Israel’s best hope lies in a single state

In East Jerusalem, vigilantes prowl, hunting for Jewish girls who consort with Arab men. Slavoj Žiže

In Israel, there is a growing number of initiatives - from official bodies and rabbis to private organisations and groups of local residents - to prevent interracial dating and marriage. In East Jerusalem, vigilante-style patrols work to stop Arab men from mixing with local Jewish girls. Two years ago, the city of Petah Tikva created a hotline that parents and friends can use to inform on Jewish women who mix with Arab men; the women are then treated as pathological cases and sent to a psychologist.

In 2008, the southern city of Kiryat Gat launched a programme in its schools to warn Jewish girls about the dangers of dating local Bedouin men. The girls were shown a video called Sleeping With the Enemy, which describes mixed couples as an "unnatural phenomenon". Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu once told a local newspaper that the "seducing" of Jewish girls is “another form of war" and a religious organisation called Yad L'Achim conducts military-style rescues of women from "hostile" Arab villages, in co-ordination with the police and army. In 2009, a government-backed television advertising campaign, later withdrawn, urged Israeli Jews to report relatives abroad who were in danger of marrying non-Jews.

It is no wonder that, according to a poll from 2007, more than half of all Israeli Jews believe that intermarriage should be equated with "national treason". Adding a note of ridicule late last year, Rabbi Ari Shvat, an expert on Jewish law, allowed for an exception: Jewish women are permitted to sleep with Arabs if it is in order to gather information about anti-Israel activity - but it is more appropriate to use unmarried women for this purpose.

The first thing that strikes one here is the gender asymmetry. The guardians of Jewish purity are bothered that Jewish girls are being seduced by Palestinian men. The head of Kiryat Gat's welfare unit said: "The girls, in their innocence, go with the exploitative Arab." What makes these campaigns so depressing is that they are flourishing at a time of relative calm, at least in the West Bank. Any party interested in peace should welcome the socialising of Palestinian and Jewish youth, as it would ease tensions and contribute to a shared daily life.

Until recently, Israel was often hit by terror attacks and liberal, peace-loving Jews repeated the mantra that, while they recognised the injustice of the occupation of the West Bank, the other side had to stop the bombings before proper negotiations could begin. Now that the attacks have fallen greatly in number, the main form that terror takes is continuous, low-level pressure on the West Bank (water poisonings, crop burnings and arson attacks on mosques). Shall we conclude that, though violence doesn't work, renouncing it works even less well?

If there is a lesson to be learned from the protracted negotiations, it is that the greatest obstacle to peace is what is offered as the realistic solution - the creation of two separate states. Although neither side wants it (Israel would probably prefer the areas of the West Bank that it is ready to cede to become a part of Jordan, while the Palestinians consider the land that has fallen to Israel since 1967 to be theirs), the establishment of two states is somehow accepted as the only feasible solution, a position backed up by the embarrassing leak of Palestinian negotiation documents in January.

What both sides exclude as an impossible dream is the simplest and most obvious solution: a binational secular state, comprising all of Israel plus the occupied territories and Gaza. Many will dismiss this as a utopian dream, disqualified by the history of hatred and violence. But far from being a utopia, the binational state is already a reality: Israel and the West Bank are one state. The entire territory is under the de facto control of one sovereign power - Israel - and divided by internal borders. So let's abolish the apartheid that exists and transform this land into a secular, democratic state.

Losing faith

None of this implies sympathy for terrorist acts. Rather, it provides the only ground from which one can condemn terrorism without hypocrisy. I am more than aware of the immense suffering to which Jews have been exposed for thousands of years. What is saddening is that many Israelis seem to be doing all they can to transform the unique Jewish nation into just another nation.

A century ago, the writer G K Chesterton identified the fundamental paradox facing critics of religion: "Men who begin to fight the Church for the sake of freedom and humanity end by flinging away freedom and humanity if only they may fight the Church . . . The secularists have not wrecked divine things but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them." Does the same not hold for the advocates of religion? How many defenders of religion started by attacking contemporary secular culture and ended up forsaking any meaningful religious experience?

Similarly, many liberal warriors are so eager to fight anti-democratic fundamentalism that they will throw away freedom and democracy if only they may fight terror. Some love human dignity so much that they are ready to legalise torture - the ultimate degradation of human dignity - to defend it. As for the Israeli defenders of Jewish purity: they want to protect it so much that they are ready to forsake the very core of Jewish identity.

Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher and critic. His latest book, "Living in the End Times", is published by Verso (£20)

275 comments

ISAIAH's picture

"Imagine if everyone would claim their right to 4000 year old countries."

Firstly, if your premise was applied, then why not say the Pretend Pals cannot return - which is of course a falsehoods they ever owned this land? Secondly, the statutory period does not apply where force and murder was used to exile and bar Jews to their land. Thirdly, Israel was re-established legally via the UN and her unique claim to the land is recorded in the UN texts: which Islamic state was voted via the UN - why was so many lands given to one Islamic family when oil was discovered? Jews, Kirds, Copts predate Islam and the Arab race in Arabia. Denying Jews their tiny land = genocide of Jews, and pleasing the murderous Muslims. Europe is well aware of this and her crimes are not forgotten:
"WE WILL NEVER SUPPORT THE RETURN OF THE JEWS TO THEIR HOMELAND BECAUSE THEY REJECTED JESUS" - Pope not so Pius at the helm of the Holocaust.

" Israel was built on brutal ethnic cleansing. No wonder almost noone in Europe support this barbaric regime anymore."

Israel has never commited those crimes ever. Ask Europe who commited such acts. It is grotesque to mention Europe as a credible source here - she has commited the same crimes post-W.W.II as before - only now she does it with Heil Hitler salutes at the UN. Europe and Islam have joined to expose themselves.

ISAIAH's picture

Palin said what others did not. Israel has never ANNEXED Islamic land and the term ILLEGAL OCCUPATION is itself is an illegal and false term fostered by Muslims by corruption iof the UN & EU. This is true even according to the UN, which describes this as DISPUTED TERRITORY.

Why is the world apologising to Muslims who demands Islam be respected - if they have zero respect for others? Palin asked the rght question. Why is Europe's EU legitimising the term 'ANNEXED' or ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED Islamic land in the 1967 war? My history book says the Muslims conducted a multi-state attack on Israel, a UN established state [unlike the Arab regime states], with a declared goal of genocide, and that this land is 100% [not 99%] Jewish sovereign land, both historically and legally today. In fact, the EU & UN are fully guilty for the lack of any Resolutions for the worst crime in the UN's history: five attacks on a UN established state, each with a declared goal of genocide, even when the land caimed today was in their hands - even when only Jews were called Palestineans. Europe is fooling no one but itself: serial 2-state demands in the same land does not require rocket science what it means. It is further exposed when a 3-state is presented as a 2-state, and the name Palestineans is re-transfered to those busting for another holocaust. Bravo Europe, but this can have a backfiring affect.

Even the corruption of the Balfour which created Jordan allowed only "two states" in Palestine - namely all that is outside of Jordan was allocated to the Jews. Nor was the areas of Gaza and West Bank ever legally allowed to Egypt or Jordan who annexed these places illegally - but still with no UN Resolution against them: WHY? The term ILLEGAL OCCUPATION is a corruption of the EU, UN and Islamic regimes - the reverse is the case how it should be. One cannot call it annexed when the other side attacked Israel! Hello?
Every Christian knows Jerusalem is the Jewish Capital and Hebron the birthplace of Judaism - they know this more than they know Jesus, which belief fully depends of this agreement.

Quote:

'Palin Asked: Why Apologize to the Muslims?'

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143035

Popular conservative politician Sarah Palin understands the importance of the Temple Mount to the Jewish people, according to MK Danny Danon (Likud), who accompanied her on a visit to the Kotel Sunday.

Danon told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language service: "When we toured near the Kotel and in the tunnels near the Holy of Holies, she told me clear things without hesitating. She understands the importance of the place for the Jewish People and even asked me 'Why do you keep apologizing to the Muslims all the time?'"

"I explained to her the mistakes made by [then-Defense Minister] Moshe Dayan in 1967 and our mistakes in not fulfilling our rights in the Temple Mount and the Old City," Danon said. He was referring to Dayan's decision to hand back the keys to the Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf immediately after the liberation of the Mount in the Six-Day War.

Danon noted that Israel has large-scale support in the Christian world but "we are afraid to take advantage of it. It's as if we are ashamed about ourselves. But there is great support and I felt it in the tour yesterday."

Palin was also welcomed by Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, the Kotel Rabbi, who told her that not just the prayers of Jews are more readily fulfilled when uttered at the Temple Mount, but those of Gentiles as well. The rabbi told Palin that he believes she will be an even better "ambassador" for Israel after her visit than she was before it.

