Beirut – Every year on the 25th of May, Lebanon and the Arab and Islamic world observe the Resistance and Liberation Day which marks the historic “Israeli” defeat and withdrawal from Lebanon in the year 2000.
After long years of occupation, “Israeli” enemy forces were forced by the Lebanese Resistance to evacuate their positions and hastily escape from Lebanon towards occupied Palestine.
This humiliating withdrawal under the strikes of the Islamic Resistance [Hezbollah] marked the first defeat of “Israeli” forces in Lebanon and the Arab world.
The “Israelis” along with the western world, mainly the US, have worked for long time to deeply entrench in the Arab conscience that “Israel” is immune to all criticism and vetoes, and its army is an invincible one that has supremacy over all Arab armies.
They wanted to convince people that any resistance to “Israel” is futile and would definitely lose.
The United Nations and the Security Council have never done anything to help Lebanon get rid of the “Israeli” occupation.
The UN resolution 425, which provides that “Israel” should withdraw from occupied Lebanese territories, was there for more than two decades; no real or serious effort has been exercised to put this international resolution into implementation.
The Lebanese people, especially in south Lebanon and west Beqaa, waited years and years without any hope. The Lebanese government and state did not provide them with any help to defend themselves, so they were forced to start the defense by themselves.
Back in 1978, Imam Sayyed Moussa Sadr was the first to start the military resistance against “Israel”. Ever since then, this resistance started to grow bigger and stronger until it reached where it is now.
Our resistance has become mightier, stronger and more efficient that it is capable now, not only of producing formulas of liberation, security and deterrence, but also of posing an existential threat to the very existence of the “Israeli” entity.
The Resistance now has extended its presence and upgraded its efficiency. The Resistance now has an axis that stretches from Gaza to Sanaa, passing through Lebanon, Syria and Iraq reaching to Iran.
The capabilities are important and extremely efficient to stand up to all challenges, be it military, security or economic ones.
The “Israeli” entity and its allies have to make recalculations for all their conspiracies and plots.
History has made its shift and it is a major one. This shift is in favor of the region and its people and not in favor of the apartheid “Israeli” state and its allies.
The whole region now is at the eve of a new historical epoch that might usher in a new era. This era of triumph and steadfastness has one simple strong title; the Resistance.
Even with all the protests and mentions of Nakba Day on social media, commemorating this horrific, sad event is nowhere near where it ought to be. Arguably one of the darkest and most awful chapters in the long history of Palestine, the Nakba needs to be fully commemorated in every capital in the world.
The politicization of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the consequent installment of an apartheid regime to govern it is such that few countries dare even to mention these crimes against humanity.
The full scope of the Nakba, a combination of several crimes against humanity, is yet to be understood.
To begin with, the Nakba is a tragedy that began over seventy-five years ago and continues in full force. Furthermore, the full extent of the crimes committed in the early Nakba, from 1947 to 1952, is still being uncovered.
The latest discovery was just published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. According to the article, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, ordered chemicals to be used to poison wells in Palestinian villages.
Newly found mass graves and testimonies of Zionist terrorists like Yerachmiel Kahnovich, who admitted in a recent YouTube video that he shot an anti-tank missile into the Dahmash mosque in Lyd in June 1948, are still being uncovered. Kahnovich single-handedly murdered over one hundred people taking refuge in the mosque as Lyd was undergoing a brutal ethnic cleansing. As the years go by, more testimonies like his are opening up. We should remember and appreciate that both the perpetrators and the victims of the acts that took place during the early period of the Nakba are getting old and will soon be gone.
Unlike the Holocaust, where the widely-accepted number of victims is recognized as six million, in the case of the Nakba, there is yet to be an agreed-upon death toll. So how many Palestinians were murdered as a result of the Nakba? No one knows for sure.
At least part of the reason for the lack of an established figure of Palestinians killed by Zionist terrorism is that the perpetrators of the crime are not done. The Israeli army continues to terrorize, and massacre Palestinians almost daily, and this killing essentially has the stamp of approval of the international community.
A Palestinian from east Jerusalem is kicked by Israeli police during a Nakba commemoration protest, May 14, 1998 Zoom 77 | AP
The successor of the pre-1948 Zionist terrorists, the IDF, is now considered a respectable army. It has colonels and generals whose feats on the battlefield are taught in military academies across the world. It conducts training and military maneuvers with other armies and members of NATO, including the U.S. military. Yet, since it is highly regarded and respected, it cannot be accused of terrorism.
To gain the recognition needed for the world to commemorate the Nakba similarly to the Holocaust, there needs to be an understanding that the perpetrator, the Israeli military and affiliated Zionist militias, did indeed commit crimes against humanity. However, even though the evidence is clear, accusing Israel and the Zionist movement is not possible for obvious political reasons.
We know that the Palestinian struggle has no parents. No one today speaks formally for, or in any way represents, Palestine or Palestinian interests. There is no serious push, or, for that matter, motivation, for the international community to fully recognize the horrific crimes that make up the Nakba. There is no movement among the international community to stand up and demand that the culprits be brought to justice and pay for these unspeakable crimes.
Unless leaders in the West, East, Africa, the Arab and Muslim world and beyond are forced to recognize and commemorate the crimes that were committed (and continue to be committed) against the people of Palestine, there will never be a proper recognition and commemoration of the heinous crimes that make up the Palestinian Nakba.
At a small event in Washington, D.C., Representative Betty McCollum spoke about her bill to protect Palestinian families and children from detention and torture by Israel. It is an important, indeed groundbreaking bill. However, she insisted on referring to Israel as a democracy, despite a 75-year history demonstrating that Israel is not and never was a democracy. A report by Amnesty International clearly shows that Israel is engaged in the crime of apartheid, a crime so heinous that it is designated as a crime against humanity. Yet, McCollum and others continue to call Israel a democracy.
Tragically, the world insists on ignoring reality. The world continues to ignore an event that began over seventy-five years ago and has grown to unspeakable, tragic proportions. In fact, this assault began three short years after the world saw the end of another unspeakable crime: the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people. It was due to the Holocaust that the designation of “crimes against humanity” was established; crimes so terrible that they have their own special designation and consequences.
Israel is engaged in three such practices: ethnic cleansing, genocide, and apartheid, all of which are central features of the Palestinian Nakba.
Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across the world on Saturday, May 13, in spontaneous expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people and to protest against Israeli violence.
London, Downing Street
Hundreds of people marched in Downing Street, London, demanding that the British government pressure Israel to stop bombing Gaza and impose sanctions on Israel for its 75-year Nakba (ethnic cleansing) of Palestine.
“It’s no coincidence that in the same week that we are marking 75 years of Nakba, Israel is targeting family homes and killing Palestinian children in Gaza,” said Shamiul Joarder, Head of Public Affairs at Friends of Al-Aqsa (FoA).
“This is exactly what the ongoing Nakba looks like. Today we’re calling for Israel to stop bombing Gaza and end its illegal occupation, apartheid policies, war crimes and ongoing violations of international law. The Nakba must end for Palestinians to achieve justice, freedom and peace”.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 14, 2023
Glasgow, Scotland
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign organized a rally in commemoration of the Nakba and to protest against the latest Israeli aggression on besieged Gaza.
Cape Town, South Africa
The South African branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign organized an event in Cape Town to commemorate the Nakba and express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Barcelona mayor Ada Colau announces that the European metropolis will put all institutional relations with Israel on hold. (Photo: Lyle Hausman, Supplied)
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website iswww.ramzybaroud.net
A succession of events starting in Barcelona, Spain, in February, and followed in Liège, Belgium, and Oslo, Norway, in April sent a strong message to Israel: The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) is alive and well.
In Barcelona, the city’s Mayor canceled a twinning agreement with the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The decision was not an impulsive one, although Ada Colau is well-known for her principled positions on many issues. It was, however, an outcome of a fully democratic process, initiated by a proposal submitted by left-wing parties at the city council.
A few weeks after the decision was made, specifically on February 8, a pro-Israeli legal organization known as The Lawfare Project, announced its intentions to file a lawsuit against Colau because she, supposedly, “acted beyond the scope of her authority”.
The Lawfare Project meant to communicate a message to other city councils in Spain, and the rest of Europe, that there will be serious legal repercussions to boycotting Israel. To the organization’s – and Israel’s – big surprise, however, other cities quickly advanced their own boycott procedures. They include the Belgian city of Liège and Norway’s capital city, Oslo.
Liège’s local leadership did not try to conceal the reasons behind their decision. The city council, it was reported, had decided to suspend relations with the Israeli authorities for running a regime “of apartheid, colonization and military occupation”. That move was backed by a majority vote at the council, proving once more that the pro-Palestinian moral stance was fully compliant with a democratic process.
Oslo is a particularly interesting case. It was there that the ‘peace process’ resulted in the Oslo Accords in 1993, which ultimately divided the Palestinians while giving Israel a political cover to continue with its illegal practices, while claiming that it has no peace partner.
But Oslo is no longer committed to the empty slogans of the past. In June 2022, the Norwegian government declared its intention of denying the label “Made in Israel” to goods produced in illegal Israeli Jewish settlements in Occupied Palestine.
Though Jewish settlements are illegal under international law, Europe did not mind doing business – in fact, lucrative business – with these colonies over the years. In November 2019, the European Court of Justice, however, resolved that all goods produced in “Israel-occupied areas” had to be labeled as such, so as not to mislead consumers. The Court’s decision was a watered-down version of what Palestinians had expected: a complete boycott, if not of Israel as a whole, at least of its illegal settlements.
However, the decision still served a purpose. It provided yet another legal base for boycott, thus empowering pro-Palestine civil society organizations, and reminding Israel that its influence in Europe is not as limitless as Tel Aviv wants to believe.
The most that Israel could do in response is to issue angry statements, along with haphazard accusations of anti-Semitism. In August 2022, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt requested a meeting with then-Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, during the former’s visit to Israel. Lapid refused. Not only did such arrogance make a little difference in Norway’s stance on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but it also opened yet more margins for pro-Palestinian activists to be more proactive, leading to Oslo’s decision in April to ban imports of goods made in illegal settlements.
