Breaking The Myth

Breaking the Myth Reconstructing the Past in light of the Future An Academic paper by Jihad Shomaly Transitional Justice Fellowship Programme Institute of Justice and Reconciliation

Breaking the Myth Reconstructing the Past in light of the Future

Content Introduction

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Tools of war

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Emergence of Zionist Movement

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International Community Roll

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Colonization and Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians

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Nature of Racial Colonization

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Anti Semitism v Anti Zionism

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Zionist Colonization Policies

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Failure of the Peace Process “two state solution”

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Conclusion - One State solution Approach

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Introduction Following the collapse of the peace negotiations and the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000; violence erupted and led to the killing of more than 3710 Palestinian, 998 Israeli1, leaving thousands injured, establishment of a Separation Wall, reoccupying and constant invasions to Palestinian cities, constant restrictions on freedom of movement translated by closure of cities and villages, thousands of political prisoners and periodical atrocities. The Oslo Peace Accords signed between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israeli Government in 1993 and the following successive negotiating meetings and agreements came to an end during the final negotiating meeting in Camp David in July 2000. The collapse of the peace negotiating raised the question whether the entire process was the right instrument and whether the level of maturity between both parties rose to the level of creating a lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis; whether aspirations and concerns of both parties were taken into account or not. To achieve a lasting peace in the Israeli Palestinian conflict, it is essential to address the root causes of creating this conflict. The root causes of the conflict, if adequately addressed represents the first step towards the process of ending the hundred year war between Zionism and the Palestinian people. This paper will attempt to analyze the root causes of the conflict that have not been addressed during the peace negotiation which lead to its failure, continuation of colonization, apartheid and ongoing atrocities in Palestine. Moreover, it will elaborate the ideologies and thereafter the policies used as a tool to colonize the Palestinian lands leading to the creation of Israel State on the lands of Palestine and forming the shape of the current Conflict. Furthermore, this paper will examine the failure of the peace process and provide briefly a narrative of a just peace based on the concerns and aspirations of both parties which should be addressed to make it successful in bringing a lasting peace for both Jewish and Palestinians. 1

Washington report on Middle East Affairs, September 1st, 2005. http://www.wrmea.com/

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Tools of war Wars are not fought only by sophisticated weapons and armies. Ideas, stereotyping and knowledge are more sophisticated and powerful than weapons and armies. Powerful groups opt to use knowledge, stereotyping and ideas as tools to serve their purposes. Historical knowledge is a powerful tool to reconstruct the past as to serve the ideology of these powerful groups in order to empower their political strength. Historical knowledge is repeatedly reconstructed and redesigned to serve these distorted ideologies. Historical and traditional myths are also created to target a group or some groups to be dominated, socially and politically. New interpretations of the past by the colonizer powers tend to deny indigenous groups their capacity to rule and portrays that the colonizers rule is a blessing for bringing civilization to the indigenous groups. Indigenous groups on the other hands tend to challenge the colonizers by constructing their own past with a nationalist approach to serve their interests from an extreme point of view. Past is constructed and reconstructed over and over to serve a political dominant minority. When countries are colonized by foreigners, selective historical facts are manipulated, to justify the devastation and ethnically cleansing the original inhabitants. Colonizers tend to legitimize their actions by arguing that they brought civilization to the country undermining the original inhabitants culture if not stealing or whipping it. In America continents, colonizers committed an ethnic cleansing against the indigenous population of the continent condemning them as barbarians and uncivilized dehumanizing them to facilitate the process of eliminating them and take over their lands. For the new colonizers; history only started from the point where Columbus arrived to the continent while ignoring the history and culture of the indigenous population.

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The pattern was used in New Zealand, Australia, many African and Asian countries, including Palestine with same arguments that the local inhabitants were scattered, had no culture, the land was empty, and the new settlers brought the civilization to these lands. The existence of Israel “has led to the construction of an imagined past, which has monopolized the discourse of Biblical studies, an imagined past which has come to dominate and deny Palestinian history”2. The colonizers historians created an image that Palestine was barely inhabited and the few scattered inhabitants were scattered here and there. Moreover, they attempted to replace the name of Palestine with different names; like Holy Land, Land of the Bible, Eretz Israel, the Promised Land, etc… Zionist historian argued that there was no Palestine in history. Moshe Dothan, a Jewish Historian wrote3 “Thus for nearly 700 years, the name Palestine was hardly used. Only in the nineteenth century, with the awakening of European religious, historical and political interests did the Latin name Palestina reappear. We may conclude that the chronologically late and inconsistently used term ‘Palestine’ was apparently never accepted by any local national entity. It therefore can hardly serve as a meaningful term for the archaeology of this country.” Professor Whitelam in response to Moshe Dothan wrote4, “In the scholarship of the past and in the reality of the present, Palestine has become the ‘land of Israel’ and the history of ancient Israel is the only legitimate subject of study. All else is subsumed in providing the background and understanding for the history of ancient Israel which has continuity with the present state and provides the roots and impulse of European civilization.” Colonization and ethnic cleansing is replaced by occupation in the Palestinian Zionist context. The common terms used in the Palestinian Zionist context, is shaping a distorted 2

Keith W. Whitelam Professor of Religious Studies and Head of Department at the University of Stirling. The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (1996). 3 Moshe Dothan, Terminology for the Archaeology of the Biblical Periods (1984). 4 Keith W. Whitelam Professor of Religious Studies and Head of Department at the University of Stirling. The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (1996).

