Friday 11 July 2008

Zionist "left" and "right": a tactical difference over a secondary matter

From Henry Lowi:

This article, by Zeev Sternhell, a respected Israeli professor, exemplifies the difference between the Zionist “left” and the Zionist right as a tactical difference over a secondary matter. Not a difference over values. The Zionist right denies the rights of the people of Palestine by military domination of the country, enforcing the Nakba, and enacting apartheid-like legislation. The Zionist “left” -- that led the Nakba and the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights -- now says that, to preserve the “Jewish state”, what is required is an international border separating Jews and Arabs.

So, those are the options offered by Zionism: apartheid legislation within one state, or apartheid partition into two states. In both cases, Palestine refugees are not welcome home. In both cases, no effect is given to the values of equality, democracy or human rights. Is it any wonder that the Israeli “peace movement” cannot gather any steam?! It has nothing to offer!

As you read the article, pay attention to Prof. Sternhell's reference to the "number of marriages between Israeli citizens and foreigners" as a negative factor. What Neanderthalism!

And "the idea of special legislation for Arab Israelis would not have even come up" because ... there would have been no "Arab Israelis". They would all have been ethnically cleansed! Like dust!

This is the self-described voice of "sanity" in Israeli society. This is the current that claims to be in sync with enlightened universal norms. These are the people for whom "a common political framework for everyone living between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, thus creating a multinational, multicultural, androgynous entity, turning Zionism into a passing episode" is the worst nightmare!

Oh, the longing for the ethnically homogeneous ghetto, crucible of backwardness, inbreeding and oppression!

These are the people who say: "Don't impose an international boycott on Israeli academic and cultural institutions because WE, YOUR ALLIES, will be its first victims!"

Well, actually, our allies are the workers, the farmers and the refugees, who have nothing to lose but their chains, and who have a world to win.

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