Adel Safty: New voices for Palestinian conflict
[Adel Safty is Distinguished Professor Adjunct at the Siberian Academy of Public Administration, Russia. His new book, Might over Right, is endorsed by Noam Chomsky.]
Although the peace process is at an impasse, two recent debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have started to redefine some of the most fundamental issues of the conflict: the first started in the US and focuses on the nature and appropriateness of the unconditional American support for Israel; the second is taking place in Israel itself and addresses such fundamental issues as the very nature of being a Jewish state, and, crucially, the wrongs the Palestinian people have suffered.
Both debates are long overdue and ignoring the questions they raise has done little to advance the search for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Consider the nature of the issues at stake. In the US, the debate started when two professors, not known for their radical views (John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt) wrote about "the Israel lobby" and dared to question whether unconditional American support for Israel had served American foreign policy.
Supporters of Israel were outraged, and asked in disbelief how anyone could dare suggest that "there was a cabal of die-hard Zionists" in the media and in Congress working to ensure that US policy was defined by the pro-Israel lobby.
The temerity of the two professors foretold a slow but significant change in American public opinion and in its willingness to challenge the pro-Israel party line. Israel's war in Lebanon and Gaza complicated the task of the Israeli lobby and undermined its claim that Israel really wanted peace but could not find a partner among the Palestinians...
... In Israel, the growing isolation of the country internationally, the Goldstone report's finding that the Israeli military committed war crimes in Gaza, forced Israeli politicians to undertake an unprecedented move: to schedule a hearing in the Knesset on Israel's international standing in light of the Goldstone Report and of the "continuing process" of "decline" in the nation's reputation.
Israeli writer Ari Shavit opined that Israel had lost, not its reputation, but its very legitimacy. Writing in the Israeli paper Haaretz, Shavit argued that unless a major diplomatic and moral effort is undertaken, "Israel will become an international pariah"...
... These new voices in America and Israel are changing the narrative of the conflict and the questions they raise will surely influence its final outcome.
Read entire article at Gulf News
Although the peace process is at an impasse, two recent debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have started to redefine some of the most fundamental issues of the conflict: the first started in the US and focuses on the nature and appropriateness of the unconditional American support for Israel; the second is taking place in Israel itself and addresses such fundamental issues as the very nature of being a Jewish state, and, crucially, the wrongs the Palestinian people have suffered.
Both debates are long overdue and ignoring the questions they raise has done little to advance the search for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Consider the nature of the issues at stake. In the US, the debate started when two professors, not known for their radical views (John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt) wrote about "the Israel lobby" and dared to question whether unconditional American support for Israel had served American foreign policy.
Supporters of Israel were outraged, and asked in disbelief how anyone could dare suggest that "there was a cabal of die-hard Zionists" in the media and in Congress working to ensure that US policy was defined by the pro-Israel lobby.
The temerity of the two professors foretold a slow but significant change in American public opinion and in its willingness to challenge the pro-Israel party line. Israel's war in Lebanon and Gaza complicated the task of the Israeli lobby and undermined its claim that Israel really wanted peace but could not find a partner among the Palestinians...
... In Israel, the growing isolation of the country internationally, the Goldstone report's finding that the Israeli military committed war crimes in Gaza, forced Israeli politicians to undertake an unprecedented move: to schedule a hearing in the Knesset on Israel's international standing in light of the Goldstone Report and of the "continuing process" of "decline" in the nation's reputation.
Israeli writer Ari Shavit opined that Israel had lost, not its reputation, but its very legitimacy. Writing in the Israeli paper Haaretz, Shavit argued that unless a major diplomatic and moral effort is undertaken, "Israel will become an international pariah"...
... These new voices in America and Israel are changing the narrative of the conflict and the questions they raise will surely influence its final outcome.