Theirs is a cartoon version of the conflict: victim-Palestinians versus aggressor-Israelis. They ignore the increasingly messy and fragmented state of both sides in the battle. The kidnappings, for example, are emblematic of a Palestinian Authority descending into chaos, with rival factions vying for position and police officers storming government offices. Palestinian militants are using activists as pawns in their attempts to undermine the Palestinian Authority.
Yet Burton's picture-book story seems to have survived intact. She tried to explain to her captors: 'I came here to work with the Palestinian people and I feel I have been stabbed in the back.' (3) Their response to her lectures? 'They just told me politely to shut up.' She decided that they only did it because they were victims: she said she felt 'sorry for the guys' because of their 'shattered lives', and the fact that they were on the run and had family members killed in the conflict. It seems that Burton is more comfortable with Palestinians as mute victims, rather than as people who fight.
Activists may go searching for the gritty reality of conflict, but it appears to be a bit of a game. Unlike the Palestinians, these Westerners aren't really trapped; there is always the option of the next plane out. The visit from Burton's parents, for example, smacks of conflict tourism. It's hard to imagine the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War getting mum and dad out to the front. The Burton family didn't seem to take their captors seriously: apparently her dad kept telling the kidnappers that he and his wife had a plane to catch.
And it gets the terrorists the news exposure they crave.
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