A future free of ethnocentrism
"The first challenge, then, is to
extract acknowledgement from Israel for what it did to us...But
then, I believe, we must also hold out the possibility of some form
of coexistence in which a new and better life, free of ethnocentrism
and religious intolerance, could be available...If we present our
claims about the past as ushering in a form of mutuality and
coexistence in the future, a long-term positive echo on the Israeli
and Western side will reverberate."Edward Said in "The
Progressive", March 1998
The answer? A sovereign
Palestinian state.
"The final destination of a
Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement has begun to emerge from the
political haze. Such a settlement must...give the Palestinian people
a sovereign, uncontested, independent state of their own. This is a
matter of justice and practicality. If a truly lasting and stable
peace is the goal, there is no other option...The mere trappings of
statehood will not suffice. The state has to be real and workable.
The following are its essential conditions.
Territorial integrity and
contiguity...Any further dissection of Palestinian territory would
make it politically and economically impossible to maintain a
state...There can be no civilian pockets under Israeli rule on
Palestinian land...
A sovereign capital in Jerusalem.
East Jerusalem is Palestine's historical, spiritual and commercial
heart. To exclude it from a Palestinian state is unthinkable...
"Justice and fairness for
refugees...As a matter of principle, the Palestinians right to
return or be compensated for their lost homes and land is
nonnegotiable...Israel must acknowledge the suffering and hardship
Palestinian refugees have faced as a result of their eviction from
their homeland, and must assist in their rehabilitation and
reabsorption." A.S. Khalidi, Op-Ed piece in the New York Times,
February 11, 1997.
Palestinian refugees claim to
repatriation is realistic, as well as just
Palestinian engineer and
parliamentarian Salman Abu Sitta...(showed) that 'the return of the
refugees is possible with no appreciable dislocation of Jewish
residents.' This is because '78 percent of the Jewish population of
Israel lives on only 15 percent of the land'...
"Ironically, the land in the upper
Galilee from which a very large percentage of the refugees were
driven is so lightly populated because most of thÝ immigrants [that]
settled there refused to remain so far from the centers of Israeli
urban life in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem...Of those actually
cultivating those former Palestinian fields, many are non-Jewish
Thais, Rumanians and others slated to return to their countries at
the end of their contracts." Richard Curtiss from June 2000 issue
of "Washington Report On Middle East Affairs."
Israeli professor calls for a
new Zionism
"It was our nationalism...which
drew the country into an occupation and settlement of the West
Bank...None of the leaders of the Labor movement believed that the
Palestinians deserved the same right [as Jews] because none of them
believed in universal rights. Pretending, like [Arthur] Hertzberg
and others do, that the Occupation and the colonial situation
created in the last thirty years was merely the product of the Arab
refusal to recognize Israel, is no more than looking for an alibi
and falsifying history...
"The time has come to say that if
the settlements in Judea and Samaria or in the very heart of Hebron
are the natural, logical and legitimate continuation of the original
intention of Zionism, then we need another Zionism. If a 'Jewish
State' that does not recognize the absolute equality of all human
beings is considered to be closer to the spirit of the founding
fathers than a new liberal Zionism, then it is time to say good-bye
to the ghosts of the founders, and to start forging for ourselves an
identity detached from the mystical ramifications of our religion
and the irrational side of our history." Israeli professor of
political science, Ze'ev Sternhell, in "Tikkun", May/June 1998.
Sources for further research on
Palestine and Israel
These short quotes do not, of
course, prove the assertions made here. The historical evidence,
however, is overwhelming and is available in fully documented form
in the books cited. Particularly useful sources are:
1. "Palestine and Israel: A
Challenge to Justice" by John Quigley, professor of law at Ohio
State University. Duke University Press, 1990.
2. "The Fateful Triangle: The
United States, Israel & The Palestinians" by Noam Chomsky, professor
at MIT and "arguably the most important intellectual alive" (NY
Times). South End Press, 1983.
3."Original Sins: Reflections on
the History of Zionism and Israel" by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi. An
honest history of Zionism by a noted Israeli scholar who teaches at
Haifa University. Olive Branch Press, 1993.
4. "Bitter Harvest" by Sami Hadawi.
A very complete look at the documentary evidence of the creation of
the state of Israel, by a Palestinian Christian who lived through
that period. Caravan Books 1979.
For articles from the alternative
and Israeli press, please see ZNet at www.lbbs.org and
www.commondreams.org/viewsarchive.htm.
A wealth of information on
Palestine/Israel is to be found at
www.geocities.com:0080/CapitolHill/Senate/7891.
Another very useful resource is the
Jewish Voice for Peace. To join their mailing list, e-mail
shlensky@socrates.Berkeley.edu.
Also, the American Educational
Trust, publisher of Washington Report on Middle East Affairs(a great
magazine) has a large selection of books available. Write for their
free catalog to AET, PO Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009.
Our booklet can also be found on the web at www.cactus48.com