{"id":9387,"date":"2012-03-27T21:59:12","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T21:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaza.haimbresheeth.com\/?p=9387"},"modified":"2012-03-30T08:05:02","modified_gmt":"2012-03-30T08:05:02","slug":"march-27-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/2012\/03\/27\/march-27-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"March 27, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR: BDS works OK!<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite some diehard opponents of the BDS movement, such as Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein, the movement is spreading far and fast, and is collecting some very impressive results daily. Today may be atypical example – I have included only few, rather, the more important messages about BDS victories. So, despite the despicable interview Finkelstein gave to Frank Barratt, in which he claimed nothing was achieved, anyone who follows this topic knows he is wrong. His attack on the BDS movement, and his defence of the Israeli position on it is one of the more bizarre interventions he ever was involved in. He was so shocked by the wide condemnation of his stance, that he asked for the video to moved off YouTube… Things cannot be be unsaid, dear Norman!<\/span><\/p>\n

Read below and judge for yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veolia loses an0ther contract!: Message by email<\/h3>\n

Veolia loses another contract! Congratulations to Hastings Against War for their succcessful campaign to exclude Veolia. They have just heard:<\/p>\n

“Following completion of the first round of the Competitive Dialogue procedure, the joint waste project manager has confirmed that Veolia are no longer involved in the procurement process for the joint waste collection contract for East Sussex local authorities.”<\/p>\n

This is a substantial contract for waste collection, recycling, street and beach cleaning for Eastbourne, Hastings, Rother and Wealden Councils. (details at http:\/\/www.rother.gov.uk\/media\/pdf\/7\/e\/jwc111109_-_7.2_-_Appendix_Descriptive_Document.pdf<\/a> for the technically minded). It could last up to 20 years – but Veolia will not be profiting from it.<\/p>\n

After vigorous local campaigns in UK to exclude the company for complicity in Israeli war crimes Veolia has lost contracts in Sandwell, Edinburgh, Richmond, Portsmouth, Winchester\/East Hants, South London, Ealing and West London – and now East Sussex!<\/p>\n

Major Norwegian retail chain stops sales of occupation products from Ahava<\/a>: BDS Movement<\/h3>\n

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Norwegian People\u2019s Aid and the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (Fagforbundet)<\/strong>
\nNorwegian retail chain VITA made public on Friday their decision to stop all sales of products originating from settlements in occupied Palestine. VITA will therefore stop selling products from the cosmetics brand Ahava. VITA has been the main retailer of Ahava products in Norway, and this decision will be a serious blow to the sales of Ahava products in Norway.<\/p>\n

The principled decision by VITA not to buy products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank is based on a position of not wanting to contribute to violations of international law. This is also the position of Norgesgruppen, a company holding 49% of the shares in VITA. BAMA, another Norgesgruppen company has implemented the same policy regarding Israeli fruit and vegetables for several years already.<\/p>\n

The VITA decision comes after a period of active lobbying from Norwegian People\u2019s Aid and the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (Fagforbundet), providing VITA and VITA\u2019s owners with information about Ahava and their production in the Mitzpe Shalem settlement. Activists in Norway have also focused on Ahava and will now launch a new campaign to have other stores follow VITA\u2019s example.<\/p>\n

Israel sponsors Polish soap opera in \u2018image improvement\u2019 drive \u2013 Polish and Israeli activists urge boycott<\/a>: BDS Movement<\/h3>\n

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Kampania Palestyna<\/strong>
\nPolish and Israeli activists have called on the makers of a Polish medical drama \u2018For Better and For Worse\u2019 to abandon plans to film two episodes in Israel under the sponsorship of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs are co-operating to provide assistance to the project, in what officials say is an effort to change the attitude of Polish society towards Israel and to improve the image of Israel in the world. [1]<\/p>\n

The Polish Campaign of Solidarity with Palestine (Kampania Palestyna) supports the Palestinian call by over 170 civil society organisations and trade unions initiated in 2005 for a comprehensive economic, sports, cultural and academic boycott of Israel until:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Israel withdraws from all occupied territory (Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights and dismantles the illegal apartheid wall);
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Respects the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants expelled from their homes in 1948; and
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Affirms equal rights for Palestinians living in Israel-Palestine.<\/p>\n

