The Palestinians are the new Jews
The Palestinians are the new Jews and their leaders are amazingly similar to the former Zionist leaders.
By Gideon Levy
Look at the Palestinians and look at us. Look at their leaders and recall ours. Not, of course, those we have today, but those we once had, the ones who established the state for us. The Palestinians are the new Jews and their leaders are amazingly similar to the former Zionist leaders.
Their David Ben-Gurion is no longer with them - Yasser Arafat died under mysterious circumstances - but look at Mahmoud Abbas: Isn't he Levi Eshkol? Saeb Erekat - isn't he Abba Eban? Salam Fayyad - isn't he Pinhas Sapir or Eliezer Kaplan? The same moderation, the same nondescript personality, the same pragmatism, the same political wisdom and even, to some degree, the same sense of humor. To take what is attainable, to give up the big dreams - in the partition plan as in the two-state solution.
Then it was the pragmatic Zionist leaders who conceded and compromised, now it is the pragmatic leaders of the Palestinian Authority. At the time they insisted on getting it all, now it's our turn. Both were ambushed by an internal opposition that was extremist, ultranationalist and uncompromising.
The Palestinian group that is now going to the United Nations should remind Israelis of the Zionist group that turned to the same organization 64 years earlier. Yes, there are differences. And yet the similarity is captivating: Now they are the weak versus the strong, David versus Goliath, their Qassam can't help but remind us of our Davidka.
They are now the ones whose cause is just in the eyes of the world. The same world that understood in November 1947 that the Jews (and the Palestinians ) deserve a state, understands in September 2011 that the Palestinians finally deserve a state. Then it was after the trauma of the Holocaust, now it is after the trauma of the occupation, without making comparisons.
In the coming days people will once against be glued to their radios counting votes: Russia - yes; the United States - no; Argentina - abstains. Doesn't it remind us of forgotten times? The United Nations has grown since then, but the proportion will be similar: an absolute majority in favor. The difference: The great powers supported partition at the time, the great power is now opposed to a state. But the moral validity remains the same, there is no longer anyone in the world who can seriously claim that they don't deserve what we deserved, without being a racist, a chauvinist or a cynical opportunist.
It is amazing how Israelis are unwilling to see the similarities, it is amazing how they are falling plundered and blind in the face of the brainwashing campaign and the scare tactics through which recognition of Palestinian rights is being presented as a threat and an existential danger, and nothing more.
Why is it that there aren't enough Israelis who see the opportunity and hope for Israel represented by this diplomatic step? Yes, for Israel too. And why is it that there aren't enough Israelis who properly see the clear fact that the heart of almost the entire world is with the Palestinians, and that it isn't ringing a belated and deafening wake-up call for them?
Israel at its birth was considered a model society, far more than Palestine at its birth. It bequeathed the world socialist and feminist values, the kibbutz and the moshav, absorption of immigrants and equality of women - a lighthouse of equality and social justice. The Palestinians are now in an inferior position: Their society is more corrupt and less egalitarian than ours, nor did they establish a state-in-the-making for themselves, with impressive institutions such as the ones we had.
But here the situation has become reversed beyond recognition. Israel of 2011 is no longer considered a model society in any area. With quite a number of corrupt Israeli politicians in prison or on the way there, with capitalism that is quite swinish and an occupation that is quite brutal, the story of the great national and social success of the 20th century is now considered a story of missed opportunity of the 21st century. The path to repairing this fateful missed opportunity must now be by way of a new partition plan.
The Palestinians bled for 63 years and paid the price for the fateful mistake of their leaders' opposition to the 1947 partition plan; the Israelis must not now have regrets for another 63 years and pay a high price for their stubborn and surprising opposition to the 2011 partition plan. Look at them and look at us. They are what we once were.
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M. Levy tells us that "the Israelis must not now have regrets for another 63 years and pay a high price for their stubborn and surprising opposition to the 2011 partition plan." What partition plan? Did Abbas propose anything, did the PA attempt to negotiate during the 10 months jewish construction freeze in the West Bank? M. Levy sure lives in an alternate universe. Yet I agree that Palestinians "are what we once were" ... two millenium ago, when Jewish factions burned down Jerusalem under Roman siege.
Great article, I am sure that most of Galut Jews think along Gideon Levy and I hope that what Rousseff told yesterday at UN may be follow: that we Jews can be live along Palestinians in peace in the next years as so it is in nations like Brazil. We no longer hope to watch Netanyahu and Lieberman transforming Israel in an ampliation of Karabazh full of chauvinist perspective on muslins. I am sure that democratic Jews are aware that is arrived the time that Palestinians must have a State, their State bordering with ours.
Good job Gideon
David Ben-Gurion spent the last years of his life among ordinary Israelis and asked to be buried in the Negev desert in order to inspire Israeli pioneering there. Arafat was born in Cairo and died in Paris. His wife remains in Paris receiving 20 million a month from money that her and her husband stole from the Palestinians (international aid). Just the first difference that comes to mind....
Levy Eshkol has not defended PhD thesis about Nazi-Zionist plot. Thus, the analogy is ... incomplete.
Don't Hanan Ashrawi rantings remind us of Gideon Levi? ?
