19 mar 2015
Despite PM's attempt to backtrack from Palestinian state opposition, Washington says it is clear Netanyahu walked back from previous commitment to two-state approach.
Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to backtrack from hard-line statements against the establishment of a Palestinian state, the White House on Thursday pointedly raised the prospect of withdrawing crucial diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations.
Earlier Thursday, Netanyahu denied he had abandoned his commitment to creating a Palestinian state, but said current political conditions made that possibility more remote.
"I don't want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution. But for that, circumstances have to change," Netanyahu said in an interview on MSNBC, appearing to back away from comments he made during the Israeli election campaign that drew heavy US criticism.
"Steps that the United States has taken at the United Nations had been predicated on this idea that the two-state solution is the best outcome, said spokesman Josh Earnest.
"Now our ally in these talks has said that they are no longer committed to that solution. That means we need to reevaluate our position in this matter, and that is what we will do moving forward."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters it is clear that Netanyahu during his campaign walked back from his previous commitment to a two-state solution with Palestinians.
Earnest said, however, that the US remains committed to continuing cooperation on military intelligence and security with Israel.
In the interview, Netanyahu said: "I haven't changed my policy. I never retracted my speech in Bar-Ilan University six years ago calling for a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state."
The prime minister also pointed to the presence of hostile Islamic groups across the region and said that any captured territory handed over to Abbas would be taken over by militants. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, shortly after Israeli withdrew.
A day before the election Netanyahu told the nrg news website that a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch because of the current climate in the region.
"Whoever ignores that is burying his head in the sand. The left is doing that, burying its head in the sand time after time," he said in the video interview. When asked if that means a Palestinian state will not be established if he is elected, Netanyahu replied, "Indeed."
In another signal that the US administration is looking to turn up the heat on Netanyahu, the White House is sending Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, to address the liberal pro-Israel U.S.-based group J Street on Monday. The group, a proponent of two states side by side, opposed Netanyahu in the election campaign.
"US-Israel ties remain strong"
The prime minister made attempts to affirm his country's strong ties with the United States on Thursday after tensions in the run-up to his election victory, saying Israel has "no greater ally."
"There are so many areas where we must work together with the United States," Netanyahu said in an interview with NBC. "America has no greater ally than Israel and Israel has no greater ally than the United States."
Netanyahu won a bitterly contested Israeli election this week after shifting to the right in the final days of campaigning. "We can have differences, but we have so many things that unite us. We have a situation in the Middle East that is very dangerous, that presents a common challenge," Netanyahu told the network.
In the NBC interview, Netanyahu dismissed allegations he was racist, after he said during Election Day that the high Arab voter turnout was endangering his right wing party's dominance. "I'm not," he said. Netanyahu said he had not yet spoken to US President Barack Obama, but he was sure they would speak soon, according to NBC.
Secretary of State John Kerry called Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him. Obama will follow suit "in coming days," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. He said that after previous elections Obama had waited a similar amount of time, holding off until Netanyahu was formally given the go-ahead to form a coalition.
Netanyahu’s insistence that there will be no Palestinian state while he holds office, seen as a maneuver to mobilize his right-wing base, angered the Palestinians and drew criticism from the United Nations and European governments. Chances for restarting long-stalled peace moves already had been low.
US lawmakers were divided on Netanyahu's hardened stance.
"It was remarkable to back-track so significantly on a two-state solution," said Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy, adding it could make Washington's effort to mediate more difficult.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he hoped the United States and Israel would see the election as "an opportunity to start over." But he said: "A two-state solution is impossible as long as Hamas exists and runs Gaza."
Related: Netanyahu says no Palestinian state if he remains PM
Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to backtrack from hard-line statements against the establishment of a Palestinian state, the White House on Thursday pointedly raised the prospect of withdrawing crucial diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations.
Earlier Thursday, Netanyahu denied he had abandoned his commitment to creating a Palestinian state, but said current political conditions made that possibility more remote.
"I don't want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution. But for that, circumstances have to change," Netanyahu said in an interview on MSNBC, appearing to back away from comments he made during the Israeli election campaign that drew heavy US criticism.
"Steps that the United States has taken at the United Nations had been predicated on this idea that the two-state solution is the best outcome, said spokesman Josh Earnest.
"Now our ally in these talks has said that they are no longer committed to that solution. That means we need to reevaluate our position in this matter, and that is what we will do moving forward."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters it is clear that Netanyahu during his campaign walked back from his previous commitment to a two-state solution with Palestinians.
Earnest said, however, that the US remains committed to continuing cooperation on military intelligence and security with Israel.
In the interview, Netanyahu said: "I haven't changed my policy. I never retracted my speech in Bar-Ilan University six years ago calling for a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state."
The prime minister also pointed to the presence of hostile Islamic groups across the region and said that any captured territory handed over to Abbas would be taken over by militants. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, shortly after Israeli withdrew.
A day before the election Netanyahu told the nrg news website that a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch because of the current climate in the region.
"Whoever ignores that is burying his head in the sand. The left is doing that, burying its head in the sand time after time," he said in the video interview. When asked if that means a Palestinian state will not be established if he is elected, Netanyahu replied, "Indeed."
In another signal that the US administration is looking to turn up the heat on Netanyahu, the White House is sending Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, to address the liberal pro-Israel U.S.-based group J Street on Monday. The group, a proponent of two states side by side, opposed Netanyahu in the election campaign.
"US-Israel ties remain strong"
The prime minister made attempts to affirm his country's strong ties with the United States on Thursday after tensions in the run-up to his election victory, saying Israel has "no greater ally."
"There are so many areas where we must work together with the United States," Netanyahu said in an interview with NBC. "America has no greater ally than Israel and Israel has no greater ally than the United States."
