Chair of West Midland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Dear Friends,
Five items below, beginning with one entitled Awarta.
Ever since the killing of the family in Itamar and the resultant suffering that the village of Awarta has experienced from the IOF, I have often thought that it couldn’t be someone from Awarta who had committed the crime. I don’t want to believe that it was. I don’t know many people from the village, but the few whom I have met are not murderers. They are farmers trying to eke out a living mainly from their olive groves, and with problems from Itamar colonists and others. Also, for a time—I don’t remember whether for a year or two years—I drove a 20-21 year old boy from Awarta to the hospital—sometimes with his father, sometimes with a friend, and met his mother and a brother at the hospital, too. I liked his family. And he was a lovely young person, who had taught himself English and kept on planning for a future. He had leukemia, and had had 2 bone marrow transplants with bone marrow from a younger brother. They did not help. He died. It was for me like losing a loved one from my own family.
And so I find it hard to connect the brutal killing with anyone from his village.
When I first heard about what the IOF and settlers were doing to Awarta following the murder, I felt ill. I am in no position to know the truth, to investigate. All that I can say is that I find the questions that Mazin Qumsieyh raises below pertinent. The Israeli military wants to find Palestinians accountable for the murder. Like Mazin, I also heard about the Thai worker who was owed money. Perhaps he did it. But even if he did, it is unlikely that this will ever be known, because of Israel’s attitude, which is likely to put the 2 boys in prison for all their lives, whether they committed the crime or not. Palestinians must pay for the crime.
Item 2 is the Ynet version of what occurred at Kif l’Hares during the recent visit of religious zealots to Joshua’s tomb, which is in the village. I presume that the reporter most likely got his data from the IOF spokesperson. But when after reading the report I phoned a dear and trusted friend from the village, whom I trust to tell the truth and to know the facts, as he is from a leading family in the village and happens to live right across the street from the tomb.
So, the report says ‘thousands’ came, which is more or less correct. Abed says that there were 8,000 accompanied by as many if not more soldiers. They came at 10:00 PM and remained until 7:00 AM. This time, by contrast to previous times, they did no damage. However, they made a lot of noise and left all their trash from eating and drinking in the tomb, which is also sacred to Muslims, who had to clean it up. The report claims that the villagers were free to move about. Abed claims that although this time by contrast to previous times there was no closure announced, but no one was allowed out of their homes. He was not even allowed to stand by his window to watch the happenings. When you read the report, keep in mind these discrepancies.
In item 3, Hedy Epstein, now in her mid 80s, relates her experience leaving from Ben Gurion, and ties it in with what Palestinians experience, and her own reactions to their plights.
Item 4 is an argument for having Israeli Jews learn and respect the Nakba, just as Jews want Palestinians to respect and understand the Holocaust. Refreshing to find a newspaper item advocating mutual respect.
Finally, in item 5, Uri Avnery (by contrast to Israel’s leaders) praises the decision of Hamas and Fatah to join hands in unity. May it last.
All the best,
Dorothy
================================
1. Awarta
By Mazin Qumsiyeh,
April 29, 2011
We finally toured the devastated village of Awarta Wednesday and were
stunned at what we saw and heard. On the way, we stopped by a tiny village
called Izbet Al-tabib, a village of 350 people was served with a new order
by the Israeli military to take over a significant portion of their land.
The wall that will be built and isolate this land behind it is supposed to
“protect” the illegal highway 55, an Israeli road built already on
Palestinian lands to serve the Jewish colonies built on the rich Western
water aquifer of the Palestinian West Bank. Yet, instead of building the
wall on the colonial road 55, it is to be built a long distance from that to
the north side near the village houses with the idea of capturing the rich
agricultural land between. The villagers do not know what to do beyond
going to the biased Israeli courts run by Israeli judges that obviously
favor Israeli colonial interests. The work on the wall is slated to start
Sunday and the villagers asked if we could all go there then. Leaving this
small devastated village near Qalqilia, we headed east towards Nablus and
Awarta.