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history and present misunderstandings. International community is referring to occupation as Israel “supposedly a legal democratic western recognized state” is occupying the Palestinian lands that are the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli Defence Force is another term that gives a distorted meaning. By naming it Defence Force, means that Israeli Forces are defending their lands from the Palestinians and the Arabs, ignoring the fact that it is colonization and they are the perpetrators. Emergence of Zionist Movement Zionist movement developed and emerged from Europe in the late 19th century and strengthened in the early 20th century. The fact that it emerged from Europe, a western culture, gave it intellectual, scientific, and technological culture advantages and advancement over the Palestinians’ culture; who, at that point of history, were suppressed by the Ottoman domination and the British colonization; leaving their culture without the knowledge, skills and discipline needed to protect their lands and history. Zionist movement was founded by Theodore Herzl, who was strongly influenced by the Dreyfus Trial5 which revealed the French anti-Semitism and the emergence of strong nationalism in Europe. The first Zionist conference was held in Basle in 1897 where Herzl called for the goal of Zionist movement to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine. According to the Turkish census6 conducted in 1878, the Jews population in Palestine amounted to 15011, Muslims (including Druze) 403,795, Christians 43,659. Palestinian Jews encountered no opposition from the Muslims and Christians. To implement the Zionism program, Jewish immigration to Palestine was the central concern of the Zionist movement. In 1882, Baron Rothschild, a Rich French Jew, motivated by investment, compassion and generosity began to bring Jewish settlers from Eastern Europe to build a plantation system along the model the French used in Algeria7. 5

Theodore Herzl and the Dreyfus Trial, Trent Hawthorne. http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/MidEast/save/hawthorne/hawthorne.htm 6 Population of Ottoman and Mandate Palestine, Statistical and Demographic Considerations. http://www.mideastweb.org/palpop.htm 7 Jewish Virtual library

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In the fifth Zionist Congress, 1901, a corporation known as the Jewish National Fund (JNF) was set up to achieve the conquest of the Palestinian Lands. The lands bought in Palestine by the JNF were leased to only Jews which were not subject in any case to market conditions. The aim was to acquire as much land as possible. The JNF specifically prohibited the use of non Jewish labor on JNF scheme. International Community Roll In 1917, British Foreign minister Arthur James Balfour, after discussions in the British Cabinet, and consultation with Zionist leaders hoping to win their support for the Allies in the First World War, issued his famous declaration expressing the first political recognition of Zionist aims to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. At that point of history, Jews comprised less than 10% of the population and owned 2.5% of the land of Palestine8. After the defeat of Ottomans in the First World War, 1917, Palestine came under the British Mandate. Through the JNF and with the encouragement and facilitation of the British Government during the thirty years of British mandate, Zionists were able to increase the immigration numbers and the Jewish portion of lands to 7% of the Palestinian lands. The Palestinian expressed their opposition to the Balfour Declaration and demanded independence in 1919 at their first National Conference held in Jerusalem. However, in 1922, the League of Nations issued a mandate for Palestine to be administrated by the British Government and in which it favored the establishment of a homeland for the Jews. A year after, Palestine was effectively under the British administration; and Sir Herbert Samuel, a British Jewish Zionist, was sent as the first High Commissioner to Palestine. During his term of office, the Jewish population doubled; extensive Jewish http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/rothschild.html 8 Population of Ottoman and Mandate Palestine, Statistical and Demographic Considerations. http://www.mideastweb.org/palpop.htm

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settlements were carried out; local councils were organized and the Hebrew language was recognized as one of the three official languages of the country9. The British declared that the boundary of Palestine would be limited to the area west of the Jordanian river. The area east of the river, called Transjordan (now Jordan), was made a separate British mandate and eventually given independence and ruled by the Hashemite Family of Saudi Arabia. The expanded settlement of the Jews and the increasing immigration to Palestine has led the Palestinians to a successive protests and strikes in 1929, 1933 and 1936. These successive protests and strikes developed in a revolt against the Jews and British. Hundreds Palestinians, Jews and British were killed. As a result of the Palestinian successive opposition and revolts against the British occupation and Jewish immigration, the British government issued a White Paper restricting the Jewish immigration; land purchases and offering independence for Palestine within 10 years. The White paper was rejected by the Zionist movement who then organized paramilitary groups and launched a campaign against the British and the Palestinians. The aim was to drive them both out of Palestine and to pave the way for the establishment of the Zionist state. In spite of the White Paper, the immigration of Jews to Palestine continued. From 1940 to 1945, sixty thousand immigrants entered Palestine. The Jewish percentage rises to 31% and they controlled 6% of the Palestinian lands10. In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine under which the Palestinians who accounted 69% of the population and owned 93% of the Lands were