Netanyahu won a bitterly contested Israeli election this week after shifting to the right in the final days of campaigning. "We can have differences, but we have so many things that unite us. We have a situation in the Middle East that is very dangerous, that presents a common challenge," Netanyahu told the network.
In the NBC interview, Netanyahu dismissed allegations he was racist, after he said during Election Day that the high Arab voter turnout was endangering his right wing party's dominance. "I'm not," he said. Netanyahu said he had not yet spoken to US President Barack Obama, but he was sure they would speak soon, according to NBC.
Secretary of State John Kerry called Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him. Obama will follow suit "in coming days," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. He said that after previous elections Obama had waited a similar amount of time, holding off until Netanyahu was formally given the go-ahead to form a coalition.
Netanyahu’s insistence that there will be no Palestinian state while he holds office, seen as a maneuver to mobilize his right-wing base, angered the Palestinians and drew criticism from the United Nations and European governments. Chances for restarting long-stalled peace moves already had been low.
US lawmakers were divided on Netanyahu's hardened stance.
"It was remarkable to back-track so significantly on a two-state solution," said Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy, adding it could make Washington's effort to mediate more difficult.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he hoped the United States and Israel would see the election as "an opportunity to start over." But he said: "A two-state solution is impossible as long as Hamas exists and runs Gaza."
Related: Netanyahu says no Palestinian state if he remains PM
Newly formed Joint Arab List becomes third largest party in the Knesset after elections; party members promise to take care of important issues in Arab sector and strengthen Palestinian identity.
While the Joint Arab List hoped to gain 15 Knesset seats in the recent elections, it still garnered a big achievement with the 14 seats it received in Israel's 20th Knesset.
After a high voter turnout in the Arab sector, some polling stations registered a voter turnout of more than 70 percent, the true test of the Joint Arab List will be to stay united and prevent itself from scattering into smaller factions. Many Arab Israeli citizens called upon the members of the party to continue working together on a joint political platform.
The party has seven new MKs, among them the head of the Joint Arab List Aiman Uda, a resident of Haifa. The other new members include Aida Touma-Sliman (Akko), engineer Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya (Tayibe), Dr. Yosef Jabareen (Umm al-Fahem), lawyer Osama Sa'adi (Arraba), and Dr. Abdullah Abu Maaruf (Yarka). The Joint Arab List includes two women and 12 men.
New MKs plan out Knesset term
"I hope these results will be a lever for continued cooperation with the (Arab) sector, in order to serve it in all sorts of areas, even outside of the Knesset," said MK Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya. "There are a lot of social causes that the Joint Arab List can contribute to. The results of the elections are not a surprise to us, but it is good news.
The comments made by Netanyahu against the Arab sector in the last days of the campaign did not make a big impact, but the warning Netanyahu made is very dangerous for the continuation of co-existence," said Hajj Yahya. The Arab Israeli politician has already begun to plan his term in the next Knesset. "I am going to serve the Arab sector on central issues such as planning and construction law, in light of the problems we have in planning, industrial areas and building without a permit," he said. "I will also take care of the advancement of local authorities because in my opinion authorities which plan to rehabilitate have not failed, but rather it shows that there is something in the government's policy that needs to change."
New MK Aida Touma-Sliman hopes to represent women. "I would like to deal with social issues in the next Knesset and the civil rights of the Arab population along with women's rights which I have been occupied with for more than 20 years and will continue to be occupied with in the future."
"Likewise, I will focus on the employment of Arab women and legislation to protect women from violence. Of course the diplomatic issue cannot be ignored and the aspects of political activity," she added.
Regarding the election results, Touma-Sliman said: "Our results provide happiness and strengthen us. The public gave us its wide confidence and clearly said that it supports the approach of unity and the attempt to gain power and protect ourselves from the waves of racism that are washing over Israel."
New MK Osama Sa'adi was disappointed with the change that did not end up coming: "The national right-wing camp and Netanyahu came out with a surprise and kept their reign. We are the third largest faction and this is the first time something like this has happened in history. We achieved another goal – the Yachad faction along with Eli Yishai and the racist Baruch Marzel are outside of the Knesset. Now the work begins to impact and bring about achievement for the sector that sent us."
Sa'adi continued and said: "I want to work in my field, which is the Law and Justice Committee, to prevent racist legislation and to work for fair legislation for the Arab sector."
Sa'adi also said he would like to work on the issue of Palestinian detainees which he says is "a subject that has been close to my heart for over 25 years." Sa'adi also plans to work on subjects such as land confiscation and housing demolitions.
Regarding fears the list will separate once the new government forms, Sa'adi said, "We promised we would create a joint list and we created it, therefore the trust that the Arab sector gave us commits us to continue to work as one faction, there is no reason to break it down. We will not let the Arab public down."
Dr. Yosef Jabraan, another new addition to the Joint Arab List, said that the party will focus on issues that were the basis of their election to the Knesset. "Education, housing and violence are the main issues that I want to deal with. These are the issues that our voters clearly brought up during the campaign," he explained.
"The advancement of Arab education, including higher education, will be my priority, including the allocation of resources, including changing the curriculum to include the Arab-Palestinian identity as well as the restructuring of the system so that it will be managed by Arab educators. Without substantial reform of the education system, we cannot promote and advance the stance of the Arab citizens in Israel."
While the Joint Arab List hoped to gain 15 Knesset seats in the recent elections, it still garnered a big achievement with the 14 seats it received in Israel's 20th Knesset.
After a high voter turnout in the Arab sector, some polling stations registered a voter turnout of more than 70 percent, the true test of the Joint Arab List will be to stay united and prevent itself from scattering into smaller factions. Many Arab Israeli citizens called upon the members of the party to continue working together on a joint political platform.