After a quick lunch in Nablus hosted generously by our friend Dr. Saed
Abuhijleh, we drove the short distance to Awarta. We enter the rich valley
from the Western side and past the Israeli military camp and notice the
colonial Jewish settlements dotting the hilltops around the valley. The
native village of 6000 brave souls is on the slope to north side of the
valley and villagers have to face this scene of growing colonial settlements
on their lands. The main colonial settlement built on stolen village lands
is called by Jewish settlers Itamar. Over 12,000 dunums (4000 acres) of
Awarta’s lands were already taken by this colony inhabited by the most rabid
and fanatical of Jewish settlers. Two Palestinians from Awarta were killed
for coming within 500 meters of the fortified fencing of this colony. This
is one of the many reasons why we are very convinced that the whole story
about the killing of a settler family by two teenagers from the village of
Awarta is a lie. But the killing of these settlers set stage for a
ransacking of the village by the colonizing army of the state of Israel.
Beating people, massive destruction, torture and more was inflicted on the
village of 6000 people as collective punishment. It is hard to describe
what we saw and heard. The video just reveals a glimpse of it.
The village has already suffered repeated attacks from settlers in the past.
Just last year, settlers and soldiers executed (shot at close range) two
youths (18 and 19 year old cousins Salah and Muhamad Qawariq) who were
working their agricultural field. Villagers asked us why there was no
outrage and no one held accountable in any of these atrocities. We are all
100% convinced that that the settler family was not killed by the
Palestinian teenagers that are claimed as culprits by the Israeli
authorities. The story the colonial army gave is so full of holes that it
is simply not plausible. Things that do not make sense:
-Why would two young teenagers not involved in politics, one of them a
straight A student in his last year of high school and the other a
westernized rapper enjoying his life decide to do such a thing? Killing
children is especially not tolerated in our culture no matter what?
-How could such a pair manage to bypass one of the most heavily guarded and
secured colonies in the WB. How would they cut through the electrified
security fence and its other barriers in a settlement that brags that it is
the most secure of Jewish colonies in the West bank. How could two
strangers manage to stay in the settlement for two hours and even go back to
the same house supposedly after leaving to get an M-16 gun that happened to
be just sitting there in a bedroom (army story)?
-Why would two people who committed such a crime go back to studying and
enjoying their lives for days even after one of them was arrested,
questioned for 10 hours and released? Why not run away?
-There were reports in Israeli papers that a Thai worker who has not been
paid thousands of shekels as being involved but then this suddenly
disappeared from print. Why?
-What of the villagers’ contention that this whole incident is calculated to
acquire 1000 more dunums of their lands?
-Why did Israeli authorities not allow media scrutiny of what was really
happening?
-Why did Israeli authorities not allow independent investigation or
International protection or presence to witness what was really going on?
-Why would the two young people be denied access to lawyers and family
visits?
These and hundreds of other questions poured out from the villagers. I was
particularly shocked to hear from Um Adam, a 77 year old grandmother (14 living children, over 75 grandchildren). She herself was arrested with
hundreds of others and forced (like all of them) to take a DNA test and to
put her fingerprints on a document in Hebrew that she does not read. She,
like hundreds, was not allowed access to lawyers during their detention. 14
of her children and grandchildren are still kidnapped by the colonial
soldiers. One of her Children still held by the Israelis is the volunteer
head of the Municipal council. Another child is the only doctor in town.
The homes of these two children, her home, and many other homes were
ransacked and heavily damaged (the fascist soldiers had clearly come to
destroy as an act of collective punishment). The doctor’s room and his
medical books and supplies were not spared. While we visited nearly three
weeks after the damage and after much of the houses were tidied-up with help of international volunteers, we still could see significant evidence of the damages. To punish a whole village in such a fashion reminds us of the worst regimes in history.
It is a stain on humanity that the world is silent about these practices of
land theft and destruction of people’s lives. Now that Hamas and Fatah are
reconciling some of their differences, I wonder if any of them (in positions
of “authority”) will do something for the villages of Awarta or Izbet
Al-Tabib. We are angry and sad and we ask all decent people (Israelis,
Palestinians, and Internationals) to shed what is left of our collective
apathy. We must insist that settlers be removed from all stolen Palestinian
lands and that Palestinians be provided protection. If the Palestinians
can’t be provided protection by neutral parties, then it is almost certain
that, based on our history of 15 uprisings, a new uprising against this
injustice will be carried forth.
“Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as
a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human
rights should be protected by the rule of law,..” preamble of the universal
declaration of human rights
“If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution
inevitable.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kmsI96i618
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD http://qumsiyeh.org http://palestinejn.org http://pcr.ps http://IMEMC.or http://www.alrowwad-acts.ps
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2. Ynet,
April 29, 2011
Orderly Pilgrimage
Praying at the tomb Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg
Thousands visit Tomb of Joshua
Traditional celebration in Kifl Hares coordinated with IDF, Palestinians, unlike infiltrations to Joseph’s Tomb. Chief Rabbi Metzger calls on worshippers to coordinate pilgrimages with security forces
Thousands of Jewish worshippers visited the Tomb of Joshua in the Palestinian village of Kifl Hares near Ariel on Friday. The pilgrimage, marking the anniversary to Joshua’s death, was organized by the Shomron Regional Council and coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces, unlike the infiltration to Joseph’s Tomb earlier this week which resulted in the death of Yosef Ben Livnat.
The worshippers gathered around the site for a mass prayer of Aleinu which Joshua allegedly penned. The site was guarded by IDF forces. Local Palestinian residents were allowed to move freely and some even opened their shops for the worshippers to enjoy.
Among the worshippers were Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, Minister of Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein, MK Danny Danon (Likud) and three National Union MKs.
Chief Rabbi Metzger and MK Danon (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
A haredi man who purchased a waterpipe in one of the Palestinian shops aroused angry responses by some of the worshippers who shouted “don’t buy in Arab shops.”
Fathi Buzib, former head of the village said he welcomed all the worshippers. “Every person has a right to pray and we honor our guests. Nevertheless, it’s a pity some of them came to stir a mess. I’m glad the army removed them from the site.”
Chief Rabbi Metzger addressed the shooting incident in Joseph’s Tomb and said he opposed uncoordinated pilgrimage.
“Every Jew has a right to visit Joseph’s Tomb but it must be coordinated with the security forces. Take great care of your souls. I call on government ministers to allow more people to enter the site, not just once a month, especially as this is stipulated in all the agreements.”
Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika called on Israeli leaders to learn from Joshua. “Sever the hand of any person who lifts it against a Jew. Our leaders must learn from Joshua’s power and decisive way.”
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3.Forwarded by the JPLO List
As a Holocaust survivor, AIPAC does not speak for me
by HEDY EPSTEIN on APRIL 28, 2011 http://mondoweiss.net/2011/04/as-a-holocaust-survivor-aipac-does-not-spe\
ak-for-me.html At the end of one of my first journeys to the Israeli-occupied West Bank
in 2004, I endured a shocking experience at Ben-Gurion Airport. I never
imagined that Israeli security forces would abuse a 79-year-old
Holocaust survivor, but they held me for five hours, and strip-searched
and cavity-searched every part of my naked body. The only shame these
security officials expressed was to turn their badges around so that
their names were invisible.
The only conceivable purpose for this gross violation of my bodily
integrity was to humiliate and terrify me. But it had just the opposite
effect. It made me more determined to speak out against abuses by the
Israeli government and military.
Yet my own experience, unpleasant as it was, is nothing compared to the
indignities and abuses heaped on Palestinians year after year.
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is based not on equal rights
and fair play, but on what Human Rights Watch has termed a
“two-tier” legal system – in other words, apartheid, with
one set of laws for Jews and a harsh, oppressive set of laws for
Palestinians.
This, however, is the legal system and security state AIPAC (The
American Israel Public Affairs Committee) will defend from May 22-24 at
its annual conference. And, despite this grim reality, members of
Congress will converge to hail AIPAC and Israel . The Palestinians’
lack of freedom is bound to be obscured at the AIPAC conference with its
obsessive focus on security and shunting aside of anything to do with
upholding fundamental Palestinian rights.
Several years ago near Der Beilut in the West Bank, I saw the Israeli
police turn a water cannon on our nonviolent protest. As it happened, I
recalled Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 and wondered why an ostensibly
democratic society responded to peaceable assembly by trying, literally,
to drown out the voice of our protest.


In Mas’ha, also in the occupied West Bank , I joined a demonstration
against the wall Israel has built, usually inside the West Bank and
occasionally towering to 25 feet in height. I saw a red sign warning
ominously of “mortal danger” to any who dared to cross in an
area where it ran as a fence. I saw Israeli soldiers aiming at unarmed
Israelis, Palestinians and international protesters. I also saw blood
pouring out of Gil Na’amati, a young Israeli whose first public act
after completing his mandatory military service was to protest against
the wall. I saw shrapnel lodged in the leg of Anne Farina, one of my
traveling companions from St. Louis . And I thought of Kent State and
Jackson State, where National Guardsmen opened fire in 1970 on
protesters against the Vietnam War.
