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The War of Ideas in the Middle East
Given the current ruthlessness of Israel and the way it's governments and the electorate seem to move in an ever more extreme direction:
1) Isn't the main danger a complete ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, perhaps during a moment of high crisis elsewhere when much of the world is distracted. For example, a crisis on the Korean peninsula, or possibly the island of Taiwan?
2) Isn't a secondary danger that Israel establishes an apartheid state, but with the help of it's very powerful domestic allies, especially in the USA, it simply toughes it out. "Israel hates the situation in the West Bank, but it's the only way this exceptional country can guarantee it's security."
Try to remain positive.
The number of good people in the world far outnumber the bad.
Outside the United States, Israel is deeply unpopular, even hated in many countries. There is some evidence that the younger generations of American Jews may be less willing to adopt an "Israel right or wrong and here's a fat cheque to ensure it stays that way."
Above all else is the endurance of the Palestinian people. It's been an open secret that since 1967, the broad aim has been to make conditions so intolerable that the Palestinians "voluntarily" leave for Jordan and elsewhere. Despite everything they show no signs of doing that.
Above all else we must continue to make our voices heard. Otherwise with the 'right' American President and the 'right' Israeli Prime Minister, and the 'right' conditions (e.g an International community distracted by something like the Invasion of Iraq in 2003), Israel will attempt to ethnically cleanse the West Bank, while blithering on about how much it's hates doing so. The slow motion ethnic cleansing that is going on now can be resisted to some extent. A full scale ethnic cleansing might be accomplished in a few weeks and be irriversable!
I wouldn't worry about it too much, Phil.
While it's true that in the past the lobby could finish people's careers off for good, the situation is much changed now.
Thanks to our opponents crying ANTISEMITE! far too many times and in far too many situations, the charge itself has zero weight in Europe and is diminishing by the day in the USA. Consider just how many genuinely great and good figures have been accused of antisemitism in the recent past, and the accusation becomes nonsensical, simply a bad joke.
Steve Walt's post and reputation is secure, no matter how much Jeffery Goldberg might wish otherwise.
Elie Wiesel is that most disgusting of all specimens - the pious bigot.
My nightmare is that under the 'right' American President and with the 'right' Israeli leader and under the 'right' circumstances (a distracted International community, or perhaps one exhausted by a major war as in 1947-48), Israel ethnically cleanses the West Bank to the shouts and cries of the International community but little action beyond a token boycott or the withdrawal of an ambassador.
Indeed many elements in Israel, faced with the reality of a one state solution will argue that such action is a regrettable necessity (boo hoo hoo we will never forgive them for what they force us to do boo hoo hoo).
I wouldn't worry about Hillary. Unlike her husband, she comes over as exactly what she is - highly ambitious, highly intelligent, rather unprincipled and rather nasty. Those aren't characteristics that enable you to win the popularity contest that is a U.S Presidential election.
Uri Avnery is a marvellous distinguished man, but at heart he's a Zionist.
To be sure the most harmless left-wing Zionist, but none the less a man who speaks of his service in the Nakba of '47 and '48 with pride and affection. A man who who was close emotionally if not politically to extreme right-winger Menachem Begin. A man who knew and worked with Golda Mier, the lady who spoke endlessly of peace yet never saw a reckless assassination plot or cruel refugee camp aerial bombing she didn't approve of.
In a sense Uri Avnery embodies just how hideous Zionism is. Even someone as kind, intelligent, thoughtful and compassionate as he still finds ways to justify land theft and ethnic cleansing. It was all done from the purest motives don't you see...?
A marvellous case of how weak the Israeli arguments are - in order to present the Israeli case, Christian Amanpour has to invent an international law nobody has ever heard about!
I'll leave the debate about the professionalism of that to others, but I bet Amanpour is on a higher salary than most of us here...
"upper-class international intellectuals"
As clear a case of projection as you'll ever see - Look in the mirror Jodi.
"Yet more and more Jews are waking up to the fact that embracing war as a way of life leads nowhere - except to more war."
I see no evidence for this assertion - in Israel the attack on Gaza is wildly popular.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev "We're hitting their command and control."
Remarkable how the four year old child you killed today was in command.
Elie Wiesel is an unapologetic racist bigot, for whom Israel can never ever do any wrong.
It's shameful to pretend he has anything to teach anyone who isn't a member of the Likud.
