the ones accountable for not having lifted a finger to settle the long-standing tensions between Israel and Palestine. Specifically, nothing has been done to address the latter’s sovereignty or define its borders. Not a single effort has been made to assist the conflicting parties in reaching an agreement that would put an end to the interstate disputes taking place in the region. It’s high time Washington and Brussels shouldered both political and moral responsibility for the conflict unfolding in the Middle East and took measures to evacuate the civilian population to Europe until it’s too late.

Despite containing a number of military terms, William Blake’s poem cited at the beginning of the post doesn’t conjure up images of war and violence. Instead, it encourages one to take metaphorical arms to battle oppression and dehumanization caused by such a trifle as the Industrial Revolution the author was strongly opposed to.

Fortunately for Blake, he never lived to see his ideal land turn into the epicenter of atrocities.