NOVANEWS
Not in security, but peace
As long as we don’t want peace or to believe in it, no matter what we call it, we will live with occupation and war, and not for long.
By Merav Michaeli
The “check it out” trend these days is: “Check it out, they’re not spacey leftists, but true-blue rightists who have a vision of one state for Jews and Palestinians.”
My heart is gladdened, really and truly, not sarcastically, when reading these words in the July 16 edition of Haaretz Magazine (“Endgame” ). “The harm we are inflicting on the Palestinian population has become far more mortal,” said MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud ). “It’s impossible to go on like this, with a situation in which my Palestinian neighbors have to cross three checkpoints to get from one village to another,” said Emily Amrousi, former spokeswoman for the Yesha Council of settlements. “The worst solution is apparently the right one: a binational state, full annexation, full citizenship,” said Uri Elitzur, former chairman of the Yesha Council. “If Zionism means saying: ‘As few Arabs as possible,’ I must say that I don’t accept that,” said former defense minister Moshe Arens. “Whenever I hear about a demographic threat, it comes first of all from a type of thinking that says Arabs are a threat. … I am appalled by this kind of talk,” said Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud ).
But at the same time, harassment of the Palestinians continues in Gaza, the West Bank and in Israel. The Likud sponsored and voted for bills excluding Arabs from work, from Jewish communities and from their own families. A bill for a pledge of allegiance to the Jewish state was rejected at the last minute thanks to Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor; the Public Security Minister and Police Commissioner called for pardoning a policeman who shot an unarmed Arab burglar; the Yesha Council is revving up for the end of the settlement building freeze; the Knesset revoked the pension rights of former MK Azmi Bishara (who was never convicted ) and some of the rights of MK Hanin Zuabi (Balad ), alongside a display of physical aggression against her.
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Former Israeli Arab MK Azmi Bishara |
Photo by: Reuters |