Alternatives to Palestine
There's a very, very good article by Mathew Yglesias over at The Atlantic which really sums up the Israel-Palestine problem and the stark choices faced by Israel.
New Republic editor in chief Martin Peretz complains about a double standard:
The Boston Globe is sure that the Kosovans are not ready for independence. But its editors, favored columnists and biased news writers are absolutely certain the Palestinians are.Now, I'm for Kosovo independence. But at the same time, I really don't think it's viable to support independence for every ethnic minority group everywhere around the world. So why Palestine? What makes the Palestinians so special that they deserve their own country when the Catalans and the Québécois and all the rest don't have them? The answer is pretty simple -- the alternative to independence is citizenship. The Québécois don't have an independent country, but they are citizens of Canada. Catalans are citizens of spain. Flemish and Walloons are both citizens of Belgium. Komi are citizens of Russia. When you see legal discriminatory treatment against citizens -- as with African-Americans in the United States until very recently -- that's a problem. People are owed equal citizenship.
It's clear, though, that granting Israeli citizenship on terms of equality to residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is incompatible with the idea of Israel as a Jewish state. Thus, Palestinian independence emerges as a reasonable, practical, and moral alternative. Basically, there are four things you could do with Israel-Palestine. One option is partition and independence. Another option is equal citizenship and the end of Israel. A third option is "transfer" and ethnic cleansing. And a fourth option is apartheid. I wonder which of the alternatives to Palestinian independence Peretz favors?
I think that just about sums up the whole situation beautifully.
Click title for source.
3 comments:
Hi Kel,
Mearsheimer was in Montreal yesterday and I reported on the conference.
"Mearsheimer was extremely lucid in analysing the grim prospects for Palestine. He said that the two state solution looks impossible now with all the facts that Israel created on the ground, settlements, roads separating the Palestinian territories from each other...He outlined three alternatives, none of them satisfactory:
A greater Israel with a binational state. But this is the end of the zionist dream and the Jewish only state;
Ethnic cleansing as was advocated by Avigdor Lieberman. But Israel would be at risk from accusations for crimes against humanity;
And finally, a limited autonomy to disconnected Palestinian Bantustans controlled by Israel. An apartheid state. But this would also be the end of Israel.
Zionism is doomed and its temporary survival depends on violence and wars..."
Sophia,
How lovely to hear from you. It's been too long.
It's almost as if the Israelis have been too successful at appropriating land for their own good. If there can't be a two state solution on what's left then the only obvious solution is a one state solution.
Thanks Kel. I was a bit busy lately but I was still visiting from time to time without leaving comments.
Keep up the good work.
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