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The Jewish Agency for Israel; The Department for Jewish Zionist Education http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/people/BIOS/samuel.html 10 Palestine-Net: Chronology of Palestinian History http://www.palestine-net.com/history/bhist.html

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allocated 47% of the country11. The United Nations encouragement to create a national state for the Jews placed the entire Middle East area on fire and several wars. Historically, Jews were well integrated within the Arab countries with the Majority of Muslims. Anti Semitism inflamed in Europe; particularly in Russia, Poland, Germany, France and Italy. The Holocaust of the Jews in the Second World War committed by the German Nazis was one of the worst crimes of the twentieth century, but not the only one. The uniqueness of the Holocaust was that it took place in Europe; the heart of Christian civilization. In 1948, the British forces withdraw from Palestine leaving the paramilitary Zionist to storm the Palestinian cities and villages. Under the command of Menachem Begin, the massacre of 240 civilians unarmed Palestinians committed in the village of Deir Yaseen, one of many, was publicized widely to be a message to Palestinians that they should depart and leave the country. In 1948, an Israeli state was declared in Tel Aviv. As a result, more than 750 thousand Palestinians fled their homes. Some of the refugees went to neighboring Arab countries; others became refugees in their own country. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq joined Palestinian and other Arab guerrillas who had been fighting Jewish forces since November 1947. The Arabs failed to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, and the war ended with a ceasefire through the United Nations. At that point, the Zionists controlled 78% of Palestinian land and the West Bank was put under Jordanian administration and the Gaza Strip under Egyptian administration. Colonization and Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians After the war ended, 418 Palestinian villages were completely destroyed by the new Israeli Government. Moshe Dayan, former Defense Minister, stated in a famous speech before students at the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa in 1969, “Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab 11

UN resolution 181.

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villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahial arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population”12. Throughout the 1950s, the Israelis retained the hope that the Palestinians would simply vanish. But it was not just a random mass of individuals who fled the terror of 1948. It was a whole society. A common land and language, a common political fate and the cruelty of exile created a distinct Palestinian national identity. Although scattered, they survived as a nation. Two geographically separated lands were left for Palestinians, West Bank including East Jerusalem which came under the administration of Jordan; and Gaza Strip came under the administration of Egypt. In 1965, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was established. Arab nationalism increased dramatically. The formation of a united Arab military led Israel to attack Egypt, Jordan, and Syria simultaneously in 1967. The war ended six days later with the defeat of the Arab armies. Israel’s French equipped air force was the major instrument in the destruction of the Arab armies. The Six Days War left Israel in possession of Gaza Strip and Sinai, Egyptian territories; East Jerusalem and the West Bank; and the Golan Heights, Syrian Territories. The 242 UN Resolution passed by the Security Council called for a return of the territory seized by Israel, recognition of Israel by the Arab states, a reaffirmation of the principle of free navigation, and for future peace and stability in the region was refused by Palestinians and Arab Governments in general, since it was considered a continuation of the Partition of Palestine and recognition of the Zionist State. David Ben Gurion, the first Israeli Prime Minister, commenting on the Palestinian refusal was “If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their 12

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Palestinian exodus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba

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country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti - Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?”13 With the new Zionist state in the heart of the Arabian region, attacks, massacres and wars continued to erupt in the Middle East Region. The mere existence of the Zionist State is based on war and racism. It is incorrect to draw a moral line between Israel and the Occupied Territories; historically, it is all colonized territory. To legitimize its racism and colonization, Israel passed two laws in 1950. The Law of Return; which gave all the Jewish around the globe “the right to return to Israel”. The Absentee Property Law which allowed the state of Israel to confiscate the lands and property of the Palestinian absentee, in other words, refugees. Of course, no refugees were allowed to return and claim their property and the attempts of some refugees to return were refused to enter the new Israeli state and who attempted to sneak back to their property were shot and killed on the borders and termed as infiltrators. Nature of Racial Colonization Israel failed to produce a written constitution, never defined its borders and never declared an Israeli nationality. These came as a result of the fact that Israel does not belong to the people who reside inside Israel, but to the whole Jewish population around the world. As the dilemma of US colonization in attempt to identify who is white and the South African apartheid attempts to categorize race according the color; the Israeli state lived the dilemma of who is a Jew. This dilemma stemmed from the fact that the Zionist movement, up to this moment, is desperate to expand the immigration of Jew to their colonization. As a result, two criteria were set to determine who is a Jew; in other words; who is entitled to immigrate to Palestine. The first is based on the race; and the second is 13