The party has seven new MKs, among them the head of the Joint Arab List Aiman Uda, a resident of Haifa. The other new members include Aida Touma-Sliman (Akko), engineer Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya (Tayibe), Dr. Yosef Jabareen (Umm al-Fahem), lawyer Osama Sa'adi (Arraba), and Dr. Abdullah Abu Maaruf (Yarka). The Joint Arab List includes two women and 12 men.
New MKs plan out Knesset term
"I hope these results will be a lever for continued cooperation with the (Arab) sector, in order to serve it in all sorts of areas, even outside of the Knesset," said MK Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya. "There are a lot of social causes that the Joint Arab List can contribute to. The results of the elections are not a surprise to us, but it is good news.
The comments made by Netanyahu against the Arab sector in the last days of the campaign did not make a big impact, but the warning Netanyahu made is very dangerous for the continuation of co-existence," said Hajj Yahya. The Arab Israeli politician has already begun to plan his term in the next Knesset. "I am going to serve the Arab sector on central issues such as planning and construction law, in light of the problems we have in planning, industrial areas and building without a permit," he said. "I will also take care of the advancement of local authorities because in my opinion authorities which plan to rehabilitate have not failed, but rather it shows that there is something in the government's policy that needs to change."
New MK Aida Touma-Sliman hopes to represent women. "I would like to deal with social issues in the next Knesset and the civil rights of the Arab population along with women's rights which I have been occupied with for more than 20 years and will continue to be occupied with in the future."
"Likewise, I will focus on the employment of Arab women and legislation to protect women from violence. Of course the diplomatic issue cannot be ignored and the aspects of political activity," she added.
Regarding the election results, Touma-Sliman said: "Our results provide happiness and strengthen us. The public gave us its wide confidence and clearly said that it supports the approach of unity and the attempt to gain power and protect ourselves from the waves of racism that are washing over Israel."
New MK Osama Sa'adi was disappointed with the change that did not end up coming: "The national right-wing camp and Netanyahu came out with a surprise and kept their reign. We are the third largest faction and this is the first time something like this has happened in history. We achieved another goal – the Yachad faction along with Eli Yishai and the racist Baruch Marzel are outside of the Knesset. Now the work begins to impact and bring about achievement for the sector that sent us."
Sa'adi continued and said: "I want to work in my field, which is the Law and Justice Committee, to prevent racist legislation and to work for fair legislation for the Arab sector."
Sa'adi also said he would like to work on the issue of Palestinian detainees which he says is "a subject that has been close to my heart for over 25 years." Sa'adi also plans to work on subjects such as land confiscation and housing demolitions.
Regarding fears the list will separate once the new government forms, Sa'adi said, "We promised we would create a joint list and we created it, therefore the trust that the Arab sector gave us commits us to continue to work as one faction, there is no reason to break it down. We will not let the Arab public down."
Dr. Yosef Jabraan, another new addition to the Joint Arab List, said that the party will focus on issues that were the basis of their election to the Knesset. "Education, housing and violence are the main issues that I want to deal with. These are the issues that our voters clearly brought up during the campaign," he explained.
"The advancement of Arab education, including higher education, will be my priority, including the allocation of resources, including changing the curriculum to include the Arab-Palestinian identity as well as the restructuring of the system so that it will be managed by Arab educators. Without substantial reform of the education system, we cannot promote and advance the stance of the Arab citizens in Israel."
18 mar 2015
Unofficial results have shown that the right-wing Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu is victorious with 30 seats after 99 percent of the ballots cast has been counted so far.
As counting of votes continues for the Knesset election, the Likud party appears to have achieved a bigger victory than exit polls of Israeli TV channels had predicted.
The Joint Arab List has also obtained 14 seats, according to Israel's channel 7.
An exit poll conducted by Israel's channel 2 showed last night that the right-wing Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu had made a narrow victory in the Knesset election, winning 28 seats to 27 to the Zionist Union led by Isaac Herzog.
However, similar poll reports by Channels 1 and 10 put the Likud neck and neck with the Zionist Union with 27 seats each.
The Arab List was predicted by the same Israeli channels to have achieved 12 or 13 seats.
Israeli polling stations closed on Tuesday evening after 15 hours of casting votes.
Channel 10 had stated in a news report that the Likud and the Zionist Union could have won more seats than its exit poll had shown, affirming that this development would be at the expense of small parties like Yahad and Meretz, which were struggling to exceed the electoral threshold.
The channel added that the Jewish Home had fears of having no more than 10 seats, expecting that the percentage of voting for the Arab List would be less than in the 2013 election.
As counting of votes continues for the Knesset election, the Likud party appears to have achieved a bigger victory than exit polls of Israeli TV channels had predicted.
The Joint Arab List has also obtained 14 seats, according to Israel's channel 7.
An exit poll conducted by Israel's channel 2 showed last night that the right-wing Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu had made a narrow victory in the Knesset election, winning 28 seats to 27 to the Zionist Union led by Isaac Herzog.
However, similar poll reports by Channels 1 and 10 put the Likud neck and neck with the Zionist Union with 27 seats each.
The Arab List was predicted by the same Israeli channels to have achieved 12 or 13 seats.
Israeli polling stations closed on Tuesday evening after 15 hours of casting votes.
Channel 10 had stated in a news report that the Likud and the Zionist Union could have won more seats than its exit poll had shown, affirming that this development would be at the expense of small parties like Yahad and Meretz, which were struggling to exceed the electoral threshold.
The channel added that the Jewish Home had fears of having no more than 10 seats, expecting that the percentage of voting for the Arab List would be less than in the 2013 election.
17 mar 2015
Can you imagine reading an editorial in a respected newspaper today discussing the rights of "Negroes" or "Chinamen"? Probably not. And yet, like other newspapers in this country, The Times continues to use the generic term "Arabs" or "Israeli Arabs" to refer to the Palestinians who live inside Israel, falsely distinguishing them from the Palestinians who live in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 or those who were driven into exile during the destruction of Palestine in 1948.
