THE PARAMETERS OF MAINSTREAM DEBATE (IV)

[[Are you a Zionist in believing that Israel has the right to exist?]] Yes, Israel does have the right to exist and there has to be a two-state solution . . . I support the right of the State of Israel to exist . . . I do want there to be a long term…

TALK OF IDF ‘DOCTRINES’ IS SO SILLY

As if firing at everything in sight was a new invention! A high-ranking officer has acknowledged for the first time that the Israeli army went beyond its previous rules of engagement on the protection of civilian lives in order to minimise military casualties during last year's Gaza war. . . . The officer, who served…

Boycotting Palestinian workers: update

I have written before about the ethics of boycotting settlement businesses that employ Palestinians. Data from a recent UNCTAD report ought to give advocates of such boycotts pause: In 2015, nearly 12 per cent of employed Palestinians worked in Israel and in settlements . . . Employment in Israel and Israeli settlements accounted for 16 per cent…

LOSE-LOSE DEBATES

Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is approaching its half-century. Gaza has been under brutal siege for nearly a decade; life there has become almost unbearable. Palestinians' human rights are being systematically violated with impunity. The International Court of Justice's finding that (inter alia) the settlements are illegal was published more than a decade ago, and remains to…

WILL PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD BRING SELF-DETERMINATION?

Demilitarised, sandwiched between a hostile Jordanian-Israeli military alliance, unequally integrated with a far more powerful economy – wouldn’t [an independent State of] Palestine be no less subject to external command than other weak states with strong neighbours in an internationalised economy?  In which case, isn’t the idea that Palestinian statehood would enable meaningful self-determination for the…

ON BOYCOTTING PALESTINIAN WORKERS

I have a short piece on the ethics of boycotting settlement businesses over at Norman Finkelstein's site. In the absence of a mass Palestinian movement, substantially reversing Israel’s policies is impossible; while in the absence of representative Palestinian organisations, it is difficult to establish whether Palestinian workers support boycotts at the price of their jobs.…

WHAT RESONATES

Some years back I argued in Mondoweiss that the case for Palestine ought to be made on the basis of justice rather than national interest. This position received empirical support in a November 2015 U.S. poll, which found that respondents' concerns about Israel-Palestine were principally related to 'human rights or international law' rather than 'America's interests'. This was particularly true of…

THE UPRISING IN PALESTINE: PITFALLS AND POSSIBILITIES

Decisive defeat has been the fate of many, perhaps most, political movements. Nevertheless, over the past half century, regional and international regressions have repeatedly inspired a revival and reassertion of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. In their darkest moments, Palestinians have mustered the courage, the strength, and the will to keep the torch aflame. If…

“WE ARE SIMPLY REPEATING WHAT WAS DONE BY GANDHI”

We are simply repeating what was done by Gandhi in India. He began by asking his people to boycott salt and the movement in India succeeded in forcing a British withdrawal. Our hope is that a similar movement will develop here, that the Israelis will eventually withdraw from the occupied territories, and that a Palestinian…

FORGETTING THE INTIFADA

Daoud Kuttab on the 'founding leadership' of the Palestinian national movement: The founding fathers, who were once celebrated for unifying Palestinians behind one liberation strategy, are now blamed for failing to end the occupation and realise Palestinian statehood.  To their credit, these leaders have tried every means possible, all without any discernible success — armed…