The prominent freshman MK said that Israel needs to explain to Christians that it is in their interest, too, to let Israel have control of the holy sites. He noted that in places like Bethlehem, where Muslims are in control, Christians are humiliated.

If a Christian thinks 100% attrocious lies at the UN against Israel will save them, they are mistaken: THE SOUL THAT SINS SHALL PAY; THOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS applies.

The consequences are here before us:

Eurostan is happening, and the flaunting of the Jewish temple site affects Christianity more so than Jews. While Jews have survived with two temple destructions and exiles, the negation of the Jewish temple site totally demolishes the Gospels, and thereby all of Chrstianity: the Gospels states and fully depends on one Jesus visiting this temple, which the Muslims deny!

But wait - there's more:

Quote:
Muslims Continue Pushing Christians Out of Bethlehem

by Gil RonenThe Muslim Fatah-controlled authority in Judea and Samaria is encouraging a "sharp demographic shift" in Bethlehem, where the Christian population went from a 60 percent majority in 1990 to a 40 percent minority in 2000, to about 15 percent of the city's total population today.

It is estimated that, for the past seven years, more than one thousand Christians have been emigrating from the Bethlehem area annually and that only 10,000 to 13,000 Christians remain in the city. International human rights lawyer Justus Reid Weiner, who teaches at Hebrew University, told the Jerusalem Institute for Global Jewish Affairs that, under the PA-Fatah regime, Christian Arabs have been victims of frequent human rights abuses by Muslims.

"There are many examples of intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment, economic boycotts, torture, kidnapping, forced marriage, sexual harassment, and extortion," he said. PA officials are directly responsible for many of the attacks, and some Muslims who have converted to Christianity have been murdered.

Pastor booted
As people with "dhimmi" status, Christians living in Palestinian-controlled territories are not treated as the equals of Muslims. He says: "They are subjected to debilitating legal, political, cultural, and religious r
PA officials are directly responsible for many of the attacks, and some Muslims who have converted to Christianity have been murdered.
estrictions. This has become a critical problem for the Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Gaza. Muslim groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad have built a culture of hatred upon the age-old foundations of Islamic society. Moreover, the PA has adopted Islamic law into its draft constitution."

In 2006, Hassan El-Masalmeh, a member of the Bethlehem City Council and local Hamas leader, publicly advocated implementing a discriminatory tax on non-Muslim residents. In late 2007 an evangelical pastor was forced to leave Ramallah under threats from Fatah gunmen, and soon after, his congregation dispersed.

"Tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians have left their ancestral homes and emigrated to North America, Central America, South America, Europe, and Australia. They flee to almost any country that will issue them a visa," Weiner said. "Neither the Palestinian Christian leaders nor the PA want to reveal accurate statistics. That would mean the extent of the emigration would become publicly known. They would then have to face questions about the reasons for this decline."

"It is currently estimated that the number of Christians living in Gaza totals only 1,500-3,000 amid 1.2 million Muslims. Probably less than fifty thousand Christians remain in all of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza together," he estimated. "Taybeh, a village located deep in the West Bank, is the only all-Christian village left in the PA. As a result of the perpetual violence, many residents of Taybeh have gone abroad and only 1,300 remain. The situation of these Christians has become grim."

Kidnapping of Christian Women
"Incidents of Muslim men ‘seducing' or kidnapping Christian girls have caused growing anxiety amo
Police placed a cardboard sign on his back upon which was written, ‘Najib the Christian.' Then he was told to ‘curse Jesus.'
ng the Christian population. In May 2004, a sixteen-year-old Christian girl from Bethlehem, who was a U.S. citizen, went missing for five days after being kidnapped by a 23 year-old Muslim. " The girl's family contacted the American Consulate in Jerusalem, and it was only thanks to their intervention that she was rescued and left with her family for the United States. The episode received virtually no international media coverage.

In another case, a Muslim family appeared uninvited on the doorstep of a wealthy Christian family in Judea and Samaria and demanded that the Christian family's daughter, known for her beauty, marry their son. Their son was already dressed up for his wedding, accompanied by the sheikh and fifteen Muslim men. To protect his family the Christian girl's father opened fire on the Muslim entourage, killing three and wounding ten. The girl's family immediately abandoned their home and fled abroad."

