Have you noticed that all criticism of Israel on the part of our political leaders is now boiled down to the phrase, "The status quo is unsustainable." Obama used to talk about the occupation. Now this vague "unsustainable" phrase overcomes Jim Crow, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, evictions, nonviolent resistance, the entire scene of Palestinian dispossession.
Jeffrey Goldberg's review in the New York Times Book Review of Gershom Gorenberg's new book, The Unmaking of Israel struggles through the talking points and ends with a similar openended vagueness.
On a recent visit to the West Bank city of Hebron, I met with a Palestinian resident who recently passed through Israel’s military justice system. His rights in this system were limited. This particular Palestinian lives on a street that he shares with Jewish settlers. The settlers, unlike the Palestinians, are full citizens of Israel; they can vote for their leaders, and have open access to the Israeli civilian judicial system. The Palestinians who live side by side with them are not allowed a say in choosing the government that rules over them. Gorenberg’s book makes clear that this is a situation that cannot go on forever.
I applaud Goldberg's incisiveness about an unjust situation. But wait, hasn't this been clear for a long time? Not just for "this particular Palestinian." But for millions living alongside 500,000 Jewish settlers. And how long is forever? And how are Palestinians supposed to respond to this "forever," which so far has lasted, with western aegis, since 1920 or so, even as the west upholds the right of self-determination?
I like this too:
“Most of Ofra [settlement] was built ‘with no legal basis’ on land privately owned by Palestinians.” Gorenberg notes that the settlers would not have succeeded had they not had the support of politicians like Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
How did it happen that a country of laws — Israel’s Supreme Court justices are renowned around the globe — came to be so lawless in one corner of the territory it ruled?
Because the laws reflect the zionist ideology and therefore support and maintain the apartheid structure which Goldberg notes. The fiction of ‘neutral’ laws is a convenient cover for the most appalling oppression and harassment of innocent people.
Although I have not yet read “The Unmaking of Israel”, it got me thinking about the MAKING of Israel. My mind wandered to prior statements and quotes from Israel’s “founders”. How appropriate it was to re-read these sayings and to see that whatever Israel did, is still doing, and will likely continue to do is on the path set by that master plan whose principles were clearly articulated by the top zionists that ever lived. This blueprint is right there in front of our eyes, laid out in much detail. I wish that every Palestinian, Israeli, and whomever is interested in I/P re-read these sayings as well. I share them below.
THEODOR HERZL: Zionism demands a publicly recognized and legally secured homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people. The process of expropriation and removal of the Arabs of Palestine must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.
ZE’EV JABOTINSKY: We cannot give any compensation for Palestine, neither to the Palestinians nor to other Arabs. Therefore, a voluntary agreement is inconceivable. All colonization, even the most restricted, must continue in defiance of the will of the native population. Therefore, it can continue and develop only under the shield of force which comprises an Iron Wall which the local population can never break through. This is our Arab policy. To formulate it any other way would be hypocrisy. There is no justice, no law, and no God in heaven, only a single law which decides and supercedes all – Jewish settlements of all the land.
MOSHE SHARETT: There is no Arab who is not harmed by Jews’ entry into Palestine. The state of Israel must, from time to time, prove clearly that it is strong, and able and willing to use force, in a devastating and highly effective way. When the Jewish state is established, it is very possible that the result will be transfer of Arabs. We are equally determined to explore all possibilities of getting rid, once and for all, of the huge Arab minority which originally threatened us. By the reduction of the Arabs on the one hand and Jewish immigration in the transition period on the other, we will ensure an absolute Hebrew majority in a parliamentary regime. Transfer could be the crowning achievement, the final stage in the development of policy, but certainly not the point of departure.
DAVID BEN GURION: If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. There has been Anti – Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault ? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that? So, it’s simple: we have to stay strong and maintain a powerful army. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won’t survive. We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population. We must expel the Arabs and take their places. We must do everything to insure they ( the Palestinians) never do return. Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and take away from them their country. Behind the terrorism [by the Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and self sacrifice. To maintain the status quo will not do. We have to set up a dynamic state bent upon expansion. Take the American Declaration of Independence for instance. It contains no mention of the territorial limits. We are not obliged to state the limits of our State. After the formation of a large army in the wake of the establishment of the state, we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine.
CHAIM WEIZMANN: Palestine must be built up without violating the legitimate interests of the Arabs.. Palestine is not Rhodesia… 600,0000 Arabs live there, who before the sense of justice of the world have exactly the same rights to their homes as we have to our National Home. There must not be one law for the Jew and another for the Arabs….In saying this, I do not assume that there are tendencies toward inequality or discrimination. It is merely a timely warning which is particularly necessary because we shall have a very large Arab minority. I am certain that the world will judge the Jewish State by what it will do with the Arabs. We will establish ourselves in Palestine whether you like it or not. You can hasten our arrival or you can equally retard it. It is however better for you to help us so as to avoid our constructive powers being turned into a destructive power which will overthrow the world.
