It's the best story to come out of Israel in months--years--decades.
A group of Israeli women called "We Will Not Obey" have begun to smuggle Palestinian women from the West Bank to the sea off the coast of Tel Aviv so they can swim. For many of the Palestinian women, living their entire lives in occupied landlocked Palestine, it is the first time they've ever seen the ocean, let alone swam in it.
Can you imagine? It began as all humanitarian movements begin, by a single individual, her name is Ilana Hammerman, a writer, who was learning Arabic on the West Bank when asked by a Palestinian child to see the ocean, and she took her--in disguise past the check points. Then, she wrote an article about it for the newspaper Haaretz who to their credit published it, and then the idea spread, and a group of women formed and wrote a manifesto:
"We cannot assent to the legality of the Law of Entry into Israel, which allows every Israeli and every Jew to move freely in all regions between the Mediterranian and the Jordan River while depriving Palestinians of this same right. They are not permitted free movement within the occupied territories nor are they allowed into the towns and cities across the green line, where their families, their nation, and their traditions are deeply rooted.
They and we, all ordinary citizens, took this step with a clear and resolute mind. In this way, we were priveledged to experience one of the most beautiful and exciting days of our lives, to meet and befriend our brave Palestinian neighbors, and together with them, to be free women, if only for one day."
It makes you want to weep. They use Rosa Parks as their role model. Over 28 of the Israeli women have been questioned by the police. So far, they've left the Palestinian women alone but who knows how long that's going to last. This is the country that supposedly prides itself on being the only true democracy in the Middle East, thereby attempting to form some solidarity with the American form of government, and of course our right wing and vote grubby politicians, who put on the big show for Netanyaho when he spoke in Congress recently. Applause is cheap.
The women have then been having parties and sharing food at the home of an Israeli chef and his wife, Hagit Aharoni. Asked what she was doing, Ms. Aharoni replied. "For 44 years, we have occupied another country. I am 53, which means most of my life I have been an occupier. I don't want to be an occupier. I am engaged in an illegal act of civil disobedience. I am not Rosa Parks, but I admire her, because she had the courage to break a law that was not right."
In the weeks and months ahead, we're going to see a lot in the news about the impending battle to recognize Palestine as a member of the UN. The United States, to the shame of every American, will stand with Israel against the measure.
Currently, an election is being set-up in Brooklyn, N.Y., to replace the disgraced Anthony Weiner where it appears likely only the most fanatical supporter of Israel has a chance to win. There are even questions that Obama has lost a great segment of the Jewish vote because he dared to scratch the surface of the rule of the right wing in that country. It's hard to believe in the face of such gross inequity.
I may well be called anti-Semitic, as happens so often when Israeli intransigence is questioned. But now I see something else: I see that people of conscience in Israel are finding whatever ways they can to express themselves. They are there: a true tribute to humanity, despite how that nation is currently governed and who controls it. It provides hope where there is so little else that can be pointed to with any pride or dignity.
It brings back Thoreau's great line when he was put in prison for opposing the tax that prevented blacks from voting, then the view of a small minority-a few intrepid individuals.
"Henry, what are you doing in there?" he was asked.
"Waldo, the question is what are you doing out there?"
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I also love the story of Thoreau in jail. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson fyi who supposedly asked him what he was doing in jail.
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0503e.asp
"Thoreau may have also brooded over the reaction of Emerson, who criticized the imprisonment as pointless. According to some accounts, Emerson visited Thoreau in jail and asked, “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau replied, “Waldo, the question is what are you doing out there?” Emerson was “out there” because he believed it was shortsighted to protest an isolated evil; society required an entire rebirth of spirituality."
"Emerson missed the point of Thoreau’s protest, which was not intended to reform society but was simply an act of conscience. If we do not distinguish right from wrong, Thoreau argued that we will eventually lose the capacity to make the distinction and become, instead, morally numb."
Thanks for the clarification. It wasn't the history that mattered so much as the sentiment. I wonder if eventually any of the women will go to jail, or what they will come up with next. I'm hoping this is a story has "legs" but don't know if they're as long as Thoreau and Emerson's.
I look forward to BenSen also publishing a follow-up on how the Palestinian politicians, in a burst of understanding, decide to forgo their claims of pushing Israel into the sea, acknowledge Israel as a Jewish State and ask for a partnership in peace.
Does anyone doubt that a separate Palestinian state, forged in a desire for peace and understanding, would be a successful and vital partner of Israel?
Go bait somebody else.
"LETTER FROM YASSER ARAFAT TO PRIME MINISTER RABIN:
September 9, 1993
Yitzhak Rabin
Prime Minister of Israel
Mr. Prime Minister,
The signing of the Declaration of Principles marks a new era in the history of the Middle East. In firm conviction thereof, I would like to confirm the following PLO commitments:
The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security.
The PLO accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
The PLO commits itself to the Middle East peace process, and to a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two sides and declares that all outstanding issues relating to permanent status will be resolved through negotiations.
