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Here's To Truth And Reconciliation In Israel-Palestine

By Diane V. McLoughlin

09 October, 2011
Countercurrents.org

In comments following news articles and op eds
these days (for example, here), the
denial that there even exists a Palestinian people
at all grows more prevalent. Palestinians continue
to be squashed under foot with similar contempt
in the Occupied Territories by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)
and Jewish squatters - literally, as well as
figuratively.

In 1948, over 700,000 Palestinian men, women and
children were forced to flee, at times virtually
with the supper on the stove and with only the
clothes on their backs. Nevertheless, in 2011,
there remain two peoples residing in the same space. In
addition, Palestinian refugees, according to
international law, have the right to return to
their homes irrespective of the fact that Israel
continues to deny them that right.

20% of Israel's citizens are Palestinian.
But this figure does not tell the whole tale.
Beyond Israel proper, the ratio - Palestinians to Jews -
is eight to one. There are approximately
four million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank
and the Gaza Strip, compared to approximately
half a million illegal Jewish settler/squatters
on Palestinian land.

It is a new phenomenon that Israel's far-right demands
that Israel be recognized by the Palestinians as a
Jewish state before overtures toward peace can be made.
Does this not forever negate the fact that the space is
Palestinian, too? The irony is that
ongoing Jewish settlement amongst millions of Palestinians
on confiscated Palestinian land guarantees that the
region will culminate in one binational state, founded by both.
Mahmoud Abbas's recent bid for Palestinian statehood at
the United Nations does nothing to mitigate the reality
of occupation and dispossession on the ground.

The current interim period in time is one in which
Palestinians suffer under an apartheid regime - with
Jewish-only roads, military occupation, and two separate legal
systems - a civil system for settlers, and a
summary military one for Palestinians; this
will be the challenge to overcome. For Israel's part,
magical thinking continues to hold
that the conflict should end without actually
having to end the occupation, ethnic
cleansing or oppression of the Palestinian people.

Censorship, and campaigns of intimidation, make
discussing the Israel-Palestine issue
difficult. To illustrate, even something as
seemingly innocuous as children's art can
become fodder for controversy. A recent exhibit
of children's art entitled, 'A child's
view from Gaza', has been censored. The art
depicts impressions and experiences of
living through Israel's military assault during
the 2008-09 'Operation Cast Lead'. The
exhibit, months in the planning with the
Museum of Children's Art in Oakland,
California, was abruptly cancelled due
to pro-Israel pressure.

Elsewhere, U.K. Education Minister Michael Gove
put the brakes on schools participating
in a Palestinian literature festival.

Meantime, flying well under mainstream media
radar, Israel has just approved plans to
forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin from their
ancestral lands - ethnic cleansing by
another name. This would be the largest
displacement of indigenous natives there
since 1948.

In Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinians are
denied the right to adequate water. 90%
of Gaza's water is unfit for human consumption.
Sewage and water treatment facilities were
attacked by the IDF during Operation Cast Lead.
Ever since, Gaza has been unable, due to the
on-going military siege, to obtain construction
materials necessary to restore them. As untreated
sewage from Gaza is being dumped directly
into the sea, it will drift and ultimately contaminate
Israeli shores. In the West Bank,
even collecting rain water for personal use in
cisterns is attacked by the military or by
settlers and is routinely destroyed, a clear
violation of human rights and international law.

One wonders when a Jewish Nelson Mandela or a
Palestinian Desmond Tutu will emerge in the region
to inspire an Israel-Palestine Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, as was put to such healing effect
post-apartheid, in South Africa. I hope
that day comes soon.

Diane V. McLoughlin is a writer and peace activist.
Ms. McLoughlin posts editorials of her own along with
recommended links to articles and video,
at her website, mcloughlinpost.com

 

 



 

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