Converts targeted
The PA was involved in the torture of two Muslim brothers from Samaria who adopted the Christian faith.

The first brother was arrested by the PA secret police and accused of collaborating with Israeli and American intelligence. After the interrogation the police placed a cardboard sign on his back upon which was written, ‘Najib the Christian.' Then he was told to ‘curse Jesus.'" He eventually made contact with Israelis who arranged for him to hide in a bomb shelter in a Jewish community and was finally granted asylum in Norway.

His brother spent 21 months in a PA prison after being arrested on fabricated charges. He was held for seven months in underground solitary confinement. Weiner quotes his testimony before him thus: "I was beaten with sticks; they stripped me naked and made me sit on bottles, and on the legs of chairs that they turned upside down, and many, many other sadistic things that I am even ashamed to say. Many times they allowed lynch mobs like the Al-Aksa Brigades to come in and pull prisoners out of the cells. They were taken out and shot on the spot, their bodies then dragged through the streets for all to see."

Medieval torture
The young man was sentenced to be executed but was liberated from prison by the Israel Defense Forces. He lives in Israel but his wife and eight children remained behind and are under constant threat of harassment. He hopes to find asylum in Norway.

Another Christian convert, El-Achwal, was initially arrested on fabricated charges of stealing gold
"Ahmed had suffered extensive and serious burns on his back, buttocks, and legs."
. He was kept in a tiny cell and regularly left without food or water for days on end. The torture he sustained during the interrogation required lengthy hospitalization. Weiner, who interviewed El-Achwal, said Ahmed "had suffered extensive and serious burns on his back, buttocks, and legs. The heated torture implement that was applied to his skin reminded me of similar medieval instruments." He was eventually freed but refused to renounce his Christian faith. One day he was beaten by a group of masked men affiliated with the PA security services, who also torched his car. His residence was firebombed and on January 21 2004, he was shot dead by masked gunmen who have never been arrested.

Despite all of this, Weiner says, American Episcopalians and Presbyterians frequently blame Israel for the Middle East conflict. Leaders of other North American churches including the Methodists, the United Church of Christ, and the Lutherans "have also gone to great lengths to offer up one-sided condemnations of Israeli policies."

ISAIAH's picture

" Israelies will never support this because they know this will lead to a majority of Arabs, at least if the refugees can return to their homeland. Israel must accept that their state is created in the Middle East. "

Candy-coated genocide, presented as helping the Pretend Pals. There was never more than two states applied to Palestine, and the first 2-state which created Jordan is the worst Post W.W.II crime, was never required and it was hinged on genocide of the Jews: 80% was carved off for a ficticious Saudi regime called Jordan, because oil was discovered. Now a death to Israel 3-state is presented as triple hank jobs for the murderous Arab Muslims [poor math!]. Europe is fooling no one: a mysterious force is responding by giving Eurostan all it tried so hard to do with Israel - with the same weapons too.

The Balfour should be restored and Europe be put on a Nuremberg II Trial. Those who remain silent of the Balfour's corruption can truly be called BORN IN SIN.

ISAIAH's picture

Re. "GREATER ISRAEL"

This has to be the biggest joke in the world. One must wonder what yardstick of measure is used for such a grotesque statement.

Israel's diameter can be conquered in a few hours by foot. Israel is a third of Tasmania. Israel cannot be seen on the map - the TV graphics have to zoom in 25 times to make it visible. Israel is facing diabolical issues because she has no land to built even vertical appartment buildings.

Israel is not occupying less than 12% of the land allocated her in the Balfour - which was already too small for a nation. The notion of a GREATER ISRAEL is clearly a gross anti-semitic premise with only genocide can satisfy.

ISAIAH's picture

Re "No. no one is asking you to deal with India/Pakistan"

If you use words like occupation, colonise, zionist, apartheid and genocide, then the issue of Pakistan is 100% relevent. Those crimes were perpetrated by Pakistan and Islam - not any zionists.

All of Palestine was allocated to the Zionists in the Balfour - because unlike Pakistan, this was the homeland of the Jews [the Balfour texts], and the name Palestine was put on the Jewish homeland of Judea by Rome - not on any Islamic or Arab land.