Quotations was compiled by Michael Santomauro, Editorial Director of Reporters Notebook, (The Jewish Paradox), pp121, quoted by Nahum Goldman in Le Paraddoxe Juif http://www.cactus48.com/verses.html

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based on conversion by an approved religious official, which means Orthodox rabbis only. Currently, the Jewish populations in Israel came from more than fifty countries, speaking different languages; are defined as a single people that descended from the Biblical Abraham. The claim of Zionist that the Jewish have a special right to Palestine; has no validity than would an Irish claim to establish a Celtic state all across Germany, France and Spain; on the basis that the Celtic tribes once lived there. The Zionists admitted hundreds of thousands of people, mainly from the former Soviet Union, who do not meet the official definition of a Jew because they have only a male grandparent or are merely married to a Jew. Since there is no such thing as Israeli nationality in Israel, these people, who do not qualify as Jews, are therefore registered as “under consideration”14. In 18th of July 2002, Israeli press reported on a group of Indians from Peru who had converted to Judaism and moved to Israel. Nachson Ben-Haim, previously called Pedro Mendosa said he had no problem with that. "We are of Indian origin, but in Peru, in the Andes, there is no Indian culture left. Everyone has become Christian, and before we became Jews, we also were Christians who went to church”. The rabbis converted only those who said they were willing to immigrate to Israel immediately. Pedro said he was looking forward to joining the Israeli army to defend the country. Pedro like many others of his group had moved to Israel with the agreement of the Jewish community in Peru. "How can I put it without hurting anyone?" Birnbaum says, a Jewish Rabbi who converted them. "The community in Lima consists of a certain socioeconomic class and did not want them because they are from a lower level. There was a kind of agreement that if they were converted, they would not join the Lima community, so there was no choice but to lay down the condition that they immigrate to Israel"15. 14

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Who is a Jew? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew%3F 15 Article by Neri Livneh. Ha'aretz, 18 July 2002.

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Many rabbis in Israel used their position to encourage killing and the expatriation of Palestinians. Israeli Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, commenting on the Israeli killing of Palestinian demonstrators, justified it by clarifying that killing isn’t murder if the victim is Gentile stating, “Jewish blood and a goy’s [Gentile’s] blood are not the same” (Jerusalem Post, 19 June 1989)16. Israel is a racial state, where rights are assigned on the basis of a credited descent. It is similar in the basic structure to the old South Africa regime. It is not surprising that Israel had developed a close alliance with South Africa when that country was still under apartheid. Cultural, commercial, and military cooperation between the two racial regimes developed after the first talks held in 1970 between Shimon Peres and South Africa's defense minister Botha. These relations were publicly celebrated during the visit of South African Prime Minister Vorster to Israel in 1976. It is worth mentioning that Vorster was a general during the Second World War, in the pro Nazi organization Ossewabrandwag17. Israel’s greatest support comes from the United States (US). From 1949 up to 2005, US of America granted Israel 134 Billion US $18. United States policy towards Israel stems from the Zionist influence in the US. The Zionist movement shapes the US policy in every sense in the Middle East. On October the third, 2003, Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon argued with Shimon Peres and said “Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear, don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it”19.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=188243&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5 &sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y 16 The struggle against terrorism, By Dr Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, 22 September 2001 http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/mqumsiyeh.htm 17 The Jewish-Broader bond Syndicate, http://www.islam.co.za/ 18 Washington Report on the Middle East December 2002 http://www.wrmea.com/us_aid_to_israel/index.htm 19 The Fire this Time website Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio http://www.firethistime.org/ussupportforisrael.htm

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Zionist movement is a powerful movement. Akiva Orr, Moshe Machover, Haim Hanegbi, Isaac Deutscher, Ygael Gluckstein, Ernest Mandel, Maxime Rodinson, Nathan Weinstock, and many Jewish prominent argued that Zionism and the structures of the Jewish state offered no real future to the Jewish people settled in Israel. Zionist offer was infinite war. One should distinguish between Anti Zionism and Anti Semitism 20. However, one should not deny the role played by Israel which fuelled Anti Semitism in the Arab world. As mentioned earlier, there have been very few clashes historically between Jews and Muslims in the Arab Empires. Anti Semitism v Anti Zionism The continuous campaign against the supposed new Anti Semitism in Europe these a days is a tactic on the part of the Israeli Government to seal off the Zionist state from any criticism of its regular and consistent brutality against the Palestinians. Anti Semitism became the greatest ideological weapon that Zionist utilizes to cover up their racial regime. Dr. Ran HaCohen, a prominent Israeli pointed out that “When a Palestinian kills innocent Israeli civilians, its Anti Semitism. When Palestinians attack soldiers of Israel’s occupation army in their own village, it’s Anti Semitism. When the UN General Assembly votes 133 to 4 condemning Israel’s decision to murder the elected Palestinian leader, it means that except for the US, Micronesia and Marshal Islands, all other countries on the globe are Anti Semitic. Even when a pregnant Palestinian woman is stopped at an Israeli checkpoint and gives birth in open field, the only lesson to be learnt is that Ha'aretz journalist Gideon Levy – who reported two such cases in the past two weeks, one in which the baby died – is an Anti Semite”. Dr. Ran HaCohen goes further to states that “With one revealing exception (Israel, where non orthodox religious Jews are discriminated against), Jews enjoy full religious freedom wherever they are. They have full citizenship wherever they live, with full political, civic 20