I was working in the ISM Media Office in Ramallah that miserable day (July 29th 2008). They brought Ahmed to the central hospital and I sent two of our 'spare' volunteers over there to find out how badly he was hurt and what had happened to him.
One of these volunteers actually saw Ahmed - he'd been shot in the head and cerebral fluid and brain material had leaked onto the pillow from the exit wound in the back of his head. They kept Ahmed on life support for a day or two, as his family couldn't bear to have the machines switched off immediately - they needed time to adjust to the idea that their beloved ten year old son had been shot dead.
During that time he was on the life support, various journalists saw Ahmed - the idea that the cause of his death is in dispute is ludicrous. Also, several ISM volunteers were in Nil'in during that period - saw the various protests and could have been called as witnesses - needless to say they weren't.
There's a nasty coda to the murder of Ahmed Moussa. The very next day, the Israeli Border police unit at Nil'in showed how much it had learned by murdering another Palestinian youth - Yousef Amera who was 17 or 18.
Great article Phil, too bad I feel slightly sick after reading it.
Pity the Palestinian people; they're up against an entire super-power thanks to that super-power's corrupt and archaic political system.
This is excellent news - the Zionist Israel First crowd are shaken by this development. Hold firm churches, stay loyal to your congregations and your hearts!
“The letter calling for hearings and reassessment was issued without outreach to longtime partners in public advocacy within the Jewish community..."
Bad Lutherans, bad!
To repeat what you already know, nothing but NOTHING connected with the Israel/Palestinian conflict is for release until we've had a chance to eyeball it and approve it.
Now go take a trip to the woodshed. You're in a LOT of trouble!
An excellent bit of research, Phil.
You may be right that, almost imperceptibly, the tide is turning on Israel/Palestine and things which even five years ago would never dare to be said are now being discussed openly in mainstream publications.
Alas, for the two state solution, I fear it's all a decade or so too late...
I suspect large numbers of French resistance fighters held virulently anti-German views during the Nazi occupation of France from 1940-45.
Such views were surely inevitable under a brutal military occupation that included biased courts and summary justice deployed against the indigenous population.
Postwar, both France and Germany were transformed and made huge and sincere efforts at forgiveness, understanding and conciliation. There is no reason why Israelis and Palestinians couldn't make the same sincere and good-willed efforts once a just and equitable solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict has been found.
Until that solution is found, some degree of anti-Semitism among Palestinians is (sadly) inevitable, as is a degree of racism in Israel which many observers find horrifying.
But demanding that anti-Semitism is stamped out in a population brutally occupied and oppressed by a state that wants to be known as Jewish is simply unacceptable.
I've seldom read a more comprehensive dismantlement of an organisation as this.
OUT are shown to be weak, unprincipled and ruthlessly manipulated by the government of Israel.
Excellent work by Sarah Schulman.
poor President Carter.
Foolish enough to speak the truth about Israel. Naturally the lobby will never forgive him.
Dialogue groups have always been deeply problematic; not least because they are often enthusiastically supported by 'liberal Zionists' and 'moderates.'
From an Israeli point of view they are perfect - they use a lot of Palestinian time and energy, they implicitly support the "each side is as bad as the other" idea, and they have no impact on the ground.
Anyone who wishes to support the Palestinian cause is well advised to ignore dialogue groups.
I'm sorry but I'm finding this series far too long-winded, self-indulgent and self-absorbed.
It may well have merits that I find elusive, but surely it's out of place here on Mondoweiss?
Really great work - massive thanks and congratulations to all concerned.
Quite apart from the boycott issue, casting some much needed light on Zionist influence 'behind the scenes' is an absolute good, not just for Palestine but the nation of Australia too. Many 'ordinary' and normally apolitical people will be dismayed and furious to discover how much influence Israel has in Australian domestic politics.
THANK YOU!
I do wish we could just move on from this issue.
Infighting is exactly what Israel and it's supporters want from us.
Some people think the right of return must be implemented in full, some like Chomsky I believe, say that it's an impossible demand and wrong to raise Palestinian hopes. Others think there is likely to be a small symbolic right of return, with compensation (which doubtless the poor American taxpayer will fund) for those who remain outside Palestine/Israel.
The above positions are all honourable, and it's perfectly possible that people who hold any one of those beliefs can work together to end the occupation.