So as AIPAC meets and members of Congress cheer, I hold these images of Israel in my mind and fear AIPAC’s ability to move US policy in
dangerous directions. AIPAC does a disservice to the Palestinians, the
Israelis and the American people. It helps to keep the Middle East in a
perpetual state of war and this year will be no different from last year
as it keeps up a steady drumbeat calling for war against Iran .
AIPAC pretends to speak for all Jews, but it certainly does not speak
for me or other members of the Jewish community in this country who are
committed to equal rights for all and are aware that American
interventionism is likely to bring further disaster and chaos to the
Middle East .
Israel, of course, would not be able to carry out its war crimes against
civilians in Lebanon and Gaza without the United States – and our $3
billion in military aid – permitting it to do so. At 86 years old, I
use every ounce of my energy to educate the American public about the
need to stop supporting the abuses committed by the Israeli government
and military against the Palestinian people. Sometimes there are people
who try to shout me down and scream that I am a self-hating Jew, but
most of the time the audience is receptive to hear from someone who
survived the Holocaust and now works to free the Palestinians from
Israeli oppression.
The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the
occupied territories deserves no applause this week from members of
Congress attending the AIPAC conference. Instead, they should raise
basic questions with Israeli officials about decades of inferior rights
endured by Palestinians both inside Israel and the occupied territories.
Hedy Epstein is a Holocaust survivor, who writes and travels extensively
to speak about social justice causes and Middle Eastern affairs. Take
action by attending Move Over AIPAC, a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, to expose AIPAC and build the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East! More information can be found at
www.MoveOverAIPAC.org <http://www.moveoveraipac.org/> .
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4. Haaretz ,
April 29, 2011
Defiance, not denial
Are there any serious educators who believe that by means of a question on an exam it will be possible to arouse identification with the Jews and empathy for them among young Arabs?
In advance of the coming school year, the Education Ministry has decided that the matriculation exam in history in the Arabic-language school system will include a mandatory question about the Holocaust, and that it will be worth 24 points − almost a quarter of the maximum score.
This decision came in the wake of the state comptroller’s report on the subject of Holocaust education in the various population sectors, and the “grave results” of a survey on “Holocaust denial” among Israel’s Arab citizens. That survey, which was conducted four years ago, found that about 40 percent of Arabs polled said that “the Holocaust didn’t happen at all.”
Unfortunately, the ministry’s decision will not solve the real problem revealed by the survey, which has nothing to do with “Holocaust denial” in the usual sense. This is not only because Holocaust studies have been mandatory for years in the Arab school system, but also because interest in the Shoah on the part of Arab educators and students has been on a steady rise. This interest is reflected in various ways, from school-wide projects to organized delegations of Arab students to Poland. In addition, even in the context of Arab students’ university studies, Holocaust Remembrance Day (which this year falls on Monday) is observed in an organized manner
The obvious conclusion, therefore, is that at least in terms of knowledge, nearly all of Israel’s Arab citizens (the vast majority of whom graduate from the public school system), definitely know that the Holocaust of the Jewish people did in fact takelace.
The results of the survey, then, must have an explanation other than Holocaust denial, and understanding these results first requires an understanding of the context in which Israeli Arabs are asked about the subject. Many of these citizens feel that since its establishment, the state has turned its back on their suffering and their most profound pain. Not only is there no recognition on the part of the Jewish majority of their continuing deprivation and the fact that they have in effect become second-class citizens: There is not even recognition, legitimization or empathy for the pain and loss they experienced as part of the historical process that led to the establishment of the State of Israel.
In a correct reading of the situation of Arab citizens, the “denial” of the Holocaust should not be understood as a lack of knowledge of the subject or as a failure to recognize its importance for the Jewish people, but as simple defiance: “If you don’t recognize us and our pain, we will retaliate by not recognizing your pain.” Paradoxically, the painful use of “denial” by the Arabs polled in the survey actually implies recognition of the Holocaust and of the depth of the pain it represents for the Jews.
