This is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
The value of the Shekel seems to be falling and business leaders in Israel are grumbling. Their collective pin-up, Scarlett Johansson, isn’t going to save them either.
What to do?
It seems to be a no-brainer. With President Abbas’s recent announcement that he would welcome an American-led NATO occupation of Palestine, he gave up the Palestinian store. Abbas is begging to be rescued from his own leadership and people.
Why Netanyahu doesn’t break from his right wing pack and polish his Nobel Prize credentials by saying yes to an offer that really is way too good to refuse is beyond me. If he breaks away from the take-all of Palestine group, he can form a national unity coalition that effectively takes-almost-all of Palestine while leaving a cheap and subservient labor pool of millions of Palestinians for Israeli and Palestinian kingpins.
Call it the SodaStream solution.
That’s it. SodaStream can be the glossy model of proclaiming peace while ghettoizing a people. It’s already being argued that way, albeit in softer language.
Perhaps Samantha Power could come to the newly declared ghetto and bless it. Imagine Power delivering her ever so eloquent denunciation of injustices around the world and declaring the SodaStream plant as a model for solving injustice – at least when Jews who guarantee her career are involved.
Scarlett Johansson could be at her side or, better yet, in a larger than life poster as a backdrop.
After her presentation, Power could introduce the newest Nobel Laureate, Benjamin Netanyahu. With the other new Nobel winner, John Kerry.
Impossible? If you’re a betting person, it’s a lot more likely than either an actual Two-State or a One-State solution.
I’d like to be a fly on the wall of the average Palestinian family to hear what they say about Abbas. Then, I’d like to buzz over to the inside tent side of the average Palestinian camp refugee.