I fear we may lose Palestine completely
JVL Introduction
Rajah Shehadeh is one of the most lyrical and perceptive writers of the Palestinian experience, not usually given to despair. However, the intensity of the Israeli assault on Gaza and the opportunity seized by militant settlers to steal further Palestinian land results in a painful review of the prospects for Palestine. He sees the strengthening of the Israeli ultra right supremacists and the weakening of ‘liberal’ elements in Israeli society suffocating even the slim chances of a movement in Israel that prioritises peace and fears the complete loss of Palestine.
MC
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Tue 9 Apr 2024. Read the original here.
After six months of war, I fear we may lose Palestine completely
Israel’s onslaught has been on a scale never seen before. I spend my days searching for hope
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Given the way the world has moved and is moving ever more rapidly towards a position of the West against the Rest, the declining against the inclining, I have no doubt that the issue will not be the Palestinian loss of Palestine but, rather, the complete destruction of Israel and the entire myth of the possibility of Jewish Statehood in a multi-cultural, multi-polar world within the next decade.
How widespread is the feeling/belief that the Gaza genocide has made the destruction of Israel is an inevitability amongst JVL supporters?
I see signs of hope for a different future. Tragically they’re unlikely to happen fast enough to save thousands of Palestinian lives. It takes time for major changes in human history to work their way through.
There’s now widespread agreement throughout society in many of the world’s nations that Israel has become a pariah state, likely guilty of genocide. For the first time this negative perception of Israel has spread through the masses of ordinary people; the civil servants (who implement the decisions of the nations’ leaders); the lawyers and the judges; and many of the professional and learned bodies associated with medicine, etc.
Very, very slowly the political leaders of the first world states are also giving up on Israel. Even more slowly, the pro-Israeli bias in western mainstream journalism is also changing.
What that means for the future is increasing resistance to the Israeli narrative generally, more scrutiny of Israel’s behaviour and a new willingness to sanction and block the actions of the Israeli government.
Over time, Israeli society too is likely to respond to this more hostile world climate. Israelis will hopefully come to view the ending the oppression and occupation of the Palestinians as their only way back into happier, more prosperous relationships with important allies and other nations.
We mustn’t forget about the huge barriers to this process though. A just settlement requires Israel to give up all the Palestinian land occupied since the “6 days war” and pay significant reparations to the Palestinians for the horrors they’ve suffered since 1947. It’s difficult to see how such a settlement could be made sufficiently palatable to the Israelis to happen – yet happen it must.
I see some reasons to hope
I see some reasons to hope for a different future but it’s unlikely to happen fast enough to save lives….
[cut to our limit of 300 words – admin]
In answer to bertl’s question above, I think it is too early to say.
The propaganda wall has been broken for countless people. How they respond and whether they can all be successfully trashed still remains to be seen.
After reading Linda’s comments, I would love it to happen.
This has to be part of the equation, the US has funded Israel for decades, Armed it with Nuclear Weapons, as well as All the Arms needed to fight and win Wars, part of the reason it has done this is, it sees Israel has its own Fully Armed, Middle East Military Base, so it will do almost anything to keep Israel in tact.