Get rid of Zionism

[bemildred]

The 45th year of occupation is now beginning. The depth of the entanglement, from which there is apparently no way out without bloodshed, is as great as the obedience of the intelligentsia: Just as European colonialism was collapsing once and for all, the local intelligentsia found a way to collaborate with the claims of Israel's governments, leaving us today with both a right-wing coalition and a right-wing opposition.

Few people understood at the time that remaining in the territories in any fashion would give rise to a desire for control. The astute ones were Pinhas Lavon during his last lucid hours, Yitzhak Ben-Aharon momentarily, and Yeshayahu Leibowitz.

There were of course a handful of political parties - Rakah, the New Israeli Left and Matzpen. But in the center of the political map, those who argued in favor of withdrawal from all the territories came down to Prof. Jacob Talmon, Prof. Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, writer Amoz Oz and a few others. The vast majority of the intelligentsia trailed along behind the generals and the politicians. That's how it is: Intellectuals work at honing the government's arguments. Few of them dare to oppose it.

As a rule, arguments don't play a central role in politics; they merely help the government implant itself in its citizens' language. For example, the claim that Israel faced an existential threat in 1967 was a propaganda lie. It would have been possible to unravel the complicated situation caused by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, but Israel and the United States decided to exploit the Egyptian mistake.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/get-rid-of-zionism-1.365648

[Jefferson23]

1. Thanks for posting.

snip* So we are left with the West Bank, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to lead us with his dual rationale: This is the land of our forefathers, and also, Hamas will attack Ben-Gurion Airport. There is no connection between these two arguments. As a rule, dual arguments serve as props to bolster each other's weakness. But the mixture of strategy and messianism explains the power Israeli politics has to drug its subjects.

The "Land of Israel" is a phantasm. Withdrawing from "parts of it" is presented as a "concession" even by supporters of the move. But the only concession we needed to make, even back in 1967, was giving up the messianic claim that this is our land, from the Bible, and therefore we have a right to it. In comparison with this claim, the Serbs, with their preoccupation over the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, are rational, secular people.



* The language of "drug" and its meaning is used here appropriately, imo.

[Never Stop Dancin]

2. Shameful

I can't believe someone had the gall to put pen to ink and write this article.

[JonScholar]

4. How is it shameful?

"The "Land of Israel" is a phantasm. Withdrawing from "parts of it" is presented as a "concession" even by supporters of the move. But the only concession we needed to make, even back in 1967, was giving up the messianic claim that this is our land, from the Bible, and therefore we have a right to it"

That seems perfectly reasonable to me. In fact, it's quite in line with the majority view of the conflict. Virtually nobody thinks Israel has a right, religious or otherwise, to the West Bank, and there's a vast legal consensus that it is occupied Palestinian territory and that the settlements are illegal.

[bemildred]

3. Haaretz had an interesting mix of OpEds today.

This was one of them. This is not a new point of view, it's been around since '67, but the occupation has become something of a sacred cow in the last ten years, I don't see it much now.

[Jefferson23]

5. The drug seems to still be working just fine. n/t

[bemildred]

6. We taught them everything they know about that. nt