Editor's
Note:
All over the Arab and Muslim world, the number one
grievance by the rank and file population is the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This is a rather amazing
fact that is hard for people living in the US to grasp.
For in this one conflict, the symbol of western
domination permeates the psyche.
What is the solution? Without solving this conflict, one
could stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan and there would
still be a huge problem because justice for Palestinians
would still be denied. Today's article offers a
solution. It basically follows the South African
solution; one state for all citizens.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Two Peoples, One State -by Michael Tarazi
Israel's untenable policy in the Middle East was more
obvious than usual last week, as the Israeli Army made
repeated incursions into Gaza, killing dozens of
Palestinians in the deadliest attacks in more than two
years, even as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated
his plans to withdraw from the territory.
Israel's overall strategy toward the Palestinians is
ultimately
self-defeating: it wants Palestinian land but not the
Palestinians who live on that land.
As Christians and Muslims, the millions of Palestinians
under occupation are not welcome in the Jewish state.
Many Palestinians are now convinced that Israeli support
for a Palestinian state is motivated not by a hope for
reconciliation, but by a desire to segregate non-Jews
while taking as much of their land and resources as
possible. They are increasingly questioning the most
commonly accepted solution to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict - "two states living side by side in peace and
security," in the words of President Bush - and are
being forced to consider a one-state solution.
To Palestinians, the strategy behind Israel's two-state
solution is clear. More than 400,000 Israelis live
illegally in more than 150 colonies, many of which are
atop Palestinian water sources.
Mr. Sharon is prepared to evacuate settlers from Gaza -
but only in exchange for expanding settlements in the
West Bank. And Israel is building a barrier wall not on
its land but rather inside occupied Palestinian
territory. The wall's route maximizes the amount of
Palestinian farmland and water on one side and the
number of Palestinians on the other.
Yet while Israelis try to allay a demographic threat,
they are creating a democratic threat. After years of
negotiations, coupled with incessant building of
settlements and now the construction of the wall,
Palestinians finally understand that Israel is offering
"independence" on a reservation stripped of water and
arable soil, economically dependent on Israel and even
lacking the right to self-defense.
As a result, many Palestinians are contemplating whether
the quest for equal statehood should now be superseded
by a struggle for equal citizenship. In other words, a
one-state solution in which citizens of all faiths and
ethnicities live together as equals. Recent polls
indicate that a quarter of Palestinians favor the
secular one-state solution - a surprisingly high number
given that it is not officially advocated by any senior
Palestinian leader.
Support for one state is hardly a radical idea; it is
simply the recognition of the uncomfortable reality that
Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories already
function as a single state. They share the same
aquifers, the same highway network, the same electricity
grid and the same international borders.
There are no road signs reading "Welcome to Occupied
Territory"
when one drives into East Jerusalem. Some government
maps of Israel do not delineate Israel's 1967
pre-occupation border.
Settlers in the occupied West Bank (including East
Jerusalem) are interspersed among Palestinian towns and
now constitute nearly a fifth of the population. In the
words of one Palestinian farmer, you can't unscramble an
egg.
But in this de facto state, 3.5 million Palestinian
Christians and Muslims are denied the same political and
civil rights as Jews. These Palestinians must drive on
separate roads, in cars bearing distinctive license
plates, and only to and from designated Palestinian
areas. It is illegal for a Palestinian to drive a car
with an Israeli license plate. These Palestinians, as
non-Jews, neither qualify for Israeli citizenship nor
have the right to vote in Israeli elections.
In South Africa, such an allocation of rights and
privileges based on ethnic or religious affiliation was
called apartheid. In Israel, it is called the Middle
East's only democracy.
Most Israelis recoil at the thought of giving
Palestinians equal rights, understandably fearing that a
possible Palestinian majority will treat Jews the way
Jews have treated Palestinians.
They fear the destruction of the never-defined "Jewish
state."
The one-state solution, however, neither destroys the
Jewish character of the Holy Land nor negates the Jewish
historical and religious attachment (although it would
destroy the superior status of Jews in that state).
Rather, it affirms that the Holy Land has an equal
Christian and Muslim character.
For those who believe in equality, this is a good thing.
In theory, Zionism is the movement of Jewish national
liberation. In practice, it has been a movement of
Jewish supremacy. It is this domination of one ethnic or
religious group over another that must be defeated
before we can meaningfully speak of a new era of peace;
neither Jews nor Muslims nor Christians have a unique
claim on this sacred land.
The struggle for Palestinian equality will not be easy.
Power is never voluntarily shared by those who wield it.
Palestinians will have to capture the world's
imagination, organize the international community and
refuse to be seduced into negotiating for their rights.
But the struggle against South African apartheid proves
the battle can be won. The only question is how long it
will take, and how much all sides will have to suffer,
before Israeli Jews can view Palestinian Christians and
Muslims not as demographic threats but as fellow
citizens.
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Michael Tarazi is a legal adviser to the Palestine
Liberation Organization.
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More selected readings on the Middle East
A Truth That Should Not Be Said -by Ran HaCohen
"The Arab states and the Palestinians have in fact
acknowledged Israel's right to exist in peace, if it
withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territories
taken in 1967; whereas Israel wants to keep these
territories, though it doesn't quite know how."
http://antiwar.com/hacohen/?articleid=3660
The Nuclear Bomb That Wasn't - The New York Times
Of all the justifications that President Bush gave for
invading Iraq, the most terrifying was that Saddam
Hussein was on the brink of developing a nuclear bomb
that he might use against the United States or give to
terrorists.
http://nytimes.com/2004/10/05/opinion/05tue1.html
CIA: No Saddam link to terrorists - Knight Ridder
A new CIA assessment undercuts the White House's claim
that Saddam Hussein maintained ties to al-Qaida, saying
there's no conclusive evidence that the regime harbored
Osama bin Laden associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/9836114.htm
Robertson: Form third party if Bush wavers on Israel
Influential American evangelist Pat Robertson said
Monday that Evangelical Christians feel so deeply about
Jerusalem, that if President George W. Bush were to
"touch" Jerusalem, Evangelicals would abandon their
traditional Republican leanings and form a third party.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/484861.html |