\u2018For Better and for Worse\u2019, a popular Polish soap opera about doctors is made by Artrama and broadcast by state television channel \u2018Telewizja Polska SA (TVP). All appeals and protests registered in public domains including the programme\u2019s home page and facebook have been removed.<\/p>\n

The Polish campaign said: \u201cState support for cultural projects, including those from the mainstream, is altogether laudable, but in Israel\u2019s cas culture is treated as a tool to cover up violence, distraction of human rights and civil rights, absolute occupation and apartheid policies.<\/p>\n

We consider it unethical to take part in events organized or co-financed by the State of Israel, the occupier of Palestine, given the very fact of occupation, particularly its violent nature, and the deliberate violation of international law. We call for a boycott initiative, and to waive the implementation of the episodes of \u201cFor better or for worse\u201d in Israel\u201d. [2]<\/p>\n

Ten prominent Israeli academics and human rights activists [3] wrote to the makers of \u2018For better or for worse\u2019 requesting they visit occupied Palestine and meet with human rights activists before undertaking any decision to film. They said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to stress that participation in such a project is equivalent to taking a political stand on a very important issue: the human rights crisis in the Occupied Territories, under Israeli military control. The crisis has significant medical aspects as well. [4]<\/p>\n

We believe that the decision whether to proceed with the project should be based on a comprehensive understanding of the situation in our region. In view of this, before you commit to filming, we would like to invite you to meet Israeli peace and human rights activists during your visit here.In particular, we strongly recommend an informative guided tour with representatives of ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. We will gladly respond to any comments or questions that you may have. [5]<\/p>\n

They have received no response.<\/p>\n

Kampania Palestyna urges people to register complaints over the Israeli state sponsored instrumentalisation of \u2018For Better or for Worse\u2019 to whitewash Israel\u2019s image as a \u2018democracy\u2019 and normalise apartheid and occupation in Palestine.<\/p>\n

Lessons for solidarity Palestine can teach us<\/a>: City Press<\/h3>\n

Ahmed Kathrada
\nAs a South African who has lived and suffered under apartheid and spent nearly thirty years of my adult life in its jails for resisting it, I can and do humbly claim to know something about the meaning of apartheid.<\/p>\n

You do not get to journey as far and as long as I have with the African National Congress (ANC) and leaders such as Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela and not recognise apartheid when you see and experience it.<\/p>\n

Recently I attended the Russell Tribunal on Palestine and heard moving testimony from Palestinians, Israelis and South Africans. The tribunal concluded that Israel meets the legal definition of an apartheid state.<\/p>\n

I am pained to admit that based on what I have suffered through and more importantly, what I have learnt, l am deeply convinced that that the Palestinians are experiencing life akin to \u2013 and in many respects far worse \u2013 than we had under apartheid in South Africa.<\/p>\n

This has also been cogently argued by Professor John Dugard, one of South Africa\u2019s most eminent jurists.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s separate roads, defacto Mixed Marriages Act, trials by military courts, the unfair allocation of resources (particularly water), racist citizenship laws, assigning and denying rights to people on the basis of ethnicity, the destruction of the homes of indigenous people who have lived and worked the land for centuries to make way for newcomers who share a common gene pool with the rulers, the uprooting of olive trees, detention without trial, pass laws, the tiniest pieces of land given the to largest part of the population \u2026 I know of no other word for this but apartheid.<\/p>\n

I remember how apologists for apartheid South Africa internationally tried to argue that the South African \u201csituation\u201d was more complex than the ANC wanted to suggest.<\/p>\n

Indeed it may have been, but the argument of complexity was also used as a weapon in the hands of the powerful to disarm the weak and those who act in solidarity with them.<\/p>\n

I fear the same may now be happening. Nelson Mandela warned us: \u201cThe temptation in our situation is to speak in muffled tones about an issue such as the right of the people of Palestine to a state of their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can easily be enticed to read reconciliation and fairness as meaning parity between justice and injustice. Having achieved our own freedom, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others face. Yet we would be less than human if we did so.\u201d (December 4 1997)<\/p>\n

