Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 35)
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- Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 35)
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despair, I always remember my very
fond memories of Palestine. I fought in
World War II and was in Palestine when
it was still Palestine (in 1944 - 45). It was
a beautiful country. Since then, I have
visited the West Bank, and I have some
dear friends there. Whenever I think of
brave people, I don’t think there ever
was a man braver than Bassam Shakaa...
The history of the Palestinian people
has not yet finished. People have come
back. As Chairman Arafat said, the last
ten meters are the hardest. Just when
everything looks dark, something
breaks through, so long as you have
principles behind you. If there ever was
a stronger case, backed by principle and
right, than the Palestinian, I have not
seen one. At the same time, the
Palestinians must use all the modern
techniques of information and learn that
propaganda is not just saying what
rushes to your mind. If you build a
bridge, you send for technicians, etc...
When you carry out propaganda, you
should go to those who know how to
carry it out in terms of the mentality of
the people you're addressing. This is
what the Arabs have never done, and
the Palestinians aren’t much better in
this. You don’t say something to please
yourself; you have to say something that
will influence the people you are
addressing...
I call all the Arabs my cousins, but the
Palestinians are my first cousins. This is
the way I feel about the subject, because
your cause is my cause. I have given
virtually my whole life to fighting
Zionism, but you can't just fight Zionism
in a vacuum. You have to be for
something as well as against something.
I am against Zionism, and I am for the
rights of the Palestinians, and they go
together. Anything that happens to the
Palestinian cause affects me. When the
tragedy of Beirut unfolded, it was as if |
was in Beirut suffering. I actually
wished that I had been there.
Uri Davis
Democratic Alternative
The following is translated from the interview we conducted
in Arabic with Uri Davis. Uri Davis is known for having spoken out
and written against Zionism and the state of ‘Israel’, as in his well
-researched book, Israel: Utopia Incorporated. He has been active
in promoting discussion with Palestinians and other anti - Zionist
Jews concerning the concept of a democratic, secular, socialist state
in Palestine.
Would you introduce yourself
to our readers?
I am a Palestinian Jew who bears
Israeli citizenship. I was born and
raised in the Israeli state in the
political, social and cultural setting of
Zionism. Through the transformation
of my thoughts and consciousness, |
arrived at an anti - Zionist position in
theory and practice. I am against the
Zionist solution for the problem of anti
- Semitism in the West. The alternative
to the Israeli state is the establishment
of a democratic Palestinian state,
which is the most proper solution to
the Palestinian cause.
How and why did you become
anti - Zionist?
Every Jew born in Israel is born
into a Zionist society...This does not
necessarily mean that all individuals
support all the Zionist formula.
However, the Zionist movement
concentrates on implanting the belief
that the only solution to anti - Semitism
is the establishment of a Jewish state
and the immigration of world Jewry to
this state; and that anti - Semitism is
something inherited by all humans
other than Jews. According to the
Zionist formula, Jews cannot have
complete and equal rights in a non -
Jewish society.
The most essential feature of
Zionism is that it is hypocritical..On
the one hand, the Zionist movement
presented itself. as a democratic
liberation movement through the
schools, families and the press. On the
other hand, it was important to form
the Zionist society it wanted. So we
lived in a society suffering from a
double standard: the _ liberation
standard, that all people have equal
rights, and the Zionist standard, which
does not give equal or human rights to
non Jews. This double standard
causes us to live in a crisis.
Facing this fact, we have two
choices: One is to choose Zionism,
condition ourselves to it and join the
Zionist parties. The other choice is to
discover the history of Palestine and
Israel. In most cases, but not all, this
leads one to a position similar to the
one crystallized by the Palestinian
resistance movement over the last
fifteen years of struggle, concerning
the subject of democratic Palestine.
However, I must emphasize that
not all anti-Zionist Jews have arrived
at a stand similar to mine. Take, for
example, the strong stand of Rakah,
the Israeli Communist Party, calling
for the establishment of two states: a
Jewish and an Arab one. This contains
a lot of contradictions, for if the United
Nations resolutions were to be imple-
mented, including those on partition
and the return of the refugees, Israel
could not continue. The Rakah position,
through adherence to the Soviet line,
to Security Council resolution 242,
partition and the return of the refugees,
while at the same time to preserving
the state of Israel, is impossible and
does not hold up in any discussion.
impossible and does not hold up in any
discussion.
There are important parties, like
Matzpen, and the Sons of the Village
movement, which reject the two states
idea and support the alternative of a
>
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