THE STATE OF ISRAEL
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A while ago, I was doing my -almost- daily check to see requests of new bloggers to be added to Palestine Blogs. One of the requests was from an Israeli student, Shahaf Ifhar, who just returned to Israel after 3-year programme in London called Olive Tree, which beings Palestinian and Israeli students together to live and study. Of course I added his blog (YES, Palestine Blogs welcomes -and have many- any and all pro-Palestine blogs, including Israeli blogs).
While going around Ifhar’s blog, I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read this:
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence, 14 May 1948
Other than the first line, I challenge anyone to prove any and all of the rest. For God sake…
1. “benefit of all its inhabitants”; (other than Jews?).
2. “freedom, justice and peace”; (where, when, how?).
3. “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex”; (that was a typo. They mean “inequality”).
4. “guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture”; (so, can young Muslims go to pray freely at Al-Aqsa mosque any time?).
5. “it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions”; (second intifada irrupted from one of Muslims’ holiest place when Israeli terrorist army killed dozens of prayers after Sharon’s infamous visit to Al-Aqsa mosque).
6. “and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations”; (Huh.. hahahah, can anyone mention how many UN resolution did Israel respect? Let’s start with UN resolution 242!!!)
I will not bore you by destructing all these lies because it will takes years and millions of pages to show examples of these lies. Just look around this blog… up, down, bottom, right…
Israel’s Declaration of Independence is the biggest lie in the history of mankind!
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30 Comments on “THE STATE OF ISRAEL”
Obviously he has bought in to the party line.
Just like the US before the Civil War there.
Freedom for all but the Blacks.
Give me a break!
lool! “conscience and equality?” well, good luck with that!
That’s a wonderful blog Haitham, thank you for sharing it, and I’m really looking forward to reading more of what this very insightful young man has to say (everyone-go to his archives and read the posts, starting with the bottom one which is his first http://ifhar.com/exile/2007/11)
Blessings and prayers to all this (American) Thanksgiving, and hope in our hearts for peace.
i guess the easiest thing to do is to tell a lie, or a multitude of lies.
and to kill, that’s easy to do, too, i guess, for some people.
guys, please read the blog before you judge my politics.
I quote the Declaration for a reason.
S.
ifhar,
No one is judging your politics. I’m judging Israel politics based on the Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which happen that I read it on your blog, nothing related to you. No worries!
Norman Finkelstein gives a lecture on illegal Israeli activities. “Is criticism of Israel anti-semitic”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbn8OJ7ju-s&feature=related
As he says, “these are not complicated issues”.
Also, here is a BBC Program on the Vanunu case. Part 4 is particularly interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIHcYLm2d3s
A 12 YEARS OLD died (denied treatment ) and a 21 days baby is probably waiting a similar fate too . war crimes are being committed and the world stays silent where is the UN ? where is Amnesty ? where is Human rights ? where are the MUslims and the Generous Arabs ???????
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9114.shtml
Point 3 on that list is Shocking !!!! Actually all of them are . you have to watch an Arab channel to see thousands of Palestinians denied entry to the mosque on fridays so they pray on the pavement , others choke on tear gas, some are beaten by IOF on horses, old women fall on the floor because they are pushed by the soldiers, every friday is a disaster .
The principles expressed in that charter are the best arguments I’ve ever heard for a one-state resolution. We can make fun of past performance. In fact we’re obligated to measure what they promised they UN they were going to achieve against the results achieved. But if a version of Israel were to rise which lived up to those original sentiments, I think that is the model for it.
Most of the world has been pre-empting the one-state proposal because we do not understand how much Jews themselves, moral and just in every other respect, are enthralled by Jewish exceptionalism. Almost every people on Earth has has suffered a holocaust of one sort of or another, yet we do not use a consensus of nations to create a new country for everyone who has suffered injustice. Jews are no exception.
The two-state solution seeks to build a new house on the foundation of these old lies. The reproach must be as hard as the reality covered by the lies. The two-state solution seeks permanent legal justification for a horrible crime. But before peace can be realized, justice must account for those injuries which have never been acknowledged, and Israel has to provide just compensation to Palestine.
Israel should not be allowed to keep the spoils obtained by immoral means regardless of how large a consensus of nations were tricked into giving Israel a charter. As long as Israel is a state only for Jews then, by definition, Israel will be racist.
The people of Israel should live up to the principles expressed in that original declaration. One state, with one people, with one vote for each person. One-state does not represent the destruction of Israel. Rather it represents a culmination of the original expectations of the world that a new democracy in the region would indeed produce a lasting peace.
