It has been said that no coalition in Israeli politics has the ability to turn against the settlements, and here is further proof. The above image was posted on the Facebook page of Meretz, a leftwing party in Israel (and heroes of J Street, the US liberal Zionist group). The two Hebrew words at the top say, “What’s this?” And it’s a map of kibbutzes, or Jewish collective settlements, put together by the kibbutz movement.
Many of the kibbutzim (Hebrew for kibbutzes) are in the occupied territories, in the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights.
“The Kibbutzim movement and the Meretz Kibbutzim supporters are sharing a map of Kibbutzim on stolen Palestinian land, including illegal settlements on occupied West bank land, and taking pride in it,” Ofer Neiman explains.
The map of some 250 kibbutzim was first posted by the Kibbutzim movement. It was then shared by a page called “Meretz – Kibutzim and Moshavim”. A snapshot of the Meretz sharing appears here, with Meretz’s logo at the top left:
Here is the Meretz link (which is alive, for now). You can see the green-and-blue Meretz logo on the left side of that page, too.
Zehava Golan, the head of Meretz, is a star at the liberal Zionist group J Street. (I found that speech moving and I believe I praised her for it).
So people in both the Labour Party and Meretz think it’s cool to circulate a list of their illegal settlements (and we haven’t even begun to discuss the role of the Kibbutzim and the Nakba).
The Kibbutzim Movement (formed in 1999), Neiman explains, represents a union of the Labour Party-affiliated United Kibbutz movement (Taka”m), and the Meretz-affiliated National Kibbutz movement (Kibbutz Artzi).
The Israeli right destroyed Meretz in the early 00s.
And the Israeli education system turns out mostly drones. And the older Ashkenazi lefties gave up. So there are no votes in rationality in Israel. I suppose a lot of the thinkers have turned to drink, drugs or sex or else left.
It is very sad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHnkplRBKsY
The poster from a distance looks like a raised arm with an outstretched palm.
Merely circulating a matter-of-fact listing of kibbutzim does not necessarily imply approval of their location. Was there something else on the poster that suggested otherwise? I don’t see anything there that looks like pride.
Shame on you both.
You make an assertion “So people in both the Labour Party and Meretz think it’s cool to circulate a list of their illegal settlements” turn it into an inflammatory title ”
Israeli leftwing party embraces settlements on occupied land” and insert a bizarre conclusion: “are sharing a map of Kibbutzim on stolen Palestinian land, including illegal settlements on occupied West bank land, and taking pride in it.”
It’s just insane. This FB page, which isn’t even the main page of Meretz, posts a graphic and you use that one data point to demonstrate that the party has made a complete about face from opposing settlements to ‘taking pride’ in them?
This is shallow and beneath you, Phil. Maybe not Ofer, who I don’t know, but come on. Not because I give two shits about Meretz, but because intellectual dishonesty doesn’t actually serve a good cause.
The reality is much less nefarious. A relatively small number of kibbutzim are outside the Green Line in occupied territories. The vast majority of those were settled by Labor, not Mapam. Then the movements merged for economic reasons. And yes, there is a historic connection between Mapam kibbutzim and Meretz. So we have a weird situation where the unified kibbutz movement has a few stray entities which are settlements and a historic link to one third of the historic Meretz coalition.
Meanwhile, Meretz is as opposed as ever the settlement project, and some junior staffer repeated a pro-kibbutz image showing where they are all located to foster some kibbutz pride.
It would be pointless, but at least not misleading, to simply attack the entire kibbutz movement for being on stolen Palestinian land. (Pointless, because most of Israel is on such land, not the kibbutz movement in particular.)
This is just another political attack on two staters using a very flimsy excuse, and asserting falsely that they aren’t even against the occupation.