The BDS movement explained, on its website, the meaning of Oslo’s decision: “Norway’s capital … announced that it will not trade in goods and services produced in areas that are illegally occupied in violation of international law.” In practice, this means that Oslo’s “procurement policy will exclude companies that directly or indirectly contribute to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise – a war crime under international law.”
Keeping these rapid developments in mind, The Lawfare Project would now have to expand its legal cases to include Liège, Oslo and an ever-growing list of city councils that are actively boycotting Israel. But, even then, there are no guarantees that the outcome of such litigations will serve Israel in any way. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be true.
A case in point was the recent decision by the cities of Frankfurt and Munich in Germany to cancel music concerts of pro-Palestinian rock and roll legend, Roger Waters, as part of his ‘This is Not a Drill’ tour. Frankfurt justified its decision by branding Waters as “one of the world’s most well-known anti-Semites”. The bizarre and unfounded claim was rejected outright by a German civil court which, on April 24, ruled in favor of Waters.
Indeed, while a growing number of European cities are siding with Palestine, those who side with Israeli apartheid find it difficult to defend or even maintain their position, simply because the former predicate their stances on international law, while the latter on twisted and convenient interpretations of anti-Semitism.
What does all of this mean for the BDS movement?
In an article published in Foreign Policy magazine last May, Steven Cook reached a hasty conclusion that the BDS movement “has already lost”, because, according to his inference, efforts to boycott Israel have made no impact “in the halls of government”.
While BDS is a political movement that is subject to miscalculations and mistakes, it is also a grassroots campaign that labors to achieve political ends through incremental, measured changes. To succeed over time, such campaigns must first engage ordinary people on the street, activists at universities, in houses of worship, etc., all done through calculated, long-term strategies, themselves devised by local and national civil society collectives and organizations.
BDS continues to be a success story, and the latest critical decisions made in Spain, Belgium and Norway attest to the fact that grassroots efforts do pay dividends.
There is no denying that the road ahead is long and arduous. It will certainly have its twists, turns and, yes, occasional setbacks. But this is the nature of national liberation struggles. They often come at a high cost and great sacrifice. But, with popular resistance at home and growing international support and solidarity abroad, Palestinian freedom should, in fact, be possible.
A succession of events starting in Barcelona, Spain, in February, and followed in Liège, Belgium, and Oslo, Norway, in April sent a strong message to Israel: The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) is alive and well.
In Barcelona, the city’s Mayor canceled a twinning agreement with the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The decision was not an impulsive one, although Ada Colau is well-known for her principled positions on many issues. It was, however, an outcome of a fully democratic process initiated by a proposal submitted by left-wing parties at the city council.
A few weeks after the decision was made, specifically on February 8, a pro-Israeli legal organization known as The Lawfare Project, announced its intentions to file a lawsuit against Colau because she supposedly “acted beyond the scope of her authority.”
The Lawfare Project was meant to communicate a message to other city councils in Spain, and the rest of Europe, that there will be serious legal repercussions to boycotting Israel. To the organization’s – and Israel’s – big surprise, however, other cities quickly advanced their own boycott procedures. They include the Belgian city of Liège and Norway’s capital city, Oslo.
Liège’s local leadership did not try to conceal the reasons behind their decision. The city council, it was reported, had decided to suspend relations with the Israeli authorities for running a regime “of apartheid, colonization and military occupation.” That move was backed by a majority vote at the council, proving once more that the pro-Palestinian moral stance was fully compliant with a democratic process.
Oslo is a particularly interesting case. It was there that the ‘peace process’ resulted in the Oslo Accords in 1993, which ultimately divided the Palestinians while giving Israel a political cover to continue with its illegal practices while claiming that it has no peace partner.
But Oslo is no longer committed to the empty slogans of the past. In June 2022, the Norwegian government declared its intention to deny the label “Made in Israel” to goods produced in illegal Israeli Jewish settlements in Occupied Palestine.
Though Jewish settlements are illegal under international law, Europe did not mind doing business – in fact, lucrative business – with these colonies over the years. In November 2019, the European Court of Justice, however, resolved that all goods produced in “Israel-occupied areas” had to be labeled as such so as not to mislead consumers. The Court’s decision was a watered-down version of what Palestinians had expected: a complete boycott, if not of Israel as a whole, at least of its illegal settlements.
However, the decision still served a purpose. It provided yet another legal base for boycott, thus empowering pro-Palestine civil society organizations and reminding Israel that its influence in Europe is not as limitless as Tel Aviv wants to believe.
The most that Israel could do in response is to issue angry statements, along with haphazard accusations of anti-Semitism. In August 2022, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt requested a meeting with then-Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid during the former’s visit to Israel. Lapid refused. Not only did such arrogance make a little difference in Norway’s stance on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but it also opened yet more margins for pro-Palestinian activists to be more proactive, leading to Oslo’s decision in April to ban imports of goods made in illegal settlements.
The BDS movement explained, on its website, the meaning of Oslo’s decision: “Norway’s capital … announced that it will not trade in goods and services produced in areas that are illegally occupied in violation of international law.” In practice, this means that Oslo’s “procurement policy will exclude companies that directly or indirectly contribute to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise – a war crime under international law.”
Keeping these rapid developments in mind, The Lawfare Project would now have to expand its legal cases to include Liège, Oslo and an ever-growing list of city councils that are actively boycotting Israel. But, even then, there are no guarantees that the outcome of such litigations will serve Israel in any way. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be true.
A case in point was the recent decision by the cities of Frankfurt and Munich in Germany to cancel music concerts of pro-Palestinian rock and roll legend Roger Waters as part of his ‘This is Not a Drill’ tour. Frankfurt justified its decision by branding Waters as “one of the world’s most well-known anti-Semites.” The bizarre and unfounded claim was rejected outright by a German civil court which, on April 24, ruled in favor of Waters.
Indeed, while a growing number of European cities are siding with Palestine, those who side with Israeli apartheid find it difficult to defend or even maintain their position simply because the former predicate their stances on international law, while the latter on twisted and convenient interpretations of anti-Semitism.
What does all of this mean for the BDS movement?
In an article published in Foreign Policy magazine last May, Steven Cook reached a hasty conclusion that the BDS movement “has already lost”, because, according to his inference, efforts to boycott Israel have made no impact “in the halls of government.”
While BDS is a political movement that is subject to miscalculations and mistakes, it is also a grassroots campaign that labors to achieve political ends through incremental, measured changes. To succeed over time, such campaigns must first engage ordinary people on the street, activists at universities, in houses of worship, etc., all done through calculated, long-term strategies, themselves devised by local and national civil society collectives and organizations.
BDS continues to be a success story, and the latest critical decisions made in Spain, Belgium and Norway attest to the fact that grassroots efforts do pay dividends.
There is no denying that the road ahead is long and arduous. It will certainly have its twists, turns and, yes, occasional setbacks. But this is the nature of national liberation struggles. They often come at a high cost and great sacrifice. But, with popular resistance at home and growing international support and solidarity abroad, Palestinian freedom should, in fact, be possible.
The Jubbet Adh Dhib school near Bethlehem is threatened with demolition by Israeli authorities. (Photo: via UK in Jerusalem Twitter page)
European diplomats visited a Palestinian school at risk of Israeli demolition in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, The New Arab reported.
The British Consulate in Jerusalem said it had joined other missions at the Jubbet Al-Dhib school near Bethlehem, noting that the school is one of 58 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that is threatened with demolition.
“We urge Israel to reverse the demolition order and protect the right to education for all,” the consulate tweeted.
The EU Delegation to the Palestinians said about 70 children in the first to fourth grades would be impacted and lose the chance to attend school if the demolition goes ahead.
“Such demolitions should not take place,” the mission said on Twitter.
“The EU remains concerned at the continued humanitarian suffering of such actions to Palestinians.”
The Irish mission in Ramallah tweeted that Israel “must safeguard access to children’s education” in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Society of St. Yves Catholic rights group said it brought the diplomats up to speed on news concerning the school, with pupils urging them to save it from demolition, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The rights group said “We need to do everything” to prevent the school’s demolition and “guarantee Palestinians’ right to education”.
It also urged greater advocacy and the release of statements urging a stop to school demolitions, calling for international presence at schools threatened with demolition.
The visit comes after the general secretaries of eight British and Irish trade unions last month “urged the Israeli government immediately to call a halt” to the demolition of the Jubbet Al-Dhib school and other planned West Bank school demolitions.
The decision by the United Nations also comes at an opportune time. In an age of disinformation, hybrid warfare, falsification, fake news, and attempts to equate Palestinian resistance with terrorism from “Israel”.
UN Recognition of the Nakba is a Step in the Right Direction
The year 2023 marks 75 years of the Nakba or genocide that was orchestrated, initiated, and perpetrated by Zionist fascist militias from 1948 and onwards. The toll of this catastrophe amounted to approximately 800,000 Palestinians being driven out of their homes and the first war between Arab states and the Zionist regime in 1948 also resulted in forced evictions of an indigenous population by an occupying force. The harrowing memories of Palestinians continue to live on as they bear witness to decades of state-sponsored Apartheid, oppression, persistent attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and expansion of settlements. In light of this, the commemoration of the Palestinian catastrophe remains a humanitarian imperative that needs greater promotion at the international level.
Hence, the decision by the United Nations to commemorate Nakba Day for the very first time on its platform in May 2023 is laudable, appreciable, and a step in the right direction. In a statement issued by the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), the ‘commemoration of the Nakba will bring life to the Palestinian journey and will aim to create an immersive experience of the catastrophe through live music, photos, videos, and personal testimonies.’ This acknowledgment and promotion of the foundational symbol of the Palestinian identity provides the momentum needed to sensitize the international community to what the occupied Palestinian population has had to bear which stands in stark contrast to being misguided by the hyper-nationalist Jewish press which negates Palestinian catastrophes, labels the legitimate resistance as terrorism and justifies its occupation.
