Israel-Palestine: two nations, two states - End the Occupation!
40 years ago this week, Israel fought the Six Day War against an alliance of Arab states seeking to destroy it, and won a crushing victory. The armed forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, with troops and arms from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Algeria, were comprehensively defeated, and Israeli forces occupied Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Since then, Israel has denied the Palestinian Arab people who comprise the vast majority in those territories their right to self-determination. The West Bank is now dotted with Israel army checkpoints, riddled with Israeli settlements — there are more than 400,000 Israeli settlers there — and further eroded by the so-called “security fence”, stealing large tracts of Palestinian territory. All of this undermines the possibilities of a viable Palestinian state.
In Hebron, 500 settlers live in the heart of a city of 150,000 Palestinians, who are barred from the main commercial road and only allowed to walk elsewhere.
For any consistent democrat, let alone socialist, the solution to the conflict is simple. The Palestinians must be allowed to form a viable, fully independent state – a state with the same rights at Israel. Details aside, that means a Palestinian state in the area which has been occupied since 1967, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza; it means the dismantling of the “security fence” and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops. And it means massive aid from Israel, the Arab states and others to help the Palestinians rebuild their shattered society.
The demand for two independent states, Palestine alongside Israel, is the core of effective solidarity with the Palestinians, and with the left and peace movement in Israel. It is part of the fight to unite Arab, Jewish and other workers in a struggle to overthrow the monarchies and dictatorships that dominate the Middle East, to create a free, socialist federation in which the region’s oil wealth can be used for the benefit of all.
Two nations, two states! End the occupation!
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Red flag, Palestinian society not responsible?
In Germany and Austria there was already long time before the National-Socialists were formed a saying “The Jew is guilty”. And this is the opinion of many Israelbashers. Blame for everything the Jewish state.
The culture of vengeance and violence in Palestinian society is rampant not since 1967 but since long before. Did you know, that during the years 1936-39 Arabs killed in Palestine more Arabs, than Jews or British?
And now Red Flag wants to blame Israel for this culture of violence, which is absurd.
Nobody had so much right after the Holocaust to vengeance as Jews had. But Jews decided to continue with life and do something constructive. Its leaders led Palestinian Arab society into a different direction. And now we can see where it led them.
Of course this culture of vengeance and violence is not restricted to the Palestinian Arabs. We can see it also in Iraq, where every day so many are killed. It is their tragedy that only under a bloody dictatorship of Saddam Hussein could Shiites and Sunnis live without daily bloodbaths.
And Israel is not responsible?
Like any others Palestinianbashers you blame Palestinians for everything. For you the only problem is "Arab violence"! And Israeli violence? You refuse to denounce the brutality of Israeli occupation and colonization in West Bank. You refuse to denounce the hatred propaganda by Israeli extremists and fascistics like Lieberman (who is in current Israel government)Netanyahu, Benny Elon, Eitam and others.
As David Broder told you, Palestinians are not blameless, but now is Israel who occupy the Palestinian territories and deny self-determination for Palestinian people.
The Blame Game
Surely, its not a matter here of apportioning blame, but of trying to find a progressive solution, or at least as far as we are able to do as socialists with very little influence on world affairs of setting out what such a progressive solution requires, what we would propose were we in a position to be able to effect a solution.
Israel has a lot of blame to bear here for its long oppression of the Palestinians, but that also has to be put in the context of the conditions under which Israel came into existence, and has had to try to survive in a hostile environment. Imperialism and British Colonialism has an even bigger blame to bear for the way it carved up the area in the first place, the fact that it went back on the promises given to the Arabs by T.E. Lawrence and others during the Fitst World War for their support against the Ottomans, for the way they carved out the Israeli state without concern for the indigenous communities, for the way in which they have used Israel as a client state for their own strategic purposes and as a result have failed to support the just demands of Palestinians for basic rights over decades. The Areab regimes have blame to bear for the way they have used the Palestinians as part of their own Great Game, and in order to divert attention from their own reactionary nature on to Israel as the main enemy. The US and those that refuse to call for its withdrawal from Iraq which is fuelling the current gererating of support for Islamo-fascist groups in the area are to blame too. But where does all this blaming and shaming get us? Nowhere.
