[Peace-discuss] "To Help Palestine, Be Pro-Israel Too", from Ira Chernus

[Brussel]

There's abundant evidence* that Zionist leaders early on, including  
Hertzl and Ben Gurion, realized that they had to get rid of the  
Palestinians to construct a viable Jewish state. That there may have  
been opposition by some in the Kibbutz movement does not change the  
over all picture that Zionism is a root of the problem. That mindset  
is still strong today. --mkb

* Overcoming Zionism by Joel Kovel (Jewish).  Mazin Qumsiyeh's  
Sharing the Land of Canaan. Also, see Chapter 4 of Noam Chomsky's  
Fateful Triangle.

On Jan 11, 2009, at 1:57 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

> The essence of the problem is *the U.S. use, in aid of its SW Asian  
> war, of a repressive state*, which justifies itself with the lie  
> that it's "realizing the Zionist dream."
>
> The Zionist dream -- a haven for Jews in the Levant -- did not have  
> to involve the establishment of a racist state.  In the kibbutz  
> movement and elsewhere, even after 1948, there were Zionists who  
> thought the goal should be a bi-national socialist state.  That was  
> destroyed by US patronage after 1967.
>
> --CGE
>
> Brussel wrote:
>> From the article by Chernus:
>> It's [the policy he's advocating] the only one that can give  
>> Israel peace and
>> security and release the energies of its people*/ to realize the  
>> Zionist
>> dream/*, to fulfill the highest aspirations of the Jewish people.   
>> It calls
>> for the Jewish people to give up nothing that is truly their right  
>> and due.
>> I submit that "to realize the Zionist dream" is the essence of the  
>> problem…
>> This is a well intentioned article, but specious. It implies that  
>> the furious
>> protests taking place all over the world (and as reflected in UN  
>> resolutions)
>> condemning Israeli actions and policy are futile (for they are too  
>> strident
>> for the American government and media to accept); they do not raise
>> consciousness of what has been happening. That is at best doubtful.
>> --mkb
>> On Jan 11, 2009, at 1:44 AM, Stuart Levy wrote:
>>> Wanted to point out four notable articles that appeared this  
>>> week. Here's
>>> the first:
>>> To Help Palestine, Be Pro-Israel Too by Ira Chernus [Prof. of  
>>> Religious
>>> Studies, UC Boulder] http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/06-13
>>> Three viewpoints on the Gaza war fill the U.S. mass media: pro- 
>>> Israel, anti-Israel, and neutral or even-handed.  All three are  
>>> harmful to the
>>> suffering people of Gaza. The one view that can help them is the  
>>> one that
>>> barely gets a hearing. It's pro-Palestine, pro-peace, AND pro- 
>>> Israel.
>>> [...]
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