The UN’s decision to commemorate the Nakba carries more than symbolic significance. Realities such as depopulation strategies, geographical erasures, shattering of Palestinian collective identities, orchestrating the exodus and eviction of 800,000 Palestinians from their homes, destroying over 500 Palestinian villages, and denying the right to return which continues in 2023, cannot be erased from Palestinian consciousness and should not escape international consciousness either. Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish for example described the Nakba as ‘an extended present that promises to continue into the future.’ As an institution that seeks to uphold principles of international justice, equity and conflict resolution, it is fitting that the United Nations has sought to commemorate the Nakba vividly, with photos, personal testimonies, and videos taking the Palestinian message of the just right to self-determination to the world for greater awareness, action against “Israel” and advocating for reparations.
The decision by the United Nations also comes at an opportune time. In an age of disinformation, hybrid warfare, falsification, fake news, and attempts to equate Palestinian resistance with terrorism from “Israel”, it is imperative to showcase actual facts, underline the genesis of the resistance and Palestinian discontent, and separate fact from fiction. This is precisely what President Mahmoud Abbas alluded to while praising the UN’s decision to commemorate the Nakba. President Abbas considered it the memories of the catastrophe to be at the top of the Palestinian priority list with the need to preserve the actual narrative and convey it to the entire world. He further stated that all the lies and falsehoods that distort facts, figures, and actual history must be taken head-on in order for the Palestinian identity and resistance to survive and gain traction. As the Nakba is taken up at the highest multilateral forum in the world, the potential to act as a curtain-raiser for lobbyists who continue to side with the Zionist regime’s revisionist interpretation of history remains a possibility.
Beyond the UN there is also a need for sovereign states with their respective legislatures and parliamentarians to acknowledge historical injustices meted out to the Palestinian people through genocide under the garb of Zionism. The best example of leveraging parliamentarian forums for greater action was witnessed in the US Congress, where Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib brought a resolution to recognize the Nakba of 1948. She further alluded to the undeniable fact that humanity is being denied to the Palestinian people even after decades of suppression and how the world has turned a blind eye to war crimes and human rights violations in fascist “Israel”. The resolution tabled by Tlaib has been hailed by the Institute for Middle East Understanding which termed it ‘historic’ and was also lauded by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights which acknowledged that for far too long, the Palestinian experience has been sidelined and ignored by Washington D.C.
Commemorating the Nakba at the United Nations should also be followed by a universal, coordinated strategy for “Israel” to be held accountable for its actions. There is little denying the fact that this far-right Netanyahu government or its predecessors have been allowed to systematically exterminate the indigenous Palestinian population with impunity. The character of the Zionist state in 2023 however, raises further alarms with demagogues such as Bezalel Smotrich at the helms of power who brazenly deny the existence of Palestinians. The frequency and severity of the barbarity unleashed would increase significantly which requires nothing short of a swift end to the occupation. The land that constitutes “Israel” belongs to the Palestinians only and the Nakba is a stark reminder of the sacrifices rendered by Palestinians from all walks of life, including the youth and veterans.
The commemoration of the Nakba at the UN is a step in the right direction.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian considered that the apartheid “Israeli” entity to be “the biggest threat to the region and the international Muslim Nation.”
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Thursday in a phone call with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.
The Iranian top diplomat also laid emphasis on the necessity for the existence of unity across the Muslim world in the face of the occupying regime, the need to cut the regime’s hands off the al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound in the holy occupied city of al-Quds’ Old City — which is Islam’s third holiest site, and the importance of complete restoration of Palestinians’ rights.
Turning to the issue of the bilateral ties, Amir-Abdollahian pointed to his visit earlier this year to Amman, and announced the Islamic Republic’s readiness for expansion of the level of relations and cooperation between the countries.
For his part, Safadi stressed his country’s support for regional peace and stability, and defense of the holy sites in Al-Quds in the face of the Zionists’ acts of aggression.
He further hailed Iran to be “an important country in the region”, pointing out that Amman attached “great importance” to further development of its ties with Tehran.
Safadi, meanwhile, welcomed the recent reconciliation agreement reached between Iran and Saudi Arabia under the auspices of China in Beijing.
Also on Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian talked on the phone with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan.
The officials described as positive the process of underway work by the technical teams that have been exchanged mutually to lay the groundwork for the reopening of each country’s Embassy and Consulate on the other’s soil.
The Iranian official expressed hope that the Iranian Embassy in Riyadh and its Consulate General in the port city of Jeddah be opened in time before this year’s Hajj Pilgrimage.
The Saudi official said the kingdom would do its part to contribute to the prospect, and also hoped that the top diplomats would meet each other in the countries’ respective capitals in the near future.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, welcomes the Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhala, on Thursday April 13, 2023.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, extended a warm welcome on Thursday to the Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhala, during his visit to Baghdad.
Abdul-Mahdi affirmed that Iraq, comprising the government and its people, represents an integral part of the heroic Palestinian struggle, playing a pivotal role in consolidating endeavors to liberate Palestine’s occupied lands, encompassing the region from the river to the sea.
He underscored the importance of resisting the nefarious plans of the Israeli usurping entity in Al-Aqsa, the odious apartheid regime, and putting an end to the intolerable occupation, settlement policies, displacement, daily killing, collective punishment, and normalization policies.
In turn, Al-Nakhala and his accompanying delegation briefed the former Iraqi Prime Minister on the latest developments in the Palestinian, regional, and international spheres.
The meeting was marked by an atmosphere of optimism, stemming from the positive strides made at both the jihadist and political levels in Palestine and the region, as well as the progress achieved by the Palestinian cause worldwide, despite the manifold challenges and the adversarial ferocity encountered.
– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com
‘Unchartered territory’ is how many mainstream Western media outlets have described the unprecedented political crisis that’s engulfed Benjamin Netanyahu’s rabid right-wing regime.
Overnight the protest movement that’s been brewing for weeks in opposition to his “judicial reforms”, brought the self-proclaimed Jewish state to its knees.
The escalation in protests which shut down the main airport, harbor, universities, businesses, shopping malls, and some ministries, has come as a rude shock to most of the settler-colonial apartheid regime’s allies and hard-core apologists.
The intensity of the crisis saw senior military officials including Yoav Gallant, the Defense Minister take a public stand against plans for the controversial judicial overhaul. Firing him added fuel to a raging fire.
“We’ve never been closer to falling apart. Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, and we don’t know what to say to our children about their future in this country. We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries,” is how former PM Yair Lapid described the crisis.
The “shock and awe” of America’s client-state falling apart, in whom the US has invested billions in arms and funds is reflected in back-to-back media coverage.
The Western narrative that internecine civil strife only happens in Syria, Yemen, and Libya – not in Israel, patronized as the “only democracy” in the Middle East, has been exposed as a racist construct.
The reality however is that Zionism as the political underpinning and ideological foundation which led to the dispossession of indigenous Palestinians to pave the way for the creation of Israel has failed.
The irony is that most, if not all, the formations who are at each other’s throats – from protesters to their opponents in the streets and in government – profess to be zionists.
The insults thus hurled at each other such as “anarchists” speaks to the huge divide between racists right-wing settlers and the so-called “left”.
Cynics argue that those perceived to be leftist opponents of the regime are in effect embedded in the status quo. They have yet to transcend their pro-democracy stance by acknowledging that the democratic values preserved for one ethnic group only is no democracy.
A cursory glance at South Africa’s apartheid-era “democracy” explains what Israeli “democracy” implies.
While America’s response to the protests has been largely muted, indications are that the Biden administration has been looking on with alarm. Notwithstanding the billions of dollars it provides in “aid”, the US lacks leverage for fear of treading on the toes of powerful pro-Zionist lobbies.
Having been out-boxed by China’s bold initiative to pave the way for Iran and Saudi Arabia to rekindle full diplomatic and economic ties, America’s strategy alongside Israel’s has been severely impaired.
Most of the region especially those Arab states who have opted to “normalize” ties on the basis of the “Abraham Accords” would be concerned about the end result of the turmoil. Their security which they hinged to Israel’s security is on a roller coaster ride.
As America’s influence wanes so too will they have to reconfigure their “normalisation” while at the same time weighing their options which include closing ranks with Syria.
Turkey faces a similar conundrum. It cannot pretend any longer that ties with Israel guarantee “protection” while observing the impending disaster unfolding in the Jewish state.
That Palestinian people continue to be hunted down and killed by settler-militias and by the regime’s armed forces, while protesters on the streets remain oblivious of these crimes, explains why the crisis faced by Israel is mainly about Israelis against themselves.
Palestinians remain subject to harsh restrictions, military checkpoints, arbitrary arrests, home demolitions and occupation. None of their grievances have featured in the protests, thus rendering them invisible, while their precious lives are on the line.
The only recourse they have in defending their lives and properties is to resist the occupation.
By all accounts, as much as the crises facing Israel are unprecedented in scale and numbers, it remains a selfish outpouring of anger directed against Netanyahu’s subjugation of the judiciary.
Though he has pushed the pause button, Netanyahu has already pushed through part of the bill which effectively strips the court of the power to declare a prime minister (himself) unfit for office. Though he denies any wrongdoing, it is known that Netanyahu is determined to push the “reforms” through due to his own ongoing corruption trial where he faces charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust.
Though Israel’s image has been severely damaged by its own racist right-wing extremists, and its macho power weakened at the same time, the core of Palestine’s freedom struggle to rid itself of the occupation has not altered.
Israeli vehicle near Aqbat Jabr camp during a raid by occupation forces (Monday, April 10, 2023).
Palestinian resistance fighters were on Monday confronting Israeli raids in Nablus and near Jericho in the West Bank, as provocative incursions by Zionist settlers at Al-Aqsa Mosque proceeded.
A Palestinian youth was martyred and several others were injured as Israeli occupation forces raided Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, southwest of Jericho.