The term is, at best, an archaism from the mid-20th century that Palestinians themselves resist using. Using it is akin to using "Negroes" or "Coloreds" instead of "African Americans" or calling Asians "Orientals." In general, the term that an ethnic or national group uses to designate itself is surely preferable to the terms that its antagonists have historically used to designate it.
But what's at stake here is not merely rhetoric but a form of historical distortion that makes it all but impossible for readers to fully grasp the nature of the conflict.
Palestinian artists and intellectuals as well as the most important institutions of Palestinian civil society inside Israel, including the human rights organization Adalah and the Mada al-Carmel research center, use the term "Palestinians" to identify and affiliate themselves and to assert their indissoluble connection to the rest of the Palestinian people.
In 2007, Adalah drafted a constitution for what it envisages as a genuinely multicultural and truly democratic state of Israel (i.e., not the state as it actually exists, which treats Palestinians as second-class citizens). It states, for example, "The Palestinian Arab citizens of the State of Israel have lived in their homeland for innumerable generations. Here they were born, here their historic roots have grown, and here their national and cultural life has developed and flourished. They are active contributors to human history and culture as part of the Arab nation and the Islamic culture and as an inseparable part of the Palestinian people."
Mada al-Carmel's Haifa Declaration — the single most important collective declaration of and by the Palestinians inside Israel — similarly states, "We, sons and daughters of the Palestinian Arab people who remained in our homeland despite the Nakba, who were forcibly made a minority in the State of Israel after its establishment in 1948 on the greater part of the Palestinian homeland; do hereby affirm in this Declaration the foundations of our identity and belonging, and put forth a vision of our collective future, one which gives voice to our concerns and aspirations and lays the foundations for a frank dialogue among ourselves and between ourselves and other peoples."
As these declarations remind us, the Palestinians inside Israel are the remnant of the Palestinian people who survived the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, when the majority of the country’s Muslim and Christian population was driven into exile in what Palestinians call the Nakba. As Adalah puts it most succinctly, their political status “was changed against their will, making them a minority in their homeland.” Adalah adds, “they did not relinquish their national identity.”
Just as Palestinians existed as a people before the dismemberment of their homeland, they continue to exist as a people afterward. To refer to some Palestinians as Palestinian and others merely as deracinated "Arabs" is to doubt or negate their claim to a national existence as a people both historically and in the present. And in any case, it's not up to The Times — or anyone else — to determine who counts as Palestinian and who doesn't.
In fact, to use the ethnic term "Arab" to describe the Palestinians inside Israel is to strip them of any national identity — not only the national identity that they themselves assert, but quite literally any national identity whatsoever, given that, according to a 2013 ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court, "Israeli" is not a national identity. (For all its loose talk of democracy, Israel considers itself, after all, the state of the Jewish people rather than the state of its actual citizens or of those over whom it rules.) To reduce and describe people merely as an ethnicity shorn of national identity is, even if implicitly, to negate their political identity and to deny their rights, which, especially in this case, has very disturbing implications.
Moreover, to use different designations for the Palestinians inside Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied territories and in exile is to obscure, if not to deny altogether, the unity and continuity of the Palestinian people. The fact that the Palestinians inside Israel are an integral part of the Palestinian people is absolutely central to the history of this conflict as well as key to its resolution. Times readers will have no way of knowing that, given the newspaper's use of different designations for different parts of the Palestinian people.
Finally, and most importantly, Palestinians themselves — those inside Israel and those in the occupied territories and around the world — have asserted their identity as a people. It's unacceptable to deny or at best ignore these assertions, to look the other way, or pretend not to hear, when a people insists that they are a people and that they have a right to freedom and a will to be free.
Saree Makdisi, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, is the author of "Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation."
This piece is part of Blowback, our online forum for rebuttals to The Times. If you would like to write a full-length response to a recent Times article, editorial or op-ed and would like to participate in Blowback, here are our FAQs and submission policy.
The term is, at best, an archaism from the mid-20th century that Palestinians themselves resist using. Using it is akin to using "Negroes" or "Coloreds" instead of "African Americans" or calling Asians "Orientals." In general, the term that an ethnic or national group uses to designate itself is surely preferable to the terms that its antagonists have historically used to designate it.
But what's at stake here is not merely rhetoric but a form of historical distortion that makes it all but impossible for readers to fully grasp the nature of the conflict.
Palestinian artists and intellectuals as well as the most important institutions of Palestinian civil society inside Israel, including the human rights organization Adalah and the Mada al-Carmel research center, use the term "Palestinians" to identify and affiliate themselves and to assert their indissoluble connection to the rest of the Palestinian people.
In 2007, Adalah drafted a constitution for what it envisages as a genuinely multicultural and truly democratic state of Israel (i.e., not the state as it actually exists, which treats Palestinians as second-class citizens). It states, for example, "The Palestinian Arab citizens of the State of Israel have lived in their homeland for innumerable generations. Here they were born, here their historic roots have grown, and here their national and cultural life has developed and flourished. They are active contributors to human history and culture as part of the Arab nation and the Islamic culture and as an inseparable part of the Palestinian people."
Mada al-Carmel's Haifa Declaration — the single most important collective declaration of and by the Palestinians inside Israel — similarly states, "We, sons and daughters of the Palestinian Arab people who remained in our homeland despite the Nakba, who were forcibly made a minority in the State of Israel after its establishment in 1948 on the greater part of the Palestinian homeland; do hereby affirm in this Declaration the foundations of our identity and belonging, and put forth a vision of our collective future, one which gives voice to our concerns and aspirations and lays the foundations for a frank dialogue among ourselves and between ourselves and other peoples."
As these declarations remind us, the Palestinians inside Israel are the remnant of the Palestinian people who survived the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, when the majority of the country’s Muslim and Christian population was driven into exile in what Palestinians call the Nakba. As Adalah puts it most succinctly, their political status “was changed against their will, making them a minority in their homeland.” Adalah adds, “they did not relinquish their national identity.”