Until the author compared Yasser Arafat to David Ben-Gurion And the "Israeli Occupation" of the West Bank to 6,000,000 Jews herded like cattle to slaughter in death camps during WWII But on an interesting note, There is an interesting theory that when the High Priests had to hide The Arc of the Covenant before the invasion of Jerusalem, They carried it to Mecca, In modern day Saudi-Arabia, Where Ismael and Haggar are intered, In the Qabbah
Mr. levy, You are running out of ideas.
I think that your comparison is totally wrong
one day Israel will lose every thing because of their stupidness
It is really good to see that there are people, in Israel, wise enough to tell the truth openly and elegantly. Everyone may have a diffirent opinion on the subject, but this does not change the necessity of listening others, especially wise ones. The pride must never prevent the thinking of alternative, seeing the things the other way around, making empathy.
The palestinians have lousy leaders. That´s one of the biggest problems.
is representing the leftist frustration...
STÚPID! WHAT IF ISRAEL ALREADY PAID THAT HIGH PRICE? THEN THERE IS NOTHING TO BE PAYING AS THAT'S NOW EXACTLY OUR CASE!
Had Ben-Gurion stolen billions as Arafat did? One can continue the list.
Unfortunately, when Netanyahu speaks people wonder where the facts end... and the fiction begins. This is a trait not only Netanyahu possess. But it's odd, because some of what Netanyahu says is real... some is made-up. And in some cases, the made-up has become real. But it must be noted, Netanyahu has this unique ability to persuade himself or his Knesset members, that the truth is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not sure about anybody else... but for me truth is something we all can see with our eyes. Whether it's illegal settlements in the hills of Hebron... or incessant Qassam fire from Gaza. And no contortions or hysterics can change that reality.
What a blasphemous article. Shame on you.
It isn't because the world has a short memory it was not that long ago that barak offered arafat 95% including parts of mizrach yerushalayim .There answer was suicide bombs. sharon pulled out of gaza, answer from the arabs , rockets and kidnappings. They were giving out maps of the New Palastinian state with Israel wiped off of it Tel Aviv ,netanya , haifa, rosh pinah, yerushalayim, they want us in the sea that is their terms of negotiation......I'm not frum and am pretty secular..i voted for rabin and perez, i live in the us now but my mum and dad sister and nephews, the graves of my dear grandparents and my heart lives there, never again. Now is the time for um yisrael to stand strong and see truth with compassion, we should not become what tries to destroy us but stand above as a light unto the nations......with tanks and fighter jets
Are you really spitting out the "best offer missed" propaganda? The offer was a lousy one that had palesitne's borders, water, airspace under israeli control. plus no end to the settlements. the 95% was no more than 18% in reality. and since when do you negotiate on an occupier to return parts of what was taken from you? do you negotiate with a thief who stole your car to return the windows and the wheels?
Why talk about Abbas, the President whose term has expired and who was elected without serious opposition, and Fayyad who was never elected by anybody, as the Palestinian leaders? What about the election that the Palestinians held? Or do the Palestinians only have the right to leaders approved of by outsiders? Strange that even a non-establishment thinker like Gideon Levy avoids this aspect of reality.
did levy just compare ben gurion to the bloodthirsty arafat? ben gurion took a state and a peace deal! arafat did nothing but turn down peace he never cared for and opted for violence!?! levy's constant distortion of history to add to his anti-israel retorhic gets more made up as time goes on. such drawing at straws proves easily that there isnt a thread of truth to his insulting article.
This opinion article is completely, clearly and tragically accurate.
Doesn't the fact that the Palestinian state will not allow Jews in its borders make a HUGE difference? (See http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/plo-official-palestinians-israelis-must-be-totally-separated-1.384493) And yet, if Israel suggested kicking out any Palestinians living in its borders once a Palestinian state was created, can you imagine the uproar in the international community?
Israel is in the mess it is in because of the lies on which it was founded and the lies it has continued to tell. It is time for facts not fantasy Ilan. The Palestinians have said they want settlers removed and that is perfectly understandable. These extremists could never be Palestinians. However, I am sure there will be jewish Palestinians as well as Christian in the State of Palestine.
He was talking about the OCCUPATION, and so the "two peoples" he was referring to were "the occupied" and "the occupiers" i.e. "the Palestinians" and "the Israelis".
to have in their state ? get a grip...
You think these are pragmatists. You want us to believe that. Unfortunately they simply don't act as pragmatists. Pragmatists would have kept building their state for another 5 years. At that point they would have made peace with a Kadima or Labor government. Instead these guys have decided to load up all their people onto a train and run straight into a wall. Pragmatists? I think not. When the Palestinians turn into Zionists they will have a state.
I doubt Ben Gurion would have accepted the sovereignty-less bantustan Arafat was offered in Camp David
did zionist leaders deliberately attack palestinian civilians or approved such attacks in public orotherwise? and as far as i know, irgun was dismantled by the idf.. ""arafat died under mysterious circumstances""---what is the author hinting at? the famous zionist conspiracy?
YES Read your history.
...and especially so after today's truly sad and dangerous performance put on by a man the world had such high hopes for....Barak Obama. Can high praise from the likes of Lieberman ever be a good thing? Thank you Mr. Levy and blessings to you.
"in times of universal deceit, telling the truth has become a revolutionary act." g. orwell mr. levy, you are a revolutionary by merely speaking truth. thank you.