The Israeli raid prompted fierce clashes with Palestinians who rushed to defend the camp.
Update: lsraeli occupation forces kill a Palestinian youth in Aqbat Jarb camp. pic.twitter.com/OBE9rpmCad
The latest Israeli offensive took the number of Palestinians martyred by Israeli fire since start of 2023 to more than 95. Elsewhere in Nablus, an Israeli officer and a soldier were injured as Palestinian resistance repelled a pre-dawn raid in the northern West Bank city, Israeli media reported. Nablus-based Lions’ Den resistance group announced its fighters engaged in a clash with occupation forces who raided the city.
بالفيديو والصور| إصابات واعتقالات خلال اشتباكات مسلحة مع الاحتلال في #نابلس و #الخليل
Palestinian media reported that a Palestinian, named Abdul Rahman Akouba, was arrested and several Palestinians were wounded during the raid.
Israeli occupation military said troops came under fire by Palestinian fighters as they were exiting the city, The Times of Israel reported, adding that two military vehicles were hit.
Meanwhile, groups of Zionist settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem), guarded by Israeli occupation forces.
So far, more than 1,500 Zionist settlers stormed the holy compound, Al-Qastal Palestinian media outlet reported.
Overnight, Israeli occupation forces attacked Palestinian women at the holy Mosque, forcing them to leave the compound.
On the other hand, hundreds of IOF-backed Israeli settlers blocked Route 60, the main north-south road for Palestinian traffic in the occupied West Bank, near the town of Huwwara in the occupied West Bank.
Hundreds of IOF-guarded Israeli settlers block Route 60, the main north-south road for Palestinian traffic in the occupied West Bank, near the town of Huwwara in the occupied West Bank, today. pic.twitter.com/QsXex3ZgnG
Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and so-called National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as well as five other Israeli ministers joined the settlers in a provocation to Palestinian people.
Settlers stomrs Jabal Sbeih near Nablus, with occupation forces firing tear gas at residents of Palestinian town of Beita.
Palestinian Red Crescent announced that 56 Palestinians suffocated from tear gas.
Earlier on Sunday, Head of the Hamas politburo Ismail Hnaiyeh wrapped his visit to Lebanon, where he met Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. The two leaders voiced readiness of the Axis of Resistance to confront Israeli aggression in Palestine with all means.
Source: Palestinian and Israeli media (translated and edited by Al-Manar English Website)
Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global law, Queen Mary University London, and Research Associate, Orfalea Center of Global Studies, UCSB.
There are two interwoven conflicts currently playing out in Israel, but neither, despite the Western liberal spin, relates to the threatened demise of Israeli democracy. That concern presupposes that Israel had been a democracy until the recent wave of extremism arising from the new Netanyahu-led Israeli government’s commitment to ‘judicial reform.’ A euphemism hid the purpose of such an undertaking, which was to limit judicial independence by endowing the Knesset with the powers to impose the will of a parliamentary majority to override court decisions by a simple majority and exercise greater control over the appointment of judges. Certainly, these were moves toward institutionalizing a tighter autocracy in Israel as it would modify some semblance of separation of powers, but not a nullification of democracy as best expressed by guaranteeing the equal rights of all citizens regardless of their ethnicity or religious persuasion.
To be a Jewish State that confers by its own Basic Law of 2018 an exclusive right of self-determination exclusively on the Jewish people and asserts supremacy at the expense of the Palestinian minority of more than 1.7 million persons undermines Israel’s claim to be a democracy, at least with reference to the citizenry as a whole. As well, Palestinians have long endured discriminatory laws and practices on fundamental issues that over time have come to have its government process widely identified as an apartheid regime that is operative in both the Occupied Palestine Territories and Israel itself. If language is stretched to its limits, it is possible to regard Israel as an ethnic-democracy or theocratic democracy, but such terms are vivid illustrations of political oxymorons.
Since its establishment as a state in 1948, Israel has denied equal rights to its Palestinian minority. It has even disallowed any right of return to the 750,000 Palestinians who were coerced to leave during the 1947 War, and are entitled by international law to return home, at least after combat has ceased. The current bitter fight between religious and secular Jews centering on the independence of Israel’s judiciary is from most Palestinian points of view an intramural squabble, as Israel’s highest courts through the years have overwhelmingly supported the most internationally controversial moves ‘unlawfully’ restricting Palestinians, including the establishment of settlements, denial of right of return, separation wall, collective punishment, the annexation of East Jerusalem, house demolitions, and prisoner abuse.
On a few occasions, most notably with respect to reliance on torture techniques used against Palestinian prisoners, the judiciary has shown slight glimmers of hope that it might address Palestinian grievance in a balanced manner, but after more than 75 years of Israel’s existence and 56 years of its occupation of Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, this hope has effectively vanished.
Nevertheless, Israel’s control of the political narrative that shaped public opinion allowed the country be to be legitimized, even celebrated by hyperbolic rhetoric as ‘the only democracy in the Middle East,’ and as such, the one country in the Middle East with whom North America and Europe shared values alongside interests. In essence, Biden reaffirmed this canard in the text of the Jerusalem Declaration jointly signed with Yair Lapid, the Prime Minister at the time, during the American president’s state visit last August. In its opening paragraph, these sentiments are expressed: “The United States and Israel share is an unwavering commitment to democracy…”
In the years before Israel’s election last November resulted in a coalition government regarded as the most right-wing in the country’s history, the U.S. government and diaspora Jewry have been at pains to ignore the devastating civil society consensus that Israel was guilty of inflicting an apartheid regime to maintain its ethnic dominance was subjugating and exploited Palestinians living in Occupied Palestine and Israel. Apartheid is outlawed by international human rights law, and treated in international law as a crime with a severity second only to genocide. Notable opponents of the extreme racism of South Africa, including Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and John Dugard have each commented that Israeli apartheid treats Palestinians worse than the cruelties that South Africa inflicted on their African majority population, which was condemned at the UN and throughout the world as internationally intolerable racism. Allegations of Israeli apartheid have been documented in a series of authoritative reports: UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (2017), Human Rights Watch (2021), B’Tselem (2021), and Amnesty International (2022). Despite these condemnations, the U.S. Government and liberal pro-Israel NGOs have avoided even the mention of the apartheid dimension of the Israeli state, not daring to open the issue for debate by refuting the allegations. As Dugard pointed out when asked what was the greatest difference between fighting apartheid in South Africa and Israel, he responded: “..the weaponization of antisemitism.” This has been borne out in my own experience. There was opposition to anti-apartheid militancy with respect to South Africa but never the attempt to brand the militants as themselves wrongdoers, even ‘criminals.’
From these perspectives, what is at stake in the protests, is whether Israel is to be treated as an illiberal democracy of the sort fashioned in Hungary by Viktor Orban, diluting the quality of the procedural democracy that had been operative for Israeli Jews since 1948. The new turn in Israel gestures toward the kind of majoritarian rule that has prevailed for the last decade in Turkey, involving a slide toward an outright intra-Jewish autocracy. Yet we should note that in neither Hungary nor Turkey have governance structures of an apartheid character emerged, although both countries have serious issues involving discrimination against minorities. Turkey has for decades has rejected demands from its Kurdish minority for equal rights and separate statehood, or at least a strong version of autonomy. These instances of encroachment on basic human rights at least have not occurred within a framework of settler colonialism that in Israel has made Palestinians strangers, virtual aliens, in their own homeland where they have resided for centuries. Racism is not the only reason to dissent from the democracy-in-jeopardy discourse, dispossession may be the more consequential one. If native people were to be asked whether they worried about the erosion or even the abandonment of democracy in such settler colonial ‘success stories’ as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. the question itself would have no current existential relevance to their lives. Native peoples were never meant to be included in the democratic mandate that these encroaching national cultures adopted so proudly. Their tragic fate was sealed as soon as the colonial settlers arrived. It was in each instance one of marginalization, dispossession, and suppression. This indigenous struggle for ‘bare survival’ as distinct peoples with viable culture and ways of life of their own making. Its destruction amounts to what Lawrence Davidson has called ‘cultural genocide” in his pathbreaking book of 2012, which even then included a chapter condemning Israel’s treatment of Palestinian society.
Underneath the encounter among Israeli Jews, which allegedly discloses a chasm so deep as to threaten civil war in Israel lies the future of the settler colonial project in Israel. As those that have studied ethnic dispossession in other settler colonial contexts have concluded, unless the settlers manage to stabilize their own supremacy and limit international solidarity initiatives, they will eventually lose control as happened in South Africa and Algeria under very different schemes of settler domination. It is this sense that the Israel protests going on need to be interpreted as a double confrontation. What is explicitly at stake is a bitter encounter between secular and ultra-religious Jews the outcome of which is relevant to what the Palestinians can expect to be their fate going forward. There is also the implicit stake between those who favor maintaining the existing apartheid arrangements resting on discriminatory control but without necessarily insisting on territorial and demographic adjustments and those who are intent on using violent means to extinguish the Palestinian ‘presence’ as any sort of impediment to the further purification of the Jewish state as incorporating the West Bank, and finally fulfilling the vision of Israel as coterminous with the whole of the ‘the promised land’ asserted as a biblical entitlement of Jews as interpreted by way of a Zionist optic.
It is a mystery where Netanyahu, the pragmatic extremist, stands, and perhaps he has yet to make up his mind. Thomas Friedman, the most reliable weathervane of liberal Zionism weighs in with the claim that Netanyahu for the first time in his long political career has become an ‘irrational’ leader that is no longer trustworthy from the perspective of Washington because his tolerance of Jewish extremism is putting at risk the vital relationship with the U.S. and discrediting the illusion of reaching a peaceful resolution of the conflict by of diplomacy and the two-state solution. Such tenets of a liberal approach have long been rendered obsolete by Israeli settlements and land grabs beyond the 1948 green line.
