The Journal News in New York’s Hudson Valley has published an attack on the new commuter rail ads we’ve been so excited about for describing Palestinian dispossession. “Railway ads present a skewed portrayal of Israel,” by two officials of the American Jewish Committee, Scott Richman and Larry Grossman, seems significant because it doesn’t smear the ads as anti-Semitic but is earnest and engaged. So the battle is on! Some potted history in this response:
One would never know from the ad that the area shown on the maps was the homeland of Judaism and the Jewish people; that Jews have lived there for more than 3,000 years; and that those exiled from the land never stopped praying to return there. Similarly, the ad makes no mention of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, whereby Great Britain promised the nascent Zionist movement a Jewish “national home” there, a pledge that became part of international law when endorsed by the League of Nations.
And the ad is discreetly silent about why the Palestinians have lost land. It’s not due to Israeli aggression. Rather, the Palestinian leadership has consistently refused to compromise and allow any Jewish sovereignty, of whatever size, in the land. Enlargement of Jewish territorial holdings has come in defensive wars fought reluctantly in order to stay alive…
In vain, Israel has attempted for years to reach agreement with the Palestinians, just as it did with Egypt and Jordan, so that a Palestinian state could be created that lives side-by-side in peace with Israel. Even today, the Palestinian Authority refuses to sit down with Israeli negotiators unless endless demands are met in advance. And, by the way, here’s another thing the ad conveniently ignores: More than 2 million Arabs are Israeli citizens, with equal rights.
Note that the writers’ claim is specifically contradicted by yesterday’s New York Times, in which Jodi Rudoren described Palestinian citizens of Israel as second class–“citizens of a state whose defining philosophy most find alienating at best, often considered enemies within, with a list of complaints about discrimination in employment, education and housing”– and in which Palestinians likened their status to that of blacks under Jim Crow.
I’m not necessarily a fan of the Balfour Declaration, but didn’t it say a homeland for the Jews should be constructed without prejudice to the rights of the indigenous inhabitants, rather specifically? (I’m sure someone here has the exact quote.) I would think virtually everything Israel has done, from ethnic cleansing in ’48 to house demolitions and denial of water today would be in violation of that statement. Can’t they find a better justification in international law? Probably not.
Israeli often trumpet through ram’s horn the claims of providing equal rights to Arab -Israeli.Its patently false. But it is no surprise to hear that from somebody who thinks Balfour declaration is a legal binding documents.Did not the British give the half of the world to themselves at one time?
“[p]otted” is a euphemism that masks the truth.
The historical record/information that the AJC mentioned in their letter is both a lie and a fabrication.
Had the same methods been utilized when writing a letter about the Holocaust, the letter would have been rejected as Holocaust Denial and Abe Foxman would have screeched at the top of his lungs.
Anyway, as early as December 1947, Zionist forces were ethnically cleansing Palestinian villages. http://lw.palestineremembered.com/Maps/MilOperOutUN.jpg
The war — for those who are ignorant of the historical record — occurred in May 1948.
The only war in which Israel was factually and truly acting in self-defense was the 1973 war.
But, that war was started by Syria and Egypt with the aim of recovering territories that — ironically — Israel had captured in its expansionist and offensive war of 1967.
We know all this because Israeli generals and politicians admitted as much after the fact.
And anyone who needs citations and sources, can easily search the archives on Mondoweiss where this topic was already discussed several dozen times.
I recommend Victor Kattan’s book ‘ From Coexistence to Conquest’ for anything to do with I/P and international law. Excellent. Good to have to hand when zionists are around.