What to remember and what to forget
Narrative delegitimization of Israel's sovereign existence, whether its source is Israeli, Arab or international, is more dangerous than the Iranian threat.
By Motti GolaniA debate is raging at Ground Zero. On one side are those who want to use the attack on the World Trade Center to perpetuate the shame of the Muslim world. On the other are those who want to erect a mosque near the site as an opportunity, in their view, to tell a different story - a story that invokes memory, and that will give the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world a chance.
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Pro-Palestinian Turks demonstrating against Israel in Ankara, Turkey on June 6, 2010 |
| Photo by: AP |
It seems that no one around Ground Zero in the summer of 2010 is really and truly interested in what happened there. Not even a decade has passed since the tragedy, and every side is already talking about it in its own way. Pushed to the fore is an important element that many have not considered: the narrative, the story we tell ourselves in order to arrange the past and the present for the sake of the future.
In this part of the world, it is a narrative as old as our conflict with the Palestinians. Such a narrative makes Israelis no different from the rest of human society, or from the Palestinians, who create their own narrative - which, just like ours, presents them as the ultimate victim. Israelis find it hard to accept this similarity of narratives, which makes it less clear who are the righteous victims here.
And since narratives like to draw a line between victims and justice, a threat to Israel's legitimacy as a sovereign state immediately rises to the surface, whether we want it to or not. Thus does narrative become the subject of debate, both within Israel and outside it. After all, our dispute with the Palestinians is also about narrative, about text, about the way each side chooses to tell itself about its past and present. The two sides are not able or willing to learn about the way the other side sees things.
We should admit to ourselves that we have our own narrative. It should be formulated in a way that as many Israelis as possible can agree on. If I may risk proposing a definition that can serve as a basis for a shared Israeli narrative, it would be a definition whose essence is: The State of Israel has the right to exist in part of the Land of Israel.
Then the part of the Palestinian narrative that is easier to accept should be accepted, and its essence is: The Palestinians have a right to a state of their own in part of Palestine. We'll argue about the rest in negotiations.
This is a narrative assumption that does not need a historic or legal basis, an assumption that accepts the rights of the two national groups to live in freedom in their own countries. Only our own recognition of this narrative, which is Zionist like no other, will enable us to recognize the narrative of the other side without fearing that such recognition will destroy us. There is no reason that those of us who cannot accept the nationalistic Israeli narrative that denies the right of the Palestinians to their own identity, not to mention a state, will accept a similar narrative of denial regarding Israel's existence.
A narrative of denial is unacceptable, regardless of which side it is coming from. This is a sovereign decision that is not enslaved to a historical past. We can choose what to remember and what to forget, and what story to tell ourselves. Such a narrative view does not rule out critical historiography, which must exist in parallel, and is a condition for ending the conflict.
The narrative struggle is very dangerous in the long term. Narrative delegitimization of our sovereign existence, whether its source is Israeli, Arab or international, is more dangerous than the Iranian threat.
The writer teaches in the department of Land of Israel Studies at the University of Haifa.
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There are many groups in the US who have been doing their own investigating on the government's false narrative about the events of 9/11. There is no way those two towers collapsed be- cause planes were driven into them in such a free fall fashion and testimonies from eye wit- nesses and firemen on the scene validates this also. (There were several reported timed ex-plosions and the smoking gun is the third tower which fell at 5:30 pm in the afternoon without any plane been driven into it!) Indeed, over 400 architects have signed their name to this assessment and I believe some chemical engineers have identified the chemical composition of those explosions, also. And of course, the black box on those planes were all mysteriously missing as so was the passenger list for about two days or more while tit was being composed ... In addition, some of the hijackers claims their Identities were stolen and are part of the govern- ment's false narrative... Not to mention those passengers who supposed- ly phoned home from the planes exceeded the the cell phone technology at such altitudes..Hence one has to suspect a process of manipulation being done to their voices .... So trust me the government's narrative is under widespread investigation by groups across the US --seeking the truth about 9/11 and some are prepared to go to jail to bring the government's propaganda and lies to the light of day. Anyway, for now, see the URLs below.... Dutch http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19891 Also, note the space weapons director Richard Bowman under Reagan and see what he says about the hawks in Washington and Corporate America from Vietnam -to Star Wars- to 9/11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._Bowman
when they reveal what an ungrateful and unruly nation Israel has become today with its utter disregard for international law and the funda- mental human rights of the Palestinian people... It is this more than anything that threatens to de-legitimize Israel's place in the Middle East and world today as people turn away from it...Dutch P.S. As Winton Churchill once said , "People will treat you as you treat them. It's no secret."