Just as Palestinians existed as a people before the dismemberment of their homeland, they continue to exist as a people afterward. To refer to some Palestinians as Palestinian and others merely as deracinated "Arabs" is to doubt or negate their claim to a national existence as a people both historically and in the present. And in any case, it's not up to The Times — or anyone else — to determine who counts as Palestinian and who doesn't.
In fact, to use the ethnic term "Arab" to describe the Palestinians inside Israel is to strip them of any national identity — not only the national identity that they themselves assert, but quite literally any national identity whatsoever, given that, according to a 2013 ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court, "Israeli" is not a national identity. (For all its loose talk of democracy, Israel considers itself, after all, the state of the Jewish people rather than the state of its actual citizens or of those over whom it rules.) To reduce and describe people merely as an ethnicity shorn of national identity is, even if implicitly, to negate their political identity and to deny their rights, which, especially in this case, has very disturbing implications.
Moreover, to use different designations for the Palestinians inside Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied territories and in exile is to obscure, if not to deny altogether, the unity and continuity of the Palestinian people. The fact that the Palestinians inside Israel are an integral part of the Palestinian people is absolutely central to the history of this conflict as well as key to its resolution. Times readers will have no way of knowing that, given the newspaper's use of different designations for different parts of the Palestinian people.
Finally, and most importantly, Palestinians themselves — those inside Israel and those in the occupied territories and around the world — have asserted their identity as a people. It's unacceptable to deny or at best ignore these assertions, to look the other way, or pretend not to hear, when a people insists that they are a people and that they have a right to freedom and a will to be free.
Saree Makdisi, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, is the author of "Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation."
This piece is part of Blowback, our online forum for rebuttals to The Times. If you would like to write a full-length response to a recent Times article, editorial or op-ed and would like to participate in Blowback, here are our FAQs and submission policy.
Several voting irregularities were reported across Israel on Tuesay - ranging from impersonation, stolen ballots and threats against voting secretaries, 23 suspects were being pursued by police.
Police opened 51 investigations on Tuesday related to alleged voting fraud ranging from impersonation, stolen ballots and threats against ballot officials, and 23 suspects were being pursued.
One man was arrested for voter fraud and several voting stations were closed due to voting irregularities and fears of impersonation.
Several attempts to subvert the voting process were noted in the north – four voters who arrived at their designated voting stations in Nahariya, Kiryat Tiv'on and Kiryat Ata found that someone had already voted in their name. Local police began investigating each incident. Police said that one man claimed that someone else may have used his lost drivers license to vote in his name. A similar incident was reported in Afula where a 19-year-old who arrived to vote found out that someone had voted in his name shortly before he arrived at the voting site.
In another case of attempted voting fraud, a man tried to submit three envelopes into the voting box. At another voting location, a woman attacked a secretary of the Ballot Committee in the western Galilee after he refused to let her enter the voting booth with her mother. The woman was taken in by police for further questioning.
Natalia Goichman, who arrived at her voting station in Rehovot at 12:30 pm, claims she was told that she was registered as voting with two other individuals earlier in the morning. According to Goichman, her parents had gone to vote in the morning but she had not been with them. The Ballot Committee said that they had registered seeing her identification card and that they would not let her vote, and refused to investigate the issue further. Goichman filed a complaint with the police. "I was there for about half an hour," she said, "the policeman at the site made a phone call and so did the secretary of the Ballot Committee, but they did not let me vote in the end."
The Ballot Committee's spokesman said they would look into the issue. In Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, a 23-year-old man was arrested after he pushed over the stand with the voting ballots. The incident revolved around a secretary of the Ballot Committee who accused the chairman of the voting station of entering extra votes. The man was taken in for further investigation.
In the vastly Arab populated Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, a complaint was issued for suspected voter fraud. The chairwoman of the voting station was taken in for investigation after being accused of entering envelopes illegally into the voting box. Complaints were filed Tuesday of illegal use of handicap ballots. Police said that they would look into the incidents and open criminal proceedings against those who signed false affidavits and unlawfully voted at handicap booths.
Election Committee members toured the disabled voting booths on Tuesday, including committee chairman Judge Salim Jubran, and witnessed young citizens who were voting at handicap booths for no reason. The committee members asked police to investigate the individuals. One voting station in southern Israel already closed down by Tuesday afternoon after all the registered voters at the site, 72 residents, had carried out their right to vote. The votes were transferred to the central polling station.
Police opened 51 investigations on Tuesday related to alleged voting fraud ranging from impersonation, stolen ballots and threats against ballot officials, and 23 suspects were being pursued.
One man was arrested for voter fraud and several voting stations were closed due to voting irregularities and fears of impersonation.
Several attempts to subvert the voting process were noted in the north – four voters who arrived at their designated voting stations in Nahariya, Kiryat Tiv'on and Kiryat Ata found that someone had already voted in their name. Local police began investigating each incident. Police said that one man claimed that someone else may have used his lost drivers license to vote in his name. A similar incident was reported in Afula where a 19-year-old who arrived to vote found out that someone had voted in his name shortly before he arrived at the voting site.
In another case of attempted voting fraud, a man tried to submit three envelopes into the voting box. At another voting location, a woman attacked a secretary of the Ballot Committee in the western Galilee after he refused to let her enter the voting booth with her mother. The woman was taken in by police for further questioning.
Natalia Goichman, who arrived at her voting station in Rehovot at 12:30 pm, claims she was told that she was registered as voting with two other individuals earlier in the morning. According to Goichman, her parents had gone to vote in the morning but she had not been with them. The Ballot Committee said that they had registered seeing her identification card and that they would not let her vote, and refused to investigate the issue further. Goichman filed a complaint with the police. "I was there for about half an hour," she said, "the policeman at the site made a phone call and so did the secretary of the Ballot Committee, but they did not let me vote in the end."