It's very sad to see proud representatives of the people reduced to snivelling wretches by the power of the lobby. I do hope there that one day there isn't a fearful backlash against it.
Urgh! The older I get, the more I dislike all religion, and especially the 'ultra true believers' What a revolting practice and what a horrible scandal. It makes me feel queasy. Urgh!
ISM London did a great two day training and orientation workshop last Saturday and Sunday.
They will be giving further trainings (although not at the Palestine Place which closes this week) in the summer.
Contact ISM London for details.
Imagine the reaction if she'd married a Palestinian...
Yet another fabulously wealthy and very influential citizen whose primary loyalty is to the state of Israel.
It's a wonder we've achieved anything at all for the Palestinians when you get a glimpse of the forces aligned against them.
I found this a fascinating debate between two honourable men who hold two honourable views.
Indeed it's striking how much both of them agree on.
The debate about the true numbers of settlers is rather ridiculous. Even if the Palestinians agree to the de-facto theft of their land to accommodate 300,000 settlers in Israel, that still leaves about 200,000 (a conservative estimate) who must be rehoused in Israel. Under the Israeli proportional representation system, it's difficult to see how any Israeli government could enact that legislation and, crucially, carry it out with an Army heavily infiltrated by hardcore settlers and nationalists.
That's why ultimately I believe the solution will be one state, perhaps preceded by Israeli flight to the USA and Europe as the increasing extremism and unsustainability of Israel becomes clear. But I hope Norman is right and I'm wrong, because the one state solution could very easily dissolve into chaos and urban terrorism (see conflict in Northern Ireland for details).
Don't despair - Israel and everyone else constantly underestimates the will and endurance of the Palestinian people.
Israel is already a dirty word in large parts of Europe, and (worryingly for Israel) especially so amongst educated affluent younger people - the leaders of tomorrow.
The BDS movement is growing, slowly but surely, and US support tends to be coerced by AIPAC rather than given from genuine warmth and affection.
Netanyahu is rude and abrasive even by Israeli standards, and a second term Obama will have little to lose from slapping him about a bit.
To repeat - don't despair; we must continue to fight for the Palestinian cause.
Once again, the incredible amounts of money that being 'on-side' offers is too much for principle or beliefs.
It's easy to imagine the internal dialogue (or possibly even the overt dialogue taking place behind closed doors):
"I'm going to have compromise on my principles on this issue. But if I don't the Lobby will back the opposing candidate and I'll be outspent, as well as smeared in the media, whom the Lobby also influences mightily.
So, in order to get most of things done that I believe in, I'm going to give myself the best chance I have of being elected, and abandon the Palestinians to their fate. It's not nice, but then politics isn't nice, and I wouldn't be the first person who had to compromise and bow down in the face of he lobby to get elected.
Does anyone have AIPAC's phone number?"
"Alterman calls for incremental political progress that will engage Israelis and American Jews..."
[Sigh] Right. As if that hasn't been tried, along with dialogue groups, staged withdrawals, back channel communications and thousands of other meetings, conferences, proposals and whatever for 45 YEARS!!!
In the meantime, there's a serious risk that many Israelis will die from laughing too much while they steal more land, kill more Palestinians and recieve more American financial and military aid.
An incremental (i.e stationary) political process is exactly what Israel wants.
I have a horrible feeling that one day Israel will reap the terrible whirlwind it has so brazenly sown.
Beware the wrath of the United States - it can be very cruel to small client nations.
Eleanor,
You were rather unlucky to encounter a crazed Zionist in London - my experience has been that the majority of people are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, although the tactic of suicide bombing during the second intifada did immense harm.
Fortunately that tactic has stopped while the Zionists have become even more intransigent and are as brutal as ever.
Ah, yes....
"It felt bad even at that time. They said Palestinian police are connected to terror and that the [killers] passed through the checkpoint. Maybe the police are connected to terror but for sure they didn't pass through all the checkpoints [attacked that day]."
Kill and weep. Kill and weep. Kill and weep. The same old Israeli mantra since at least 1967 if not before.
Benzion Netanyahu was an extreme right wing bigot. No crocodile tears please.
Makes me wonder just at what point would the apologists actually criticise Israel?
Would they apologise if instead of using his rifle butt, the officer had actually shot the cyclist? What about if the officer had shot the cyclist dead? What about if the officer had killed two cyclists? How about three? What about five?
