Last week Shibley Telhami and Marc Lynch released a survey of nearly 1300 Middle East scholars that found that by large majorities they regard the reality in Israel/Palestine as “akin to apartheid” and think the two-state solution is dead.
Perhaps the starkest finding of the survey is the collective assessment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A strong majority, 59%, describes the current reality for Israel and the Palestinians as “a one-state reality akin to apartheid.”
Here are the key questions and results. Likelihood of a two-state “outcome”
a) It’s no longer possible 52%
b) It’s possible and probable within the next ten years 6
c) It’s possible, but improbable within the next ten years 42
And, the apartheid question. Which of the following comes closest to describing the current reality in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza:
a) The state of Israel with temporary occupation of the West Bank and Gaza 2%
b) The state of Israel with semi-permanent occupation of the West Bank and Gaza 30
c) Two unequal states 1
d) A one-state reality with inequality, but not akin to Apartheid 7
e) A one-state reality akin to Apartheid 59
Telhami and Lynch observe, “While the Biden administration will probably seek to kick-start diplomacy, the experts offer little hope for achieving a two-state solution.”
The Washington Post published the findings as a survey of “experts” but managed to not mention the key findings in the headline.
This survey supports what Al-Haq calls the “mounting recognition” that Israel is practicing apartheid. Comedian Michael Che echoed that recognition on Saturday Night Live four days ago bringing a torrent of condemnation from Israel supporters but far more support from Israel critics. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem issued a bombshell report saying Israel maintains “a regime of Jewish supremacy between” the river and the sea last month. It follows on many other such pronouncements, including Rep. Betty McCollum saying the word “apartheid” to the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights 2 years ago.
And as we wrote last week, there is a long tradition of the mainstream media ignoring these declarations. And right alongside that, of liberal Zionists avoiding the news. There has been scarcely any pickup of the Telhami/Lynch survey outside the Washington Post blog they put it on and Newsweek. “In the foreign policy establishment there’s still this theology of the two state solution,” as Ben Rhodes said on Peter Beinart’s podcast 10 days ago.
My only question is why only 59 percent call it apartheid? quips Donald Johnson. The number grows to 77 percent when the scholars were asked, If there’s no two-state solution in ten years, which is most likely to describe the reality in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
a) A single state with equality between Israelis and Palestinians 1%
b) A one-state reality with increasing inequality, 17
but not akin to Apartheid
c) A one-state reality akin to Apartheid 77
d) A confederation 3
Refused 2
Takeaway, nobody sees equality on the horizon! The Jewish state is just going to extend its discriminatory reach.
The scholars are plainly more left-leaning than establishment types. By two-to-one they said that the U.S. interests are best served by returning “immediately to the JCPOA [Iran deal] before addressing other issues.” 23 percent echoed the Biden/f.p. establishment line that the U.S. should try to negotiate a more expansive Iran deal that includes missiles and drones “and regional security.”
Conducted earlier this month, the survey drew “on the membership of the Middle East Studies Association, the American Political Science Association’s MENA Politics Section and the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University.” The experts were allowed to respond anonymously. 28 percent of the experts live outside the United States, 71 percent in the United States.
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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200918-knesset-rejects-bill-to-ensure-full-equality-between-all-israeli-citizens/
“Knesset rejects bill to ensure full equality between all Israeli citizens” Middle East Monitor, Sept. 18/20
https://ajpp.online/hasbara/
Sir Isaac Albert Isaacs, Member of Parliament, High Court judge, and 9th Governor General of Australia wrote in 1946 that ‘the honor of Jews throughout the world demands the renunciation of political Zionism’.
“The problem for Israel is not that the world does not understand. The world understands Israel very well. The problem is lack of legitimacy; many do not like what they see. With few exceptions, dislike of Israel is not the result of ignorance or the hatred of all things Jewish. The state of Israel attracts opprobrium because it perpetuates and amplifies the injustice and hypocrisy described by Sir Isaac Isaacs.
“In a sense, Israel was born illegitimate. By 1948 it was already considered unacceptable for Europeans to subjugate another people and take their land. Eventually, Israel will have to choose between pariah status and accepting the end of Jewish privilege in Palestine. The price of deferring that choice is a constant battle against truth and freedom of speech throughout the world. Israel’s continued survival as an apartheid state requires that people do not understand, or cannot freely express, the ugly reality of settler-colonialism in Palestine.
“The Israeli war against truth has given rise to hasbara, a monstrous state sponsored industry devoted to the production and dissemination of lies, the chief aim of which is to dehumanize the native people of Palestine.”
So Telhami and Lynch gave this survey, consisting of 17 questions, to over 1,000 scholars (
https://criticalissues.umd.edu/sites/criticalissues.umd.edu/files/Middle%20East%20Scholar%20Barometer%20Questionnaire.pd f), but I think they needed to ask one more crucially important question: To what extent do you think the mainstream version of history promoted by Israel is bullshit?
I’m almost through Slater’s book “Mythologies Without End” and almost every page contains a carefully documented example of how Israel rebuffed attempts to make peace. Page 345:
The Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts have led to many myths that have been decisively
refuted by serious historical inquiry but are still widely believed … with devastating consequences for the cause of peace. The most important of these is ‘The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity’…The reality is close to the converse. While the Arab states and the Palestinians have certainly contributed to the conflict, it is Israel – almost always supported by its key ally, the United States – that has been mostly responsible for the tragedy.
Breaking news – Middle East scholars label Israel an apartheid state!
Something the rest of have known for decades!
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In its 2015 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, issued in 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor acknowledges the “institutional and societal discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel.” (U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor)
“Construction, Not Destruction”
“While Israeli Arabs constitute 20 percent of the population, Arab communities’ jurisdictions occupy just 2.5 percent of the state’s land area, and the process of approving new construction in Arab towns takes decades.” (Haaretz Editorial, April 4, 2017)
One example of apartheid within Israel:
“Jewish town won’t let Arab build home on his own land”
Excerpt: “Aadel Suad first came to the planning and construction committee of the Misgav Local Council in 1997. Suad, an educator, was seeking a construction permit to build a home on a plot of land he owns in the community of Mitzpeh Kamon. The reply he got, from a senior official on the committee, was a memorable one. ‘Don’t waste your time,’ he reportedly told Suad. ‘We’ll keep you waiting for 30 years.’” (Haaretz, 14 December 2009)
Video: Israeli TV Host Implores Israelis: Wake Up and Smell the Apartheid
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
“In the name of occupation, generation after generation of Palestinians have been treated as property. They can be moved at will, shackled at will, tortured at will, have their families separated at will. They can be denied the right to vote, to own property, to meet or speak to family and friends. They can be hounded or even shot dead by their masters, who claim their position by biblical right, and also use them to build and work on the plantations the toilers cannot themselves ever hope to own. The masters dehumanize them, call them by the names of beasts.” (Bradley Burston, Haaretz, Feb. 26/13)
“‘Similarities between the ‘original apartheid’ as it was practiced in South Africa & the situation in Israel & the West Bank today ‘scream to the heavens,’ added [Alon] Liel, Israel’s ambassador in Pretoria from 1992 to 1994. There can be little doubt that the suffering of Palestinians is not less intense than that of blacks during apartheid-era South Africa…” (Times of Israel, Feb. 21/13)
And what is israel’s reaction? Continues to flip the bird to the world, shamelessly.