Some would have us believe that the South African story is one of dialogue and reconciliation only. It was indeed about these. However, it is also about a struggle against occupation and one for justice.<\/p>\n

Our liberation struggle has many newfound \u201cadmirers\u201d \u2013 some who often colluded with the apartheid regime.<\/p>\n

They not only claim to have been part of the struggle but now want to give us lessons as to what it was about and how it should be applied to the Palestinian struggle for justice.<\/p>\n

The ANC needs to address how it can concretely support the Palestinian struggle for justice and self-determination. I believe that we must pay serious consideration to the call made by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many others in the world today.<\/p>\n

When the University of Johannesburg (UJ) commissioned a team to investigate whether UJ should terminate its institutional relationship with Israel\u2019s Ben-Gurion University and impose an academic boycott (which they did), Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether with the peace-loving peoples of this Earth, I condemn any form of violence \u2013 but surely we must recognise that people caged in, starved and stripped of their essential material and political rights must resist their Pharaoh? Surely resistance also makes us human? Palestinians have chosen, like we did, the non-violent tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our call tonight is not a call to violence or armed struggle \u2013 our call is one to non-violence and reconciliation. Historically the ANC has always clamoured for a peaceful negotiated settlement.<\/p>\n

We are, however, also saying that if you continue along the road of apartheid and we cannot stop you, at the very least you will do so without our consent, our investments, economic, cultural and political agreement.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the question of justice for the Palestinians, our solidarity with them and co-existence for all the people in that area, we can do no better than repeat the words of wisdom, spoken with such clarity by our own leader, Nelson Mandela:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen, in 1977, the United Nations passed the resolution inaugurating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, it was asserting the recognition that injustice and gross human rights violations were being perpetrated in Palestine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the same period, the UN took a strong stand against apartheid and over the years, an international consensus was built which helped bring an end to this iniquitous system.\u201d (11 August 1988)<\/p>\n

\u00bb This is an edited version of a speech delivered by Ahmed Kathrada on the occasion of the 8th International Israeli Apartheid Week held recently at the University of Johannesburg<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New young Israeli Refusers<\/a>: Theonlydemocracy<\/h3>\n

March 26th, 2012
\nFor decades hundreds of Israeli youth have declared at different times and for different reasons that they will refuse to serve in the Israeli military as they see its actions as immoral.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many times, these conscientious objectors (COs) are imprisoned for refusing to serve in the army, as the military service is mandatory in Israel for all youth at the age of 18 for a period of 3 years for men and 2 years for women (There are parts of Israeli society that are automatically exempted from military service such as the Palestinian citizens of Israel and most Jewish-religious women).<\/p>\n

In the coming month, two 18 year-old youth (one male and one female) will refuse to serve in the army, declaring that they can not take part in the violent oppression of the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n

These brave youth each wrote a declaration explaining why they refuse to be drafted into the Israeli army, and would rather sit in prison than implement the violent policies of oppression of the Israeli army and government:<\/p>\n

Noam Gur, an 18 year old women from the north of Israel, expected to refuse and be imprisoned on April 16th, explains:<\/p>\n

For 64 years Israel is implementing a policy of Apartheid and occupation in all territories under its control, that includes among other things, ethnic cleansing, house demolitions, ongoing siege, violent attacks, discrimination of the non-Jewish citizens of Israel and so on. When I understood all of this, I decided to refuse.<\/p>\n

My refusal comes as an act of support and transition to a non-violent struggle to promote a just peace in Palestine-Israel, that will be based on full human and civil rights for all residents and refugees. I choose to refuse publicly and am willing to pay the price that the Israeli army will choose to lay upon me, in order to try and raise awareness to this injustice both in Israel and in the rest of the world.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alon Gurman, a 19 year old man from Tel Aviv expected to refuse and be imprisoned on April 16th, explains:<\/p>\n

We have always been told that the Israeli military is meant to defend the citizens of Israel, when in reality, living in security has nothing to do with occupation and apartheid. The Israeli military acts in a way that is meant to embitter the lives of Palestinians, oppress any resistance to the occupation, and perpetuate a rule of terror, by applying extreme violence against civilian population, upholding an oppressive military \u201cjustice\u201d system, a siege on Gaza, vast military operations and random house demolitions.<\/p>\n

