Israel does not want a Palestinian state. Period.
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- Written by Gideon Levy Gideon Levy
- Published: 23 October 2011 23 October 2011
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On Wednesday, a coalition of Israeli peace organizations published a list of 50 reasons for Israel to support a Palestinian state. Assuming that you only accept five of them, isn't that enough? What exactly is the alternative, now that the heavens are closing in around us?
What will we tell the world next week, at the UN? What could we say? Whether in the General Assembly or the Security Council, we will be exposed in all our nakedness: Israel does not want a Palestinian state. Period. And it doesn't have a single persuasive argument against the establishment and the international recognition of such a state.
So what will we say, that we're opposed? Four prime ministers, Benjamin Netanyahu among them, have said that they're in favor, that it must be accomplished through negotiations, so why haven't we done it yet? Is our argument that we object to it's being a unilateral measure? What's more unilateral than the settlements that we insist on continuing to build? Or perhaps we will say that the route to a Palestinian state runs through Ramallah and Jerusalem, not New York, a la the U.S. secretary of state. The State of Israel itself was created, in part, in the United Nations.
Next week will be Israel's moment of truth, or more precisely the moment in which its deception will be revealed. Be it the president, the prime minister or the ambassador to the UN, even the greatest of public speakers will be incapable of standing before the representatives of the nations of the world and explaining Israeli logic; none of the three will be able to convince them that there is any merit to Israel's position.
Thirty-two years ago, Israel signed a peace agreement with Egypt in which it undertook "to recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people" and to establish an autonomous authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip within five years. Nothing happened.
Eighteen years ago the prime minister of Israel signed the Oslo Accords, in which Israel undertook to conduct talks in order to achieve a final-status agreement with the Palestinians, including the core issues, within five years. That, too, did not occur. Most of the provisions of the agreement have foundered since then - in the majority of cases because of Israel. What will Israel's advocate at the UN say about this?
For years, Israel claimed that Yasser Arafat was the sole obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. Arafat died - and once again nothing happened. Israel claimed that if only the terror were to stop, a solution would appear. The terror stopped - and nothing. Israel's excuses became increasingly empty and the naked truth was increasingly exposed. Israel does not want to reach a peace arrangement that would involve the establishment of a Palestinian state. This can no longer be covered up in the UN. And what did Netanyahu's Israel expect the Palestinians to do in this case - another round of photo ops, like the ones with Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni that led nowhere?
The truth is that the Palestinians have just three options, not four: to surrender unconditionally and go on living under Israeli occupation for another 42 years at least; to launch a third intifada; or to mobilize the world on their behalf. They picked the third option, the lesser of all evils even from Israel's perspective. What could Israel say about this - that it's a unilateral step, as it and the United States have said? But it didn't agree to stop construction in the settlements, the mother of all unilateral steps. What did the Palestinians have left? The international arena. And if that won't save them, then another popular uprising in the territories.
The Palestinians in the West Bank, 3.5 million today, will not live without civil rights for another 42 years. We might as well get used to the fact that the world won't stand for it. Can Netanyahu or Shimon Peres explain why the Palestinians do not deserve their own state? Do they have even the slightest of arguments? Nothing. And why not now? We have already seen, especially of late, that time only reduces the possible alternatives in the region. So even that weak excuse is dead.
Yesterday, a coalition of Israeli peace organizations published a list of 50 reasons for Israel to support a Palestinian state. Assuming that you only accept five of them, isn't that enough? What exactly is the alternative, now that the heavens are closing in around us? Can anyone, can Peres or Netanyahu, seriously contend that the regional hostility toward us would not have lessened had the occupation already ended and a Palestinian state been established?
The truths are so basic, so banal, that it hurts even to repeat them. But, unfortunately, they're the only ones we have. And so, a simple question to whoever will be representing us at the UN next week: Why not, for heaven's sake? Why "no" once again? And to what will we say "yes"?
Maxine in Gaza: Reflections on health and justice issues in Gaza.
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- Written by Maxine Maxine
- Published: 22 October 2011 22 October 2011
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Maxine for Gaza Health
I'm a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I view health as not just the absence of disease, but the presence of well-being through peace, justice and each person's and community's rightful share of resources. We are DOING health when we work for peace and justice for all!