The PLO considers that the signing of the Declaration of Principles constitutes a historic event, inaugurating a new epoch of peaceful coexistence, free from violence and all other acts which endanger peace and stability. Accordingly, the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators
In view of the promise of a new era and the signing of the Declaration of Principles and based on Palestinian acceptance of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the PLO affirms that those articles of the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel's right to exist, and the provisions of the Covenant which are inconsistent with the commitments of this letter are now inoperative and no longer valid. Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant.
Sincerely,
Yasser Arafat"
-R-
So taking Israel to task for everything - some surely justified - is fine and noble but suggesting that the Palestinian organizations may have some room to act is baiting?
There is a certain kind of political correctness virus that has invaded the thinking here.
Isn't it patronizing to expect that the Palestinian organizations cannot act?
Why not expect more of them? or even something?
I print EXACTLY such an OFFICIAL statement, which was rejected by israel, and he ignores it and goes and goes right on attacking Ben, again.
Truly he and the shrew barbara joanne were/are a match made in paradise of their respective living hells.
I couldn't do any better than his justification for the starvation, occupation, persecution, and slaughter of these largely defenseless people than his "defense."
Left with nothing else, what would you do? No, the Palestinians will not recognize their oppressors, and yes, they will fight them with what few resources they have.
There is a reason why the international community with the exception of the US no longer supports Israel. It is not anti-Semitic as the right will so quickly proclaim and thereby dismiss responsibility. It is what any less co-opted nations would do in the face of such tyranny, despite how it is couched.
The justifications of Israel are falling on more and more deaf ears, even among those who are "Jewish." American liberals no longer buy it, and their strongest ties here are now with right wing Fundamentalist groups.
The battle really is within the international Jewish community as it looks further and deeper into the matter. Once began as one of the greatest hopes of the 20th century Israel has become the greatest shame of the 21st.
I'm glad some readers have been able to "read between the lines." I think this is situation where those with a conscience would rather be in jail than out.
I read that story in the NYTimes last week and cheered. A breakout of normalcy and a political defiance all at once. The irony is not lost -- Israeli women driving Palestinians to the sea -- to play.
It would also behoove the leadership of the Palestinians to denounce terror, stop the teaching of anti-Semitism in their schools, and discourage the fomenting of Jew hatred in their press.
If the Palestinian leadership doesn't do this, it is time for the Palestinian people to, figuratively speaking, drive them, the "leadership", into the sea and raise up leaders who are realistic about Israel and its factual existence, and realistic too about the need to accept that in order to ever have the state for which the Palestinians have so long waited.
I appreciate your reasoned discourse.
In my view, the Israelis have been lecturing to the Palestinians for far too long, controlling virtually every aspect of their society. As a liberal, I long favored Israel, but slowly started to see that when a people are put into a situation where they are given so little recourse, and so little dignity, it is human nature that they will fight back at their oppressors in whatever way is possible, including hating them--surprise, surprise.
When Arafat was in power, he was the problem, now that Hamas is duly elected (duh) they are the problem. There is a difference between a people and their government, and a reason those governments are in power. I don't think you've taken enough steps back to look at this question objectively.
My point here is that as long as Israel is a right wing theocracy, led by men without conscience, there will not be peace, and war in the Middle East is inevitable as the surrounding countries become more responsive to their populace and break the sweatheart deals they've had with the US.
Israel is the overwhelming dominate power and its future is what is being threatened by its current leadership. That is my point, and you are welcomed to make yours.
This sentence could work equally well if Hamas, Fatah , Syria etc. were substituted for Israel in that sentence.
While Ben Sen's points about Israel may have some merit, he loses credibility when he refuses to see any other culprit in the Middle East.
If you live surrounded by danger, then you are forced by circumstances to become hardened and violent if necessary.
Why can the leaders of Hamas or Fatah recognize the physical reality of Israel as a Jewish state and remove themselves as the excuse for Israel's seeming intransigence?
If Ben Sen is against the killing and oppression of Palestinians, where are the articles about:
Syria when Syrian forces fired specifically on Palestinian protesters killing ten of them
Syria, when they actually bused Palestinian men and youths to the Israeli border and urged them to storm the Israeli border, knowing they would be fired upon.
Jordan, when Jordan removed Jordanian citizenship from Palestinians, making them less than guests,
PFLA, when it fired on another camp, which did not do enough to storm the Israeli border.
Any Arab country that, rather than absorbing Palestinians who fled the fighting, kept them in camps for 60 years. Compare this to those displaced from European countries during and after WWII who were quickly absorbed back into other countries and began living productive lives.
" No, the Palestinians will not recognize their oppressors, and yes, they will fight them with what few resources they have. "
How does Ben Sen have the right to make this statement above? Has he talked to the leaders of the Palestinian peace movements? Or has he recognized that leaders of the Palestinian peace movement are much safer in Israel than they are in the Palestinian lands.