My refusal is an opportunity to raise awareness of the Israeli military\u2019s racist crimes and to call upon the people of the world to stand by Palestinians in their nonviolent struggle against occupation and apartheid, and support their call for BDS \u2013 boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel, in solidarity with a society under occupation, striving for freedom, justice and equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Israel does not recognize the act of refusing military service, the army will sentence them as soldiers who refused an order: the order to become soldiers. They will be sentenced for disobeying an order in a military court, and sent to a military prison for a period of a few weeks after which they will be ordered again to become soldiers, refuse again, be sentenced again and imprisoned again. This my repeat itself for months.<\/p>\n

Joining them is a reserved service officer who after serving in both the second Lebanon war and the attack on Gaza in 2009 (Operation Cast Lead), decided that he can no longer be a tool in the hands of the government implementing this injustice, and has declared his refusal to continue serving in the reserved service. Today, after ignoring his last order for reserved service, he is considered a deserter and plans to turn himself in with the two other young refusers.<\/p>\n

Yigal Levin, a 25 year old man, burn in Ukraine and raised in Israel, expected be imprisoned on April 16th, explains:<\/p>\n

Part of my ideology was that the state has to be wise, responsible, decent and protective. In Lebanon, I saw a war that started for no clear reason, where soldiers died in vain while also committing a massacre against the Lebanese.<\/p>\n

The Israeli army is commonly considered to be \u2018the people\u2019s army\u2019, an army of the people protecting the people,\u201d writes Levin in his own statement. \u201cBut in fact, the Israeli army is simply a bourgeois army \u2013 a tool in the hands of a small clique, which does not give a damn about the people\u2026 Not willing to remain a mere tool, a traitor, and a hypocrite, I decided to terminate my participation in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

We will update about their imprisonment and ways to help in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Top Court Orders Settlers to Leave Outpost<\/span>: NYTimes<\/h3>\n

Ethan Bronner
\nThe New York Times
\nMarch 25, 2012 – 12:00am
\nhttp:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/03\/26\/world\/middleeast\/israeli-supreme-court-orders-…<\/p>\n

JERUSALEM \u2014 Israel\u2019s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a West Bank settlers\u2019 outpost built on private Palestinian land to be dismantled by Aug. 1, rejecting a government compromise with the settlers that would have allowed them to stay put for another three years.<\/p>\n

The decision was much anticipated, because the panel of three judges who decided the case included the court\u2019s conservative new chief justice, Asher Grunis, and because the case involved the politically explosive issue of moving settlers in the face of potentially violent resistance.<\/p>\n

Whether the government will remove the 50 families living in the outpost before the deadline will also be closely monitored.<\/p>\n

In their ruling, the judges chided the government for having failed to evacuate the outpost in accordance with an earlier high court decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a necessary component of the rule of law to which all are subject as part of Israel\u2019s values as a Jewish and democratic state,\u201d the decision said.<\/p>\n

The case concerns Migron, a settler outpost near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Migron is one of the largest of dozens of small enclaves that have a different status under Israeli law than the 120 full-blown settlements in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

World Must Act Urgently to Avert \u201cCrisis\u201d in Palestine, Experts Warn<\/a>: ATFP<\/h3>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nMarch 27, 2012 – 12:00am
\nWashington, DC, March 27 — The international community must act urgently support the Palestinian Authority and its institutions or face a looming \u201ccrisis\u201d a panel of experts today warned at a Washington event today co-hosted by American Task Force for Palestine and The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The panel, “Palestine: Economic Challenges and Political Implications,” featured the Council on Foreign Relations’ Robert Danin, the International Monetary Fund’s Oussama Kanaan, and Prince Firas Raad, acting head of mission of the Office of the Quartet Representative Tony Blair, and was moderated by Marwan Muasher, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment. Muasher summed up the implications of the entire conversation by bluntly concluding that \u201cwe are headed for a disaster and both sides may be surprised by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kanaan said that “a crisis is looming if international actors don’t move quickly.” “Donors, especially regional ones must fulfill their pledges to the PA; Israel must ease restrictions on access and mobility; and Palestinians must persist with institution building or there could be a serious crisis in a matter of weeks,” he cautioned. Raad agreed that, \u201csomething must be done this year in terms of building momentum; the Palestinians cannot wait a year, and some form of momentum must be found.\u201d Danin said the most important factor is that “the regional donors must pay up, and even if they fear that they are in effect bankrolling the occupation, they’re actually harming the people they’re trying to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