Politically, Netanyahu needed the support of Religious Zionism to regain power and obtain support for judicial reform to evade being potentially held personally accountable for fraud, corruption, and the betrayal of the public trust. Yet ideologically, I suspect Netanyahu is not as uncomfortable with the scenario favored by the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Benezel Smotrich as he pretends. It allows him to shift blame for dirty deeds in dealing with the Palestinians. To avoid the dreaded South African outcome, Netanyahu seems unlikely to oppose another final round of dispossession and marginalization of the Palestinians while Israel completed a maximal version of the Zionist Project. For now, Netanyahu seems to be riding both horses, playing a moderating role with respect to the Jewish fight about judicial reform, while winking slyly at those who make no secret of their resolve to induce a second nakba (in Arabic, ‘catastrophe’), a term applied specifically to the 1948 expulsion. For many Palestinians, the nakba is experienced as an ongoing process rather than an event limited by time and place with highs and lows.
My guess is that Netanyahu, himself an extremist when addressing Israelis in Hebrew, has still not decided whether he can continue to rise both horses or must soon choose which to ride. Having appointed Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to key positions vesting control over Palestinians and as the chief regulators of settler violence it is pure mystification to consider Netanyahu as going through a political midlife crisis or finding himself a captive of his coalition partners. What he is doing is letting it happen, blaming the religious right for excesses, but not unhappy with their tactics of seeking a victorious end of the Zionist Project.
Liberal Zionists should be deeply concerned about the degree to which these developments in Israel give rise to a new wave of real antisemitism, which is the opposite of the weaponized kind that Israel and its supporters around the world have been using as state propaganda against critics of state policies and practices. These targeted critics of Israel have no hostility whatsoever to Jews as a people and feel respectful toward Judaism as a great world religion. Rather than respond substantively to criticisms of its behavior, Israel has for more than a decade deflected discussion of its wrongdoing by pointing a finger at its critics and some institutions, especially the UN and International Criminal Court, where allegations of Israeli racism and criminality have been made on the basis of evidence and scrupulous adherence to existing standards of the rule of law. Such an approach, emphasizing the implementation of international law, contrasts with the irresponsible Israeli evasions of substantive allegations by leveling attacks on critics rather than either complying with the applicable norms or engaging substantively by insisting that their practices toward the Palestinian people are reasonable in light of legitimate security concerns, which was the principal tactic during the first decades of their existence.
In this sense, the recent events in Israel are dangerously portraying Jews as racist criminals in their behavior toward subjugated Palestinians, done with the blessings of the government. The unpunished settler violence toward Palestinian communities has even been affirmed by relevant government officials as in the deliberate destruction of the small village of Huwara (near Nablus). A photo-recorded aftermath of settlers dancing in celebration amid the village ruins is surely a kind of Kristallnacht, which of course is not meant to minimize the horrors of Nazi genocide, but unfortunately invites comparisons and disturbing questions. How can Jews act so violently against vulnerable native people living amongst them, yet denied basic rights? And will not this kind of grotesque spectacle perversely motivate neo-Nazi groups to castigate Jews? In effect, Israel by both cheapens the real menace of antisemitism in this process of attaching the label where it doesn’t belong and at the same time arouses hatred of Jews by documented renditions of their inhuman behavior toward a people forcibly estranged from their native land. By so acting, Israel is making itself vulnerable in a manner potentially damaging to Jews everywhere, which is an inevitable global spillover from this inflammatory campaign of the Netanyahu government to victimize even more acutely the Palestinian people, aimed at their total submission, or better their departure.
A few observations on things surrounding the issue of Israel. For reasons that are hard to understand at this point, the rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia has had very little mention in the Israeli press. Considering its importance and potential impact on the region, it is difficult to see how Israel is hardly moved by this development. There was an expectation that Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel. However, now the kingdom not only has not done so, but they are also building bridges with Iran, Israel’s biggest nemesis. It is a slap in the face of the U.S. and Israel and may soon be seen as diplomatic and intelligence failures of epic proportions.
The American attitude towards Israel has been consistently supportive, and of course, it is expected that it will continue to be supportive in the foreseeable future. $3.8 billion goes to Israel uninterrupted, even though Amnesty International has labeled it an apartheid regime. In fact, the U.S. support for Israel is not just “aid”; it is complicity in crimes against humanity as Israel continues to oppress the Palestinians.
Governments around the world discuss recognizing Palestine within the borders of 1967 – and some have already done so. However, the borders were created by Israel and have nothing to do with Palestine. Recognizing Palestine within these borders only legitimizes the Israeli crimes of 1948. There is one Palestine, and its borders are clear: the Jordan River in the east and the Mediterranean in the west. Palestine borders Syria and Lebanon in the north and the Gulf of Aqaba in the South.
Any recognition of a part of Palestine is really a recognition and legitimization of the apartheid state of Israel. If the U.K. – or any other government – was serious about supporting the Palestinian cause, they would recognize Palestine in all of historic Palestine and would support the fight to bring down the apartheid regime.
JUDICIAL REFORMS
The reforms that the Netanyahu government wants to pass touch on issues that relate only to the privileged class of Israeli Jews within the apartheid regime. They take away the ability of the high court to strike down undemocratic laws and allow politicians to have more control over the selection of judges. It is an undemocratic reform, to be sure, but we have to remember that “Israel” was never a democratic state. It was always – as we are told by the Amnesty report – a regime of apartheid, committing a crime against humanity towards the Palestinian people.
The hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting in the streets are blind to the Palestinian issue. They have the power to end the apartheid regime, free the Palestinian political prisoners and stop destroying Palestinian homes and lives. Hundreds of fighter pilots are refusing to serve now, but they never refused to bomb Gaza (or Lebanon and Syria) and kill civilians.
There are two causes behind the protests. First, Israelis who did not vote for Netanyahu and his government hate him and the racist gangsters in the cabinet. They want bigoted thugs like Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and their allies to stay in the West Bank and terrorize Palestinians. They don’t want to see these faces as members of the “legitimate” Israeli government. This is also why the Biden administration and the British prime minister are criticizing Netanyahu. They are also embarrassed to support an Israel that is being governed by these figures.
FRAGMENTED ISRAELI SOCIETY
There have always been inequalities among Israeli Jews of different backgrounds. In fact, one may argue that there was never a cohesive Israeli society. Israel is made up of a fragmented group of people who have very little in common. I grew up in a very white, European-centric suburb outside Jerusalem. I used to take the bus to go to school in Jerusalem and back. Just a few stops after mine, it was an entirely different world. There was another neighborhood, rather large, that was made up of Jews from Iraq and Kurdistan. We all used the same bus but went to separate schools. We never met or spoke to each other. We did not understand them, and they did not understand us. I came from “civilized” Europeans, and they were “Orientals,” – which means less privileged and beneath us. That is how I was raised; this is one small example of how fragmented Israeli society has always been.
One time I was in an Israeli jail after I was arrested at a protest in the West Bank. I was the only white guy in the jail cell with about ten or twelve other inmates. They were all Israeli Jews from Arab countries. Not only did we have nothing in common, they thought I was “worse than an Arab” because I was an Ashkenazi’ and an Arab lover – a leftist.
While there, I told my fellow cellmates a story from my childhood growing up in Jerusalem –
I went to a school that was only for Ashkenazi European Israelis. Then, one day, someone decided to initiate what they called “integration.” Not integration between Jews and Arabs who all lived in Jerusalem, but between Jewish Israelis of different social and economic classes. The authorities brought the children of the Arab Jews – who were of a lower social class and went to a school a few blocks away from my school – to the same school as me.
These kids were as different as could be. We never spoke to one another and never played with one another during recess. In fact, they placed them, the “other” kids, in different classes and with different teachers. When I told this to the other inmates in my cell, they knew what I was talking about. They all remembered how Israelis who are white or European treat them like dirt. They still thought I was a lefty enemy and worse than an Arab.
The illusion of a cohesive Israel, an Israel that is a miraculous success, exists only in the minds of privileged Israeli and some diaspora Jews. Some European politicians may also believe this to be the case, having been convinced by Jews in their countries. But it was never the case. And now, if Israel indeed does implode, if it really disintegrates, there will be no reason to mourn.
The successful mobilization of hundreds of thousands of Israelis to stand up against the Netanyahu government is proof of one thing: Israelis do not want to end the oppression and killing of Palestinian people.
Israeli society has never seen such ongoing massive anti-government protests. So it is clear that had Israelis wanted to, they could have mobilized around lifting the brutal and inhumane blockade Israel has imposed on Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, or the release of political prisoners or any of the myriad mechanisms Israel uses to oppress and terrorize Palestinians.
However, rather than stand up against any of the sadistic measures their government takes against the Palestinians, Israelis who consider themselves liberal (or even progressive) seem quite content to let the torture of Palestinians go uninterrupted as long as their privileges are not compromised.
THE ARMY WEIGHS IN
According to a report in The Times of Israel, as well as many other Israeli news outlets, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has warned the Israeli government that the army is on the verge of reducing the scope of operations due to a large number of reservists refusing to report for duty in protest over their efforts to weaken Israel’s justice system. General Halevi emphasized that “the judicial overhaul is leading to deep and dangerous divisions within the military, as growing numbers of reservists warn they will not serve.”
In addition to the relatively large numbers of reservists refusing to show up, IDF pilots (the most sacred and admired of all) have also spoken out on the issue. Israeli press reports indicate that “Roughly 200 Israeli Air Force reserve pilots reportedly notified their units that they would not be reporting for their weekly flying session.”
This announcement has serious implications for the military because, without weekly training sessions, pilots cannot be certified to fly operational missions. The pilots’ announcement came following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that the government will disregard the calls to halt the reform and plans to move forward with its plan to overhaul the judiciary.
NETANYAHU’S VEILED THREAT
Netanyahu’s response to the growing numbers of reservists refusing to show up for duty was to say that, “The phenomenon of soldiers and reservists refusing to obey orders as a protest move against the judicial overhaul plan could destroy the state.” Furthermore, he added, “Surrendering to such a threat is an existential threat to the state of Israel.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu passed the buck, stating at the opening of a recent cabinet meeting that he wants the Army Chief of Staff and other heads of the security apparatus to fight this phenomenon. “I expect the Chief of General Staff and the heads of the security forces to fight firmly the [service] refusal [of reservist fighter pilots],” he said.