It is not a matter of blaming the Palestinians either. The majority of Palestinians appear as pissed off with the current Civil War as anybody. Rihgtly so, they are the ones suffering. Some are even calling for israel to send its troops back in to retsore order! Its not the Palestinians fault for God's sake, its the fault of history. The Palestinians find themselves in a similar situation to many other nationalities that history has passed by without material condiitons existing to provide them with the necessary requirements for their own state. Just look at Polisario for another example in the Region. The current Civil War and impasse is the necessary consequence of that, of a nationality that lacks the necessary material forces from within itself to become a nation, and the necessary reliance therefore on outside, usually, reactionary forces, to make up for it. That is not some cultural or racial inadequacy of Palestinians it is simply a matter of historical fact, rather like various nationalities within France, or the Cornish in Britain have had to accept in the end being subsumed within a wider culture.
IN the end accepting that was the way forward, the basis of ensuring that the necessary democratic rights could be fought for and won, that the basis of unity with the rest of the working class within the existing state could be built, and in some instances where appropriate that the needs, culture and interests of the nationality could be accomoodated through some form of self-government, local autonomy, etc.
Socialists should stop trying to look for soemone to blame for the curent situation, someone to visit retribution on, and instead start focussing on fighting for the basic human rights, and democratic freedoms of Palestinians within the actual situation they find themselves. Only on that basis can the only force capable of providing a truly and consistently democratic solution emerge and replace the current sectarianism - the working class and Labour Movement.
Arthur Bough
Good article.
But a boycott of Israel will only help the right wing in Israel. One should not close the eyes to the fact that the culture of violence and hatred in the Palestinian territories and in the Middle East in general will only make it more difficult to find a necessary compromise.
Violence naturally exists at all times and in every place. But we are in the midst of a striking growth in violence, not to say an increase at a catastrophic rate. This is the fruit that Palestinians are harvesting because they sowed thorns for over half a century.
Thus, the crisis in the region is not the amount of disagreements in points of view or differences in interests between Palestinians and their neighbours or the world. In both of these cases, reason and dialogue can find solutions, whether comprehensive or partial, that are completely satisfactory, acceptable, or at least can be borne.
Unfortunately Palestinian society is ruled by the spirit of vengeance. We can now see where it led.
You forgot many facts
You forgot that Israel refuse to allow the creation of a genuine Palestinian state. To blame only Palestinians, as you do, for the situation is one-sided and false. Israel has a great share of responsability for the situation. The culture of violence is also widespread in Hebrew State.
One Criticism
Set aside the other issues as to whether the demand for two states is a realistic and progressive demand I have one other criticism here Sacha.
You call for a demand that such a state be viable. How can you have such a demand. Who can guarantee that a state is viable. I'm not sure that for example Zimbabwe can be described as a viable state at the moment, not because of any external restrictions on it, but soimply from internal causes. If a Palestinian state were in practice not viable after it had been set up, and Palestinians argued that the reason it was not viable was because the area under its control was not large enough, that the discontinuity between Gaza and the West Bank created insurmountable problems that the Bntustanisation of the West Bamnk made it unviable and so on, would that mean having to support further limittaion of Israeli territory?
At what point is their a limit to this?
Arthur Bough
Blaming the Palestinians....
....certainly isn't going to progress the situation. The de facto policy of the PLO since the early 1970's has been for a two-state solution. It is Israel which has consistently blocked any such resolution, essentially because they have the upper hand and have used to it take more and more land via settlements and now the wall.
This is why I personally am in favour of international pressure, whether that is a boycott or other means. The Palestinians have no way to assert their self-determination and are faced with a choice between ineffective peaceful protest and counterproductive violence.
Not The Only Choice
Those are not the only choices. The other choice is to focus on a legitimate demand for democratic rights for Palestinians inside Israel and the Occupied territories here and now, a demand around which the Palestinian, Jewish and international working class could organise. But policies like the boycott which create division amongst workers are the last thing that can help build such a movement.
Arthur Bough
Incidentally...
...the characterisation of the Six Day War as a war of national self-defence is rather less than clear-cut. Much of the history I have seen on the subject indicates that Nasser had no intention of going beyound sabre-rattling and in fact had people in Washington trying to reach a peaceful settlement even as Israel attacked.
Let the Palestinians stop the culture of violence
So it was all just rhetoric, the demand to withdraw UN-peacekeeping force and the closure of the Tiran straits?
It is the easy way to blame for everything in the PA the Israelis and Imperialism, as if Palestinians would be just innocent victims and not having any responsibility for what is happening just now. Within 24 hours 20 Palestinians killed by Palestinians. This is the result of the culture of hatred and violence dominant in Palestinian society. Those who had encouraged this phenomenon hat intended to use it against Israel and the West, but that once it took root it became impossible to control, and has led to domestic infighting in the Gaza Strip.