Judging by the results obtained so far, the Zionists have corrupted themselves and their children by pursuing something other than real universal justice for everyone, not “just us” Jews.
dean,
I would agree with what you said about the declaration, but we have to stop at the first line: “THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles”!!!
What about the Uprooted, ethnically cleansed Palestinians?
If and only if the statement is changed so that it declares that Palestinians in exile can return (and they will return sooner or later) to their homeland, then the statement is good for a ‘One state’ concept.
“open for Jewish immigration…” is nothing but a religious racist state, which Israel is now by all means.
Completely agree with you Haitham. Didn’t mean to skim over the obvious glaring injustice that right of return currently means only Jews. Some new immigration paradigm would have to be envisioned by the people who live there and worked out in the law just as it is in every other country in the world.
Ibn Bint Jbeil
Just wanted to say HI and also im proud of every Ibn and Bint BINT Jebeyel , they were amazing brave strong courageous people who made me proud in summer 2006!
Dean,
“just as it is in every other country in the world”…
Do not you think that ISRAEL is one of a kind? the only nation based on religion?
For rest of the world, religion is either a minority, or a majority.. No country is a muslim or christian oriented. They just happen to be! they do not gather in their countries based on that religion.. The one state solution after the refugees go back to their homeland is just a genourous compromise of us palestinians given the fact that the so called “exiles” exisit in our country for about 130 years now
Hi Sir Haitham,
I’m a vivid reader of your blog, my favorite post here is the Jews Lobby in US. This morning I read the BBC news regarding this matter, and it’s true that USA is supporting Israel to death, but little they gain. As a Filipino, we’re almost Americanized, and all of our professionals are in US, serving Americans, but we have little to gain. What kind of world we have? Is this race discrimination or because we don’t have an influence in US politics?
Sorry, I don’t have to post in this thread, I only want to have your attention, and if you have time, please post article regarding this issue for the second time.
And pardon me of my broken English.
Thank you and good day.
Dean, I have posted on the one-state solution in previous threads and gave some references.
Another aspect of Israeli policy is the Jewish National Fund which controls “state” land in Israel–actually confiscated Palestinian land. A recent poll in Israel showed that 80% agreed with its policy of ONLY ceding land to Jews.
Oh, I’m sorry to this typo error, i mean avid reader, no vivid.
Thank you
I beg to differ with you Haitham…. we usually see eye to eye but this time you are dead wrong…
It is NOT Israel’s declaration of Independence that is the biggest lie in history….
ISRAEL is the biggest lie in history!
Hello vinle,
Thank you for being an avid reader, I’m humbly honoured.
I don’t have much experience in Filipino relations with USA, but I trust what you describe it. I promise you to post anything of interest I find about it while I dig to learn more about this subject.
Steve,
Please accept my apology. YES, Israel is the biggest lie and I add: is the biggest Mistake!
Desertpeace
ISRAEL is the biggest lie in history!
wow Bravo !!! excellent quote !
thanks Sabbah, I was mostly addressing my comment to Kimmy
@Ahmad - I hear what you are saying. I think it is important for advocates of Palestine to maintain the moral high ground. Nationalism isn’t really about religion anyway. Jewish Nationalism certainly isn’t about fulfilling prophecy. Zionism is about defending the premise that the West owns the world. We can do anything we want and anyone who disagrees is a criminal. And, further, since we know that the law serves any purpose we desire, we’ll make resistance itself an illegal activity. Now, we are getting ready to make it illegal to even _think_ differently. When terrorism is being defined by American Jews as any attempt to influence the government of the United States, then AIPAC is putting its own arse in its own grinder.
@bernarda - thank you. I’m having difficulty locating the links you mentioned in your comments here. Google does a good job of collecting comments with your name on them but it doesn’t order them by date or cull the relevant text. Please post the one-state links again. Thanks.
@Desert Peace -
You’re such a hair shirt! But its impossible to argue with your point, as always.
ifhar,
I apologize.
I quickly read your post. I did not read all links.
You are right. I was wrong.
Please accept my apologies.
I hope not to make this mistake again. If I do, please point it out to me.
Dean, here are a couple of links. First an article by Tony Judt.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16671
An article by Daniel Lazare in the Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20031103/lazare
to be continued to avoid too many links in a post. the spam catcher monster doesn’t like that.
Dean, here are a couple of others. Article by Edward Said.
http://www.thehope.org/said.htm
Virginia Tilley in the London Review of Books.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n21/till01_.html
Dean, finally, there are these general comments about the political situation in the Jewish community–I might say divisions–by Tony Karon which I posted earlier.
http://www.alternet.org/story/62618/
Haitham, sorry for being repetitive.
dean,
…Palestinians need to keep moral high and religion is not a nationality… Did not get your sense??