The Ballot Committee's spokesman said they would look into the issue. In Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, a 23-year-old man was arrested after he pushed over the stand with the voting ballots. The incident revolved around a secretary of the Ballot Committee who accused the chairman of the voting station of entering extra votes. The man was taken in for further investigation.
In the vastly Arab populated Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, a complaint was issued for suspected voter fraud. The chairwoman of the voting station was taken in for investigation after being accused of entering envelopes illegally into the voting box. Complaints were filed Tuesday of illegal use of handicap ballots. Police said that they would look into the incidents and open criminal proceedings against those who signed false affidavits and unlawfully voted at handicap booths.
Election Committee members toured the disabled voting booths on Tuesday, including committee chairman Judge Salim Jubran, and witnessed young citizens who were voting at handicap booths for no reason. The committee members asked police to investigate the individuals. One voting station in southern Israel already closed down by Tuesday afternoon after all the registered voters at the site, 72 residents, had carried out their right to vote. The votes were transferred to the central polling station.
A cluster of anti-Israel activists distributed leaflets calling on Palestinian residents of 1948 Occupied Palestine to boycott Israeli parliamentary polls that opened on Tuesday.
The leaflets disseminated in the regions of Ara, Ar’ara, and Wadi Ara come as part of a widespread boycott-of-Israel campaign calling for shunning Israeli parliamentary elections as a means to set the stage for rescinding Israel’s legitimacy—the biggest threat to Palestinianhood.
“The real battle with such a usurper entity should not be fought only by recoiling from casting one’s ballot but in facing all forms of colonization,” youth activist Mohamed Kubha said in his exclusive statements to the PIC.
“If such a national project is ever to see the day, confrontation, rather than assimilation, should be the weapon,” he added.
Though the available potentials are quite modest, since the move is carried out by independent activists, their weight is by no means trifling, as the campaign is promoted by people who strongly believe in their cause, he further stated.
“We don’t have any problem with potential divergences of outlook and positions. After all, we are all brothers and sisters in the resistance path,” Kubha said.
But we’re not on the same mind when it comes to the fruits we will be reaping by taking part in Israeli ballot, the activist added, wondering whether contributions in the poll would be of any benefit to the national liberation project and to the dream of restoring Palestinians’ rights.
“Certainly our campaign gets on the nerves of the Israeli occupation as an entity that aims to break up our identity into pieces,” he said, adding “But we’re trying our best to foil such any Israeli scheme aimed at gulping down Palestinians in the very labyrinths of the Israeli community.”
The leaflets disseminated in the regions of Ara, Ar’ara, and Wadi Ara come as part of a widespread boycott-of-Israel campaign calling for shunning Israeli parliamentary elections as a means to set the stage for rescinding Israel’s legitimacy—the biggest threat to Palestinianhood.
“The real battle with such a usurper entity should not be fought only by recoiling from casting one’s ballot but in facing all forms of colonization,” youth activist Mohamed Kubha said in his exclusive statements to the PIC.
“If such a national project is ever to see the day, confrontation, rather than assimilation, should be the weapon,” he added.
Though the available potentials are quite modest, since the move is carried out by independent activists, their weight is by no means trifling, as the campaign is promoted by people who strongly believe in their cause, he further stated.
“We don’t have any problem with potential divergences of outlook and positions. After all, we are all brothers and sisters in the resistance path,” Kubha said.
But we’re not on the same mind when it comes to the fruits we will be reaping by taking part in Israeli ballot, the activist added, wondering whether contributions in the poll would be of any benefit to the national liberation project and to the dream of restoring Palestinians’ rights.
“Certainly our campaign gets on the nerves of the Israeli occupation as an entity that aims to break up our identity into pieces,” he said, adding “But we’re trying our best to foil such any Israeli scheme aimed at gulping down Palestinians in the very labyrinths of the Israeli community.”
16 mar 2015
Likud leader stresses right-wing credentials by vowing to keep 'all parts' of Jerusalem and continue to build in its controversial neighborhoods.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a final bid to shore up right-wing support ahead of a knife-edge vote on Tuesday, said he would not permit a Palestinian state to be created under his watch if he is re-elected.
Trailing his centre-left opponent Isaac Herzog in opinion polls, the three-term leader has sought to shift the focus away from socioeconomic issues and on to security challenges, saying he alone can defend Israel.
Having previously hinted that he would accept a Palestinian state, Netanyahu reversed course on Monday, citing risks that he linked to the regional spread of Islamist militancy. He said that if he is re-elected, the Palestinians would not get the independent state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
"Whoever moves to establish a Palestinian state or intends to withdraw from territory is simply yielding territory for radical Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel," he told the Israeli news site NRG.
Asked if that meant a state would not be established if he remained prime minister, he said: "Indeed."
On the final day of campaigning Monday, Netanyahu visited Har Homa, a Jewish development in east Jerusalem that is viewed as an illegal settlement by the Palestinians and the international community.
Netanyahu vowed to preserve Jerusalem's unity "in all its parts" and said he would "continue to build and fortify" the city to prevent any future division.
"Come home," he told disaffected Likud supporters. The choice is symbolic: the Likud led by me, that will continue to stand firmly for (Israel's) vital interests, compared with a left-wing government... ready to accept any dictate," he said.
Netanyahu promoted the establishment of Har Homa in 1997, in defiance of deep-seated international opposition, after he was first elected prime minister.
"I thought we had to protect the southern gateway to Jerusalem by building here," Netanyahu said, with a construction site behind the podium as his backdrop. "There was huge objection, because this neighbourhood is in a location which prevents the Palestinian (territorial) contiguity."
