The Israeli columnist Gideon Levy has an important piece in Haaretz today calling on the Palestinians to adopt a “one person, one vote” movement to hasten the end of Israeli control over Palestinian lives. While parts of the piece read like a lecture to Palestinians, the general thrust of it is important to air.
Levy calls on Palestinians to heed the lessons of the South African anti-apartheid movement. The dream of a Palestinian state is withering away, and so their struggle should focus on changing the nature of the Israeli system that rules over their lives.
Here’s an excerpt from the end of the column:
This world cannot remain indifferent to the basic demand of one person, one vote; no one can possibly refuse such a basic right of every human being.
Focusing on this demand will disarm Israel of all its excuses. What can it say? That the Palestinians aren’t human? That they don’t have rights like any other nation? Not every nation has a state, but every person has the right to vote. Palestinians do not have voting rights in the state that determines their fate. Theirs must be a struggle for this right without criminal violence, such as the terror of the second intifada. Such a struggle will attract international support by peoples and governments. Nobody, apart from the Israelis, could possibly oppose it. Israelis will be forced to reexamine their values, beliefs, and all the sacred truths and red lines they invented. Israelis will be forced to admit that for some time now theyhave been living in one state, but it is shadowed by a form of apartheid. Once this happens, there are only two possibilities: Either the Palestinians will succeed as Mandela did to calm people’s fears, and the all-Israeli nightmare of the one-democratic-state solution will make way for the promise of a bright future; or Israelis will finally come to their senses and hasten to withdraw from all the occupied territories and allow, at virtually the last moment, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. There is no other just possibility for a solution of the conflict.
It’s a great piece.
The Israelis should
http://www.northernsun.com/Wake-The-Fuck-Up-Sticker-%285125%29.html
while they still have time to make choices
I don’t think the dream of a viable Palestinian state is withering away just because no progress is being made. That’s the nature of fighting for justice. It’s a slow and gradual process. Sometimes it’s stagnant and even receding. There were many times when it seemed the possibility of abolishing slavery or ending discrimination in the United States was withering away. But change can occur in an instant. The primary issue is getting the United States to stop supporting Israel’s every move. If that happens, Israel will be forced to withdraw from the territories without a pout. If anything, the 2 state settlement has a better chance of succeeding than the 1 state settlement, for international law supports it. And I think 1 state is simply a harder sell for the public. Not a single government supports it, no one has even heard of it. And how do you even get there? There’s no real framework as far as I can tell. At least with the 2 state settlement there’s a framework.
And Gideon remarks that there are TWO possibilities. He doesn’t reject the 2 state settlement.
“…there are only two possibilities: Either the Palestinians will succeed as Mandela did to calm people’s fears, and the all-Israeli nightmare of the one-democratic-state solution will make way for the promise of a bright future; or Israelis will finally come to their senses and hasten to withdraw from all the occupied territories and allow, at virtually the last moment, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. There is no other just possibility for a solution of the conflict.”
What a red herring, sure most people have the right to vote but no nation of people have the right to vote in the elections of another country.
Then again, what this really sounds like is a call for Israel to formally annex what the Palestinians consider their own territory. So sure, I think most of Israel would be up for that. In fact a recent poll said exactly the same.
So for anyone who feels they might agree with this nonsense, try out this likely formula. The Israelis annex the entirety of the West Bank and make a one time offer of Israeli citizenship to anyone who wants it, thereby creating the desired one state, one person, one vote.
Of course the non-existent RoR will not be honored, nor will Gaza be included in this offer – they can remain the eternally hostile nation of Palestine. A simple peace treaty will take down the blockade and then they can get busy with their own nation building.
“Focusing on this demand will disarm Israel of all its excuses. What can it say? That the Palestinians aren’t human? That they don’t have rights like any other nation?”
Unfortunately that is what they are saying.