In summarizing the overall situation, Kanaan said the economic strategy currently undergoing a significant crisis had its origin in 2007 when Salam Fayyad took office as prime minister. \u201cWe had targets for growth, unemployment and fiscal policy, which is the main macroeconomic tool for the Palestinians,\u201d he said, \u201coriginally structured as a three-year plan.\u201d For most of period since then, he said, “performance on growth and living standards overall has been much better than expected, which was an anticipated 4% annual improvement but proved to be about 8% in practice.\u201d He also praised the PA performance on fiscal stability and reduced reliance on international aid, which he noted had declined from $1.8 billion in 2008 to to $1 billion in 2010. However, he said, \u201cthe current crisis is the result of sudden failures on these two fronts.\u201d “The PA is facing a big financing gap due to lack of donor aid and might be forced to cut wages and essential social services. Moreover, growth has not lead to a decline in unemployment.\u201d He said this was \u201cmainly a result of Israeli restrictions and lack of access, which produces a decline in labor-intensive industries and disparities in different areas – growth looks impressive but is not balanced both sectorally and regionally and is not sustainable, especially because access is not being eased.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kanaan said that in his experience, \u201cthe PA has done a great job of trimming waste but it has had to cut back on wages. Less than half of expected aid has been delivered, and expenditures for development and long-term growth have therefore been very disappointing.\u201d \u201cUntil donors give more and Israeli restrictions are lifted, this will not improve,\u201d he continued. He also noted that, \u201crevenue performance has also been disappointing, especially given the difficulties in securing Palestinian tax funds supposed to be delivered by Israel.\u201d Kanaan said that “all three sectors need urgent attention; PA revenue must be increased to relieve the current crisis; it is very well known what Israeli restrictions on movement and access and tax revenue transfer are need to be lifted, but the political decision needs to be made; and increased donor aid is vital, including for development projects to sustain long-term growth.\u201d He noted that the PA has developed \u201csome contingency measures but they will be hard to implement given public pressures and continued withholding of funds by donors, especially regional ones, who sometimes cite the occupation as a reason to withhold funds, but this is politically short-sighted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raad said one of the biggest problems facing the Palestinian economy is that its youth unemployment is one of the highest in the world – overall in the 30 percent range. He cited Israeli restrictions on many aspects of economic life regarding Gaza and said that, “in the West Bank the most important restrictions are those on movement outside the area, internationally and into Israel.\u201d He noted that \u201cpolitical instability is a major impediment to real investment, confidence and the free flow of individuals entering and exiting the occupied territories.\u201d Raad cited housing and mortgages; dual use import restrictions; and lack of access to natural resources — especially a large gas reserves off the Mediterranean coast — as key areas for improvement in the Palestinian economy.<\/p>\n

“External trade is essential and an export-oriented positions would be a good policy, although easing Israeli restrictions and improving crossings are needed to make that work,” he added. Raad said that “Palestinians need to get more access to their trade agreements with Arab states,” and that “eased restrictions on Gaza should allow for more exports and what is especially needed is Gaza exports to the West Bank.\u201d He cited three economic sectors with \u201ctremendous potential\u201d if there is stability and more coordination with Israel and Jordan: the tourism industry, from which all three countries can benefit; agriculture, especially in the Jordan Valley, provided Israel lifts significant ongoing restrictions; and pharmaceuticals, which also face a number of restrictions.<\/p>\n