Despite the gap in polls, the numbers do not necessarily rule out Netanyahu's chances of forming the next government after Tuesday's election but have rattled the Likud, which began the campaign all but assured that it would stay in office. In recent days it has been on a get-out-the-vote blitz with Netanyahu warning against the rise of a left-wing government in a series of interviews and before tens of thousands of hard-line supporters at a Tel Aviv rally organized by the right on Sunday evening.
"This is a fateful struggle, a close struggle. We must close this gap. We can close this gap," Netanyahu said to roaring applause at the rally.
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said Netanyahu's comments were "dangerous" and could plunge the region into violence.
"This is the real Netanyahu," she said. "From the beginning, he was attempting to carry out a grand deception by pretending to be in favor of the two-state solution. But what he was actually doing on the ground is destroying the chances of peace."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a final bid to shore up right-wing support ahead of a knife-edge vote on Tuesday, said he would not permit a Palestinian state to be created under his watch if he is re-elected.
Trailing his centre-left opponent Isaac Herzog in opinion polls, the three-term leader has sought to shift the focus away from socioeconomic issues and on to security challenges, saying he alone can defend Israel.
Having previously hinted that he would accept a Palestinian state, Netanyahu reversed course on Monday, citing risks that he linked to the regional spread of Islamist militancy. He said that if he is re-elected, the Palestinians would not get the independent state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
"Whoever moves to establish a Palestinian state or intends to withdraw from territory is simply yielding territory for radical Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel," he told the Israeli news site NRG.
Asked if that meant a state would not be established if he remained prime minister, he said: "Indeed."
On the final day of campaigning Monday, Netanyahu visited Har Homa, a Jewish development in east Jerusalem that is viewed as an illegal settlement by the Palestinians and the international community.
Netanyahu vowed to preserve Jerusalem's unity "in all its parts" and said he would "continue to build and fortify" the city to prevent any future division.
"Come home," he told disaffected Likud supporters. The choice is symbolic: the Likud led by me, that will continue to stand firmly for (Israel's) vital interests, compared with a left-wing government... ready to accept any dictate," he said.
Netanyahu promoted the establishment of Har Homa in 1997, in defiance of deep-seated international opposition, after he was first elected prime minister.
"I thought we had to protect the southern gateway to Jerusalem by building here," Netanyahu said, with a construction site behind the podium as his backdrop. "There was huge objection, because this neighbourhood is in a location which prevents the Palestinian (territorial) contiguity."
Despite the gap in polls, the numbers do not necessarily rule out Netanyahu's chances of forming the next government after Tuesday's election but have rattled the Likud, which began the campaign all but assured that it would stay in office. In recent days it has been on a get-out-the-vote blitz with Netanyahu warning against the rise of a left-wing government in a series of interviews and before tens of thousands of hard-line supporters at a Tel Aviv rally organized by the right on Sunday evening.
"This is a fateful struggle, a close struggle. We must close this gap. We can close this gap," Netanyahu said to roaring applause at the rally.
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said Netanyahu's comments were "dangerous" and could plunge the region into violence.
"This is the real Netanyahu," she said. "From the beginning, he was attempting to carry out a grand deception by pretending to be in favor of the two-state solution. But what he was actually doing on the ground is destroying the chances of peace."
Visiting Netiv HaAsara near the Gaza Strip, Yisrael Beytenu chairman criticizes Netanyahu's 'weak leadership' which allowed Palestinian terror group to rearm.
Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman said Monday afternoon during a visit to Natif HaAsara near the Gaza Strip that "when I am defense minister, we will have the last campaign against Hamas."
Lieberman used the visit to criticize Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu's policy towards Hamas. "What we are seeing is that just a stone's throw away, Hamas people are not hiding – they're building fortifications and arming," he said. "It shows that they apparently understood that we had a weak leadership that doesn't know how to be decisive, so they're allowing themselves to build fortifications and restore themselves."
"The elimination of Hamas is the primary mission of the Israeli government and as defense minister I will carry it out," said Lieberman. "We will not reach agreements and understandings with them. The only agreement that can eb reached with Hamas is when they are buried in the ground. Everyone knows what my opinion was in the government. I didn't hide it. Unfortunately, my opinion wasn't heeded.
I was a minority in the cabinet. It's important that after elections we form a strong coalition and not a coalition of nerds – a coalition that will give an order to eliminate Hamas." Videos on Ynet showed Hamas members on the Gaza side of the border fence building posts or training facilities as well as digging. Two masked armed individuals were seen helping another person descend – possibly into the ground.
This all occurred scores of meters away from the homes of Netiv HaAsara residents – where the settlements of Elei Sinai and Nisanit stood before being evicted during the disengagement from Gaza.
The residents of Netiv HaAsara are accustomed to seeing Hamas men setting up outposts and levees near the border fence, but in recent days the men working have been armed and masked, with Hamas flags flying visibly overhead.
Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman said Monday afternoon during a visit to Natif HaAsara near the Gaza Strip that "when I am defense minister, we will have the last campaign against Hamas."
Lieberman used the visit to criticize Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu's policy towards Hamas. "What we are seeing is that just a stone's throw away, Hamas people are not hiding – they're building fortifications and arming," he said. "It shows that they apparently understood that we had a weak leadership that doesn't know how to be decisive, so they're allowing themselves to build fortifications and restore themselves."
"The elimination of Hamas is the primary mission of the Israeli government and as defense minister I will carry it out," said Lieberman. "We will not reach agreements and understandings with them. The only agreement that can eb reached with Hamas is when they are buried in the ground. Everyone knows what my opinion was in the government. I didn't hide it. Unfortunately, my opinion wasn't heeded.
I was a minority in the cabinet. It's important that after elections we form a strong coalition and not a coalition of nerds – a coalition that will give an order to eliminate Hamas." Videos on Ynet showed Hamas members on the Gaza side of the border fence building posts or training facilities as well as digging. Two masked armed individuals were seen helping another person descend – possibly into the ground.
