What do Israelis really know about the Nakba? What do they think about the right of return of the Palestinian refugees?

De-Colonizer went out to meet and asked them…

Mazin Qumsiyah, PhD adds the following ….

On the eve of the 67th year anniversary of the Nakba (the catastrophic ethnic cleansing of Palestine), Benjamin Netanyahu finally formed a “coalition government” a group of ministers who are honest about their racist and genocidal tendencies (see article by Gideon Levy below). It includes a “Justice” who called for murdering Palestinian mothers so that they do not bring out more “snakes”. It includes the head of “civil administration” who openly supports ethnic cleansing and genocide. A government more right wing in its composition than Germany was in 1933-1939 or South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s but an honest one indeed without double talk or hypocrisy. What is disappointing is not the make-up of the government but the hypocritical response to it. Words from the “Palestinian Authority” wining about the new government were accompanied by continuing security coordination with Israel and the PA arrest of dozens of Palestinians simply for having different political affiliation (e.g. students who against all odds were voted to student councils at Palestinian Universities). Geopolitically, there are now two choices: US/Israel that attempt to dominate the Arab World and Western Asia through a class of puppet dictators (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Egypt) and the axis of Russia, China, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon (led by Hizbollah) and large segments of Iraqi society. It would be nice to have a third axis (like the non-aligned movement led by Egypt and India in the 1960s) but it does not currently seem possible. Yasser Arafat managed to steer the PLO leadership to semi-neutrality or at least flexibility in building alliances as need arose. But even acting as a good honest broker to solve some regional disputes many times by asking people to put the interests of their people ahead of their superpower sponsors (then it was Soviet Union and the USA/NATO). In the time of Abu Mazen, we see more a definitive side-taking (e.g. with Saudi Arabia against Yemen) in a fashion that actually weakened the Palestinian cause dramatically. The black and white attitude was applied in a way that is like George Bush “you are either with us (USA right wing government) or with the terrorists. In this case you are either with us (Fatah) or with the terrorist Hamas. There seems no room left for nuances or indeed for diplomacy. From the agreement with Hamas, there is only the part about holding elections for the PA that Abbas wants to implement. Other parts of the agreement (holding elections for the PLO, economic issues etc) were supposed to happen synchronously but they are now off the table. Meanwhile Gaza was devastated and is still under siege (civil society is responding and a flotilla of ships is moving to break the siege). Last time this happened, there were martyrs and some high level PA officials ridiculed the Free Gaza movement. Instead, it would have been nice to see PA officials join Haneen Zoabi and Raed Salah on the boats. Alas wishful thinking for change. The old definition of madness still apply: repeating the same (failed) tasks and expecting different results. And we live in a mad, very mad world. US/Israel still fund terrorists, support dictators, and support ethnic cleansing. Those who bet on them to help them achieve “independence” still do not understand and still hope somehow magically, things will change. They would be wise to listen to Russian President Putin. He was speaking at the 70th anniversary of the win over Nazi Germany (26 million Russian lives were lost) and was flanked by other world leaders including China (though noticeably absent where key NATO leaders). He said, the attempt at creating a unipolar world is failing and that we should look towards a new system. Iran, China, most of Latin America and other countries which long suffered from Western Colonialism agreed. President Abbas was there but had no comment. I was reminded of Naji Al-Ali 1964. I was reminded of Orwell 1984. I was reminded of the book Majanin Beit Lahmem (the crazy people of Bethlehem) published 2014. Life goes on in occupied Palestine. A Palestinian community (Susya) is about to be uprooted. Colonial settlers and soldiers still attack native Palestinians with impunity. Corruption and heroism happen, poverty and greed happen, cooperation and collaboration happen, resistance and normalization happen. Poor people struggle and rich get richer. It is hard to cope sometimes but we keep going against all odds. Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall…. *

Stop whining. Long live Israel’s new and honest government

Israel’s new government won’t spout hollow slogans about peace, human rights, and justice. The truth will be thrust in the faces of Israelis – and the world.

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The 34th government will deserve Israel; Israel will deserve the 34th government. This is an authentic and representative government, the true manifestation of the spirit of the times and the deepest feelings of most Israelis. It will be a true government, without pretense, without makeup and without self-justification. What we’ll see is what we’ll get. Welcome to the fourth Benjamin Netanyahu government.

They won’t talk haughtily and they won’t spout hollow slogans. Not about peace and not about human rights; not about two states and not about negotiations; not about international law, justice or equality. The truth will be thrust in the faces of Israelis and the world. And the truth is this: The two-state solution is dead (it was never born), the Palestinian state will not arise, international law does not apply to Israel, the occupation will continue to crawl quickly toward annexation, annexation will continue to crawl quickly toward an apartheid state; “Jewish” supersedes “democratic,” nationalism and racism will get the government stamp of approval, but they’re already here and have been for a long time.

Neither Netanyahu, nor Habayit Hayehudi’s chairman MK Naftali Bennett nor that party’s faction members MK Ayelet Shaked and MK Eli Ben-Dahan, started this whole thing. They only expedited things. And there should be no shock or outrage, no bewailing the bitterness of fate. This government is a government of continuation, not a government of change.

True, some of its members are more extreme than their predecessors, but that is mainly about rhetorical differences. Even the most inflammatory appointment, of Shaked as justice minister, which reverberated throughout the world over the weekend, is less revolutionary than it seems. Shaked is blunt and violent, whereas Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni, her predecessor, was delicate and proper. But Justice Minister Shaked will not have to work hard to break open cracks in our democracy; they opened a long time ago.

The best test of the nature of the regime in Israel is the test of the occupation and the war crimes: the foundations of apartheid are already deep and the war crimes remain uninvestigated. From her office in the heart of occupied Jerusalem, Livni has not made Israel more just in that respect. True, Shaked’s ideas are more nationalistic and her understanding of the essence of democracy is nil. True, many in the world were shocked that a person who identified with one of the most violent articles ever written here against the Palestinian people (by Uri Elitzur), was appointed minister of Israeli justice. But there’s no place for such sanctimoniousness. Elitzur expressed what many people are thinking.

The appointment of another racist, Eli Ben-Dahan, as deputy defense minister, responsible for the Civil Administration, should not be earth-shattering either. True, Ben-Dahan said that “the Palestinians are animals, they are not human, they are not entitled to live” – but don’t these statements reflect the true attitude of many Israelis? Ben-Dahan will speak for them. That is how Israel has been treating the Palestinians for almost 50 years; Ben-Dahan is only saying things overtly. Now he will be responsible for the Civil Administration and the whole system of “humanitarian gestures” will be torn up. Ben-Dahan is the right man in the right place at the right time. An excellent appointment.

A person who proudly says “I killed masses of Arabs” and calls them “shrapnel in the buttocks” will be education minister – and who in Israel doesn’t think that? The general of Operation Cast Lead, with its crimes, the man who contravened building restrictions, Yoav Galant, will be construction minister. Is that not a fine appointment? MK Uri Maklev of United Torah Judaism is to head the Knesset Science Committee? Does that not correctly reflect the attitude of some Israelis to science?

Stop whining. Maybe Israel’s shadow government should be more enlightened, but not its real government. It is what the Israelis chose, it reflects their true stands. And so, long live the new government.