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Last update - 10:04 23/12/2007
Time to stop mourning
By Meron Benvenisti
Tags: Nakba, Palestinians, Israel

The celebrations planned to mark Israel's 60th Independence Day have become, as expected, a source of confrontation between the Jewish community, which seeks to foster patriotic feelings and build bridges between its divided populations, and the Palestinian-Israeli community, whose national tragedy it recalls. It is an exact reenactment of the confrontation that occurred 10 years ago, when the celebration of the state's jubilee served as a catalyst and focal point for feelings of mourning and protest, and for designating Nakba Day, which, together with Land Day, became a central date on the Palestinian calendar.

The confrontation is unavoidable. After all, the day of celebration for one side is truly a day of mourning for the other. The pious attempts to find a common denominator are of no avail. It would have been possible to leave the Palestinians alone and not impose an obligatory celebration on them, but Israeli spokespersons cannot remain indifferent to the Palestinian expressions of protest. They see the Palestinian protest as a disguised aspiration to destroy Israel, ostensibly cloaked in "mourning over the establishment of the state."

Only paranoia and a repressed feeling of guilt could produce the shocking sentence uttered by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter: "Those who sit year after year and cry about the Nakba shouldn't be surprised if in the end they really do have a Nakba." The Palestinian community is entitled to express its pain and those, like Dichter, who think it is possible to buy them with "livelihood and education" demonstrate they are still stuck in the thinking of the military government of the 1950s.
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The protest and boycott of "the hypocritical celebration" is understandable, but their public and organized expression actually highlights a different facet, which counters the weeping and mourning of Nakba Day. Anyone examining the history of the Palestinian minority in Israel since the establishment of the state cannot but be surprised by its achievements.

It started as a community that numbered less than 200,000 people, who were considered a fifth column by Israelis and as traitors who served the occupier in the eyes of their brethren across the border.

The Palestinian-Israelis lived for many years under a repressive regime and they were mainly concerned with the difficulties of earning a living and the danger of their land being robbed. They had little confidence in themselves and the authorities worked to deepen this feeling.

Under these conditions, one does not focus on collective rights, but rather on the daily struggle for improvement on a limited scope. Slowly, the economic, social and legal situation began to improve, and attention could then turn to the source of the deprivation: the collective discrimination and the ethnic labeling.

The expressions of protest, such as Nakba Day and Land Day, did not develop and become more acute because the deprivation became more severe. The opposite is true: The system became more flexible, the Arab minority grew fivefold and despite the deprivation and discrimination in education and social services, many of its members recorded impressive achievements.

On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, the Palestinian-Israeli minority could proudly note the dramatic change that occurred in their community, which transformed from a marginal group into a consolidated minority that recognizes its own value and challenges the majority community by presenting documents demanding collective equality and the rights of an indigenous national minority.

If the Palestinian-Israelis were to liberate themselves from the tradition of mourning the Nakba, they would be free to see how they have changed from a group that was disparaged by their people across the border into a community whose leaders and intellectuals are at the forefront of the Palestinian national movement.

Indeed, while the PLO is changing from being the leader of a national liberation movement into a collection of beggars at international conferences, while Hamas bunkers itself in anachronistic positions that can only lead to tragedy, and while the Palestinian diaspora remains without leadership - the Palestinian-Israeli community becomes the standard bearer of Palestinian democratic nationalism, cognizant of the limitations of its power and intimately familiar with its Jewish-Zionist rival.