G. Neuburger, The Difference Between Judaism and Zionism http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/differencejudzion.html http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/contemporaryHassicLeaders.htm

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and human rights like every other citizen. Nowadays, an Orthodox Jew can run for the most powerful office on earth, the president of the United States. A Jew can be mayor of Amsterdam in "Anti Semitic" Holland, a minister in "Anti Semitic" Britain, a leading intellectual in "Anti Semitic" France, a president of "Anti Semitic" Switzerland, editor in chief of a major daily in "Anti Semitic" Denmark, or an industrial tycoon in "Anti Semitic" Russia. Anti Semitic Germany gives Israel three military submarines, Anti Semitic France has proliferated to Israel the nuclear technology for its weapons of mass destruction, and Anti Semitic Europe welcomes Israel as the single non European country to everything from football and basketball leagues to the Eurovision Song contest, and has granted Israeli universities a special status for scientific fund-raising….The use of alleged Anti Semitism is morally despicable….People abusing this taboo in order to support Israel’s racist and genocidal policy towards the Palestinians do nothing less than desecrate the memory of those Jewish victims, whose death is meaningful only inasmuch as it serves as an eternal warning to humankind against all kinds of discrimination, racism, and genocide”21. Zionist Colonization Policies Colonization and ethnic cleansing is replaced by occupation. The common used terms used in the Palestinian Zionist context, is shaping a distorted history and present misunderstandings. International community is referring to occupation as Israel “allegedly a democratic western recognized state” is occupying the Palestinian land that is the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli Defence Force is another term that gives a distorted meaning. By naming it Defence Force, means that Israeli Forces are defending their lands from the Palestinians and the Arabs, ignoring the fact that it is colonization and the Zionists are the perpetrators. In 1950, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) estimated a 150,000 Palestinians who remained within 1948 Palestine. The Palestinians of 1948 thus awoke to life under military administrative law, which was applied exclusively to non Jewish 21

A Letter from Israel: Abusing 'Anti-Semitism’, By Dr. Ran HaCohen September 29, 2003 http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/h092903.html

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citizens. Restriction on movement applied on these indigenous Palestinians. Travel permits, issued by Israel, to move between towns. They were cut off too, from the wider Arab world, which in turn refused any contact with Israel to avoid legitimizing the colonial project. Palestinians went from being a well established majority, indigenous population, living for centuries in the land of their ancestors to a fragmented uprooted minority, whose rights and opportunities were dictated by a hostile, colonial state system where discrimination based on religion and ethnicity was their new reality. It could not be otherwise in a state that has no constitution, and that according to its own declaration of independence, was created by “the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world”, for “the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL”22. The non Jewish population had to be contained for the Zionist colonial project to be successful, and so the government set about dividing the land and the population, according differential rights and responsibilities, to different sects and communities amongst the non Jewish population. Israel has also tried restricting connections between the Palestinians who did not leave their country and lands during the war of 1948 and those who remained during the 1967 war. The military administrative law to which the Palestinians of 1948 were subjected, was lifted a year before Israel colonized the West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights of Syria, and occupied Sinai of Egypt. Yet, despite difficulties in transport between the areas, connections between Palestinians of 1948 and 1967 have continued. Since 1967, the Palestinian populations of the in West Bank and Gaza Strip have been subject to a series of Israeli military orders which constitute the Israeli military legal 22 Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Establishment_of_the_State_of_Israel

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system in these areas. Israel controlled the West Bank and Gaza Strip under military administration based on more than 1500 military orders in West Bank and nearly 1600 in Gaza Strip. Military orders are issued by the Commander General of the area in which it is only applicable on racial basis. Military orders do not apply therefore to settlers who reside in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In contrast, Israeli settlers residing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are subject to the civil legal system of the State of Israel. The inequality in these legal systems is clear; from the rights for detainees to sentences for criminal acts. In each element, Palestinians subjected to the military legal system are denied fundamental rights whilst Israel settlers are protected by the legal system of the State of Israel to the extent that they are allowed to enjoy a culture of impunity for criminal acts, particularly those perpetrated against Palestinians. The collection of military orders and regulations are the foundation and represents the cornerstone of Israel’s ongoing colonization. These military orders and regulations sanction and “legalize” virtually every illegal act that occurs in the Palestinian territories. It legalizes the occupation itself, civil and human rights violations, and violations against Palestinians’ political, economic, social and cultural rights. These military orders are designed to control every aspect of the Palestinian life. It restricts economical, political, social and civil rights. Moreover, the Israeli high court was and still an instrument to legalize occupation and its atrocities. Military orders and the Israeli High court is legalizing confiscation lands for military purposes or expanding settlements, extra judicial killing and targeted assassinations, property destruction and house demolition, restriction of movement, mass arrest and arbitrary detention, forced transfer and deportation, annexation wall (Apartheid wall), torture and ill treatment and settler violence. Their primary aim has been to force out, through various means, the majority of Palestinians and subjugate the remainder of the population.