This all occurred scores of meters away from the homes of Netiv HaAsara residents – where the settlements of Elei Sinai and Nisanit stood before being evicted during the disengagement from Gaza.
The residents of Netiv HaAsara are accustomed to seeing Hamas men setting up outposts and levees near the border fence, but in recent days the men working have been armed and masked, with Hamas flags flying visibly overhead.
11 mar 2015
Za'atra at the panel
'Where do you think Islamic State learned these things? Look for what the Zionist movement did in 1948. The rape, the looting, the murder... the exact same things,' Joint Arab List spokesman says at political panel.
The head of communications for the Joint Arab List party, Raja Za'atra, caused an outrage on Tuesday when he compared the Islamic State to the Zionist movement and claimed Hamas was not a terror organization.
During a political panel organized by the Bar Ilan University's student union, Za'atra said: "Where do you think Daesh (Islamic State) learned these things?"
After someone in the audience responded with "From you!", Za'atra continued: "Look for what the Zionist movement did in 1948. The rape, the looting, the murder... the exact same things."
Ignoring the loud booing from the audience, Za'atra went on: "Daesh is the strategic partner to the State of Israel's anti-peace policy."
Za'atra, however, does not regret his comments. "I believe in every word," he said after the panel.
The Zionist Union issued a harsh denunciation of Za'atra's comments. "We expect the heads of the (Arab) list to immediately renounce these outrageous comment comparing Israel and the Islamic State, as well as his remark that Hamas is not a terror organization," the party said in a statement. "The comparison between beheaders who have no humanity, to a nation that was reborn and made many contributions to the world, is intolerable and points to ignorance and hatred."
The party went on to say that "we believe Israeli Arab citizens expect the Joint List to promote their rights and their needs and to solve their economic and social problems, rather than fan the flames of incitement and lies that will achieve the opposite. It's regretful that the spokespeople of the Joint List are damaging the desire of the Arab and Jewish publics to live in coexistence.
The Zionist Union will fight any attempt - both from within and from without - to hurt the morality of the establishment of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic country with full equality to all. So will we also fight Hamas - an Islamist terror organization seeking Israel's annihilation, and we will ensure it remains on the list of terror organizations." Coalition chairman MK Ze'ev Elkin (Likud), who was present at the panel, also issured a condemnation.
"Those who allow Hanin Zoabi run for Knesset should not be surprised when her friends praise Hamas or compared the horror of the Islamic State to the Zionist movement. I'm just wondering why (Amos) Yadlin and the Labor party chose to boycott (Baruch) Marzel but didn't mind sitting next to a Hamas supporter."
The Joint Arab List said that "the things were said in response to provocation from one of the panel's participants, who claimed Daesh (Islamic State) learned their acts from the representative of the Joint List. The Joint List has issued a decisive statement against Daesh's crimes, and it condemns them regardless of any other historic event."
Sweidan Rifat, the academic adviser for Arab students at Bar Ilan University, said that "the atmosphere during the debate was positive, and in this positive atmosphere there was also a mutual democratic dialogue between the representative of the Arab party and Jewish students."
'Where do you think Islamic State learned these things? Look for what the Zionist movement did in 1948. The rape, the looting, the murder... the exact same things,' Joint Arab List spokesman says at political panel.
The head of communications for the Joint Arab List party, Raja Za'atra, caused an outrage on Tuesday when he compared the Islamic State to the Zionist movement and claimed Hamas was not a terror organization.
During a political panel organized by the Bar Ilan University's student union, Za'atra said: "Where do you think Daesh (Islamic State) learned these things?"
After someone in the audience responded with "From you!", Za'atra continued: "Look for what the Zionist movement did in 1948. The rape, the looting, the murder... the exact same things."
Ignoring the loud booing from the audience, Za'atra went on: "Daesh is the strategic partner to the State of Israel's anti-peace policy."
Za'atra, however, does not regret his comments. "I believe in every word," he said after the panel.
The Zionist Union issued a harsh denunciation of Za'atra's comments. "We expect the heads of the (Arab) list to immediately renounce these outrageous comment comparing Israel and the Islamic State, as well as his remark that Hamas is not a terror organization," the party said in a statement. "The comparison between beheaders who have no humanity, to a nation that was reborn and made many contributions to the world, is intolerable and points to ignorance and hatred."
The party went on to say that "we believe Israeli Arab citizens expect the Joint List to promote their rights and their needs and to solve their economic and social problems, rather than fan the flames of incitement and lies that will achieve the opposite. It's regretful that the spokespeople of the Joint List are damaging the desire of the Arab and Jewish publics to live in coexistence.
The Zionist Union will fight any attempt - both from within and from without - to hurt the morality of the establishment of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic country with full equality to all. So will we also fight Hamas - an Islamist terror organization seeking Israel's annihilation, and we will ensure it remains on the list of terror organizations." Coalition chairman MK Ze'ev Elkin (Likud), who was present at the panel, also issured a condemnation.
"Those who allow Hanin Zoabi run for Knesset should not be surprised when her friends praise Hamas or compared the horror of the Islamic State to the Zionist movement. I'm just wondering why (Amos) Yadlin and the Labor party chose to boycott (Baruch) Marzel but didn't mind sitting next to a Hamas supporter."
The Joint Arab List said that "the things were said in response to provocation from one of the panel's participants, who claimed Daesh (Islamic State) learned their acts from the representative of the Joint List. The Joint List has issued a decisive statement against Daesh's crimes, and it condemns them regardless of any other historic event."
Sweidan Rifat, the academic adviser for Arab students at Bar Ilan University, said that "the atmosphere during the debate was positive, and in this positive atmosphere there was also a mutual democratic dialogue between the representative of the Arab party and Jewish students."