Follow my blog at: maxine-gazahealth.blogspot.com
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011
The six of us, the WA/OR PSR health delegation, arrived in Gaza this afternoon. There are the details and there are the impressions.
One detail is that I am writing this in the very dimly lit hotel room--that is all the light there is (it's like candlelight--2 faint lightbulbs). Apparently the hotel has its own generator which is essential as most of Gaza has electricity only ~ 50% of the time. We overlook the Mediterranean Sea which presents interesting contrasts--the beautiful sea, its cool breeze, the familiar sound of the surf. Yet, the beach, like much of the Gaza streets is piled with trash, and out over the water, on the horizon is a row of lights. I am told they are Israeli surveillance boats--always present. It's quite disturbing. That Israel has the ability (which they exercise at will) to monitor and to attack at any moment is a fact of life here in Gaza. We were shown a building that was recently bombed (with "surgical precision") right in the middle of Gaza City, on a block of apartments, the street where children play. The "crime" for which this particular building was bombed, nobody knows. It's a way of life thing, they tell us.
Read more: Maxine in Gaza: Reflections on health and justice issues in Gaza.
Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
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- Written by BNC Secretariat BNC Secretariat
- Published: 15 October 2011 15 October 2011
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Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
We are part of the world’s 99% yearning for freedom, justice and equal rights!
If a people one day wills to live fate must answer its call
And the night must fade and the chain must break
– Abou-Al-kacem El-Chebbi (Tunisia)
Occupied Palestine, October 13 -The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome, these huge mobilisations provide a much needed reminder of something that Palestinians have always known – that another world, a dignifying one, is possible and ordinary people can create it.
Our aspirations overlap; our struggles converge. Our oppressors, whether greedy corporations or military occupations, are united in profiting from wars, pillage, environmental destruction, repression and impoverishment. We must unite in our common quest for freedoms, equal rights, social and economic justice, environmental sanity, and world peace. We can no longer afford to be splintered and divided; we can no longer ignore our obligations to join hands in the struggle against wars and corporate exploitation and for a human-friendly world community not a profit-maximizing jungle.
The Occupy Wall Street movement and its counterparts across the US, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere are — at least partially — inspired by the Arab Spring for democracy and social justice. Leaders of the Arab popular revolts tell us that they, in turn, were largely inspired by our own, decades-old struggle against Israel’s occupation of our land, its system of discrimination that matches the UN’s definition of apartheid, and its denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return home.
Diplomatic Stalemate and Democratic Revolts: Making Sense of a Middle East in Transition
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- Written by Institute for Christian-Muslim Understanding Institute for Christian-Muslim Understanding
- Published: 06 October 2011 06 October 2011
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Israeli occupation hitting Palestinian economy: costs Palestianians 85% of gross domestic product
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- Written by Harriet Sherwood in Ramallah Harriet Sherwood in Ramallah
- Published: 30 September 2011 30 September 2011
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Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza deprives the Palestinian economy of almost £4.4bn a year, equivalent to about 85% of the nominal gross domestic product of Palestine, according to a report published in Ramallah .
Economy minister Hasan Abu Libdeh says that Palestinians are prevented from achieving their potential
[PHOTO:
Palestinian farmer Mussa Samamreh, right, inspects the broken branches of his olive trees near the village of Shuweike, which local residents say were destroyed by Israeli settlers. Photograph: Abed al-Hashlamoun/EPA]
Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza deprives the Palestinian economy of almost £4.4bn a year, equivalent to about 85% of the nominal gross domestic product of Palestine, according to a report published in Ramallah .
As well as its detrimental effect on the Palestinian economy, the "occupation enterprise" allows the state of Israel and commercial firms to profit from Palestinian natural resources and tourist potential, the report said.
"No matter what the Palestinian people achieve by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us achieving our potential as a free people in our own country," said Hasan Abu Libdeh, economy minister in the Palestinian Authority, introducing the report on Thursday. "It should be clear to the international community that one reason for Israel's refusal to act in good faith as a partner for peace is the profits it makes as an occupying power."
Without the occupation, the Palestinian economy would be almost twice as large as it is and would be able to reduce its dependence on donor funding from the international community, according to the report.