This complexity assumes an additional current and tragic dimension, because the decision of the Education Ministry regarding the matriculation exam is being made parallel to a series of steps by the government, including legislation, whose objective is to forbid Arab citizens and groups from teaching or commemorating − even in a low-key manner − the historical story of the Palestinian tragedy that took place with the establishment of the State of Israel, the Nakba, and to persecute and punish those who do so. In that sense, we can assume that if the above-mentioned survey were to be conducted now, the percentage of Arab “Holocaust deniers” would skyrocket.
The teaching of the Holocaust to Arab students in Israel is not and never will be a neutral issue. For the Arabs it will always be part of a wider historical context, and see themselves as those on whose doorstep the terrible tragedy of the Jews ended up.
Are there any serious educators who believe that a mandatory question on a matriculation exam will arouse empathy and identification among young Arabs vis-a-vis the Jews’ terrible tragedy, while at the same time they are forbidden even to acknowledge their own past?
Social solidarity and cohesion are based on a shared fate. Alongside the tremendous importance of studying the Holocaust in the Arab school system, with all its universal and particularistic dimensions, it is also important that the Israeli establishment recognize the need of the Arab-Palestinian minority to study and commemorate its tragedy and its pain.
When this happens, the real objective behind the decision of the Education Ministry will have been achieved in any case.
Amnon Be’eri-Sulitzeanu is co-executive director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, an organization that promotes coexistence and equality between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens. p.
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5. Uri Avnery
April 30, 2011
One Word
IN ONE word: Bravo!
The news about the reconciliation agreement between Fatah
and Hamas is good for peace. If the final difficulties are
ironed out and a full agreement is signed by the two
leaders, it will be a huge step forward for the
Palestinians – and for us.
There is no sense in making peace with half a people.
Making peace with the entire Palestinian people may be more
difficult, but will be infinitely more fruitful.
Therefore: Bravo!
Binyamin Netanyahu also says Bravo. Since the government of
Israel has declared Hamas a terrorist organization with
whom there will be no dealings whatsoever, Netanyahu can
now put an end to any talk about peace negotiations with
the Palestinian Authority. What, peace with a Palestinian
government that includes terrorists? Never! End of
discussion.
Two bravos, but such a difference.
THE ISRAELI debate about Arab unity goes back a long way.
It already started in the early fifties, when the idea of
pan-Arab unity raised its head. Gamal Abd-al-Nasser hoisted
this banner in Egypt, and the pan-Arab Baath movement
became a force in several countries (long before it
degenerated into local Mafias in Iraq and Syria).
Nahum Goldman, President of the World Zionist Organization,
argued that pan-Arab unity was good for Israel. He believed
that peace was necessary for the existence of Israel, and
that it would take all the Arab countries together to have
the courage to make it.
David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s Prime Minister, thought that
peace was bad for Israel, at least until Zionism had
achieved all its (publicly undefined) goals. In a state of
war, unity among Arabs was a danger that had to be
prevented at all costs.
Goldman, the most brilliant coward I ever knew, did not
have the courage of his convictions. Ben-Gurion was far
less brilliant, but much more determined.
He won.
NOW WE have the same problem all over again.
Netanyahu and his band of peace saboteurs want to prevent
Palestinian unity at all costs. They do not want peace,
because peace would prevent Israel from achieving the
Zionist goals, as they conceive them: a Jewish state in all
of historical Palestine, from the sea to the Jordan River
(at least). The conflict is going to last for a long, long
time to come, and the more divided the enemy, the better.
As a matter of fact, the very emergence of Hamas was
influenced by this calculation. The Israeli occupation
authorities deliberately encouraged the Islamic movement,
which later became Hamas, as a counterweight to the secular
nationalist Fatah, which was then conceived as the main
enemy.
Later, the Israeli government deliberately fostered the
division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by
violating the Oslo agreement and refusing to open the four
“safe passages” between the two territories provided for in
the agreement. Not one was open for a single day. The
geographical separation brought about the political one.
When Hamas won the January 2006 Palestinian elections,
surprising everybody including itself, the Israeli
government declared that it would have no dealings with any
Palestinian government in which Hamas was represented. It
ordered – there is no other word – the US and EU
governments to follow suit. Thus the Palestinian Unity
Government was brought down.