Could it be on the historic narrative Jews have no more claim to land of Palestine than any other group and maybe a whole lot less as their pre-sence during the last 2to 4 thousand yrs was miniscule in comparison to others? And of course on the legal narrative...Jews have no proper legal right to the land of Israel and most certainly not beyond the partition line of 1948 as Israel has failed to fulfill the two terms of its UN membership which created it... 1.) accept a full fledge sovereign Palestinian state and 2. ) accept the return of refugees to " their home" in Israel.. Dutch
...can't really claim it has legitimacy. Expanding beyond the borders specified in the UN Partition was a gamble in 1948/9, and expanding again in 1967 was another huge gamble. I don't believe this "all or nothing" approach is going to pay off, not in the long term. Had territorial greed not been the state mantra (and Israel remained within it's UN specified borders) there would have been a permanent peace decades ago.
The decline in the world's perception of Israel's legitimacy over the last 40 years has been astounding. That those responsible, Israel's right, blames the rest of the world instead of their behavior is symptomatic of their inability to deal with reality.
Israelis look like they have a chronic psych problem when they allow such blaming of the victims and the world by their officials...it all reflects back to them in the end, anyhow. it's always better to validate reality. Dutch
... not the cause. And treating everything as mere narratives is to confuse perception with reality. Rising opposition to certain Israeli policies is simply because a growing number of people feel those policies are wrong, not because of any issues with so-called narratives. Fortunately, the solution to the problem is simple: resolve the core conflict with the Palestinians, and the narrative problems will take care of themselves over time. Anything else treats only the symptoms, not the disease.
The rights of jewish nation to the land of Israel does not have anything to do with the zionism, UN, or any other irrelevant organisations, political movements or man made ideology. The only one factor that counts is KBH. That what we have to worry about, to be on the good side!
The Israeli narrative is like listening to an alcoholic not giving up the booze... If it stopped acting illegally there'd be no need for narrative.
The author claims to be a neutral, outside observer of all nations with their own narratives and as such he is completely correct. But he proves unable to completely rid himself of the dominant Israeli national narrative by writing “Narrative delegitimization of our sovereign existence …. is more dangerous than the Iranian threat.” He clearly puts too much emphasis on this delegitimization thing. The entire world, including the Arab world and the moderate majority of Palestinians agrees about the existence of Israel. Only within Israel, people continually cry about the legitimacy of Israel being in danger. Israelis don’t want to see that questioning the legitimacy of Israel is an easy way of annoying Israelis in political discussions and on internet descussions, but that apart from being annoying to the ears of Israelis and great fun for the extremist and idiots of the world, it has no substance. The simple fact that in 2003 the Arab League offered Israel a formal peace proposal is proof of this. Arab states can only show the world anf their own people they want to make peace with a state they consider legitimate! So follow your own advise mr. Golani, and stop repeating the ancient dogma of Israeli legitimacy being in danger and go on with life.
The simple fact that in 2003 the Arab League offered Israel a formal peace proposal is proof of this."""" Sure they did, however, Ernst and everybody did you read the meaning and the content of their offer? WE ARE NOT READY YET TO COMMIT SUICIDE THANKS ERNST FOR THE MENTION THOUGH..
look at Israel today: a nation of 7 million with a robust economy, six of the world’s leading universities, a pulsating youth culture, cutting-edge arts, and a military that, in its last two engagements, was able to mobilize more than 100 percent of its reserves. According to recent polls, Israelis are the second-most patriotic people in the world, after Americans, and the most willing to defend their country. Israel in 2009 has treaties with Jordan and Egypt, excellent relations with Eastern Europe, China, and India, and a historic alliance with the United States. By virtually all criteria, Israel in 2009 is in an inestimably better position than at any other time in its 61 years of independence. Though the severity of the threats jeopardizing Israel’s existence must never be underestimated, neither should Israel’s resilience and national will. That persistence reflects, at least in part, the success of the Jewish people to surmount similar dangers for well over 3,000 years. Together with Diaspora Jewry and millions of Israel supporters abroad, Israel can not only survive these perils but, as in the past, it can thrive.
UNSC Res 242 was between states. Israel had to comply with it in order to get peace. So too with Jordan. You have read the peace treaties? Yes?
what's the contradiction with the spirit of the article ? Jews had and have the right to keep creating and marking its destiny in part of Eretz Israel. Palestinians shold have a right to do the same....the day they will accept Israel's basic rights and accept its defensive requirements
As for the delegitimization of Israel - its own policies and occupations do MORE towards the accomplishment of that end than could all its enemies combined...