- I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I
want the understanding which bringeth peace. -- Helen Keller
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- I have been writing about the Middle East since I was
a twelve-year-old. That is when I authored my first speech on Israel. I
remember it was a speech about the Balfour Declaration. At the time, my
classmates (or teacher for that matter) had no idea of what the heck I
was talking about.
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- That was thirty-five years ago and many people still
have no inkling about what I write or speak about. Yet it is only through
actively expressing a personal narrative and then moving into analysis
that real understanding can come to the forefront. There is no single Palestinian
narrative since we are a group dispersed throughout the world. I was born
in Chicago and presently still live in America. Much of my thinking is
influenced by my Western education.
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- Anybody who tries to understand the Middle East is met
with a dual problem of not quite understanding any Palestinian narrative
and often misunderstanding the analysis because one narrative has dominated
the discourse so much that it has colored perceptions. The Israeli experience
and narrative is much more familiar with readers. Of this I am quite sure.
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- I write the above words to hopefully inoculate you a
bit. I am not an anti-Semite, as many of those who oppose my view- point
would like to paint me. What I am is a person who believes that principle
and justice do not depend upon one's race, religion or ethnicity. This
is a particularly American construct.
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- Nationality in the US is not dependent upon one's religion.
Our country is a nation of its citizens, regardless of one's religion.
America is not a "Christian nation", a "white nation",
or "Anglo-Saxon nation" - but instead is a nation where Jews,
Christians, Muslims, Hispanics, African- Americans, Irish-Americans, etc.
all have constitutionally guaranteed rights.
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- These rights are not based upon any of the criteria of
ethno-national or religious designations. Ethno-nationalism grew as a philosophy
in the late 19th Century. Ideologies sprouted in the forms of "Fascism",
"Apartheid" and the roots of race-based Nazism were found in
German nationalism. Jewish nationalism, also called Zionism was also birthed
in within this milieu.
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- How many readers actually know that modern Zionism as
an ideology shares the same historical roots as fascism? From doing this
many years, I know the answer is "few." I suggest that most Zionists
themselves do not quite understand this fact either. Just as Nazism was
initially a strange blend of liberal socialist ideas (The Nationalist Socialist
Party. remember) with hard right-wing blood and soil nationalism, Zionism
has a similarly strange mix.
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- Zionists, like Nazis, represent the full breadth of the
political spectrum. The only thing that unites Zionists is their belief
that the defining characteristic of Israel MUST be based upon some sort
of demographic characteristic. German nationalism was also so dependent
upon demographic traits.
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- In Nazi Germany, the result was ethnic cleansing of Jews
BECAUSE they did not fit the racial profile of the new national ideology.
Many Zionists inside Israel are calling for ethnic cleansing because Palestinians
do not fit the racial definition that fits into a "Jewish" nation.
A Jewish nation can survive only as long as there is a Jewish majority.
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- What does it take to insure a Jewish majority? Is ethnic
cleansing a possibility today?
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- The first wave of ethnic cleansing occurred at the inception
of Israel where more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly "relocated".
Relocation is not new. The Nazis "relocated" Jews to maintain
their demographic "purity." The underlying driving force that
moved both Nazis and animated Zionist policies in 1948 was to create a
nation with certain demographic parameters.
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- Apartheid policies in South Africa were aimed at maintaining
the definition of South Africa as a "white" state. Everyone universally
recognizes that Nazi Germany was inherently racist. The Nazi regime was
a racist regime before they embarked upon a policy of liquidation. Germany
and South Africa were innately racist BECAUSE of the way they defined themselves.
The policies of racism stemmed from their ideology and self definition.
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- Rabbi Benjamin Hecht has said, "How we act is dependant
on how we wish to define ourselves." Zionism or "Jewish nationalism"
can never be benign as liberal Zionists have liked to think.
-
- It is impossible to square the circle and maintain an
innocuous, gentle system whereby one's national character is defined by
religion, race, ethnicity or even gender for that matter. This was true
with Apartheid and Nazi Germany and it is no less true with Israel.
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- This is why I am certain that Israel simply will not
survive as a "Jewish" nation.
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- Liberal Zionism has tried to ignore the contradictions
of racial, religious or ethnic definitions. But as the on-the- ground demographics
change, meaning the Palestinian population increases as a percentage, the
contradictions increase. The incompatibility between ethno-national designations
and humanism is causing all Zionists to choose.
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- One choice is the road of Apartheid and the continued
Nazification of Israel itself. These are indeed strong words. Israel is
guilty of implementing policies of collective punishment, extra-judicial
executions (without trials), legalized torture, the creation of Bantustans,
the ghetto- ization of entire villages all point to the "Nazification"
of Israel.
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- There is another road. This involves another choice,
the road that America eventually chose for itself. One nation with citizenship,
privileges and responsibilities granted without racial, religious or ethnic
preference.
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- One person-one vote.
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- This is not a racist anti-Semitic solution. It is the
only solution based upon humanistic principles. This is a solution that
says that any Muslim, Christian or Jew shall live in the Holy Land together
without privilege or penalty. Is there a better solution for the region
where all three religions claim holy?
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- Israel will not survive as presently constituted. It
is the last vestige of 19th century ethno-national ideology and there is
no place for race-based privilege in the 21st century.
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- As Helen Keller suggested in the quotation that introduced
this essay, only true understanding can bring true peace. * Jaffer has
been writing on the Middle East and a regular contributor to Viewpoint.
He is also the author of the recently published book- Palestine & The
Middle East: A Chronicle of Passion and Politics
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