Jewish Israelis should stop being afraid of the Nakba

JVL Introduction

Aluf Benn is an Israeli journalist, and editor-in-chief of Haaretz.

He has a simple thesis in this article, addressed to Jewish Israelis and, by implication, to Zionists worldwide: Israel’s multiple crises today go back to the nakba of 1948 and until that history is taken on board it will be impossible to move on.

The facts are known, told by Benny Morris in his 1988 The Birth of the Refugee Problem.

The horror of the expulsions from Ramle and Lod was retold by Ari Shavit in his 2014 My Promised Land (still not translated into Hebrew!).

Benn writes that “the 1948 story isn’t summarized by the argument of ‘fled or were expelled’, but with the decision to prevent the refugees’ return and to confiscate their land for Jewish towns and villages”.

The facts are known – but not known. They need to be owned.

In many ways, Benn doesn’t know where to go with his argument i.e. what should be done with the realisation of what he calls the “dark part” of Israel’s foundation.

But he is clear that that history has to be known and absorbed in order for Israel to move on.

The same applies, in equal measure, to Zionists in Britain and elsewhere. It is particularly compelling for those who still cling to a liberal dream – a Jewish and democratic Israel long faded from sight.

This article was originally published by Haaretz on Sat 1 May 2021. Read the original here.