Palestine: The Existing Question

Source: GlobalResearch.ca, 18-6-2006
by Remi Kanazi
May 15 marked the 58 year anniversary of Al Nakba (The Catastrophe). Every year, Palestinians recount the tragedy of 1948. I recall my grandmother's anguish: she was seven months pregnant with my mother when she was forced to flee to Lebanon by boat. She waited in Lebanon. The weeks turned into months. The months turned into years...58 years later my grandmother has yet to return to her house in Jaffa.
When the Zionists forces (the Haganagh, Irgun, and Stern Gang) tore Palestine limb from limb, depopulating villages, uprooting cemeteries, and pillaging arable fields-"Israel" had not even been created. Today we see a fight for "Israel`s" "right to exist." But what right does "Israel" have to exist in its current form?
United Nations (UN) Resolution 194 states,
"The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return."
"Israel`s" admittance into the UN was conditional: it must recognize UN Resolution 194. Nevertheless, since the passing of UN Resolution 273-which admitted "Israel" into the UN on May 11, 1949- "Israel" has openly rejected this requirement. Commenting on "Israel`s" dismissal of the resolution, Professor of Law Francis A. Boyle wrote in his book Palestine, Palestinians and International Law,
"Insofar as "Israel" has violated its conditions for admission to UN membership, it must accordingly be suspended on a de facto basis from any participation throughout the entire United Nations system."
Yet, the world hasn't seen one UN resolution concerning "Israel" enforced by the UN or the international community. America specifically refers to "countless" UN resolutions Iraq refused to comply with as a major reason to invade in 2003. If America were to invade Iraq on this reasoning, one would think they would at least attempt to enforce the UN resolutions pertaining to "Israel".
"Israel" illegally occupies East Jerusalem (Al-Quds), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Post-disengagement, "Israel" continues to occupy Gaza through control of borders, air, water, and resources. According to the "Israeli" newspaper Haaretz, since March 31 of this year, "Israel" has fired more than 5100 artillery shells at Gaza.
The occupation is illegal under international law and UN resolution 242 (reaffirmed by resolution 338). UN resolution 242 explicitly states that "Israel" must "withdraw from territories occupied." On this basis, before going into the brutality of the occupation, one cannot expect the Palestinian Authority to recognize "Israel`s" "right to exist."
Furthermore, "Israel" exists today as a Jewish state and not coincidentally a racist state. The Palestinians living inside (1948-Palestinians) "Israel" are considered second-class. Discriminatory laws are in place regarding religion, marriage, and land ownership. Access to education, jobs and economic stability has been hindered due to successive "Israeli" administration's prejudiced policies. One can not expect those in the Occupied Territories to recognize "Israel", if "Israel" as a Jewish state does not recognize the rights of one in five of the residents. Just this week the "Israeli" High Court voted down a law that would instate "family reunification," the unifying of Palestinians living outside of "Israel" with their spouse living inside "Israel". This is one more policy that tries to force those living inside "Israel" to emigrate to the Occupied Territories or elsewhere. One father who has been trying to get "Israeli" `citizenship` since 2004 to reunite with his wife and two daughters, asked the "Israeli" newspaper Haaretz, "How do you explain to a five-year-old girl that daddy won`t be home because of a law?"
The discriminatory policy of the government is emblematic of the feeling in "Israeli" society. A recent poll conducted by the "Israel" Democracy Institute found that 62 percent of "Israelis" prefer that their government promote the emigration of the Palestinian population living inside "Israel". Electronic Intifada, a website that covers the "Israeli"/Palestinian conflict from the Palestinian perspective, published a piece by I'lam, "the only media centre for the Arab minority in "Israel"," which stated, "Recent polls have shown that, while on average 40 per cent of "Israelis" want Arab citizens forced to leave the country, that figure rises close to 60 per cent when respondents are asked, more ambiguously, if they want the Arab population ‘encouraged' to emigrate." "Israel`s" systemic desire for the separation and future dispossession of its Palestinian citizens is yet another reason to question its "right to exist" in its current form.
It is particularly absurd for "Israel" and the West to call upon the Palestinian government to recognize "Israel" when "Israel" refuses to recognize the Palestinian people. Take for example the policy implemented during the Oslo years, a policy that continues today. During the Oslo years settlements expanded at an inordinate rate with a clear mission to expand the borders of "Israel", jeopardizing the possibility of a future Palestinian state on 22 percent of historic Palestine-the internationally recognized 1967 borders.
Today we see Kadima's plan for the recognition of the Palestinian people: Judaize Jerusalem [Al-Quds] while permanently dispossessing as many Palestinians as possible though extensions and encirclements of the Apartheid Wall), expand and connect desirable and densely populated settlements, and extend the policy of unilateralism thereby hindering any opportunity for cohesion, reconciliation or negotiations. The border policy of "Israel" is compounded with a 38 year occupation, which includes land confiscation, home demolitions, permanent checkpoints, flying checkpoints, curfews, expropriation of vital resources such as water, strip searches and various acts of humiliation and collective punishment. On the physical front, "Israel" has illegally detained thousands of Palestinians (in most cases torturing them), extrajudicially assassinated hundreds of Palestinians, killed hundreds of women and children, and has fired thousands of artillery shells on the Occupied Territories. This course of action continues unabated, while the world sits idly by. Furthermore, the illegal settlers in the Occupied Territories abuse the Palestinian population with virtual impunity. Thousands of cases have surfaced where settlers have beaten Palestinians, thrown rocks at their children on their way to school, killed family livestock, and burnt down or uprooted their olive trees. The "Israeli" government has done nothing to stop these actions.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority has complied with the Sharm al-Sheikh cease-fire and has maintained the agreement well past its expiration only to be met with an economic and political boycott by "Israel" and the international community. "Israel" and the West's policy of not recognizing the Palestinian people have driven up the figures of unemployment, poverty, and malnutrition.
The most significant point of hypocrisy is "Israel" and the West's double standard regarding the governments in the conflict. If the world is to believe that "Israel" does not have to recognize Yasser Arafat or a Hamas-led PA because they are (so-called) `terrorist` entities, would "Israel" not be held to the same standard? Their policies and tactics are in direct violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions, while their practices have been criticized by every major human right organization in the world, not to mention the Hague's critical ruling on the Apartheid Wall. "Israel" does not recognize the Palestinian Authority, not based on their refusal to recognize "Israel", but on "Israel`s" summation of what the PA represents. Should the PA not be able to make the same assessment?
No people, surely no occupied people, should be expected to recognize "Israel" under these conditions. The international community should not demand the Palestinians recognize "Israel", but ask themselves an important question: given the circumstances does "Israel" have a right to exist?
Remi Kanazi is the primary writer for the political website www.PoeticInjustice.net He lives in New York City as a Palestinian American freelance writer, poet and performer and can reached via email at [email protected]