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These military orders have been used as a tool to the manipulation of natural resources for the interest and benefit of the colonizers rather than for the indigenous population and have imposed obstacles intended to choke any attempt at economic, social, or cultural development in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They are geared towards promoting and strengthening Israel’s own interests. For many years, Israeli military orders which are used to enforce “law and order” among Palestinians, have been consistently criticized internationally as failing to meet the minimum international standards on judicial procedures. Many of the military orders fail to fulfill Israel’s obligations under international human rights law. These military orders have permitted the Israeli military, since the beginning of the occupation, to subject thousands of Palestinians to long periods of detention without charge or trial, without access to legal counsel; to subject detainees to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in detention; and to subject the wider Palestinian population to military policies and practices which also violate international human rights law, including closures and house demolitions. These orders are imposed without opportunity for effective review and Palestinians continue to be denied rights of appeal. The process of promulgating military orders also contradicts international standards on democratic legislative processes; the right of the Israeli military commander to institute new orders without effective appeal or review permits the introduction of military orders which are flagrantly discriminatory and which constitute serious violations of a wide range of international human rights and humanitarian law which is binding on Israel. In addition, the sentencing of Palestinians under this military legal system illustrates very clearly the discriminatory approach to “justice” for Palestinians. In one of the most severe examples, on 21 January 2001, a Jewish settler was sentenced to six months community service and a 70,000 New Israeli Shekels (15,200 US Dollars) fine for the beating to

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death of a Palestinian child23. On the same day in an Israeli military court a 17 year old Palestinian girl was sentenced to six and a half years prison term for the attempt to stab a Jewish settler24. However, in general settlers are granted almost total impunity for actions against Palestinians and internationals. Failure of the Peace Process “two state solution” The first Intifada (1987 - 1993), was a spontaneous explosion of popular resistance to the Israeli colonization, a resistance which had begun some fifty years before. The Palestinian people made a conscious and determined choice to strengthen their efforts in the struggle toward independence. The coordination of resistance activities through a body called The United Leadership of the Intifada, illustrated the depth and breadth of Palestinian aspirations for freedom. The force with which the Intifada began and continued for eight years stunned not only Zionist, but indeed, all countries of the world. One of the consequences of this first Intifada was the international conference in Madrid. No matter how frequently the negotiators met in Washington and elsewhere during this time, Israel refused to comply with the basic requirements for peace. United Nations resolutions 242 were suddenly not acceptable for Israel, not to mention Resolution 194, which calls for the right of refugees to return. The Madrid Conference served to divert the growing public awareness of Israel as an occupying power with a violent, oppressive, expansionist, colonialist, and racist character. Two years later, the world was taken by surprise at the announcement of the Oslo Accord, signed in September 1993. While the world was sold a “peace myth”, the reality was something quite different. As much as the Palestinians have failed to liberate their homeland and achieve their return, the Israelis have failed to arrive at their acceptance and naturalization in the region. Fifty eight years after the establishment of the state of Israel in Palestine, the 23 Special report: by Suzanne Goldenberg, Israel and the Middle East, Settler fined for clubbing Arab boy to death, The Guardian, January 22, 2001 http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,426101,00.html 24 International Press Center, Nablus’ Prisoners Represent 30 Percent of Total Female Prisoners 24/02/2005

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http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=2869

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Middle East continues to be in a state of instability and ongoing cycles of war and violence. The Palestinian Zionist conflict has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs and tens of thousands of Israelis and continues to claim yet more. Unfortunately, the peace process has focused on political definitions and ceases fire lines rather than the more substantive issues that address the concerns and aspirations of both Israeli and Palestinian society. The primary concern of Israeli is Security. The nationalist aspirations of the Palestinians for independence continue to pose a threat to the very existence of the state of Israel. Israel depends on its military superiority to protect it from their surrounded neighbors that question their very legitimacy. To be accepted as a state among the nations of the Middle East and to enjoy economic and cultural relations across the region posses also a concern that Israel failed to achieve in spite of the continuous efforts. The character of a Jewish state is also considered a concern among Israelis. Brutality of the Holocaust imposed serious concerns that led Jewish to colonize Palestine to create a refuge safe place from atrocities committed against them. This refuge place, in spite of victimizing Palestinians, created a shared identity among the Jewish. This identity expressed by the Hebrew language. Moreover, the control over and ensuring access to Jerusalem city is a major concern as it holds historical and religious significance for the Jewish. However, there is a growing consensus among Israeli to live in peace and end the wars that they have been encountering since Israel’s creation. The new generations of the colonizers are in the process of realizing the false myth of creating a safe heaven place for the Jewish. A realization stems from the fact that Palestinians stood up to defend their rights. Zionist leaders alleged that Palestinians will forget. David Ben Gurion assuring his fellow Zionists that Palestinians will never come back to their homes stated that “We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return. The old will die and the young will forget”25. 25 Quotations Compiled by Michael Santomauro David Ben-Gurion, in his diary, 18 July 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet, Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157.