He thus conveniently ignored the fact that these pilots are volunteers who give the Air Force one day of their working week, year after year.” This piece makes the pilots seem so selfless, when in fact, their entire career – glamorous as it seems in the eyes of Israelis – was built on killing people who have no way to defend themselves. And they love every minute of it. Still, when pilots speak, Israelis listen.
Netanyahu then added a veiled threat; “The use of a refusal to obey orders as a political tool starts on the Left but can move to the Right.” In other words, the message that the prime minister is sending those who use the tool of refusal to serve in the military is that if and when the day comes when settlers need to be removed, or some other political decision is made that favors the Israeli “Left,” then the other side, the Israeli Right, will do the same. In Netanyahu’s cabinet, there is at least one member who not only promoted the refusal of the Right to obey orders but was caught with 185 gallons of gasoline, planning to bomb one of the country’s main highways. This is none other than the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS AND SOLDIERS ARE HAPPY TO SERVE
Still, what is clear from the message sent by these refusers is that they can mobilize and stand up to what they feel is wrong. In response to criticism, one pilot said he was, in fact, doing his duty by refusing to serve and participating in the protest to curb the judicial reform. So, clearly, one can claim that they see no reason to demand an end to the apartheid regime, no reason to demand an end to the bombing of Palestinians in Gaza, and no need to stop bombing targets in Syria. If they did see any of these issues as a problem, they could bring these criminal acts to a halt. But, sadly, they are happy to serve the brutal regime called Israel.
Israelis on the street are calling for democracy. Privileged citizens of a nation that denied democracy to Palestinians are protesting for fear that their democracy is in danger. This is not a new phenomenon; we have seen this in the United States, in Australia, and other settler colonial states.
Internationally, the Biden administration and the British prime minister have stated that they are concerned about the judicial reforms because they fear for Israeli democracy. The debate on this issue is expanding, and while their support for democracy is heartfelt, pretending that there is a democracy called Israel and that it is in danger only diminishes the chances of democracy becoming a reality in Palestine.
We may expect that Netanyahu will find a way to appease the protesters. It is likely that a compromise is reached on the judicial reform, and the protests will quiet down until they are completely gone and Israelis all return to Netanyahu’s warm embrace.
On the last Friday before Ramadan, over 20,000 leaflets were distributed at mosques across the UK, in an effort to urge Muslims to boycott Israeli dates during the holy month of Ramadan.
This is part of the Check the Label Campaign, promoted by the UK-based Friends of Al-Aqsa organization.
“Running since the early 2010s, #CheckTheLabel has had an unprecedented impact on the British public’s understanding of the connection between the products they buy and Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine,” FoA said in a statement, adding that:
“Many individuals have become ethical consumers who avoid buying Israeli produce as a result of this campaign.”
“This Ramadan, it’s more important than ever that we boycott Israel,” said Shamiul Joarder, Head of Public Affairs at FOA.
“By checking the label and avoiding Israeli dates, we can send a clear message: we won’t give our money to an apartheid state that breaks international law and kills Palestinian children”.
Israel has killed at least 88 Palestinians since the beginning of the year, including 16 children, in the occupied West Bank.
The settler-colonial apartheid state of Israel is facing unprecedented pressure on at least three fronts: The burden of its own internal contradictions which is taking it on the path to civil war, armed and unarmed Palestinian resistance inside Palestine which is laying bare Zionism’s claim to provide a “land without a people” as a “safe haven” for colonizers, and BDS and awareness efforts in the West, dubbed “Israel’s greatest threat” by the Institute for National Security Studies.
The odds of these three pressure fronts increasing this year and in the coming years is real , and Israel is feeling the heat. How will it counter-attack? And how can a narrative that is solidly anchored in the One Democratic State solution protect our efforts and struggle?
Anticipating Israel’s Counter-Attack to BDS and Other Pro-Palestinian Efforts
When Herzl established the World Zionist Congress in 1897, he and all subsequent Zionist leaders realized that the main obstacle to achieving the goals of Zionism was what to do with local indigenous people of Palestine. The bride (Palestine) was indeed beautiful but she was married to another man (Palestinians), as said to be put succinctly by two visiting Zionists.
This was and remains the main challenge to making Palestine the Jewish state of Israel. In the 1920s, Ben Gurion created a public relations campaign that sought to brilliantly talk about splitting the country, portraying colonialists as peace agents while continuing to take land and displacing Palestinian refugees. This hasbara strategy slowly evolved into the paradigms we see today: Western leaders speak of a two-state “solution” while Zionist leaders continue to advance their colonial project. This delusion over 100 years allowed Israel time to grow its military might, its political power, and to leave Palestinians with access to only 8% of historical Palestine. Yet, this era is coming to an end and a new reality needs to be reckoned with.
Through amazing resilience and despite horrendous efforts to drive them out, half of the Palestinians still live in historic Palestine. Thus, a system of deepening apartheid was needed and developed to control them and even use them as indentured labor to build the Jewish state. Movements seeking real liberation were targeted and principled leaders were assassinated while other (autocratic) leaders were domesticated.
This latter phenomenon of mental colonization was a most troubling aspect of the evolution of the struggle. Out of ignorance or corruption, many Palestinians and other Arab leaders fed the delusion of a political settlement with Zionism even against the most compelling of data. Many Palestinian intellectuals wrote books warning that the trend only strengthens Zionism and colonialism. Indeed, the history of what happened since 1993 proved the warnings were right. Yet, those professing “pragmatism” continued because they had already been colonized mentally and reversal is rare. Many even deepened their ties to neo-liberal and neo-colonial structures. For example, the Palestinian capitalist class strengthened its relationships with its Israeli counterparts.
The trends seen over the past few decades are unmistakable: deepening Israeli hegemony over the Palestinian economy (captive market), more land confiscation, increased human rights violations, destruction of the environment, growth of Israeli colonial settlements, growth of corruption within the (Israel/US approved) leadership of the Palestinian Authority, and increased fascism and racism within Israeli society.
The tragedy is that this was foreseen by many of us and we warned that this is unsustainable. It is understandable that colonizers divide to conquer and that they fight democracy and human rights. Palestine will never be at peace or free without facing these realities and challenging hegemony. The increase in population and increase in access to social media makes it difficult for oppressors to control the narrative. It is becoming more and more difficult to sustain the delusions of so-called “liberal or left Zionists” or of “pragmatic Palestinians”.
Those who hijacked movements cannot also continue to tout the previous liberation struggle as their own. And on the Israeli side, the ascendance of lunatics like Ben Gvir and Smotrich within the apartheid regime should have been sufficient evidence of the failure of trying to accommodate political Zionism.
The attempt of the ultra-right to reshape the judiciary branch of the Zionist regime is an interesting example of the identitarian rift within the colonial society. But regardless of the outcome of this particular issue, this is only a harbinger of deeper issues to surface: Even if the ultra-right is pressured to compromise here, it will only gain strength and proceed to further demands. The recent pogrom in Huwwara forewarns increased attempts at finally “finishing the job Ben Gurion started in 1948”.
The above serves as an indicator of Israel’s possible counter-attack: Domesticating pro-Palestinian efforts by making them compatible with Zionism, as happened with Oslo.
This could take the form of mere “improvements” such as less oppression in the West Bank or less discrimination among Israeli citizens, whereupon it could be argued that Israel’s policies no longer meet the legal definition of occupation or apartheid. This is a moment of truth where we have a choice that is very simple: To identify Zionism’s politicization of identity and its endeavor to establish a state exclusive to Jews as the root cause of injustice and suffering in Palestine and the Middle East, and to put our boycotting and awareness-raising efforts in the context of a political vision that forms the fundamental antithesis to Zionism, that is, a vision that depoliticizes identity and proposes the transition to One Democratic State, from the river to the sea.
Publicly and explicitly rallying around the ODS solution as the objective prevents focusing on Israel’s actions and normalizing with its nature as a sectarian settler-colony, or turning the Palestinian liberation struggle into a mere moral or real estate issue that should be resolved by goodwill. It also prevents the infiltration of Palestinian or pro-Palestinian efforts by so-called “liberal” Zionists who criticize Israel’s practices but are keen on maintaining its existence as a state exclusive to Jews. Remaining focused on the central question of the “Jewish state” versus a “democratic state” further lays bare Zionism’s reality as a settler-colonial entity that can never be a democratizing or a liberating endeavor for Jews or any other.
It ensures we do not get side-tracked by hasbara ‘whataboutist’ tactics and thus giving space for oppression. Activists, allies and potential allies can rally around this call for a transition to democracy and human rights and close our ranks around a political project for genuine liberation and decolonization.
The ODS Initiative: An ODS Tool
Launched by Palestinians and allies, the One Democratic State Initiative describes itself as “a political endeavor that identifies Zionism’s politicization of identity and establishment of a Jewish state as the root cause of suffering and violence in Palestine, and that, accordingly, proposes the transition to a secular, democratic, non-identitarian state in Palestine as the only possible solution. The purpose of the Initiative is thus to mobilize individuals, entities and political parties, in Palestine and abroad, behind such an endeavor.”
The ODS Initiative thus aims at reaching a stage where the main issue, “A democratic state or a Jewish state?”, takes the front stage in the political discourse regarding the occupation and liberation of Palestine. To accomplish this, it is reaching out to Palestinian and pro-Palestinian individuals and groups, as well as to all willing to listen, by means of online campaigns and on-the-ground meetings.
Practical examples include the reporting of the Huwwara rampage and the Aqaba meeting, the commemoration of Baruch Goldstein’s massacre, the displaying of Palestinian art, or sharing of existing material such as Visual Palestine’s infographics, articles by Awad Abdelfattah or videos displaying Zionist racism, all in the context of an ODS solution.
