There’s no avoiding the dark legacy of 1948
JVL Introduction
Ben Reiff looks at the changing narrative in Israel about the nakba.
For decades Israelis denied it happened; but now about half of Jewish Israelis would like to repeat “a transfer” of those Palestinians who remain in Israel.
And political leaders of the right feel increasingly able to give voice to these potentially genocidal sentiments.
Ben Reiff surveys the Israel debates here. For him it is absolutely clear that “[a]ll those who are invested in peace and justice between the river and the sea must face up to the legacy of 1948”.
This article was originally published by the Landline, +972's newsletter on Mon 27 Jun 2022. Read the original here.
There’s no avoiding the dark legacy of 1948
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Firstly European Jews can never return to Israel because their ancestors never lived there.
Secondly we do not have to waste time arguing about what happened in 1948. As we can see in Ukraine, civilians do “run away” from armed conflict. Ethnic Cleansing is proved conclusively by the refusal of the Israeli authorities to allow the Palestinian refugees their Right of Return.
Excellent piece by Ben Reiff. All those on the right-wing of the Labour Party, their friends in the press and Tory Party who attacked Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on Israel in order to promulgate the lying smear about him as an anti-semite in order to politically undermine him should read this article and hang their heads in shame. On second thoughts forget the Tory Party, under Johnson they already have no shame about anything.
Your article is a bit unclear whether half of Israelis support transfer/exchange of Palestinians from Israel proper: or whether they are talking about also ridding the occupied territories. Neither are of course in the least acceptable, but it would be helpful to clarify this.
As far as I can see, Israel isn’t going flinch from its objective to clear Palestine of all Palestinians. Unlike S. Africa, there isn’t a wave of Countries campaigning for sanctions against Israel. Corbyn was the biggest threat, because he had the gift of persuasion and if he had become PM, Israel would have come under pressure, so they did everything they could to stop him and succeed, their weapon with the most potential was Starmer and we all witnessed his success. I’m horrified and depressed at where we are today.
David Hawkins, I refer to your comment which JVL has let through without comment. You state that European Jews are not descended from Jews of the past. That’s an old discredited antisemitic trope which you’d do well to research properly.
Your basis for “conclusively” proving ethnic cleansing – ie no “right of return” for Palestinians – is similarly naive. I suggest you look at history more closely and in a more nuanced way. The careful wording of UN resolution 194 refers to “refugees” (Jewish and Arab) and describes a very conditional right of return (for both). It’s also worth noting that the Arab world vehemently opposed the resolution but today it’s fashionable to cherrypick it.
If peace is the true goal, including most importantly for Jews, peace and security for the 7 million Jews in Israel, then grievances must be considered but there are no simple solutions and Ben Reiff is reading far too much into a puerile comment from Kahane.