(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Through the Plan Valley in 1948, Haganah, later to become the Israeli army, conducted a large-scale ethnic cleansing of Palestine along with the other Jewish militias. Over 700 000 Palestinians, or half of the Palestinian population, were fled after the militias carried out several frightening massacres on the civilian population and left 500 villages in gravel. These events, the war, and the subsequent establishment of a Jewish state on 78 percent of the land area were later named al-Nakba – the disaster.
But Palestinians do not talk about al-Nakba in isolation from today's situation. They talk about a constantly ongoing Nakba – a Nakba without end. Al-Nakba is reflected in the planned forced deportation of the population of the village of Susiya in the South Hebron Heights, which has received a lot of attention in international media in recent weeks. And it is reflected in the murder of an 18-month-old child in Duma on the West Bank – a new "revenge attack" carried out by fanatical Israeli settlers. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine is not over. Violence and the state of war continue, and new refugees are created every day. This is also how the roots of the conflict are kept visible and up to date – for those who want to notice them. David Ben Gurion's claim in 1947 – before the colonization of Palestine was a fact – that only a state with 80 percent Jews is a viable state differs little from today's apologies for ethnic cleansing under the terms of "demographics" and "security" . With Netanyahu's regular "mowing" of Gaza and the extremely cynical famine of the Gaza population, Israel is pursuing what Israeli-Jewish historian Ilan Pappe calls et gradual genocide.
The key to peace. Ilan Papa's groundbreaking work The ethnic cleansing of Palestinea (2006) has contributed greatly to making Nakba known to a wider audience in Israel as well. After being completely cleared out of the classrooms and the public exchange, the word Nakba has finally entered the Israeli vocabulary as well. In the book, Pappe argues that unless Israel assumes its responsibility for the ethnic cleansing and impoverishment of Palestine, all attempts to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict will be doomed to failure. He also claims that the Oslo initiative collapsed precisely over the unresolved issue of the Palestinian refugees' UN-enshrined right of return.
In the book, Pappe mentions the work of the Israeli NGO Zochrot as part of the key to a new and just process for peace and reconciliation. The name Zochrot comes from the Hebrew feminine form of the verb "to remember", and uses a keyhole as a logo. The key to a solution to the conflict is symbolized by the fact that the Palestinian refugees still carry the keys to the homes they themselves or their family members were run from in 1948. Zochrot's position is that peace can only be achieved when their inviolable right to return is respected.
"This is our story," says Israeli-Jewish Eitan Bronstein, Zochrot's initiator, when I meet him in Tel Aviv. “If we do not know it, or if we deny it, we lack knowledge of ourselves. This is about how Israel came to be, what it means to be Israeli, and what it means to live here in Tel Aviv and speak Hebrew. All of this has a very strong connection to what happened in 1948 around the establishment of the Jewish state, "says Bronstein. He believes it is impossible for Israelis to understand why they continue to live in a constant war situation – in fear and conflict with their neighbors – if they do not understand what happened in 1948. "Our leaders constantly tell us that the causes of the conflict are things that are happening now: for example, that now a rocket is coming from Gaza, and that we must act against it. But we do not go into the roots of the conflict, ”says Bronstein.
Palestinians do not talk about al-Nakba in isolation from today's situation. They talk about an ongoing Nakba.
In 1956, Israeli officer and politician Moshe Dayan gave a famous speech following the assassination of an Israeli security guard near Gaza, where he at least acknowledged the causes of the conflict, Bronstein points out. What he said can be summed up like this: “We threw them out of their land where this kibbutz is now, and they see how we live in their lands. Therefore, they carry a constant rage directed at us. Of course, they want to kill us. And so we can also know that we must always continue to fight. ”1
Eitan Bronstein says that many lived in a kind of euphoria after the Oslo agreement. “Most of us thought it would be peace. But now, after the recent attacks on Gaza, it is as if the hopelessness and the desperation that there will never be peace have come to stay. ”
According to Eitan Bronstein, understanding the causes of the violence is not enough. "We must also acknowledge our responsibility for the forced removals and the occupation that started it. There will be no peace if we do not bear this responsibility. We have to figure out how to live together. For example, neither we nor the Palestinians advocate for the forced displacement of Jews. It is in this way that al-Nakba is the key question for how we understand the past, but also for building the future, ”he says.
Pooh on the sea. Eleonore Bronstein, who founded the new organization De-colonizer with her husband, emphasizes that the refugees' right to return is a crucial part of the solution. "Those who want it must be able to come back," she says. "And it's not just for the Palestinians. We, too, as Jews, want to live in peace. We also live in constant fear in this war situation, while trying to give our children a good childhood. ” She points out that there is a great deal of focus on polarization that can arise from refugee return, but believes that return will be a rescue and a driver for coexistence more than anything else. "We are sure we can live together in peace, but most Israeli Jews who have not even spoken to a Palestinian believe that Palestinians want to throw them out to sea."
"To make peace, you have to make compromises – you have to be willing to give up."
