Israel Palestine Infos
Uri Avnery
September 17, 2011
Sad and Happy
“WILL THIS be the happiest day of your life?” a local interviewer asked me,
referring to the approaching recognition of the State of
I was taken by surprise. “Why would that be?” I asked.
“Well, for 62 years you have advocated the establishment of a Palestinian state
next to
“If I were a Palestinian, I would probably be happy,” I said, “But as an
Israeli, I am rather sad.”
LET ME explain.
I came out of the 1948 war with four solid convictions:
(1)
There exists a Palestinian people, though the name
(2)
It is with this Palestinian people that we must make peace.
(3)
Peace will be impossible unless the Palestinians are allowed to set up their
state next to
(4)
Without peace,
While recovering from my wounds and still in uniform, I met with several young
people, Arabs and Jews, to plot our course. We were very optimistic. Now
everything seemed possible.
What we were thinking about was a great act of fraternization. Jews and Arabs
had fought each other valiantly, each fighting for what they considered their
national rights. Now the time had come to reach out for peace.
The idea of peace between two gallant fighters after the battle is as old as
Semitic culture. In the epic written more than 3000 years ago, Gilgamesh, king
of Uruk (in today’s
We had fought hard and had won. The Palestinians had lost everything. The part
of
That was the time, we thought, for the victor to stun the world with an act of
magnanimity and wisdom, offering to help the Palestinians to set up their state
in return for peace. Thus we could forge a friendship that would last for
generations.
18 years later I brought this vision up again in similar circumstances. We had
won a stunning victory against the Arab armies in the Six-Day war, the
I AM telling this story (again) in order to make one point: when the “Two-State
Solution” was conceived for the first time after 1948, it was as an idea of
reconciliation, fraternization and mutual respect.
We envisaged two states living closely together, with borders open to the free
movement of people and goods. Jerusalem, the joint capital, would symbolize the
spirit of the historic change. Palestine would become the bridge between the new
Israel and the Arab world, united for the common good. We spoke of a “Semitic
When the Two-State Solution made its extraordinary march from the vision of a
handful of outsiders (or crazies) to a world-wide consensus, it was this context
in which it was viewed. Not a plot against
This vision was firmly rejected by David Ben-Gurion, then the undisputed leader
of
On the Arab side, there was always support for this vision. Already at the
Lausanne Conference in 1949, an unofficial Palestinian delegation appeared and
secretly offered to start direct negotiations, but they were roughly rebuffed by
the Israeli delegate, Eliyahu Sasson, on direct orders from Ben-Gurion (as I
heard from him later).
Yasser Arafat told me several times – from 1982 to his death in 2004 – that he
would support a “Benelux” solution (on the model of the union between
PEOPLE SPEAK about all the opportunities for peace missed by
Ben-Gurion saw an independent Palestinian state as a mortal danger to
This week, the present Jordanian ruler, Abdullah II, flew into a rage when told
that yet another Israeli former general, Uzi Dayan, had again proposed turning
Three days ago, Binyamin Netanyahu told Cathy Ashton, the pathetic “foreign
secretary” of the European Union, that he would agree to anything short of
Palestinian statehood. That may sound strange, in view of the “historic” speech
he made less than two years ago, in which he expressed his support for the
Two-State Solution. (Perhaps he was thinking of the State of
In the few remaining weeks before the UN vote, our government will fight tooth
and nail against a Palestinian state, supported by the full might of the
APART FROM the dire threats of what will happen after the UN vote for a
Palestinian state, Israeli and American leaders assure us that such a vote will
make no difference at all.
If so, why fight it?
Of course it will make a difference. The occupation will go on, but it will be
the occupation of one state by another. In history, symbols count. The fact that
the vast majority of the world’s nations will have recognized the State of
What will happen the day after? Our army has already announced that it has
finished preparations for huge Palestinian demonstrations that will attack the
settlements. The settlers will be called upon to mobilize their “quick-reaction
teams” to confront the demonstrators, thus fulfilling the prophecies of a
“bloodbath”. After that the army will move in, pulling many battalions of
regular troops from other tasks and calling up reserve units.
A few weeks ago I pointed to ominous signs that sharpshooters would be employed
to turn peaceful demonstrations into something very different, as happened
during the second intifada. This week this was officially confirmed:
sharpshooters will be employed to defend the settlements.
All this amounts to a war plan for the settlements. To put it simply: a war to
decide whether the
In an almost comical turn of events, the army is also providing means of crowd
dispersal to the Palestinian security forces trained by the Americans. The
occupation authorities expect these Palestinian forces to protect the
settlements against their compatriots. Since these are the armed forces of the
future Palestinian state, which is opposed by
According to the army, the Palestinians will get rubber-coated bullets and tear
gas, but not the “Skunk”.
The Skunk is a device that produces an unbearable stench which attaches itself
to the peaceful demonstrators and will not leave them for a long time. I am
afraid that when this chapter comes to an end, the stench will attach itself to
our side, and that we shall not get rid of it for a long time indeed.
LET’S GIVE free rein to our imagination for just one minute.
Imagine that in the coming UN debate something incredible happens: the Israeli
delegate declares that after due consideration
The assembly would gape in disbelief. After a moment of silence, wild applause
would break out. The world would be electrified. For days, the world media would
speak of nothing else.
The minute of imagination has passed. Back to reality. Back to the Skunk.