If they would only extricate themselves from the sackcloth of the Nakba, the Palestinian-Israelis could celebrate their impressive accomplishments on the 60th anniversary, and thus accord the correct proportions to the celebrations.
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  1.   Have Jews stopped mourning the holocaust? 10:54  |  Israeli Arab 23/12/07
  2.   "Voluntary evacuation" of all Arabs in Israel, Samaria & Judea 12:01  |  a "leftist" idea 23/12/07
  3.   Hello Meron , Counting one`s blessings 12:51  |  Dutch 23/12/07
  4.   #1 is right, it was a tradegy, nobody can change this 13:02  |  Philip 23/12/07
  5.   Isreali Arabs 13:52  |  alan 23/12/07
  6.   What an unreasonable request??? 13:53  |  Joe 23/12/07
  7.   Translated: Just give the "Zionism light"-Israeli a good feeling, 14:00  |  Andreas 23/12/07
  8.   Philip who do you talk to? 14:03  |  Israeli 23/12/07
  9.   The memory of Nakhba. 14:26  |  klas 23/12/07
  10.   Obscene,irrational attempt to equate the Holocaust with Arab war 14:40  |  PETER SM 23/12/07
  11.   Let`s all stop wining? 14:45  |  Ruth 23/12/07
  12.   I asked the same question as No. 1 15:10  |  Marlene N. 23/12/07
  13.   Please get rid of that absurd Zionist argument No. 5 15:24  |  Marlene N. 23/12/07
  14.   Mr. Benvenisti - why do you say "Israeli Arabs" 15:32  |  Marlene N. 23/12/07
  15.   Naqba 15:42  |  alan 23/12/07
  16.   Meron has got it all wrong this time 15:50  |  The Arab Hammer 23/12/07
  17.   Nakba of your own making 15:56  |  PE Haberman 23/12/07
  18.   This is part of a civil rights process.... 16:12  |  Teresa-Maria (Tess) 23/12/07
  19.   there is a difference 16:17  |  Skeptic 23/12/07
  20.   To the Arab Hammer in Jeusalem 16:22  |  Marlene N. 23/12/07
  21.   Where is Yossi Melman? 16:23  |  soa 23/12/07
  22.   Israeli Arab #1 Mourning & Arab Hammer-not to forget but... 16:24  |  Dorothy 23/12/07
  23.   Israeli-Arabs as cartoon characters 16:26  |  FOX 23/12/07
  24.   Arab Hammer 16:32  |  Dorothy 23/12/07
  25.   Marlene 16:45  |  Ehud 23/12/07
  26.   The Palestinians have managed to convince some 16:47  |  Other Voices 23/12/07
  27.   War criminal dichter deserves his Nakba at the ICJ 16:53  |  Labhras 23/12/07
  28.   # 1 Israeli Arab...Celebrating accomplishments is 16:58  |  Lynn 23/12/07
  29.   Nakba/Shoah - let`s not betray the dead 17:00  |  English Resident 23/12/07
  30.   Compare Creation of Israel to Holocaust? 17:03  |  Nik "Banned" Miller 23/12/07
  31.   I wish to ask and receive an honest answer from an Arab: 17:03  |  Avihu 23/12/07
  32.   Mourning "Nakhba" is like mourning Germany`s defeat at WWII 17:18  |  Bob 23/12/07
  33.   Naqba and Holocaust, apples and oranges 17:33  |  Dennis M Starkman 23/12/07
  34.   30. sorry nick with banned intellect 17:47  |  the real deal 23/12/07
  35.   to 1: Naqba and to feel palestinian, not to serve but live here? 17:50  |  Alain 23/12/07
  36.   So hwy do they oppose transfering triangle to Palestine?? 17:51  |  Alain 23/12/07
  37.   to #23, fox 17:52  |  nassim 23/12/07
  38.   To 13, 27. Marlene & Labhras. Arab countries are 18:01  |  Altalena 23/12/07
  39.   Avihu @ 31 Excellent question! 18:16  |  Yedidyah 23/12/07
  40.   #38 Altalena 18:20  |  Labhras 23/12/07
  41.   To Israeli Arab 18:26  |  Bruce 23/12/07
  42.   when do we stop mourning the nakba 18:36  |  Jonathan 23/12/07
  43.   JONATHAN AND ETHNIC CLEANSING 19:04  |  Brant 23/12/07
  44.   35. no one expects zion to do the right thing, never has 19:19  |  but you asked 23/12/07
  45.   Brant the imbecile 20:02  |  Marilyn 23/12/07
  46.   Well if you ask me, 20:05  |  Gil 23/12/07
  47.   just another border, Brant? 20:11  |  Murray 23/12/07
  48.   The next middle east Nakba 20:18  |  Labhras 23/12/07
  49.   #10 PETER SM - great point. Until Arab-Israelis recognize 20:30  |  Marwan مروان خوري 23/12/07
  50.   Marwan regarding PETER SM, I also add my 20:50  |  Fawaz 23/12/07
  51.   Incomplete thought 20:51  |  Colin Wright 23/12/07
  52.   49. since they were there first mossadi 21:05  |  get real 23/12/07
  53.   israeli arab 21:08  |  alfredo 23/12/07
  54.   To Marilyn #35 21:50  |  PE Haberman 23/12/07
  55.   MARILYN: My reply 21:52  |  Brant 23/12/07
  56.   Marlene N. #13 21:58  |  David Israel 23/12/07
  57.   MURRAY: YES JUST ANOTHER BORDER 22:05  |  Brant 23/12/07
  58.   Meron Benvenisti has no right to tell Arabs ... 22:16  |  Boris 23/12/07
  59.   Meron Benvenisti has no right to tell Arabs ... 22:16  |  Boris 23/12/07
  60.   Сколько волка не корми 22:18  |  Boris 23/12/07
  61.   LABHRAS AND WAR CRIMINALS 22:34  |  Brant 23/12/07
  62.   54. PeeWee Herman 22:47  |  facts 23/12/07
  63.   Naqba is real, holocaust is not 23:05  |  Wael Schliefer 23/12/07
  64.   Naqba is real, holocaust is not 23:05  |  Wael Schliefer 23/12/07
  65.   facts 23:08  |  Fact2 23/12/07
  66.   61. earth to brant 23:17  |  the other guy 23/12/07
  67.   let the fith colum feel sorry for themselves I will be partying 23:19  |  zionist forever 23/12/07
  68.   Israeli Arab is an Oxymoron 23:38  |  Yaakov Ish Tam 23/12/07
  69.   #62 facts 23:40  |  Bobby 23/12/07
  70.   Merry Christmas! 23:42  |  Denise 23/12/07
  71.   Marilyn