GOLDA MEIR: How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to. There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed. This country exists as the fulfillment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy.
MOSHE DAYAN: What cause have we to complain about their fierce hatred to us? For eight years now, they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived. Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population. We came here to a country that was populated by Arabs and we are building here a Hebrew, a Jewish state; instead of the Arab villages, Jewish villages were established. Let us not today fling accusations at the murderers. During the last 100 years our people have been in a process of building up the country and the nation, of expansion, of getting additional Jews and additional settlements in order to expand the borders here. Let no Jew say that the process has ended. Let no Jew say that we are near the end of the road. I know how at least 80% of all the incidents with Syria started. We were sending a tractor to the demilitarized zone and we knew that the Syrians will shoot. If they did not shoot, we would instruct the tractor to go deeper, till the Syrians finally got upset and start shooting. Then we employed artillery, and later also the air-force… I did that… and Yitzhak Rabin did that….
ARIEL SHARON: Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial. Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours… Everything we don’t grab will go to them. Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We the Jewish people, control America and the Americans know it.
MENACHEM BEGIN: The Palestinians are beasts walking on two legs.
YITZHAK SHAMIR: The Palestinians would be crushed like grasshoppers … heads smashed against the boulders and walls.
RAPHAEL EITAN: When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle. We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel… Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours.
EHUD BARAK: I imagine that if I were a Palestinian of the right age, I would, at some stage, have joined one of the terror organizations.
YITZHAK RABIN: We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, what is to be done with the Palestinian population? Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said ‘Drive them out!’. We shall reduce the Arab population to a community of woodcutters and waiters. I believe that in the long run, separation between Israel and the Palestinians is the best solution for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I enter negotiations with Chairman Arafat, the leader of the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, with the purpose to have coexistence between our two entities, Israel as a Jewish state and Palestinian state, entity, next to us, living in peace. I would like Israel to be a Jewish state, and therefore not to annex over 2 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Israel, which will make Israel a bi-national state.
Ramzi — Many thanks. A valuable resource.
Ramzi Jaber:
Thanks for assembling these very damning quotes.
However, I worry about the authenticity of the very last part of the quote from Ariel Sharon (“we, the Jewish people, control America”). Several years ago, Ali Abunimah did some research into this quote. Did Sharon really say it? Abunimah found that nearly every Arab believed that Sharon said it, but Abunimah couldn’t find actual proof anywhere. Abunimah, a passionate supporter of the Palestinian cause, doesn’t use the quote because it couldn’t be verified.
Thanks for pointing that out, Nevada Ned. I will certainly take Abunimah research over mine anytime!! However, along the same lines of this quote, moving forward I would instead use what Netanyahoo said:
“I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way.” It is in that same clip where he called Bill Clinton “radically pro-Palestinian”. WOW… gutsy hasbara.
link to mondoweiss.net
You can see and listen to the speech on YouTube with English subtitles… (Israel Channel 10)
link to youtube.com
How did it happen that a country of laws — …….— came to be so lawless in one corner of the territory it ruled?
one corner? it’s half the people, it isn’t one corner.
Goldberg is clear about some things that you are utterly vague about, critical things.
What he is advocating for, similarly to Gorenberg, a two-state solution at peace, resulting from mutual viability and health.
You are not clear about what you are advocating for.
And, as that is a critical decision (revolution vs reconciliation), it KEEPS the status of one of war, and in war of victor lauding over defeated.
I know you know that that is the case, that militancy keeps up the status of conflict. You are an intelligent man, and capable of seeing beyond the simple, and capable of keeping your eye on the prize of Palestinian self-determination and rights, WHILE retaining the jewel of Israeli self-determination and rights.
A different status can be achieved, but only by means that are consistent with a goal of peace.
“I know you know that that is the case, that militancy keeps up the status of conflict.”
As usual you are being vague, but I think you are saying that Palestinians should resort to nonviolent means to gain self-determination.