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Living under the long oppression of Turkish control, British mandate and Zionist colonization; shaped with continues denial and refusal to recognize the very existence of Palestinian identity formed their major concerns towards fully recognized statehood. This denial can be illustrated by Golda Meir statements; “How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to”26. "There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed”27. The right of Palestinian refugees and their descendents to return constitutes one of the central and complex concerns to Palestinian people. Moreover, Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza Strip lives a daily nightmare of the brutal and severe policies that the Israeli military imposed to hinder their political, civil, economical, social and cultural rights and development. One of the major concerns is related to those Palestinians who did not leave their lands during the war of 1947 and became second class citizen in their own homelands. These Palestinians currently constitute 22% of the Israeli population and the growth rate of these Palestinians threatens the existence of the Israeli state. However, they do not enjoy the same protection by the state of Israel as Jewish Israelis and are denied their basic democratic rights of self expression as is evident in the suppression of their Palestinian identity and subjection to discriminatory policies. As a result of the displacement of the Palestinians in 1948, Gaza suffers demographic crises. It is estimated that two thirds of Palestinians living in GAZA STRIP are refugees. The population density is one of the highest on earth in this area which led to the deprivation of the basic means of survival. This situation has grave social and political consequences as is evident in the radicalization of this population.

http://rense.com/general65/shar.htm 26 Quotations Compiled by Michael Santomauro Golda Meir, March 8, 1969. http://rense.com/general65/shar.htm 27 The Golda Meir reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org) Golda Maier Israeli Prime Minister June 15, 1969 http://fixedreference.org/en/20040424/wikipedia/Golda_Meir

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As it is for Jewish, the city of Jerusalem holds a special status in the hearts of the Palestinian population as the historical cultural and religious center of Palestine. Israel has restricted access to the city for the majority of the Palestinian population since it took over the city in 1967. Moreover, Israel imposed different policies on those Palestinians living in Jerusalem. The main aims of these policies are directed to the destruction of Jerusalem’s geographic identity through the means of land control, land confiscation for the use of building Jewish settlements, the blocking of Palestinian development, confiscation of Palestinians ID cards that effectively denies their ability to maintain residency in the city and denying building permits for the Palestinians. In other words, Jerusalem is being Judaized by forcing Palestinians to move out of the city and replacing them with Jewish settlers by these policies. All of these practices and policies have strengthened the commitment of the Palestinian people towards Jerusalem as their historical, cultural, and political center. These concerns and aspirations of Palestinians and Jewish alike were not the primary issues in the peace process. More Jewish settlements have been built in the West Bank and Gaza strip since the start of the Oslo process in 1993 than in any other period. Palestinians watched as their land was expropriated for these settlements, as well as for bypass roads that connect the settlements to each other and to Israel. It was Oslo that provided a cover for these conquests. Only by terminating the Oslo “peace process” can the Palestinians’ hopes and dreams be restored. For the millions of Palestinians in the diaspora, the Oslo process meant that there would never be a right to return. For the Palestinians inside Israel, Oslo meant that they would have to accept their status as second class citizens. As for the Palestinians inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Oslo became an instrument to extend and consolidate the Israeli occupation of Palestine by diplomatic means. The Israeli government views the Oslo Accords quite differently. Oslo is the single most important instrument for the realization of strategic Israeli and Zionist goals. Oslo is the first diplomatic arrangement that has permitted Israel to make concrete settlement gains

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with minimal reliance on force. Moreover, Oslo has allowed Israel to transfer the dirty work to its new subcontractor, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). When Camp David collapsed, Palestinians highly praised the fact that their leader, Arafat, had not submitted. An acceptance of Barak and Clinton’s position would have been equal to surrender. Arafat was obviously facing his moment of truth. Arafat basically refused to sign on a borderless, non sovereign and fragmented Palestinian “State” in less than 90 % of the remaining 22 % of Palestine. Barak commenting on the failure of the negotiation in Camp David stated that “The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more”28. What were the next steps after the collapse of the peace process? Zionist had never had any difficulty to find excuses for its military actions. The same racist head who initiated the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982 came to act again. This time, former Israeli Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon made a successful entry to the Haram All Sharif in Jerusalem, surrounded by more than 1,000 armed police, to provoke the Palestinians. Israel’s newly trained sharpshooters, with orders to kill, went into action against Muslim worshipers the next day. The massacre of hundreds of Palestinians has continued for more than 5 years after the peace process failure. Instead of prosperity, the economic situation deteriorated to a level worse than in 1987. Instead of experiencing unity, Palestinian lands were torn apart. The Palestinian leadership, incapable in the face of Israeli aggression, agreed to seemingly unlimited concessions to Israeli demands. Instead of setting the stage for Palestinians to move toward freedom and independence, Oslo was dragging them towards fragmentation and surrender. Not only is Israel was unwilling to give back occupied Jerusalem (What so called East Jerusalem) and to stop its settlement activities, it is unable even to recognize its moral and historic responsibility for the catastrophe of the Palestinians people. Israel rejects any responsibility for the Palestinian refugee problem. A Palestinian state may be