In the port city of Jaffa, just off Tel Aviv, this was exactly what was done to the Palestinians in 1948. On the quay in the Old City, they – old, women and children – were regularly pushed out to sea against the too small fishing boats to carry them to Gaza, Egypt and Lebanon, while the Jewish militia shot at their heads. "There was no room for me in the boat, so I was thrown back ashore," we can hear in a sound recording of recently deceased Sahfiq al-Hout. After the conversation with the married couple Bronstein, I am also at sea – on a symbolically charged boat trip from the harbor in the old town of Jaffa. The boat trip is organized by Zochrot to commemorate Nakba. I speak to 82-year-old Abu Ahmed Barakeh, who explains how difficult it was to return to the city one year after the ethnic cleansing. At first he entered the country illegally, with the danger of being shot on the spot. "When I came back, everything had changed. All the people we knew were gone. Now the Jews drove absolutely everything, ”he says.
Before the ethnic cleansing, Jaffa was Palestine's most populated city. After being almost completely cleansed of Palestinians, Jaffa is today a popular nightlife scene for young Israeli Jews and tourists. "Jaffa is no longer Jaffa," Abu Ahmed Barakeh says.
After the boat trip, the tour continues in the district of Ajami, where 4000 Palestinians who did not have the capacity to force the militia were interned in a fenced ghetto. The historical irony remains uncompleted during an informative tour describing the neighborhood's tragic history and the constant evictions and demolitions that pave the way for new Jewish immigrations into the soon-to-be Palestinian neighborhood.
Zionism. One of the tour organizers, Liat Rosenberg, who is also the leader of Zochrot, tells me that Zionism is the central issue. “Zionism means a homeland only to Jews defined by Zionism's idea of Jews and Jewishness. It's a racist ideology, ”says Rosenberg. “Zionism should be criminalized as a movement, and all future solutions should be deionized. Jewishness can exist without a physical homeland, with privileges only for Jews, ”he says. Umar al-Ghubari, also the tour coordinator, agrees. “The Jews are given the right to return to their homeland after 3000 years, every Jew in the world should automatically be entitled to citizenship. There are seven to eight million Jews in the world. But it is only 67 years since the Palestinians were driven away from their homeland. Why shouldn't the same land be able to accommodate seven to eight million Palestinians? " asks al-Ghubari. Rosenberg concludes: "We support any solution that is de-ionized, de-colonized and that includes the refugees' right to return to a state that is not only a democracy for the Jews but where there is equal rights for all."
International responsibility. While Zochrot focuses on an Israeli-Jewish audience with an impressive range of seminars, guided tours, Nakba maps, Nakba apps, publications, demonstrations and exhibitions, the De-colonizer focuses equally on an international audience. The Bronstein couple points out that Jews around the world feel that the Israeli regime is putting them in a dangerous situation – a recent study by an Israeli-affiliated think-tank shows.2 Israel's extreme violence – especially the attacks on Gaza – also means that particularly young Jews do not identify themselves with Israel's Zionist project, and that more and more Jews are starting to participate in the worldwide BDS movement – "Boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel". In addition, the De-colonizer and the Bronstein couple emphasize that the international community, especially Europe and the United States, has a special responsibility to resolve the conflict – since, after the Holocaust, they sought to create a solution for the Jews by ignoring the sovereignty of the Palestinian people. Thus, according to the Bronstein couple, they actually contributed to the continuation of the Holocaust through al-Nakba. "When I talk to Europeans, I ask them to help us change the situation here. Not only on the basis of the historical relationship, but also if they care about Jews, ”says Eitan Bronstein. Spouse Eleonore continues: "In a situation where one ethnic group has privileges, it is difficult to give them up and agree to share the land, rights and security," she says. "To make peace, you have to compromise – you have to be willing to give up." Here, she believes, the international pressure becomes important. "In South Africa, the white population would hardly have given up if it wasn't for international pressure. We don't think Israelis are ready to give up anything either, ”she says. “The situation we are in cannot just change from within. International pressure is likely to be the key to a deeper regime change in Israel. ”
Interaction. While both the left and right sides of Israeli politics – with the support of the United States and their alliance partners – are apparently pursuing a Nakba without end to the Palestinian people, it is up to the international community to respond. To achieve this, civil society must take the lead. A web of activist strategies and movements recently gained strong enough pressure that the small community of Susiya is currently protected from ethnic cleansing.3 This small example, together with the many small victories of the BDS movement and a number of other examples, show international civilian pressure can work. The prerequisite is that the efforts are coordinated and targeted, carried out in collaboration with the Palestinian civil society and in collaboration with Israeli Jews.
Political commentator and investigative journalist Chris Hedges recently argued for this in a fiery appeal for international support for the BDS movement.4 He writes: “The struggle of the Palestinians is our fight. If the Palestinians are not released, none of us will. We cannot choose and choose between which of the oppressed it is pleasant or unpleasant to support. Either we take a stand on all the oppressed, or none of the oppressed. "
1http: //www.haaretz.com/beta/doomed-to-fight-1.360698
2https: //electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/world-jewry-feels-increasingly-endangered-embarrassed-israel-study-finds
3http://thelefternwall.com/2015/07/30/update-susiya-demolition-high-court-discussion-delayed/ http://972mag.com/has-the-idf-found-a-way-to-climb-down-the-susya-tree/109302/
4http: //www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_i_support_the_bds_movement_against_israel_20150726
Marius von der Fehr is a writer.
mvdfehr@gmail.com.