The results so far have been a reach of close to 1.5 million persons, most of whom are in Palestine, over 100,000 of whom have interacted with us and thousands have signed up and shared their contact details as supporters of the One Democratic State solution.
The ODS Initiative has also particularly placed emphasis on reaching out to the several existing ODS movements in a bid to create a collaborative platform that would allow all to work together on specific campaigns and activities.
This includes, for example, putting ODSI sign-ups in contact with local ODS activists or groups, organizing joint events that put well-known ODS supporters in contact with interested ones, co-authoring articles such as this one, or collaboration for the purpose of making use of existing material, such as colonial activities documented by ARIJ.org, and environmental justice issues documented by studies by palestinenature.org, and presenting them in laymen’s terms in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
Would You Take Part?
The first step in any revolutionary endeavor is to build a solid narrative based on facts that challenges existing widespread hasbara/propaganda, that energizes existing activists and activates support for action including boycotts, divestments, and sanctions. Envisioning and working for a better future is certainly along the line of “lighting a candle is better than cursing the darkness.”
We urge Palestinian and pro-Palestinian political movements, media, activists, solidarity groups and celebrities to push forward the One Democratic State solution in their discourse regarding Palestine, its occupation and its liberation. We further invite all those willing to sign up as supporters of the ODS solution and/or to contact us to help build a decentralized yet organized network. The settler-colonial apartheid state will be dismantled, One Democratic State will be established in its stead, and Palestine will be free.
– Mazin Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian scientist and author, founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University.
– Alain Alameddine is a member of Lebanese political party Citizens in a State and an activist in the One Democratic State Initiative. They contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
According to Palestinian prisoners support and human rights groups, 29 female Palestinian prisoners remain under “harsh conditions” in the Israeli prison system.
According to statistics and figures released on 7 March, a day ahead of International Women’s Day, several women are subjected to medical negligence. Two of the 29 women are minors, both 16 years old, while 15 others suffer from various health issues, six of which are mothers. One of the prisoners reportedly received no trial and is under administrative detention.
Thirty-six-year-old Israa Jaabis was arrested by Israeli forces in the fall of 2015 after her faulty cooking apparatus exploded in her car near an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank. The Israeli police accused her of attempting to harm Israeli authorities; however, there has not been any evidence to support such claims, with Jaabis denying the allegations until now.
Local reports indicate that she suffered extensive burns across 65 percent of her body, yet the Israeli authorities denied her the necessary medical attention, refusing doctors to perform surgery to allow her to breathe through her nose in 2022.
These reports were released a week after the Israeli government seized several freed Palestinian prisoners’ property and bank accounts.
The gradual but deliberate process of Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian money and land, coupled with the forcing of Palestinians to live under Israeli military occupation, has formed the system that the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has categorized as ‘apartheid’ – a secondary consequence of occupation.
According to Human Rights lawyer Abdel Nasser Farwana, over 600 Palestinian political prisoners suffer from acute illnesses and are at risk of dying.
According to the WAFA news agency, 4,450 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, with 160 of them minors, as well as 200 chronically ill prisoners.
Israel is the only country in the world that prosecutes children in military courts, robbing them of their basic legal rights.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
On February 20, the United Nations Security Council approved a statement, described in the media as a ‘watered-down’ version of an earlier draft resolution which would have demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
The intrigues that led to the scrapping of what was meant to be a binding resolution will be the subject of a future article. For now, however, I would like to reflect on the fact that the so-called international community’s relationship with the Palestinian struggle has always attempted to ‘water down’ a horrific reality.
While we often rage against statements made by US politicians who, like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, refuse to even acknowledge that Israel is occupying Palestine in the first place, we tend to forget that many of us are, somehow, involved in the watering down of the Palestinian reality, as well.
While reports by B’tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, dubbing Israel an ‘apartheid state’, are welcome additions to a growing political discourse making similar claims, one must ask: why did it take decades for these conclusions to be drawn now? And what is the moral and legal justification for ‘watering down’ Israel’s apartheid reality for all of these years, considering that Israel has, from the moment of its inception – and even before – been an apartheid entity?
The ‘watering-down’, however, goes much deeper than this, as if there is a conspiracy not to describe the reality of Palestine and the Palestinian people by its proper names: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, apartheid and more.
I have spent half my life living in, and interacting with, western societies while lobbying for solidarity with Palestinians, and for holding Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people. Every step of the way, in every society, and on every platform, there has always been pushback, even by Palestine’s own supporters.
Whether motivated by blind ‘love’ for Israel or by guilt over historical crimes against the Jewish people, or over the fear of ‘rocking the boat’, offending the sensibilities of western societies, or outright retaliation by pro-Israeli supporters, the outcome tends to be the same: if not unconditional support for Israel, then, certainly ‘watered-down’ statements on the tragic reality of the Palestinians.
Naturally, a watered-down version of the truth is not the truth at all. Worse, it is unlikely to lead to any resolute moral stances or meaningful political actions. If, indeed, watering down the truth was of any value, Palestine would have been freed a long time ago. Not only is this not the case, but there also remains a true deficit of knowledge regarding the root causes, nature and consequences of the daily Israeli crimes in Palestine.
Admittedly, the quisling Palestinian leadership exemplified in the Palestinian Authority, has played a significant role in watering down our understanding of Israel’s ongoing crimes. In fact, the ‘watered-down’ statement at the UN would not have replaced the binding resolution if it were not for the consent of the PA. However, in many Palestinian spaces in which the PA holds no political sway whatsoever, we continue to seek a watered-down understanding of Palestine.
Almost every day, somewhere in the world, a Palestinian or a pro-Palestinian speaker, author, artist or activist is being disinvited from a conference, a meeting, a workshop or an academic engagement for failing to water down his or her take on Palestine.
While fear of repercussions – the denial of funding, smear campaigns, or loss of position – often serves as the logic behind the constant watering down, sometimes pro-Palestine groups and media organizations walk into the ‘watered-down’ trap of their own accords.
To protect themselves from smear campaigns, government meddling or even legal action, some pro-Palestine organizations often seek affiliation with ‘reputable’ people from mainstream backgrounds, politicians or ex-politicians, well-known figures or celebrities to portray an image of moderation. Yet, knowingly or unwittingly, with time, they begin to moderate their own message so as not to lose the hard-earned support in mainstream society. In doing so, instead of speaking truth to power, these groups begin to develop a political discourse that only guarantees their own survival and nothing more.
In the “Prison Notebooks”, anti-Fascist Italian intellectual Antonio Gramsci urged us to create a broad “cultural front” to establish our own version of cultural hegemony. However, Gramsci never advocated the watering down of radical discourse in the first place. He merely wanted to expand the power of the radical discourse to reach a much wider audience, as a starting point for a fundamental shift in society. In the case of Palestine, however, we tend to do the opposite: instead of maintaining the integrity of the truth, we tend to make it less truthful so that it may appear more palatable.
While creative in making their messages more relatable to a wider audience, the Zionists rarely water down their actual language. To the contrary, the Zionist discourse is uncompromising in its violent and racist nature which, ultimately, contributes to the erasure of Palestinians as a people with history, culture, real grievances and rights.
The same is true in the case of the pro-Ukraine and anti-Russian propaganda plaguing western media around the clock. In this case, there is rarely any deviation from the message, regarding who is the victim and who is the perpetrator.
Historically, anti-colonial movements, from Africa to everywhere else, hardly watered down their approach to colonialism, neither in the language nor in the forms of resistance. Palestinians, on the other hand, subsist in this watered-down duplicitous reality simply because the West’s allegiance to Israel makes the truthful depiction of the Palestinian struggle too ‘radical’ to sustain. This approach is not only morally problematic but also ahistorical and impractical.
Ahistorical and impractical because half-truths, or watered-down truths, never lead to justice and never affect a lasting change. Perhaps a starting point of how we escape the ‘watered-down’ trap we find ourselves in, is to reflect on these words by one of the greatest engaged intellectuals in recent history, Malcolm X:
“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
The truth, in its most simple and innate form, is the only objective we should continue to relentlessly pursue until Palestine and her people are finally free.
The New York Times publishes a piece explaining that democracy cannot exist in an ethnocracy, thus making “Israel” a non-democracy from inception until today regardless of intra-Israeli differences.
IOF soldier restraining a scared Palestinian boy in Ramallah, Palestine August 28, 2015 (Reuters).
The New York Times published a piece by Peter Beinart, a professor of journalism and political science, titled “You Can’t Save Democracy in a Jewish State” in which the writer explained why “Israel” is not a democracy despite continuous claims by its officials on the importance of “saving democracy”.
Beinart discussed the topic following an era of unprecedented chaos in “Israel”, where Israeli demonstrators claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government has imperiled efforts to “preserve ‘Israel’ as a Jewish and democratic state.“
Former Prime Ministers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett and former minister Benny Gantz have also voiced their concerns on “saving democracy” in recent days. However, Beinart marked a significant difference in what is happening in “Israel”, which has been likened to anti-populist demonstrations elsewhere in the world.
“The people most threatened by Mr. Netanyahu’s authoritarianism aren’t part of the movement against it,” said Beinart and explained that very few Palestinians have joined the ongoing demonstrations.
According to the professor, the anti-Netanyahu movement is “a movement to preserve the political system that existed before Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition took power, which was not, for Palestinians, a genuine liberal democracy in the first place.” More clearly, the NYT report argued, “It’s a movement to save liberal democracy for Jews.”
Beinart further made the argument to depict “how illiberal the liberal Zionism” can be. He used one example from the Lapid era, where he argued that then-PM Lapid “implored the Knesset to renew a law that denies Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who are married to Palestinian citizens the right to live with their spouses” inside the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
In a more blunt approach, the professor explained, “For most of the Palestinians under Israeli control — those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip—’Israel’ is not a democracy,” adding, “It’s not a democracy because Palestinians in the Occupied Territories can’t vote for the government that dominates their lives.”