Danin said that the approach in recent years was based on three interlocking and mutually-reinforcing aspects: one, “Palestinian self-improvement under occupation but in spite of the occupation”; two, that this self-improvement “was predicated on a larger context that included security to provide law and order for Palestinians and security for Israelis, and reverse restrictions imposed during the second intifada”; and three, “diplomacy such as negotiations at Annapolis.” “This was a virtuous circle, building the basis for the state from the ground up while laying the basis for successful negotiations,” he said, and was meant to be “a self-reinforcing dynamic with a popular basis that could support negotiations.” “Two thirds of the triangle have receded if not disappeared: the economic crisis and the diplomatic impasse,” he said, \u201cand the security aspect remains but is at risk due to the crisis in the other two legs.”<\/p>\n

Danin proposed four steps “to move forward and restore the virtuous cycle.” \u201cFirst,\u201d he said, \u201cwe must return to the model of all three as an integrated whole: development, security and negotiations must all support each other. A return simply to negotiations is not enough: we need progress on all three.\u201d \u201cSecond,\u201d he continued, \u201cThere has to be a sense that we are moving towards an end to the occupation. Without this there will not be progress on any front or any real support for negotiations themselves. Israel has a very important role to play in this.\u201d \u201cThird,\u201d Danin observed, \u201cThe Palestinians need to come up with a coherent strategy. The Fayyad strategy of preparing the ground for independence and removing any reasons for the occupation must be returned to.\u201d He said that, \u201cPalestinians are now pursuing a set of disparate policies that do not support each other, are sometimes in tension and often work against each other.\u201d Among these he listed institution building, UN initiatives, negotiations with Israel, national unity efforts, peaceful resistance and potential elections. “Palestinians need a clearly defined and integrated strategy,\u201d he insisted. \u201cFourth,\u201d he concluded, \u201cthere is no such thing as benign neglect in this context and the security cooperation which is a sine qua non for all other progress could unravel.\u201d Danin warned that \u201cextremists on all sides want to, and could, bring it down. So far, it has held together but the situation on the ground is volatile and the international community needs to be more robust. The parties left on their own have shown they will not resolve their issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

EDITOR:Look who is now talking about One State (though neither democratic nor secular…<\/p>\n

Now the right in Israel is starting again to think about One state, as they cannot see a way towards getting out of the territories… of course, the so-called Zionist ‘left’ is always more racist, in the sense that they would not even consider a state of all its citizens, because it will no longer be “Jewish”…<\/p>\n

One state \u2013 one vote: Rethinking an Israeli Spring<\/a>: Haaretz<\/h3>\n

There is no denying that settlement construction, Palestinian disunity, and other factors are fast rendering the two-state concept impracticable.<\/strong>
\nBy Bradley Burston
\nA beleaguered Democratic president, beset by an unpopular war overseas and raging polarization at home, clamps heavy pressure on Israel to make a dramatic gesture over the future of the West Bank.
\nIsrael’s cabinet convenes to discuss the White House initiative. A minister-without-portfolio, less than three months in his first cabinet post, asks for the floor. He has a proposal regarding the Palestinians of the West Bank: Offer them citizenship and the right to vote.<\/p>\n

Under the plan, “If an Arab from Shehem (Nablus) wants to become a citizen of the state of Israel, he’s entitled,” the minister says.<\/p>\n

“We want a Jewish state with a large Arab minority. So what do we need to do? First of all, we’re capable of keeping a Jewish majority.<\/p>\n

“Of course, if that majority were to break down, our situation would be a bitter one. We are not South Africa, nor Rhodesia,” he declared. “The Jewish minority will not rule over Arabs.<\/p>\n

The date is August 20, 1967. The minister is Menachem Begin.<\/p>\n

The minutes of the cabinet meeting are classified Top Secret and kept under wraps for 44 years.<\/p>\n

There is something fitting about the timing of the release of the transcripts, declassified in recent weeks at the request of former senior Begin aide Prof. Aryeh Naor for a book he is completing about the late prime minister.<\/p>\n

At this, the anniversary of the Arab Spring, there has been something of a Jewish Spring in rethinking the future of Israel and its relationship to the Palestinians, the Mideast, and the Jewish people.<\/p>\n