I suspect the article above would have been essentially the same. A tragic accident, a good man loses it momentarily for the first time in his career, evil anti-Semites get what they deserve, makes me feel bad but good also, shows how wonderful the IDF is the rest of the time, appalling but entirely atypical incident hasbara hasbara hasbara...
Conclusion? People like Jack Engelhard suffer a complete morality failure when it comes to Israel. Israel can literally do no wrong in his eyes.
Robert Wright's article is excellent, but I've just spent a miserable time reading a hundred or so of the comments.
They reveal the all the standard Israeli prejudices and legalistic arguments. The settlements are built in government land, Palestinians want to destroy Israel, you can't negotiate with fanatics etc etc etc blah blah blah.
I see zero sign that Israel is changing, and find it impossible to imagine any policy changes anytime soon. SIGH. Sorry for being so negative.
Maybe someone should tell Beinart that "Am Jewish orgs" enthusiastically fund settlements, usually with US Charitable status, and so tax free.
It's irritating that people such as Anne-Marie Slaughter always make their pro-Palestinian comments when safely out of office, never when in power.
Phil, you're much too kind to Wieseltier in this piece. Personally I believe he made up the personal settlement boycott on the spot. The truth of the matter is that he hasn't boycotted anyone or anything.
Proof? Simply the man's over-weaning arrogance and self absorption. There is no way he could have carried out any political act in secret for years and not told everyone about it.
Superb article - the weird self absorption by the likes of Naomi Paiss partially explains why 44 years of military occupation has gone on and on and on.
Interesting that she quotes Joan Peters.
Exposing the fraud that is "From Time Immemorial" lost Norman Finklestien what would have been a promising career in academia. Embarrassing the likes of Barbara Tuchman, who along with many other Jewish luminaries endorsed the book's evidence and argument was considered unforgivable by the American Jewish community.
One of the softer defences of the book is that it's considered a bit of a joke, especially within Israel itself. And yet here it is, used to support and encourage the armed robbery of land and livelihoods.
This is very good sign.
If the efforts to label Israel an apartheid state were completely ineffectual, then the Israeli government wouldn't bother doing this.
Somewhere deep in the hidden places of the Israeli government, analysts are whispering that once upon a time white South Africa appeared strong and determined, it's critics dismissed as cranks and idealists. Yet within a couple of decades of the campaign gaining traction, apartheid came to an ignominious end...
It's a very erudite essay, but for me it somehow dodges the issue that it was originally meant to address. The practice of Israelies adopting various elements of Palestinian culture and then renaming it and cliaming it as their own.
A perfect (perfectly disgusting) example of this were the navy blue and white Keffiyeh (scarves) on sale in trendy clothes shops the last time I was passing through Isreal.
As someone fortunate enough to converse with Christopher Hitchens on numerous occasions, I can assure Richard Witty that he would have treated you with the contempt he treated all other mouthpieces who keep repeating the party line.
There are times when I despair for the Palestinian cause when I see what we're up against.
Name after name after name in high finance, the United States government, political parties, the media, the law, the highest levels of huge corporations and even organised crime! Each one linked to another by friendship, professional association, sometimes even by family ties. Each one fiercely pro-Israel, to the extent that for many, Israel literally can do no wrong no matter what.
Then I console myself with the thought that despite the power and the money and law arrayed against us, the Palestinian case is being heard. Ideas and concepts that even ten years ago were never discussed (at least in the USA) do occasionally get an airing here.
So lets take heart and keep at it, and remind ourselves that any progress at all must be celebrated considering the incredible power of the lobby arrayed against us.
An excellent overview.
It repeats many of the points that ISM volunteers learn in their compulsory training in Palestine, and in pre-travel training in places like London (see the ISM London website link to ism-london.org.uk )
After following this conflict for 30 years, Rachel's comment might be the most shocking I've ever read.
To think that she is the soul mate of a man who's been deeply influential in both Israel and the United States during that time is deeply disturbing.
Hopefully her comment will receive wide publicity - and we'll remember it and quote it whenever the subject of hate comes up in connection with the conflict.
To us long term Blair watchers, this comes as no surprise.
As long ago as May 2009, Blair was awarded a one million dollar 'peace prize' by an Israeli 'philanthropist and businessman.' There is no way that anyone working for the Palestinians would get within 100 miles of a prize like that.
