I almost let this one slip by. Last week, This Day ran an op-ed piece by Michael Tarazi, who is the legal advisor to the PLO, calling for a one state solution to the Israel/Palestinian crisis. MediaBackspin have picked up on the very same article, which also appeared in the New York Times.
Hmmm...no mention of the murdering of Israeli toddlers with Kassam rockets that obligated Israel to re-enter Gaza? How very surprising.
Israel's untenable policy in the Middle East was more obvious than usual last week, as the Israeli Army made repeated incursions into Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians in the deadliest attacks in more than two years, even as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated his plans to withdraw from the territory. Israel's overall strategy toward the Palestinians is ultimately self-defeating: it wants Palestinian land but not the Palestinians who live there.
The one state solution doesn't destroy the Jewish character of the Holy land? Perhaps Mr Tarazi should then explain what Arafat means when he repeatedly denies that the Jewish Temple existed on the temple Mount (Haram al Sharif). In fact, one of Arafats reasons for rejecting Clinton's two state proposal in 2001 was this very point. He could not accept that the Jews could have control over the Western wall - which was a supporting wall from the second temple. Arafat denies that the wall has any religious meaning. (He only consented to the Jews having control of the "symbolic" visible area of the wall which is known as the "Wailing wall".)
The one-state solution, however, neither destroys the Jewish character of the Holy Land nor negates the Jewish historical and religious attachment (although it would destroy the superior status of Jews in that state). Rather, it affirms that the Holy Land has an equal Christian and Muslim character.
MediaBackspin point to a scathing reponse to Tarazi, in the Washington Times written by former New York Times foreign correspondent Clifford May titled 'The New Anti-Semitism'. (And I urge you to read the whole thing.)
I will send this article to This Day and watch with eager interest to see if they decide to do the uncool but still liberal thing and run with it.
So genocidal anti-Semitism is taking another form. This week, the New York Times gave Michael Tarazi, an American lawyer who advises the Palestine Liberation Organization, space on its Op-Ed Page to make this audacious argument: Having failed to eradicate Israel with tanks and terrorism, Palestinian leaders are now "being forced to consider a one-state solution."
And if Israelis refuse to willingly become a despised minority in their own country, ruled by people who have waged genocidal campaigns against them, that will demonstrate, Mr. Tarazi declares, "Christians and Muslims, the millions of Palestinians under occupation are not welcome in the Jewish state." "Not welcome." Imagine that. The nerve. The chutzpah. As Mr. Tarazi well knows but neglects to mention, there is only one Jewish state on the planet. It's about the size of New Jersey. By contrast, there are 22 Arab nations and more than 50 predominantly Muslim countries, covering an area larger than the United States and Europe combined. In these lands, Jews are, to varying degrees, conspicuously unwelcome.In Jordan, a relatively liberal country that has diplomatic relations with Israel, Jews are denied citizenship. In Saudi Arabia, no synagogue or church may be built. Mr. Tarazi forgets to note, too, that half of Israel's Jews have their roots in such places as Egypt, Yemen, Iraq and Iran — but that after intense persecution they fled what had been their families' homes for centuries. Similarly, Christians have fled Syrian-controlled Lebanon and from Bethlehem and Nazareth since those cities came under Yasser Arafat's control.
Nor does Mr. Tarazi appear to recall that almost 15 percent of Israel's citizens are Muslims. They enjoy more rights and freedoms than Muslims elsewhere in the Middle East — including the right to free speech, to vote and to worship as they choose. You do not see graffiti on mosques in Israel.
Israeli Arabs have been elected to Israel's parliament and serve on its supreme court. The CNN cameraman recently taken hostage in Gaza is an Israeli citizen. That was not mentioned in much of the coverage because it was thought that those who took him captive might not know, and it would go better for him if they didn't. Israeli Muslim Bedouins and Druze even serve in Israel's armed forces — and many have given their lives to defend their country.
But Mr. Tarazi believes he can convince "the international community" that if Israelis are unwilling to open their doors to millions of people who have been indoctrinated to believe butchering Jews is a form of "martyrdom," it is the Israelis who are the bigots and oppressors.
If I'm wrong about this, there's a simple way for Mr. Tarazi to prove it. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to remove all Jewish settlements from Gaza. Mr. Tarazi should tell him not to bother. Mr. Tarazi should advise the Palestinian Authority to "welcome" the Jews living in the Gaza — and the West Bank, as well.
If and when a Palestinian state is created, those Jews would comprise only a small percentage of the population — much smaller than Muslims in Israel. This way, Mr. Tarazi could show he sincerely wants to see "all faiths and ethnicities live together as equals."
But Mr. Tarazi is not sincere. He wants Gaza and the West Bank judenrein. And eventually he wants what is now Israel to become "jew-free" as well — by whatever means. He really isn't choosy. In 2004, this is the form genocidal anti-Semitism takes. In the long run, anti-Semites seek a world free of Jews. In the short run, a world free of a Jewish state will do. If they can disguise such extremism as a fight against bigotry, a "struggle for equal citizenship" and against "apartheid," and if they can push such boldly Orwellian propaganda on the pages of the New York Times, they would be crazy not to.
But people such as Mr. Tarazi are not crazy. They know exactly what they are doing. They just hope people like you won't be able to figure it out until it's too late.
MediaBackspin end off by referring to an article titles "Who needs a Jewish State" in the LA Times which rejects the one-state idea 'percolating through the Western intelligentsia and even into left-wing circles in Israel'.
Very imformative.
Thank you.
Posted by: Frances | October 11, 2004 at 12:56
Quite inaccurate portrayal of his comments over the years
Posted by: djg | November 25, 2005 at 21:27