Democratic Palestine : 37 (ص 3)
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- Democratic Palestine : 37 (ص 3)
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soviet Jewish Immigration
The mass influx of Soviet Jews to
occupied Palestine became a reality late
last year. As of January, immigration
reached about 5,000. This poses an
extremely serious threat to the Palesti-
nian cause in both immediate and long-
range terms.
The most obvious effects of the new
immigration are apparent in relation to
the intifada. For over two years, Palesti-
nians under occupation have been
mounting an unprecedented struggle that
has called into question the future of the
Israeli occupation. As a result, the
Zionist state is facing the most serious
crisis in its history, the morc so since its
most prized institution, the military, has
been unable to end the intifada. On the
contrary, the brutality exerted against
the Palestinian masses has increased
Israel’s isolation on the international
level, and clicited condemnation even
among its closest allies, such as the West
European states.
In the midst of this situation, where
there is a real possibility that ongoing
struggle, combined with international
pressure, could eventually push Israel
towards withdrawal and conceding to
Palestinian rights, a whole new element
has been injected. The mass immigration
of Soviet Jews provides Israel with a
material as well as moral boost. There is
no doubt that the Zionist leadership will
capitalize on this to try to alleviate the
crisis induced by the intifada, and to
divert international and local attention
away from the Palestinian issue
altogether.
Shamir’s own statements bear ample
witness to this. On January 14th, hetolda
Likud gathering: «What is clear is that for
a big immigration, we need a big and
strong state» (Guardian, February 6th).
Earlier, the prime minister had charac-
terized the Soviet Jewish immigration as
follows: «This is one of the great historic
opportunities that has been presented to
our nation since 1948. Such immigration
will have a great impact on the economy,
the development, security and demog-
raphy of our country» (AP, January &th).
Only when Israelis begin to see that
peace would better guarantee their sec-
urity than war, will there be an Isracli
Democratic Palestine, February 1990
consensus for withdrawal and dealing
with the Palestinian question in terms of
the Palestinian people's legitimate rights.
The new immigration mitigates against
the creation of such a new Israeli con-
sciousness, and it ts in this sense that it
poses a major threat to the intifada and its
goals of freedom and independence. The
Israeli leadership has been granted a
respite, delaying the time when it will be
forced to come to terms with the reality of
the Palestinian cause.
The new immigration also increases
the danger that the Zionists may opt for
«transfer,» 1.e., mass expulsion of Pales-
tinians from their homeland as a «final
solution.» The Palestinian right of return
is further jeopardized, for with the
increased immigration, the Zionist
leadership is escalating its drive to have
already expelled Palestinians resettled in
the Arab countries.
Israel has received a new reserve force
for the occupation army. This will case
the burden on the soldiers who have
already been doing time in the war on the
intifada, and thus lessen demoralization
in the army, whereas the increase of dis-
content in the army could be developing
into a significant factor mitigating for
withdrawal. No less important, Israel is
getting a new injection of professionals
and other skilled workers who will be use-
ful in further development of industry.
In this context, it is a matter of secon-
dary importance whether the new immig-
rants are settled in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. Of course, new settlers aug-
ment the facts created by the Zionist
movement aiming to retain permanent
control of the 1967 occupied territories.
But the structural ramifications of the
projected influx of Soviet Jews are much
more profound than the question of
whether the new settlers live in the
Zionist state, or the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. The new immigration is the Zionist
leadership’s first victory in the demog-
raphic battle since emigration from Isracl
began to exceed immigration over a
decade ago. This added to the Zionists’
fear of the higher Palestinian birth rate
which threatens the dream of a «pure
Jewish state» and portends the erosion of
the Jewish majority in Israel itself in the
next century.
Today, with the convergence of two
quite different impulses on the interna-
tional level, the Zionist movement is
making great leaps in the demographic
battle which some estimate to be the most
fundamental aspect of the Israeli-Palesti-
nian conflict. On the one hand, the US
administration’s compliance with the
Israeli wish, to close the door to Soviet
Jews wishing to immigrate to the US, is
the decisive factor promoting the new
immigration to Israel. On the other hand,
one of the effects of the new thinking in
Soviet policy has been allowing increased
numbers of Jews to emigrate. Whereas
prior to 1989, about 90% of Jews leaving
the Soviet Union chose a destination
other than Israel, with the new US policy,
the ratio is reversed. Now, 90% of Jews
leaving the Soviet Union are virtually
forced to go to Israel, in a situation
reminiscent of that prevailing at the end
of World War II, when most Western
countries closed their doors to holocaust
survivors who were channeled to the
Zionist state-in-the-making.
In this light, the new immigration not
only violates Palestinian rights in their
own homeland, but also violates the right
of Jewish individuals to choose where
they want to live. Once again, it is shown
that Zionist immigration policy and US
support to this are not determined by
human rights considerations, but by the
need to have a strong Zionist state in the
strategic Middle East.
Bascd on all these problems, the PLO
has called on the Soviet Union to recon-
sider its policy concerning Jewish emigra-
tion. Stemming this new attack on the
Palestinian cause should be a prime con-
cern of all those forces who advocate a
just peace on the Middle East. The peace
efforts exerted so far have revealed that it
is Israeli intransigence that is blocking
the way. Accordingly, the top priority
should be creating the conditions which
would induce Israel to withdraw its occu-
pation army and recognize Palestinian
rights. Supporting the Palestinian
intifada, so that it can continue and esca-
late, is the main means for enacting sucha
change. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 37
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