Peter Beinart’s very public and also very personal act of biur hametz, his call in The New York Times for a targeted boycott against settlements, has spurred many Jews to re-examine and re-define their own positions with respect to Israel and the territories.<\/p>\n

The AIPAC conference’s laser focus on the Iran issue has, paradoxically or not, encouraged a widening debate over the necessity and the wisdom of calls for pre-emptive strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites.<\/p>\n

And in an essay which is as revolutionary as it is calmly argued, Noam Sheizaf, editor of the online +972 Magazine, manages the impossible: explaining Israelis to Israelis.<\/p>\n

Sheizaf’s thesis: The status quo of an occupying Israel – inherently immoral as even some rightists now acknowledge – “represents the most desirable political option for Israelis.” Regardless of developments on the Palestinian side, for Israelis, “keeping things as they are will remain preferable to the alternatives of either pulling out of the West Bank or to annexing it.”<\/p>\n

Sheizaf stirred wide debate in 2010 with an article in Haaretz that quoted a string of prominent Israeli hard-liners advocating versions of what Menachem Begin appeared to be suggesting in 1967. One of them, columnist Emily Amrousi, who lives in a settlement and promotes dialogue between settlers and Palestinians, told Sheizaf that the status quo must change “because it’s really not moral. It’s impossible to go on like this, with a situation in which my Palestinian neighbors have to cross three checkpoints to get from one village to another – we can’t go on accepting this.”<\/p>\n

Admittedly, across the political spectrum, the citizenship concept is much easier to dismiss than to seriously consider, as are other alternatives, such as a Palestinian-Israeli confederation, possibly including Jordan as well.<\/p>\n

There is no denying, however, that settlement construction, Palestinian disunity, and other factors are fast rendering the two-state concept impracticable. I say this with profound regret, as someone who still believes that two independent states would provide Israelis and Palestinians with their best chance for a future of freedom, justice, security and well-being.<\/p>\n

A new reality is already in place, however. There are children being born who constitute the third generation of West Bank settlements.<\/p>\n

When Begin addressed the cabinet in 1967, he outlined the concept of a “bi-ethnic” state, allowing both Jews and Arabs to develop as culturally distinctive peoples, and ruled by the majority, rather than a bi-national state with power shared equally, regardless of the numerical majority or minority.<\/p>\n

In contrast with a bi-national state, “We have never ruled out a bi-ethnic state, and the difference is crucial,” Begin said. “Zionism, as I have known it, has never viewed the state as mono-ethnic.”<\/p>\n

Even as I look into Begin’s proposal, which raises more questions, and suspicions, than it answers, I can feel another, deeper response welling up. Fear. The same fear that keeps Israelis, this one included, from fully committing to a substantive change in an intolerable reality.<\/p>\n

“If every path seems to reach an impasse,” Sheizaf quoted former Netanyahu chief of staff Uri Elitzur, a fierce, even radical rightist and also an early advocate of citizenship for Palestinians, as writing, “usually the right path is one that was never even considered, the one that is universally acknowledged to be unacceptable, taboo.”<\/p>\n

The rule of fear is the underpinning, the psychic secret police, of the dictatorship of the status quo. To use Begin’s word, we are all n’tinim, subjects, of the rule of fear.<\/p>\n

In another week, it will be Pesach. The enemy of fear. Time to cast out the chametz, which is everything we put up and hoard and refuse to part with and acquire and consume too much of, as our insulation against everything that scares us. Ideas included.<\/p>\n

Time to burn it. Time to burn what we are so comfortable believing, knowing to be true.<\/p>\n

It’s Spring. Time to start again. Time to think again, to leave behind what we know. Time to hit the road. Even if we can see that the route leads between gigantic, threatening walls, with nothing visible holding them from falling in on us, drowning us, annihilating us. Nothing, that is, but faith and a willingness to try something we hadn\u2019t, until now, considered.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDITOR: BDS works OK! Despite some diehard opponents of the BDS movement, such as Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein, the movement is spreading far and fast, and is collecting some very impressive results daily. Today may be atypical example – I have included only few, rather, the more important messages about BDS victories. So, despite … Continue reading March 27, 2012<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9387"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9399,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9387\/revisions\/9399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}