False Dichotomies

These are uncertain times. “A Jewish state, the idea of Jewish independence in Palestine, even if only in a part of Palestine, is such a lofty thing that it ought to be treated like the ineffable Name, which is never pronounced in vain! By talking about it too much, by bringing it down to the level of the banal, you desecrate that which can only be approached through reverence.” These words were uttered by the first President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, before the state’s creation. They articulate the non-negotiability that a majority of Jews in the world feel for Jewish statehood. Many people do not understand this. Particularly on the left, Israel’s sui generic abrogation of the abstract ‘right to exist’ is seen as baffling. Noam Chomsky, for example, says that Israel should have the same rights as any other state in the international system. No more, no less. He fails to note, however, the uniqueness of the negation of this ‘right to exist’. For Israel is the only state in the world that faces regular calls for its destruction. Continue Reading »

In July 1993, Haidar Abdul Shafi declared the following at a talk in Bethlehem: “The critical issue is transforming our society. All else is inconsequential…We must decide amongst ourselves to use all our strength and resources to develop our collective leadership and the democratic institutions which will achieve our goals and guide us in the future…The important thing is for us to take care of our internal situation and to organise our society and correct those negative aspects from which it has been suffering for generations and which is the main reason for our losses against our foes.” These words are as prescient today as ever, especially following a decade in which the hope of Oslo was shattered from both within and without. Continue Reading »

When considering the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, one of the tricky things is working out the relationship between ideology and realpolitik. Some see the occupation as being the result of ideology - a chauvinist version of Zionism. This is a mistake. Rather, the occupation is the result of the Israeli state trying to accrue as much power as possible, as all states do. In this context those driven by ideology, the religious Zionists, are merely the foot soldiers. We must bare this in mind as we consider the case of Hebron. Continue Reading »

On February 25th 1994, Dr Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Muslims at a Mosque in Hebron, before being beaten to death by the survivors. This awful attack provided an opportunity for Israel to put an end to a sector of the settler movement that was anomalous even by its own cynical standards. A majority of settlements on the West Bank amount to gated communities, in which Jews live apart from their Palestinian neighbours. This, from the perspective of those who want to retain as much of the West Bank as possible, makes strategic sense. In Hebron, however, the situation is different. Here, around 500 Jewish settlers live, heavily guarded, surrounded by 160,000 Palestinians. In demographic terms, this is the settler enterprise in a microcosm. In practical terms, however, it is totally unique. Continue Reading »

In Slovsko, the ski resort became a metaphor for the end of history. The village’s ski facilities had not yet been fully developed, but building proceeded apace. At the same time, the Ukraine was distancing itself from Russian influence and orienting itself towards the west. In other words, it was walking the path to a liberal democracy that Francis Fukuyama claimed constituted the end of history. Continue Reading »

Everyone will come to praise Sharon, not to bury him. Ehud Olmert has already thrown out the requisite banal rhetoric about Sharon being a ‘warrior’ (incidentally the title of his autobiography), as if someone who had just gone through seven hours of surgery would ever be described as anything else. Whatever happens from now, then, expect everyone to laud him. That Israelis will do so can be taken for granted. But Palestinians, for the most part, will do it as well. Mubarak, King Abdullah, maybe some Gulf Sheikhs. He will now be cast, tragically, as the De Gaulle that never was. His post-election plans, never clear, can now be speculated upon indefinitely, wistfully. People will be clamouring to make outlandish claims as to what he would have done had he secured a historic victory for Kadima. The blood on his hands, from Unit 101 to Sabra and Chatilla and beyond, will be forgotten. Now is not the time to discuss the rights and wrongs of this. It is what it is, and it is in no one’s interest to highlight it. This is not an obituary. Continue Reading »

If you want to get to the tragic heart of the occupation, walk the streets of East Jerusalem. There, the gap between image and reality vanishes, hollow rhetoric is exposed, and the consequences of pursuing ideology ahead of realpolitik are laid bare. When Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem in the Six Day War, Moshe Dayan declared, “The IDF liberated Jerusalem this morning. We reunited divided Jerusalem, the bisected capital of Israel. We have returned to our holiest places, we have returned in order not to part from them ever again.” This turned out to be a reformulation of the old Zionist myth of ‘the land without a people for a people without a land’. It didn’t have to be that way. Continue Reading »