Important piece in Foreign Policy on the desecularization of Israel. In 1960, Palestinian Arabs and Orthodox Jews made up a combined 15 percent of the country's primary students. Today the number is 46 percent and by 202o it will be over half– each "segregated" in its own school system.
"Such a development is
completely contrary to the demographic hopes of Israel's secular Zionist founders."
And while Palestinian women are having 3.6 children, the Orthodox are having 7. Womb talk. I know; the authors are social scientists. The piece suggests that Avigdor Lieberman's vision of racist partition–land swaps on an ethnic basis, loyalty oaths, disfranchisement–is gaining inevitable force. Jewish intolerance, on the march.
Lieberman is in constant conflict with the Haredi community. Majority haredi of Jewish population in Isael is NOT the Israel Beitanhu goal. With all the bedfellows in Israeli politics/society, there are many ironic coalitions. For example both the haredi and orthodox Muslim community actively oppose "immodesty". The concept of freely and publicly expressed sexuality in any public setting is mutually opposed. Modesty is mutually supported. Some haredi and the moral left and hopefully some parallel Islamic/Palestinian regard morality (self-introspection and personal moral inquiry) as more important than politics. Some on the far left that are anti-Zionist share anti-Zionism with the racist far right. Both Zionism and Palestinian nationalism are nationalist movements, over democratic. Both Hamas social service wings and Zionist social service wings regard the health of their communities as paramount, more important than political forms. Both the peace/reconciliation seeking left and the radical anti-Zionist left are critical of Israeli policies and practices. Both the democracy and morality originating anti-Zionist left and the Islamic expansionist waqf advocated are anti-Zionist. Multitudes of overlapping and odd bedfellows.
"And while Palestinian women are having 3.6 children" You sure about that number? Are you talking West Bank or Gaza? Either way stats show that number to be closer to 7 children per Palestinian woman. I think you got you #s mixed up…..
I think that Christians and Muslims and Jews can better express their faith by living in heterogeneous communities, as, in our common tradition, we are all counseled to seek out the welfare of the city to which we have been exiled. This plea is reinforced by the advice of Jesus (peace be upon him) when He tells us to leave our families, love the tax collector and various other outrageous suggestions. The general tone of these messages seems to be that we should embrace the family of man as our own family, forget about trying to return to paradise, (it will be along directly…) and make life for as fulfilling and enjoyable as we can for others (and the rest of creation) and so by extension, for ourselves. The extraordinary thing is that this process of reaching out, outreach, joining, looking out, "leaving" what we are and so on, is said to bring us close to divinity, which I am reliably informed is the goal of the faithful followers of the aforementioned groups. That all seems like a good idea to me. :-)
This is pretty much how Malaysia works. Indians, Chinese and Malays all have their separate schools, political parties, etc. Not a lot of social mixing goes on…although draconian affirmative action and a de facto one-party state manage to keep the place together. Maybe not the worst model for the inevitable one-state solution.
It isn't "beitanhu," it's "beiteinu."
Israel’s “secular founders” — the perpetrators of the Nakba — were generally Socialists and Communists. All this talk of the world melting into one under the hyper-secular, Statist hand of "progressivism" is just a variation of officially atheist Communism/Socialism warmed over. These State-worshippers are more militant and far more deadly than authentically religious Jews in Israel. In fact, the Neocons were mostly former Trotskyites who maintained their love of utilizing the State to bash in the skulls of their many enemies. Indeed, most of the American Jews from Left and Right who have been the primary enablers of Zionist abuses aren't particularly religious. They generally love either money or government most. Support and subversive intrigue for militant Zionism may well be their way of compensating for turning their backs on God in all ways but theatre and lighting candles.
Even Zionists take umbrage at the recent suggested applications of the beiteinu concept. I'm leaving out the opening lines as they are a bit too intemperate for this audience. :-) "When a well-meaning minister invents a law that will prevent demonstrations against public officials near their houses, it smells bad. It irritates. It reminds you of places and times you would rather forget. When a malicious little paskudnyak that plays a big patriot invents a law that will prohibit Israeli Arabs to mark the Nakba (no matter how malicious and stupid that Nakba day is), it starts stinking. You have to sit up, smell the air and ask yourself what the hell is going on around you?" http://simplyjews.blogspot.com/2009/05/yisrael-be...
When crossing between diverse writing systems, there's always room for argument over the best way to write a transliteration. Looking at the word in Hebrew, I don't see where Richard is getting an "h", but I also don't see where you're getting the second "i". I usually write it "Beitenu", which seems to me the most straightforward transcription of the Hebrew spelling.
I suspect he's talking about Palestinian Israelis. They have the lowest birth rate among Palestinians. Birth rates among Palestinians strongly correlate with poverty. Gaza, which has the most poverty, has the highest birth rate, and the West Bank is in the middle in poverty and birth rate. I can't vouch for the exactitude of Phil's numbers, but they are ball-park correct, and I'm sure he got them from reliable sources.
"Some haredi and the moral left and hopefully some parallel Islamic/Palestinian regard morality (self-introspection and personal moral inquiry) as more important than politics." Do you really regard morality as equating to "self-introspection and personal moral inquiry" rather than action (politics)? Were Gandhi or Martin Luther King not being moral when they took political action? No wonder all of your comments are so obtuse. It looks like you are mistaking navel-gazing for morality. And I think its rather sad that you don't even know enough Palestinians, and you are so unwilling to give them the benefit of the doubt, so as to be able to bring yourself to omit the unnecessary "hopefully" with respect to Palestinians.