The next step was an Israeli-American effort to install a
strongman of their choosing as dictator of the Gaza Strip,
the bulwark of Hamas. The chosen hero was Muhammad Dahlan,
a local chieftain. It was not a very good choice – the
Israeli security chief recently disclosed that Dahlan had
collapsed sobbing into his arms. After a short battle,
Hamas took direct control of the Gaza Strip.
A FRATRICIDAL split in a liberation movement is not an
exception. It is almost the rule.
The Irish revolutionary movement was an outstanding
example. In this country we had the fight between the
Hagana and the Irgun, which at times became violent and
very ugly. It was Menachem Begin, then the Irgun commander,
who prevented a full-fledged civil war.
The Palestinian people, with all the odds against them, can
hardly afford such a disaster. The split has generated
intense mutual hatred between comrades who spent time in
Israeli prison together. Hamas accused the Palestinian
Authority – with some justification – of cooperating with
the Israeli government against them, urging the Israelis
and the Egyptians to tighten the brutal blockade against
the Gaza Strip, even preventing a deal for the release of
the Israeli prisoner-of-war, Gilad Shalit, in order to
block the release of Hamas activists and their return to
the West Bank. Many Hamas activists suffer in Palestinian
prisons, and the lot of Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip
is no more joyous.
Yet both Fatah and Hamas are minorities in Palestine. The
great mass of the Palestinian people desperately want unity
and a joint struggle to end the occupation. If the final
reconciliation agreement is signed by Mahmoud Abbas and
Khalid Meshaal, Palestinians everywhere will be jubilant.
BINYAMIN NETANYAHU is jubilant already. The ink was not yet
dry on the preliminary agreement initialed in Cairo, when
Netanyahu made a solemn speech on TV, something like an
address to the nation after an historic event.
“You have to choose between us and Hamas,” he told the
Palestinian Authority. That would not be too difficult –
one the one side a brutal occupation regime, on the other
Palestinian brothers with a different ideology.
But this stupid threat was not the main point of the
statement. What Netanyahu told us was that there would be
no dealings with a Palestinian Authority connected in any
way with the “terrorist Hamas”.
The whole thing is a huge relief for Netanyahu. He has been
invited by the new Republican masters to address the US
Congress next month and had nothing to say. Nor had he
anything to offer the UN, which is about to recognize the
State of Palestine this coming September. Now he has: peace
is impossible, all Palestinians are terrorists who want to
throw us into the sea. Ergo: no peace, no negotiations, no
nothing.
IF ONE really wants peace, the message should of course be
quite different.
Hamas is a part of Palestinian reality. Sure, it is
extremist, but as the British have taught us many times, it
is better to make peace with extremists than with
moderates. Make peace with the moderates, and you must
still deal with the extremists. Make peace with the
extremists, and the business is finished.
Actually, Hamas is not quite as extreme as it likes to
present itself. It has declared many times that it will
accept a peace agreement based on the 1967 lines and signed
by Mahmoud Abbas if it is ratified by the people in a
referendum or a vote in parliament. Accepting the
Palestinian Authority means accepting the Oslo agreement,
on which the PA is based – including the mutual recognition
of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. In
Islam, as in all other religions, God’s word is definitely
final, but it can be “interpreted” any way needed. Don’t we
Jews know.
What made both sides more flexible? Both have lost their
patrons – Fatah its Egyptian protector, Hosny Mubarak, and
Hamas its Syrian protector, Bashar al-Assad, who cannot be
relied upon anymore. That has brought both sides to face
reality: Palestinians stand alone, so they had better
unite.
For peace-oriented Israelis, it will be a great relief to
deal with a united Palestinian people and with a united
Palestinian territory. Israel can do a lot to help this
along: open at long last an exterritorial free passage
between the West Bank and Gaza, put an end to the stupid
and cruel blockade of the Gaza Strip (which has become even
more idiotic with the elimination of the Egyptian
collaborator), let the Gazans open their port, airport and
borders. Israel must accept the fact that religious
elements are now a part of the political scene all over the
Arab world. They will become institutionalized and,
probably, far more “moderate”. That is part of the new
reality in the Arab world.
The emergence of Palestinian unity should be welcomed by
Israel, as well as by the European nations and the United
States. They should get ready to recognize the State of
Palestine within the 1967 borders. They should encourage
the holding of free and democratic Palestinian elections
and accept their results, whatever they may be.
The wind of the Arab Spring is blowing in Palestine too.
Bravo!