28 Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time. Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000 http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/index.html?ts=1128083391

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“acceptable” to Israel, only if it is deprived of all the typical ingredients of a viable state, primarily, sovereignty. The Israeli policies during the peace process created in the WS and GAZA STRIP facts on the grounds that will hinder any attempt to create a viable Palestinian State by transforming a temporary occupation into a permanent state of apartheid. Israel’s strategy of creating facts on the grounds prejudiced the peace negotiations and rendered a genuine Palestinian state impossible. Sharon is basically implementing the “Iron Wall” doctrine. This doctrine was formulated by a prominent Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky; in which stated that “Zionist colonization must either be terminated or carried out against the wishes of the native population. This colonization can, therefore, be continued and make progress only under the protection of a power independent of the native population - an iron wall, which will be in a position to resist the pressure to the native population. This is our policy towards the Arabs”29. This Iron Wall doctrine is translated by the Israeli policies through extensive by pass roads connecting settlements in the West Bank to the Israeli territories and Separation Wall which physically confines the Palestinian territories in the West Bank to tiny cantons. Conclusion - One State solution Approach History has shown, in Ireland, India, Yemen and many other places that it has been tried, that partition of a territory along lines is a guarantee of permanent war. It is understandable that some Palestinians, having been subjected to torture for over two generations, have reluctantly agreed to accept as a substitute for justice a Palestinian State built on 22 % of their original land.

29 The Iron Wall (We and the Arabs), by Vladimir Jabotinsky (1923) http://www.marxists.de/middleast/ironwall/ironwall.htm

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If a two state solution is to be imposed, then the new born Palestinian state would continue to be subject to intimidation by the superior Israeli Army. On the other hand, Israelis would not feel secure watching a Palestinian state build an army next door knowing that there are millions of Palestinians who have many claims in Israel. A Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza cannot accommodate the number of refugees who are prevented from returning to their homes, nor does it address the concerns of the refugees in the West Bank and Gaza whose homes and lands are in what is now Israel. Jerusalem city will also continue to be a major obstacle. A two state solution definitely will ignore the issues and concerns of the Palestinian population in Israel. However, Sharon in signing the agreement of the Road Map30 with 14 reservations meant that he supports the Two State solution. His vision of a Palestinian State is a state with no control of the borders, disconnected cantons, no freedom of movement, no economic viability, no access to its own water resources, no meaningful presence in Jerusalem and no sovereignty; which leaves Israel with the control of 90 % of historic Palestine. This scenario that Sharon is implementing (a state of de facto apartheid), will only guarantee the continuation of the Palestinian struggle against Israel regardless of how long it will take. As a result, a transition will definitely occur shifting the prospect of the solution from a two state solution to a single state which acknowledges that the occupation is permanent and therefore seeks to neutralize its controlling aspects by creating a common state framework. None of the actors are yet ready for such a shift; not the Palestinians, not the international community, not the peace and human rights activists, not world Jewish communities and certainly not Israeli Jews. There can be no reconciliation unless both communities face the question and understand it in order to solve it. A single state, in which every person be recognized as a citizen and have one vote, means self determination for both peoples. But it also means being willing to soften, lessen and finally give up special status for one people at the expense of the other. 30 The "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by a "quartet" of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations.

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Palestine is and has always been a land of many histories; it is a radical simplification to think of it as principally or exclusively Jewish or Arab. While the Jewish presence is longstanding, it is by no means the main one. Other tenants have included Canaanites, Moabites, Jebusites and Philistines in ancient times, and Romans, Ottomans, Byzantines and Crusaders in the modern ages. Palestine is multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multireligious. Once the initial acknowledgment of the other as an equal is made, the way forward becomes not only possible but also attractive. In a modern state, all its members are citizens by virtue of their presence and the sharing of rights and responsibilities. Citizenship therefore entitles an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Arab to the same privileges and resources. A constitution and a bill of rights thus become necessary to move forward. Each group would have the same right to self determination; that is, the right to practice communal life in its own (Jewish or Palestinian) way, with a joint capital in Jerusalem, equal access to land and human rights. Unfortunately, injustice and violence don’t diminish by themselves. They should be tackled by all concerned. In order to take the first step forward, Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals need to express their case directly to each other, in public forums, universities and the media. The challenge is both to and within civil society, which has long been subordinate to a nationalism that has developed into an obstacle to reconciliation.

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