Lots of folks have sent along this piece by Bradley Burston in Haaretz on the death of Shamir, saying it was Zionism itself that was buried with the late prime minister. “Let it go.” This is an important piece because it shows that if Jews and Israelis show the courage to echo Tony Judt and Ali Abunimah and endorse simple ideas, I’m for democracy, for one person/one vote, for the right of consent over the government that controls a person’s life, well, we might actually get past all the fears and bring about a “quiet revolution” in Israel and Palestine.
There was never room for a Palestine in the Zionism of Greater Israel, nor in the Zionism of this government. There was room for one absolute value, and it was not democracy.
“It is permitted to liberate a people even against its will, or against the will of the majority,” Shamir once said, referring to the decision of his pre-state Lehi underground to fight and use terrorism against British authorities even if Ben-Gurion and the majority of the Jewish leadership were opposed.
“When we fought for freedom, for the establishment of a Jewish state, we didn’t send a questionnaire to the Jewish nation asking if it wanted a Jewish state.”
It’s time we began thinking like Shamir. When you believe in democracy, you should continue to believe in, and work toward and fight for democracy, whether the majority does or not. Even if in this Israel, proponents of democracy have become something of an underground.
“Zionism is a revolutionary process,” Shamir said. “And in a revolution you must be ready not to think too much about sentiments or human weaknesses….”
Speaking solely for myself, a person who has long embraced the label of Zionist, the revolution’s over. Time to try a new direction, maybe a new label as well. Something like a Democratic Israelist. Accent on the democratic.
Time, in the current reality, to think in the mode of quiet revolution. Time to think seriously about what democracy really means. Time to think seriously, for example, about what it would mean to give the Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem the vote.
With Shamir as its spiritual guide, this Israel cannot allow the Palestinians independence, cannot allow them building permits, cannot allow them freedom of movement, appeal, due process.
We should call our own bluff. We should give them the vote. Right after we declare the university in Ariel. Then we’ll finally see if we can afford our own brand of independence.
(Though notice: no Gaza. And isn’t my headline sadly shocking: a revolution to urge that people get the vote! P.S. Burston is an American, too. Some time I got to figure out this transnational identity stuff).
The thing I don’t get is that Israel could easily sort this out over stages.
Annex everything and end the military occupation.
Bring in a staged integration of both societies and with incentives for both to cooperate.
A good start would be to change the name of the damn place with an name that expresses emphasis on the entire population.
The reason for my thinking is this:
One of the great Hasbara lies is that Palestine only had a very small Arab population prior to Zionist immigration, with Arabs moving in illegally because they wanted a piece of the pie. So Arabs can work with Zionists, right? According to Hasbara, that is…..
Another argument on here the other day was that settlements provide work for Palestinians in the occupied territories. So Arabs can work with Israelis even today. This is a fact and makes a very important point.
So, by my simple reckoning, the average guy living in the territories is gonna think it’s Christmas when he has freedom of movement, ability to provide for his family, have enough water to drink and food for his belly and all the opportunity of the average Israeli if he’s prepared to go and work for it.
How would he be a threat to the state in which he would enjoy all those things that we take for granted? The guy is going to be elated to be part of such a vibrant cosmopolitan land of opportunity.
On the Right Of Return issue: Let the US pick up the tab. They won’t be paying out $3 billion a year in defence, and even if they still had to, they should still foot the bill for being Chief Enabler of the UN’s retarded child for all these years.
“Zionism is a revolutionary process,” Shamir said. “And in a revolution you must be ready not to think too much about sentiments or human weaknesses….”
One of the all time classic Zionist dumb ass statements, up there with Ben Gruen’s “it doesn’t matter what the goys say , it is what the Jews do”.
Zionists are special, so f*cking special
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk
But not for much longer
Revolutions have to deal with Monday morning monotony eventually and on Monday mornings sentiments and decorum matter.
Everyone is special !
Democratic Israelist. I like it. Would love to see a truly democratic Israel alongside a truly democratic Palestine.
No matter how Israelis sort it out, it shouldn’t be at the expense of a Palestinian state in which decisions can be made without Israelis calling all the shots. Or even half of them.
I live in a residential neighborhood where I can easily hear children playing in yards that our building overlooks. It’s wonderful to hear the kids but I’m sorry to say that these tots give voice to things that put me in mind of Israel. Two that are heard very frequently are “IT’S MINE!” and “I WAS HERE FIRST!”
That Palestine should be a democracy is plain, it is the very minimum that justice demands, leaving aside the displacement and occupation issues. Yet to hear American politicians talk you would think it is the Israelis who are under occupation, not the occupiers. Anti-Semitism gets bandied about frequently by Jews who are in the top ranks of the power structure here. Doesn’t anyone, any Joe Citizen, ever pause to consider that such speakers are talking nonsense given the position they have achieved and the air-play they get?
I’ve lived over six decades in the Chicago area. I’m not Jewish, so you would think I’d be likely to hear anti-Semitic remarks freely given, particularly back in the 1950’s and 60’s while I was going through school.
The grand total of anti-Semitic remarks that I have heard comes to 1. That’s right, one, and the person from whom I heard it has been in the grave for 30 years. Yet Abe Foxman is still sounding the trumpet. What has been a frequent occurrence is my finding out someone is Jewish accidentally when they mention it themselves. My conclusion from this is that anti-Semitism is a red-herring and to call it out is the mark of a fraud.
RE: “. . . if Jews and Israelis show the courage to echo Tony Judt and Ali Abunimah and endorse simple ideas, I’m for democracy, for one person/one vote, for the right of consent over the government that controls a person’s life, well, we might actually get past all the fears and bring about a ‘quiet revolution’ in Israel and Palestine.” ~ Weiss
MY COMMENT: A revolution (quiet or not) is sorely needed, because Likudnik Israel and Revisionist Zionism (largely due to their effect on the U.S.*) are an “existential threat” to the values of The Enlightenment ! ! !
* THE EFFECT OF LIKUDNIK ISRAEL AND REVISONIST ZIONISM
ON THE U.S.: “America Adopts the Israel Paradigm”, by Philip Ghiraldi, Antiwar.com, 7/05/12
ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/07/04/america-adopts-the-israel-paradigm/
P.S. No more battered
spousevoter syndrome for me!• Jill Stein for President – http://www.jillstein.org/
SEE: “Repressive Democracy: How Not to Waste Your Vote in November”, by Andrew Levine, Counterpunch, 6/20/12
LINK – http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/20/repressive-democracy/