If I may quote Norman Finkelstein – I’m sure you will object Witty – consider it overruled!
link to normanfinkelstein.com
“Frustrated at the diplomatic impasse caused by US-Israeli obstructionism, West Bank and Gaza Palestinians rose up in December 1987 against the occupation in a basically non-violent civil revolt, the intifada. Israel’s brutal repression (compounded by the inept and corrupt leadership of the PLO) eventually resulted in the uprising’s defeat. ”
And again:
“. it’s utterly hypocritical for Israelis to wonder aloud why Palestinians
don’t pursue a non-violent strategy. One obvious reason is that, whenever they
have, Israel brutally represses it.” (Norman Finkelstein, 11 September
2003)
I would agree that the violent response to consistent and often unprovoked Israeli aggression has not served Palestinians well but it is at least understandable. What should frighten Israel most is not the relatively few and largely ineffective Hamas rocket attacks in response to their own rockets but the new generation of articulate and intelligent Palestinians who are telling and demonstrating to the world about the evils of the Israeli occupation. It is Israel that has won by the use of violence and it is Israel that wishes to continue it – it was always so.
“The guideline of our policy has always been the idea that a permanent
situation of no peace and a latent war is the best situation for us, and that
it must be maintained at all costs. … we are becoming stronger year by year
in a situation of impending conflict where it is possible that actual fighting
may break out from time to time. Such wars will usually be short and the
results guaranteed in advance, since the gap between us and the Arabs is
increasing. In this way we shall move on from occupation to further
occupation.” (Yeshayahu Leibowitz, 30 November 1973)
So let me get this straight. If you filter a vague statement through the kind of the vaguest commentator at MW, you get a unambiguous one?
Goldberg has never articulated that position. You simply wished he had.
Whereas you are very clear about what you advocate for, except that when it’s brought to your attention, you deny it.
So Goldberg writes: This particular Palestinian lives on a street that he shares with Jewish settlers.
I’d like to know what this “sharing” looks like. From Hebron, I know only one sort of pictures. Like, “sharing” a battlefront.
“How did it happen that a country of laws — Israel’s Supreme Court justices are renowned around the globe — came to be so lawless……?”
A country based on ethnic and religious majority will not/cannot write impartial or democratic laws…it’s that simple.
Sometimes one that even isn’t supposed to be based on an ethinc or religous majority does the same thing …it’s the same kind of contridiction as our own ‘we hold all people to be equal” and then turning blacks into 1/2 a person.
I don’t know how Goldberg and others can even ask the question when they know the GLARING OBVIOUS answer…..must be that ziocane they are on as Mooser says.
They can look at what kind of ‘democracy’ the US was when it denied blacks as persons and woman the vote and know what Israel is…who are they kidding with their handwringing.
Hey Phil. This reminds me of the Jewish journal where I live(in a modern, Western European society). There was a recent article there on Israel.
It was written by a self-described ‘liberal Zionist’ who warned in a spasm of paranoia against the Zionist Christians. The tone was almost as if it was the Evangelical Christian’s fault that Israel these days has a bad rep and if only these nutjobs would remove themselves from Zionism, all would be well. But Jews are delicate, honorable people who dare not offend them, or so went her argument.
After attacking Glenn Beck’s delusional Jerusalem rally, the journalist, a woman, went into a fit of rage, declaring audaciously; “His vision would never be compatible with Ben-Gurion’s vision”.
I sort of chuckled. Does she even know of his private letter – even as Weimar was still standing, shakily, but standing nonetheless – to his son, declaring that ‘All of Israel must be ours’ and that there can be ‘no compromise’ on that issue?
Does she know about what Goldberg has finally acknowledged in public, that the settlers aren’t the fringe. They’re just more open with their intentions than the hypocritical liberal elite who quietly support them or do not protest at the very least.
Who expanded settlements most in Israel’s history? Labor.
But Shimon Peres is a more useful figurehead to the world than, say, Lieberman.
The entire basis for liberal Zionists like this woman is complete self-deception.
That doesn’t mean, by the way, that I disapprove of Zionism as a philosohical idea. Just that it’s been implemented in horrible ways and there’s no way out now. We’ll have to wait for the next attempt, and we’d better be prepared for a no then.
But that’s beside the point.
No response from Phil?
ramzijaber. thank you for the quotes. Is it possible to source them? you may contact me directly at stevelaudig@gmail.com. thanks in advance.
stevelaudig, I will dig that info up. I just need some time to put it together.
The chaos that is happening in Tahrir, real chaos now, military fighting with demonstrators, demonstrators fighting with demonstrators, mirrors the chaos that has happened in Palestine, likely will happen relative to OWS (except for efforts at proposal and subsequent movement in our Main Streets).
PROPOSAL. Even if it starts with articulation of principles rather than tangible proposal.
Its hard work to propose, to facilitate proposal.
Its THE work.
Failure to do that is an indication of the potential of deception.
THEY should be transparent. WE can’t be, we are the vanguard.
The chaos that is happening in Tahrir…
Richard, you’ve not even got this gobbledygook on the right thread!
PROPOSAL is the link.