Charlie Rose
Last night, Charlie Rose asked Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak what would be so bad about a one-state solution. 34:00 or so. The dialogue (partial transcript below) is not in itself that remarkable, but it followed on Rose expressing great discomfort with the Gaza onslaught of 2008-2009– “was it the appropriate response in your judgment?” Barak came off as rigid and a bit high-handed. I sense Rose is reflecting growing establishment impatience with Israel’s actions, cf. David Remnick saying, “I can’t take the occupation any more.”
Rose: Is a one-state solution the worst thing that could happen to Israel?
Barak: …It’s extremely bad for Israel.
Rose: Because?
Barak: Because Israel has been established to become a Zionist democratic Jewish state… The only solution is to delineate a certain line within which we would have a solid Jewish majority for generations to come….
Note Barak’s racial demographics. He despaired that the alternative is “two communities bleeding into one another” in a Belfast or Bosnia-like situation. I can’t imagine that sits well with Rose, who grew up in Jim Crow North Carolina.
Some Zionists (not the fundis) want a [1] Jewish State AND [2] Democratic State (that is, for ME, without permanent transfer and without non-democratic apartheid). Almost all also want a [3] Large-State.
These three are incompatible.
You can have Jewish-State and Democratic-State (i.e., without transfer or apartheid) in a small state (the size of NYC, 1/20 the size of pre-1967 Israel. In such a mini-state, even with FULL RETURN for 1948 refugees, so few refugees would return to the mini-state that Jewish large-majority would be assured.
You can have Jewish-State and Large-State, which is not a Democratic-State (as today — with apartheid and also with permanent transfer (1948)).
You can have Large-State and Democratic-State if it is not “Jewish” : (the One-State envisaged by so many, Judah Magnes, most Palestinians.
Israelis, having the power to dictate the choice (in the abject refusal of the nations to enforce international law), have chosen Large & Jewish and sacrificed Democratic.
As history marches on, even the pseudo democracy within pre-1967 Israel is dwindling, even for Jews. (Land restrictions and continuing confiscation of land from Palestinian Israelis shows that it was never democractic w.r.t. the latter.)
I tried to watch this one, but couldn’t. Barak’s accent is one of the most painful I have ever heard.
“Zionist democratic Jewish state”? Not really sure what this really means… is it achievable? If so, what happens to the over 25% non Jews? How does Barak propose to ensure a “solid Jewish majority for generations to come”? Force non-Jews not to have more than X children per family? per village? per city? This seems like a non-starter…
I hope Americans are paying attention. This is not democracy by any stretch.
“The only solution is to delineate a certain line within which we would have a solid Jewish majority for generations to come….”
Awesome poem
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Israel%2FAmerica%3A+A+Rambling+Poem.-a0208184537
Only as equals
by Remi Kanazi
Every time I think of 9/11
I see burning flesh
dripping off the bones of Iraqi children in Fallujah
Now Gaza
I tend to memorialize the forgotten
The collateral damage
eclipsing america’s unpunished crimes
Maybe it’s because I’m a numbers guy
Because if I had a dollar
for every time
an Iraqi died since 2003
I’d be a millionaire
And don’t get me wrong
Sometimes I don’t know
who to hate more
The governments in the West
Or the politicians in the East
Who sell their souls quicker than the oil they export
Straw men who use Palestine
as a tool to line their pockets
And don’t give a nickel to their people
Quisling governments
Who stitch mouths shut for a check
from Washington and AIPAC
How can they be Israel’s prototypical anti-Semite
If you are signing peace accords
to oppress your own people?
And then Orientalists and hypocrites
talk about how democracy can’t be allowed the Middle East
Because of what happened in Gaza
A Hamas boogyman
wrapped in democratic elections
Rahm Emanuel wants to educate me
and my people
about democracy gone wrong
Why doesn’t try implementing one in Israel first?
Instead of bowing down to terrorists
like his father and the IDF
Lauding a third rate, racist, European society
that’s imploding faster
Than its moral standing in the world
Enlightened like 1950s Afrikaners
and slave traders
Just because the house is beautiful
Doesn’t mean the bones you built it on
have fully decomposed
The Israeli left
is about as alive as Ariel Sharon
I’m sick and tired of asking for permission to resist
From antiquated leftists and progressives
Who care more about keeping it Kosher
than moving things forward
I put down my pen and waving fist
to resist with college kids and Palestinians
Boycott and divest!
Because who cares about
preserving a living
when governments are killing civilians
We’ll boycott Lev Leviev,
Caterpillar and your apartheid companies
We’re taking back the right of return
and the keys to our country
Because we never asked you
to go back to Europe
or sit in open air prisons
I’m not asking for your advice
I’m explaining the decision
You can stay here
with us
but only as equals
It’s not that you’re Israeli
it’s that you’re wrong
That’s why I fight for my people!