June 29, 2012
Israel's New Politics and the Fate of Palestine
Akiva Eldar in The National Interest:
Israel never overtly spurned a two-state solution involving land partition and a Palestinian state. But it never acknowledged that West Bank developments had rendered such a solution impossible. Facing a default reality in which a one-state solution seemed the only option, Israel chose a third way—the continuation of the status quo. This unspoken strategic decision has dictated its polices and tactics for the past decade, simultaneously safeguarding political negotiations as a framework for the future and tightening Israel’s control over the West Bank. In essence, a “peace process” that allegedly is meant to bring the occupation to an end and achieve a two-state solution has become a mechanism to perpetuate the conflict and preserve the status quo.
This reality and its implications are best understood through a brief survey of the history that brought the Israelis and Palestinians to this impasse. The story is one of courage, sincere efforts, internal conflicts on both sides, persistent maneuvering and elements of folly.
More here.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 07:36 AM | Permalink
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( also posted on another thread)
Einstein is a household name. How many know about his views on Israel?
Einstein speech on Israel (New York, 1938)
"I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state. …the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power….I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain – especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks…"
http://einsteinonisrael.com/
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Einstein was one of the authors of an open letter to the New York Times (Dec 4, 1948) deeply criticizing Menachem Begin's Herut (Freedom) Party for the Deir Yassin massacre likening it to "the Nazi and Fascist parties".
http://phys4.harvard.edu/~wilson/NYTimes1948.pdf
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Book: Einstein on Israel and Zionism: His Provocative Ideas About the Middle East. Author: Fred Jerome
http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Israel-Provocative-Middle-Crisis/dp/0312362285
Einstein on Israel and Zionism focuses on correcting a widely accepted story that Einstein was a major supporter, a “champion” of the state of Israel – a story told and retold primarily by the mainstream media.
While Einstein was a secular Jew and a Cultural Zionist – he supported the establishment of Jewish cultural centers within Palestine and elsewhere – he opposed the establishment of a Jewish state with borders and an army, and he never wavered from arguing forcefully for equal rights and equal power for the Arabs whom he called “kinfolk” of the Jews.
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He was offered and refused the Presidency of Israel, but had he taken it, he may have said things the Zionists didn’t want to hear; he favored a non-religious state that would welcome Jew and Palestinian alike.
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Posted by: Raza | Jun 30, 2012 12:03:06 AM
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