As long as Ben Sen is quiet about this, while drumming again and again only against evil Israel, the only possible conclusion is that he cares more to be anti-Israel than he is pro-Palestinian.
Ben Sen doesn't answer questions, he continues only to beat his drums.
"Why can't the leaders of Hamas or Fatah recognize the physical reality of Israel as a Jewish state and remove themselves as the excuse for Israel's seeming intransigence?
Pot calling the kettle black -- don't hear much comment from you (or your smarmy friend, bj) concerning the official letter Arafat to Rabin.
Oh yeah, mindless bj, said on another board, she doesn't trust him.
Neither do I, bj, he's dead. you're only brain dead, like the megalomaniac "prophet."
I'm not going to write your posts for you. Your "technique," is really not much more than heckling.
You fail to recognize my arguments and move on to the same sorry arguments the right has been fostering for years. The good news, and perhaps (using your own technique) you wish to comment on is how there may be a little opening now in Israel with the new generation possibly bringing about a resurgence of liberal policy in the country--and thus possibly saving it from self-destruction.
The best posts I've ever seen on Israel in OS have been from RickyB, an American of Jewish extraction living there, reporting in the last election on how the government is not much more than a front for the fanatical religious parties who pray upon the fears of the masses, much as fundies and reactionaries do everywhere.
You should write about that! (See how it your technique works, or doesn't work.)
We can only hope, right, or I mean left, Traveler. Me thinks you're going to have trouble in the months ahead if the tide finally turns, and a party and another Rabin emerges who wants to end the occupation. It's hard to fool all of the people all of the time.
My point is this. Israel is here to stay. They have nuclear weapons, they have a strong defense, they are not going to agree to be destroyed as a country. So, the Palestinians have to do some thinking. If they want a state, they have to accept the reality of Israel. Much as they may feel they have a reason to hate that state, it is there. Their only choice is to deal with it. They need to accept Israel and denounce terror. (They also need to work hard to cease terror activities from the regions they control.) They need to deal with reality. There is no other choice. I believe that a Palestinian entity that said they accepted Israel and that strongly discouraged terrorism could, within a short time, convince Israel to work with it to help create a state. Israel did "give back" territory to Egypt when the latter accepted it. It makes no sense that Israel would NOT want this problem solved. It can only be solved by accepting, first, the state of Israel as a fact.
BTW, I'd be curious to know how all of you who are so critical of Israel would solve this problem.
One) do you accept that Israel has a right to exist?
Two) do you accept that it has a right to remain a Jewish state?
Three) do you expect the Palestinian leadership to accept the two above?
Min Japan may reply as well although he may want to try and keep his anger in check.
The examples of the Israeli women helping the Palestinian women, although small, do show that there are people of good will in Israel, and I think in the Palestinian community, who want to create peace between the two parties. However, the Palestinians have to force their leadership into the real world first.
" No, the Palestinians will not recognize their oppressors, and yes, they will fight them with what few resources they have. "
If this turns out to be so, then we can expect there to be no peace in the region. We can also expect the Palestinians to not have a state. Israel will not commit suicide.
Oh yeah, mindless bj, said on another board, she doesn't trust him.
Neither do I, bj, he's dead. you're only brain dead, like the megalomaniac "prophet."
Ah, yes, I know he's dead. I've pointed that out as well. I didn't trust him in the past. And, Mark, please note I'm not calling you names. If I am brain dead, as you so charmingly put it, please show some evidence.
All I'm saying is, Israel is here to stay. It is not going to commit suicide. The Palestinians need to find a realistic way to create a state. It ain't gonna happen if they send suicide bombers into Israel and don't accept its right to exist. People may not LIKE that, but I suspect it is so. What government of Israel, right or left, would agree to something that caused Israel to disappear?
And if you're so enamored of the Arafat letter, perhaps you should hope that the Palestinians of today accept Israel as a nation and work toward a two-state solution with that in mind.
Sorry to be smarmy. I just can't help my evil sweetness.
"I'm not going to write your posts for you. Your "technique," is really not much more than heckling.
You fail to recognize my arguments and move on to the same sorry arguments the right has been fostering for years."
I don't plan to write these. I was making the point that you aren't interested in writing articles that support the cause of Palestinian articles because, if you were, you would be writing about those other places I mentioned; you are interested only in anti-Israel arguments.
You are a bigot who has found a convenient drum to pound.
I've looked at your blog. It's apparent you're a hothead whose lack of knowledge doesn't prevent you from sounding off. It's little wonder most of the dialogues end badly full of the sort of non-sequiters you throw at me. A closed mind in not how you're going to learn and develop. I'll know next time not to take you seriously and so I think will others interested in reasoned discourse.
I don't doubt for a minute these brave women have ample supporters. Though the current protests are ostensively over fiscal policy, it could well lead to a liberal resurgence, much as we had in this country in the last presidential.
Having known so many Israelis during my lifetime, many of whom fought in their many wars, I feel certain one day the tide will turn and justice will prevail. Forty four years of war is a lot of war.