Robbing names and dumping a large mosque in Jerusalem, under the guise your belief says so - is still 100% robbery and has nothing to do with Godliness [THOU SHALL NOT STEAL; THOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS]. Islam's Mohammed never steped foot in Jerusalem, nor is this city even mention in Islamic scriptures. All that happened is the land was invaded and only recently, a verse in the quran was manipulated to be interpreted as the 'FAR MOSQUE OF ISLAM. Its 100% BS.

Pakistan and Jordan should be returned to their owners, the Copts must be given a state in Egypt and a new body other than the UN should judge Islamic crimes.

ISAIAH's picture

Re "The whole world know that all three monotheistic religions actually derived from teaching of Abraham."

False. The pre-Islamic Arabs never followed the Abrahamic or Mosaic belief for 2,600 years, while Jews did. The Arabs learnt of Abraham and Moses only from Jews - this history of Abraham & Moses is not recorded any place else. Unlike the Muslims, Christianity took on the entire Hebrew bible without distoring it to kingdom come.

It is easily provable the Arabs never had any revelation, but copied everything from Jews when they were exiled to Babylon. This applies even to traditions which are not from the Hebrew bible but derived by interpretations of Jews. E.g. blessing the Lord when a sacred name is mentioned; 24 hour burial, facing a sacred place when praying, hallal foods, etc. These are from summations of Jewish sages after their exile and cannot in any view be called revelation, which infers something 'new'.

The laws followed by Islam are antithetical of the Hebrew bible. The notion of it being ok to lie to a non-muslim ['Taqea'] is clearly in contradiction of the Hebrew laws, which says there is only merit in respecting one from another belief, as opposed to one's own; and that false hoods have no place with Godliness. The Muslims have thus been afflicted by every utterence from them is an impudent lie.

"A FALSEHOD AND THE HOLY ONE CANNOT ABIDE TOGETHER"

ISAIAH's picture

"Nath you offensive anti-Semitic little bigot - I have never objected to anyone editing the NS because of their religious, ethnic or racial background. Try not to transpose your own racist way of thinking to others."

He never said which part was racist either. I suppose its the part that Israel exists. Muslims use poor math too - they call a 3-state in Palestine as a 2-state, or demand a death-to-Israel one state - like Gaza, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It begs the question why a people who have more land than they can count, with 22 vast countries given them for free, would become religiously hysterical about a slither of a land allocated to Israel!

At least the Nazis, who the Muslims aligned with, were honest about it.

ASIAH's picture

Re "So you are saying the Caananite converted to Judaism. Then have they not also converted to Islam then? "

No, I am not saying that - you are saying that, and it sounds like a teaching from a Madarassa. The two Canaanite groups which sided with Joshua [one was the Jebusites], lived in Canaan with the Jews for centuries and were protected from the other invading nations [e.g. the Philistines & Moabites] - the Jebusites sold the hilltop which became Jerusalem to King David 3000 years ago.
Jerusalem is a fully Hebrew city and Islam is commiting grave sins [crimes] by teaching its peoples falsehoods and justifying robbery if it is with non-muslims. Exactly the reverse applies - cheating a non-muslim is a greater crime than muslims cheating muslims. Robbery and its denial has no place with Godly belief and insults the belief which commits it. Don't believe everything you believe!

No, Jews did not convert to Islam - this is the reason for the hatreds. The same applies with Christianity. Forceful conversions comes to nought in the end [Muslims have become the least productive peoples on the planet, despite given vast lands and resources]. Forceful conversion is ultimately a lack of belief in the Creator. It is better to respect those from another belief than your own ["Do not lie to the stranger'" - Hebrew Law] - because then you will be punished not by man but by God. "A falsehood and the holy one cannot abide together". Muslims are lieing all over the net today, thinking it is ok - its not ok.

American Christians came to understand a different approach from medevial Europe and Islam and became a light unto the nations:
An honest disagreement beats a dishonest agreement.

ISAIAH's picture

Re "Jews behaving like their 'Nazi tormentors'"

Does not anyone find it ironic and shameless, those who aligned with the Nazis in W.W.II, begging Hitler not to let any Jews escape alive - now use this term on Jews? Far from Israel being tormentors, the Muslim Arabs will part with their eye and right arm before wanting to live under the Islamic regimes!

ISAIAH's picture

WIKI: The Achaemenid Empire (Persian: امپراتوری هخامنشی) (c. 550–330 B.C.E.), also known as the Persian Empire, was the successor state of the Median Empire, expanding to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 B.C.E. stretched from the Indus Valley in the east. At its greatest extent, the empire included the modern territories of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor

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