Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

Ofri Ilani, The view from the boat / ‘Ordinary people can do something’ - Haaretz, August 24, 2008

Haaretz spoke last night by phone with Jeff Halper, an Israeli professor who was among the activists who sailed to Gaza.

“We proved that ordinary people can do something and succeed,” he said. “Even Tony Blair can’t go to Gaza, but ordinary people with drive can. The welcome was amazing. There were tens of thousands of people. People came out in boats and on windsurfers to meet us. Children swam out to sea and flashed the victory sign. I feel like we’re fresh air entering a prison where a million and half people are living.

“I tell myself: We’re in the modern world, the 21st century, and yet such excitement - over what? Over something we take for granted, that two boats arrived. Here it’s a national holiday. Their isolation is so complete,” he said.

Halper said that Gazans were eager to speak Hebrew with him, and to reminisce about the years they spent working in Israel. “Our impression that Gaza is Hamas, that there is only hatred there, is mistaken,” he said, adding that he learned that “we are more of an obstacle to peace than the Palestinians.”

Israel: Gaza blockade in place despite ships, Jerusalem Post, August 24, 2008

srael’s decision to allow two boats carrying international activists into Gaza’s port on Saturday was a “one-time” event and did not constitute a decision by the government to allow sea access to the blockaded Palestinian territory.

Israeli sources: Decision to allow boats into Gaza was an attempt to avoid PR show in sea

Carrying foreign activists from the US-based Free Gaza Movement, the two boats set sail from Cyprus on Friday and arrived in Gaza on Saturday. They received a warm welcome from thousands of jubilant Palestinians after a voyage marred by communications troubles and rough seas.

The 46 activists from 14 countries include an 81-year-old Catholic nun and Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair. The organizations participating in the Free Gaza movement include the International Solidarity Movement.

“In this media war, it was impossible for them [Israel] to win because they have no case for what they are doing to your port and to your borders,” Booth said.

As the boats docked in Gaza City’s tiny port, children swarmed around the vessels and leaped into the water in joy, while thousands of cheering people looked on from the shore. Palestinian flags on one of the boats snapped in the wind, activists waved to the crowd, and the slogan “End Occupation” was written in large letters on its side.

Uri Avnery, The Devil’s Hoof, Gush Shalom, August 23, 2008

The “One-State Solution” is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. The One-State idea is not a solution, but an anti-solution. It is a recipe for an ongoing bloody conflict. Not a dream, but a nightmare.

There is no chance at all that the Jewish public will agree, in this generation or the next, to live as a minority in a state dominated by an Arab majority. 99.99% of the Jewish population will fight against this tooth and nail. The demography will not stop haunting them, but on the contrary, it will push them to do things which are unthinkable today. Ethnic cleansing will become a practical agenda. Even moderate Israelis will be driven into the arms of the fascist right-wing. All means of oppression will become acceptable when the Jewish majority adopts the aim of causing the Arabs to leave the country before they have a chance of becoming the majority.

True believers in the bi-national state idea will say: OK, let it be. We shall have one or two generations of bloodshed, of a state of civil war, but in the end we shall persuade or compel the Jews to accord the Palestinians citizenship and equality. But what normal people would take such a risk?

The real choice is, therefore: the “Two-State Solution” or the “Ethnic Cleansing Solution”.