Beinart also made reference to Gaza being an open-air prison and the Palestinian Authority being “a subcontractor, not a state.”
Significantly, the Jewish professor re-examined a 2018 incident wherein a number of Palestinian legislators presented legislation “to anchor in constitutional law the principle of equal citizenship.” At the time, Beinart said the speaker of the Knesset refused to even discuss the topic because it would “gnaw at the foundations of the state.”
The country “belongs to Jews like me, who don’t live there” the professor said, adding “but not to the Palestinians who live under its control, even the lucky few who hold Israeli citizenship.” This is a reality from long before the Netanyahu coalition came to power, the NYT piece highlighted before concluding that “this is the vibrant liberal democracy that liberal Zionists want to save.”
Democracy in time of domicide
To further double down on the contradictive rhetoric of democracy in a Jewish-led occupation state, it is worth putting into context the incidents.
The protests in “Tel Aviv” and Al-Quds have occurred without any connection to the Israeli occupation’s security cabinet approval the “legalization” of nine illegal Israeli settlement outposts and the advance of nearly 10,000 “settlement units” in the occupied West Bank, which were established by settlers without the approval of Israeli governments.
The United Nations Security Council, shortly after, on February 16, considered a draft resolution that would demand “Israel” to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory,” Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, the text “reaffirms that the establishment by ‘Israel’ of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”
The draft resolution also condemns moves toward the further seizure of land by the Israeli occupation, including the “legalization” of settlement outposts.
However, On February 20, it was reported that according to multiple diplomats familiar with the situation, the US was successful in delaying the resolution proposed by the Palestinians and their supporters.
The UN diplomats said that in order to avoid having to use its veto to block the resolution, Washington has encouraged Palestine and its allies in the UNSC to consider drafting “a more symbolic” joint statement condemning the Israeli cabinet’s announcements.
Democracy in time of genocide
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) raided, on January 26, the Jenin camp in Occupied Palestine’s West Bank using force the camp had not seen in years. The raid left residents and popular resistance groups with no choice but to defend themselves and confront the occupation forces. This raid was happening in parallel to intra-Israeli divisions.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the martyrdom of 10 Palestinians during the genocidal raid on Jenin. It is also worth noting that as part of the raid that was launched against Palestinians, the IOF prevented ambulance crews from entering the region.
Democracy in time of apartheid
Amnesty International released a report last year in February that asserted once and for all that the Israeli regime is forcing a system of apartheid on Palestinians.
Amnesty said the Israeli system is founded on “segregation, dispossession and exclusion”, which amount to crimes against humanity, and its findings were documented in a report that shows the Israeli seizure of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcibly displacing people, and denying them citizenship.
This is the second report by an international rights group to accuse “Israel” of enforcing an apartheid system, the first being Human Rights Watch whose report was released in April 2021. As per Israeli custom, it accused Amnesty of anti-semitism.
The organization further said that “Israel” was enforcing a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians in all areas under its control “in Israel and the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories], and against Palestinian refugees, in order to benefit Jewish Israelis. This amounts to apartheid as prohibited in international law.”
The measures employed by the Israeli regime against Palestinians include: restrictions on Palestinian movement in occupied territories, underinvestment in Palestinian communities in pre-1967 occupied territories, preventing the return of Palestinian refugees.
Even more so, “Israel” forcibly displaces Palestinians, and tortures and kills them extrajudicially in order to maintain a system of “oppression and domination”, which constitutes “the crime against humanity of apartheid”.
“Laws, policies and practices which are intended to maintain a cruel system of control over Palestinians, have left them fragmented geographically and politically, frequently impoverished, and in a constant state of fear and insecurity.”
“Israel is not a democracy”
In an interview with Foreign Policy, the former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Alon Liel, made brazen statements that sharply cut through arguments that the Israeli establishment continues to push; Liel openly stated “Israel” is not a democracy.
“‘Israel’ always says it’s a democracy. The government always says we are the only democracy in the Middle East and we are part of the West. But in real terms, we are not a democracy with the occupation, and we are only part of the West when it suits us,” Liel argued.
Democracy devoid of rights
The Palestinian Prisoners Information Office confirmed on February 16 “that the occupation prison administration is tightening the screws even more on ‘Megiddo’, ‘Gilboa’, ‘Nafha’, ‘Ramon’, and the ‘Negev’ prisoners, by imposing new punitive measures that affect their daily lives.”
#Palestinian female prisoners cried for help in an audio message sent from behind the bars of Israeli "Damon" prison. They demanded the Palestinian people to stand and defend their rights. This comes after Israeli forces violently beat and abused the prisoners yesterday. pic.twitter.com/vXhDUfBx3y
Israeli media talked about the decision of extremist Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir who ordered showering time to be reduced to four minutes per prisoner.
On February 4, Palestinian prisoners sent a message from inside the Israeli occupation prisons asking their citizens to prepare to wage a major battle against the oppression of Ben-Gvir. The prisoners later announced the beginning of the “days of rage”, which will culminate in a hunger strike that will begin in the month of Ramadan, to continue until they are liberated from their captivity.
Protest against the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of Antisemitism in London. (Photo: Video Grab)
– Jamal Kanj is the author of “Children of Catastrophe,” Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America, and other books. He writes frequently on Arab world issues for various national and international commentaries. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle
Imagine in post-apartheid South Africa if blacks practiced racism against whites, and then African American rights groups defended those policies under the pretext of slavery and past oppression of Africans.
There’s no need to imagine, that is exactly what major Jewish rights organizations, such as the Anti -Defamation League (ADL) had done to normalize Israel’s depopulation of Palestine since 1948, and continue to defend Israel’s apartheid practices against Palestinians, today. Not because of Jewish historical grievances against Palestinians, Arabs, or Muslims, but rather for the maltreatment of Jews in Europe.
To ensure the hegemony of the Zionist narratives, ADL, American Jewish Committee, Jewish Congress, AIPAC, etc., used the antisemitism label as an intellectual terror tool to silence critics of Israel equating them with Jewish haters. To the point where Jewish rights organizations’ adherence to the political Zionist project, Israel, is evident in their willingness to whitewash anti-Jewish tropes so long as the Jewish hater is inexplicably a friend of Israel. Conversely, they’d eagerly defile proven anti-racist civil rights pundits, including Jews, and international rights organizations if they dare to challenge Israeli policies.
The term, anti-Jewish hatred, is applied here instead of the sweeping antisemite political label so as not to clump Jewish haters with well-established Israeli and international rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, …etc. This is particularly important when supposed Jewish rights organizations purposefully convolute Jewish hate with fact-based political criticism of Israel.
Furthermore, the term Semite is often misused when ascribed to Jews with no proven genetic connections to the original Semites of Mesopotamia, and with an implicit racist intent to exclude non-Jewish Semitic people.
I’m cognizant of the sensitivity when comparing political Zionism to supremacist groups like the Nazis. However, as a Palestinian victim of the Zionist political project, who grew up in a refugee camp, and the son of parents who were refused the right of return to their own homes, simply because they were not Jewish, I understand the ills of dehumanization just like European Jews who suffered under the Nazi program.
To contextualize my proposition, I watched with disgust the appointment of the Jewish racist, Bezalel Smotrich, as a minister in the current Israeli government. The Ukrainian Jewish descendant once addressed a native Palestinian (Israeli) lawmaker stating: “You’re here by accident because (David) Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job.”
The “job” the most likely Khazar Jewish convert refers to is Ben-Gurion’s order to forcefully evict my parents, along with 780,000 other Palestinians from their homes in 1948, and razing more than 500 villages to the ground. The Palestinian (Israeli) lawmaker was an offspring of the 150,000 natives who managed to stay under the newly imposed state.
In juxtaposing the quintessential racist nature of the maligned oppressors, I am in no way comparing historical Jewish suffering to Palestinians’ pain. Just as I wouldn’t draw any comparison between the slavery of Africans and the ordeal of Aboriginals in the new world. Rather than competing on the scale of grief and victimhood, it would be more productive for all of us to acknowledge that pain is distinctive, individualistic, and real.
Equally, and in order to draw the appropriate conclusions, those experiences should be introduced within a contemporary context. For example, within roughly 15 years, WWII crimes against Jews were recognized, the new Germany acknowledged the harrowing atrocities of the Nazis, compensated victims or their progeny, and restituted their right to go back to their homes.
In contrast, 75 years later, the people of Palestine continue to endure Israeli apartheid occupation, and the expelled population or their descendants are refused the right of return to their original homes.
According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), when I demand justice for my expelled parents or when I contrast the sins of the Nazi attempts to depopulate Europe of Jews, and the Zionist depopulation of Palestine, IHRA characterizes this as “Anti-Semite.”
ADL, IHRA and others use the “antisemitic” political label as a blanket defense to censor public discourse, more so when they fail to argue facts and deeds regarding indefensible Israeli malevolent policies. For them, Israel is a sacred cow, and unlike other political entities they’d give themselves the right to criticize, Israel is untouchable, and above all, is immune from reproach by a Jew or gentile.
Additionally, they fail to provide empirical evidence that criticizing Israeli policies leads to Jewish hatred, nor is there any validation that revering Israel―the Anglicans and Trump’s veneration are just examples―curbs the rise of hate. To the contrary, there are reasons to believe that observed spikes of anti-Jewish incidents are linked to Jewish rights groups’ efforts to conflate Jewish values with Israel’s immoral policies more than anything else.
ADL, IHRA et al. have no monopoly on grief. Having been a victim of past injustice does not exonerate any group from inflecting future injustice. To quote the prominent Palestinian scholar, Edward Said, in his book Culture and Resistance, “there is a great difference between acknowledging Jewish oppression and using that as a cover for the oppression of another people.”
Exploiting the “antisemite” political label to blackmail critics of Israel is a cover for oppression, and it does not advance the fight against Jewish hatred. Instead, it exposes the hypocrisy of the tribal organizations, such as the ADL, and normalizes Israeli (Jewish) apartheid practices against Palestinians.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 