So what do some leftwing posters propose to do?
Continue blaming Israel for everything happening in the PA and even in the Arab world? Norman Finkelstein for instance wrote in one of his last articles, that Israel is to blame for the backwardness of the Arab world.
Who is to blame if so many people are poor in Saudi-Arabia?
Who is to blame, if in Sudan Darfur more than 2 million refugees live in misery?
Who is to blame, if Kurds in Syria are discriminated against?
And I could continue.
One can read the Arab Human Development Report prepared by Arab intellectuals and they do not blame for everything Israel.
Progressive people everywhere must stand up for halting the discourse of violence, incitement and hatred.
And please do not compare Israel to the PA. No state Radio or TV in Israel is inciting people to kill Arabs. Palestinian state Radio and TV are quite often, almost every Friday inciting people to kill Jews.
Yes there are right wing and chauvinist elements in Israel but by demonising Israel you will not harm them, on the contrary.
The natural consequence of the rule of the culture of violence is its expansion in the fraternal violence we see today, which has defied and will continue to defy all attempts to contain it – violence among brothers whom we all agree are miserable by any standard.
How long will Palestinians blame for the shortcoming of their own society only Israel?
How long will Palestinians continue with the rule of the culture of violence?
Lets begin to use reason and replace this culture with peaceful dialogue.
Don't blame Palestinians for everything
You refuse to blame Israel and you blame without stop Palestinians for the problem in Middle East.
You refuse to denounce Israeli chauvinist and fascistics like Avigdor Lieberman who calls for the deportation of Palestinians. You're only one-sided and unfair. There is many far-right organization in Israel who inciting violence and hatred against Palestinians. There is many discrimination against Arabs in Israel. All the lands ownes by Jewish National Fund are forbidden to Palestinians.
You just blame Palestinians as if Israel is pure as snow and has no responsability for the situation. It's a sheer Israeli chauvinism and we have to fight this.
Against Occupation
The occupation of Palestinian territories is a major cause of the conflit between Israeli state and Palestinian people, and people like Omar who refuses to fight this are irresponsible and supports Israeli chauvinism. The destrucion of Palestinian economic life by Zionist state is a crime and block the way for peace in the Middle East.
I think that AWL is agree with me on this point.
a few comments
Arthur: I take your point, but I think it's also pretty clear that in this context "viable" means geographically coherent, in control of its own borders, not riddled with Israeli-controlled roads and settlements etc.
Chris: international pressure on the Israeli government, yes, but not by sanctions/boycott which will also hurt the Israeli masses and drive them into the arms of that government.
Omar: of course the Palestinians are not blameless. But surely Red Flag is right that Israel's actions are the *main* problem here? After all, it is the Palestinians currently being denied self-determination, not Israel...
Sacha Ismail
Then
Sacha,
But then I think there is a practical question that has to be answered here. A recent (I think BBC) programme on the anniversary of the 1967 War showed on a computer the extent to which the West Bank was no longer a viable entity as part of a Palestinian state. In order for it to be so would require ethnically cleansing hundreds of thousands of Jews from there, would require the dismantling of a huge amount of Israeli economic and military infrastructure.
It seems to me that calling for this, as well as the necessity to transfer existing Israeli territory in order to provide a corridor between Gaza and the West Bank is very little different from the demands for Israel to dismantle itself put forward by the single state advocates. On top of that would be a requirement for Israel to provide various other services to such a separate state, for example the tax collecting, and other financial services Israel has provided to the PA. To insist that Israel did this in order that the Palestinian State was viable seems to me in itself an infringment fo Israel's own right of self-determination.
Sure other small states such as Andorra, Lichtenstein etc. receive similar services from their larger neighbours, but those larger neighbours provide those services voluntarily not because of some compulsion, and the fact that even these long established small states are reliant on these larger states is proof of Lenin's point about the reactionary nature of small states.
Also, what kind of viable state can only exist if the rest of the world provides it with the financing for even the most basic functions?
These are just some of the reasons I believe the two-states solution is utopian and reactionary.
Arthur Bough
Arthur Bough
Unprogressive...
There is no solution, we can talk and be clever but there will never be a peace... Suggestion - I think there's a need to go right back to basics and enpower an independent world government so we can get rid of the ridiculous overseas policies of some nations... The UN are a sham... frustrated, Tim