None the less it'll be good to see Blair fired - he loves being an international figure, and the greatest revenge of all would be to see him reduced to obscurity.
The kindness and wonderful friendliness of the Palestinians is such a contrast to the shocking rudeness of Israelis. I believe many people, even those sympathetic to Israel notice this, but few come out and say it, because it smacks of racism and seems so trivial.
It's actually not trivial at all - I've seen Israelis on holiday manage to turn the entire staff of a hotel against them in a few days, simply because they don't seem to realise how unpleasant and ungracious they are. It's so very strange.
A compelling analysis.
None the less, I feel a bit more optimistic about a second term Obama. The Israeli electorate are historically intolerant of any leader who manages to threaten the US/Israel relationship, and the shocking flaws in Israel's proportional representation system ensure that no Israeli leader or government stays in power for long.
To end on a pessimistic note, I do believe the Palestinians may have face a determined effort to ethnically cleanse them from certain areas of the West Bank if the current situation remains and someone like Bush again occupies the White House. It's not too difficult to imagine a hard right US administration secretly telling Israel that it would be OK to (for example) ethnically cleanse East Jerusalem and to be prepared for harsh US words and the temporary recall of the US Ambassador to Israel but no further action. We already saw something like this under the Bush administration which concluded a number of secret agreements and understandings with Israel which, to it's credit, the Obama administration disowned.
I suppose everyone familiar with this conflict gets used to callous cross-eyed stupidity but when a Rabbi says:
"There are no innocents in a war."
That seems straight out of the sayings of Adolf Hitler.
It's very sad to see the leader of a very great nation, crawling and simpering to appease someone as loathsome as Netanyahu.
I have no doubt that Obama is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. But I also have no doubt that his advisers have shown him the importance of big lobby money in the forthcoming election campaign. It's going to be a near-run thing, and Obama has been told in no uncertain terms that a few million Palestinians aren't worth losing a second term over.
Despite that, I remain optimistic if Obama gets elected for a second term. Obama would be free from the financial pressures that the lobby is able to apply now, and also mad as hell from the repeated humiliations and threats from Netanyahu.
Given that freedom and anger Obama may be able to surprise us during his second term. I spoke to one of his staffers a couple of years ago, and she told me behind the cool rational façade there's a ruthless bastard with a vindictive streak and who gets things done when he puts his mind to it.
Lets hope so. If he doesn't, then frankly I despair for the Palestinian people, and suspect that Israel may feel emboldened enough to actually ethnically cleanse the West Bank at some point under a future Republican Administration under tea party influence.
The thing that always surprises me about Israel's behaviour is how dumb it is. Does any thoughtful Israeli genuinely believe that Islam Tamimi will forgive and forget after what he's been through? Will his parents, will his brothers and sisters? Will his friends and neighbours and others in his community?
By actions such as this, Israel is absolutely guaranteeing that the conflict will continue, that the Palestinians will redouble their liberation efforts, that thousands of people on both sides in the coming years will continue to suffer and die.
Lastly, the International community is reading and watching this stuff. The story is the most widely read of the entire paper that day. The Independent is a major British newspaper, highly influential within political and academic elites. Those elites shape policy, not least because in a democracy the citizens read and watch this stuff also.
If Israel continues doing this stuff, sooner or later (yes, probably later) it will find itself in the situation of white South Africa. Boycotted, sanctioned, hated, an international embarrassment almost universally loathed. It may take decades, maybe even a century or more, but Israel is doomed if it continues on this course.
I felt rather sorry for Jonathan Freedland as it would have taken a debating genius to overcome the handicap of Carol Gould on the team.
Gould is so extreme, dumb and obnoxious she can't even hang on to a gig at Pijamas Media or FrontPage!
I hope that all the other activists redouble their efforts and GUARD their ships!
Steel conducts sound and heat very effectively and there is no way this kind of sabotage could be done entirely silently and quickly. If the ship was well guarded then there is a great chance the diver(s) who attempted the sabotage be discovered.
The arrest of an Israeli diver(s) engaged in sabotage would be a major success for the flotilla.
I wouldn't worry about "Stop the ISM" as it's a one man band, not a group.
It's run by a rather obsessive individual called Lee Kaplan, who sadly isn't playing with a full deck. He makes all kinds of crazy allegations and misspelled rants. Depending on your point of view, he's either someone to pity for being mentally ill, or simply a Zionist clown.