By Vic Rosenthal
Adalah, a legal advocacy organization for Israeli Arabs has drafted a “democratic constitution” for the State of Israel (or whatever it will be called). You can read the complete document here and read about it in Ha’aretz here.
Adalah claims that the very idea of a Jewish state is undemocratic.
By Vic Rosenthal
One of the oft-repeated misconceptions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that it’s the root of all problems in the Middle East. For example:
“America’s best hope of containing the escalating tensions in the region would be to address the festering wound that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has represented for decades.†– Joshua Holland
Or, for example:
The root cause of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict is the failure to resolve the Israel-Palestine issue, an international church delegation visiting Jerusalem has said. — Ecumenical News International
Although one finds these or similar statements everywhere, it’s hard to find any actual arguments for them — they are supposed to be self-evident.
You probably thought that the Palestinian people were suffering mightily from the cutoff of funds to the Palestinian Authority as a result of the Hamas government’s accession to power.
Well, think again. They may well be suffering, but the international community is pumping more aid into the territories than before.
The Western bloc has simply funneled its increased aid through the office of President Mahmoud Abbas instead of the official PA treasury, controlled by Hamas. Of course, Hamas is also receiving funds from its benefactors in the Arab world, so the total is even greater.
You can read the details in this report from CAMERA.
Technorati Tags: Palestinians
By Vic Rosenthal
Yesterday NPR interviewed Ari Sandel, director and co-writer of the film “West Bank Story”, the Oscar-winning film about Jewish and Palestinian falafel stands:
A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing falafel stands in the West Bank… David, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with the beautiful Palestinian cashier, Fatima, despite the animosity between their families’ dueling restaurants. — westbankstory.com
OK, I will go see this when I get the liquid Helium concession in Hell, but that’s not the point. In the interview, Sandel said “[I wanted to show that] both sides are more similar than they care to admit”.
Sandel was criticized by Arabs and others because “the film didn’t show the suffering of the Palestinian people” or Israeli brutality. In other words, it was not the propaganda film they expected. Debbie Schlussel devoted a column to the horror of what happened when a suicide bomber walked into a real falafel shop. It’s true but a cheap shot.
But here’s what’s really wrong with the film: the message is that the conflict is basically a misunderstanding. That both sides actually want the same thing, peace and prosperity, and that coexistence is possible if only the details can be worked out and the extremists on both sides suppressed.
The truth is that both sides do not want the same thing. The Israeli side, by and large, does want peace and coexistence. The Palestinian side wants to reverse the historic ‘injustice’ of 1948 and take possession of what they believe is their property, from the river to the sea. And this has very important implications for what we ought to demand of Israel and of the Palestinians.
Sandel seems to be a decent guy who really would like the conflict to be soluble. Unfortunately, at least today, it isn’t.
Technorati Tags: West Bank Story, Sandel, Ari Sandel, Oscar
Some (secular) reasons that Israel has a right to exist:
Israel was created by a UN vote, not by a treaty between imperialists like most other nations in the Middle East. Whatever one may think of the UN, it is the only expression of the general will of nations.
Israel defended her territory in multiple defensive wars. Israel did not take territory from other nations in wars of aggression. The majority of Israelis have always been prepared to trade occupied territories for peace and normal relations with her neighbors.
Israel reclaimed what had been worthless land and built an economy that could support a population of millions in a place that has been called “the armpit of the Ottoman Empire”.
The Jewish people began creating the institutions of the state in the beginning of the 20th century long before WWII, in order to exercise their natural right of self-determination. The state would have come into being whether or not there had been a Holocaust. It is not in any way justified by the Holocaust.
Israel is a democracy. It is not a monarchy or dictatorship like most other nations in the Middle East. Therefore it is one of the only middle-eastern nations to legitimately exercise power over its inhabitants.
Israel is the only nation in which the Jewish people can exercise their right of self-determination.
Technorati Tags: Israel, self-determination, UN, democracy
