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The Israeli Taboo… 55 Years On
The
Israeli “left” have long been talking and arguing over the
occupation of the
West Bank
and
Gaza
of 1967. More controversial amongst so-called “peaceniks” is the
future of the city of
Jerusalem
. But the ultimate taboo is to talk about the occupation and
dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948. Discussing Jewish action
in 1948 is naturally treacherous within mainstream Israeli society,
but is even off limits to the Israeli “peace” movement.
While
Israeli recognition of the injustice of the continuing occupation of
1967 is essential, a genuine just resolution will never begin to
emerge until Jewish-Israelis address the issue of 1948. I have lived
for close to three years in
Nazareth
, the largest Palestinian city remaining inside the 1948 borders.
Approximately a third of the community lost homes and land in 1948
and became refugees in
Nazareth
. Even if the occupation of the
West Bank
and
Gaza
ended tomorrow, the injustice committed against
Nazareth
refugees, just as for their brothers and sisters in
Lebanon
, would not be addressed.
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A
just resolution can only be achieved by addressing 1948. |
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In
recent weeks, the case of Teddy Katz, Israeli research student at
Haifa
University
, has once more surfaced in the news. Katz’ academic research
provided evidence of a 1948 massacre in the Palestinian
village
of
Tantura
, in the northern coastal region, by the Israeli Alexandroni
Brigade. Despite the academic rigor of his thesis, senior academics
at
Haifa
University
decided that even the demanded “revised” version of his thesis
would be disqualified. The Katz case would never have attracted so
much attention to the massacre in Tantura if it was not for the
lengths that the Israelis authorities have gone to suppress the
research. Professors who have supported Katz, notably Dr. Ilan Pappe,
have seen their jobs threatened over the issue of challenging
mainstream Israeli myths of 1948. “In the present atmosphere of
fear and conformity in the Israeli academic community it is very
easy to elicit even a dozen negative reports of any work, especially
by students, which are critical of Zionism or
Israel
” writes Pappe. The Katz case has demonstrated the level of
denial, and taboo nature of discussing the Nakba (1948 war) within
Israeli society.
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“Actually
I wouldn’t say ‘Israeli Arabs’.” |
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This
year is 55 years since the Nakba. On receiving a notice that a group
of Jewish activists were organizing a memorial at Deir Yassin to
remember the victims of perhaps the most famous massacre and
expulsion of the Nakba, I was curious. Half expecting that it would
be the usual bunch of “let’s hold a little ceremony and then we
don’t have to feel guilty about going home to our beautiful
ancient stone home on the hillside (which used to belong to a
Palestinian family).” I was in for a pleasant surprise. Speaking
by telephone to one of the organizers, Yosef Mekyton, I tried to
introduce myself. “I have been working with a 1948 Palestinian
NGO,” I said. And then I suddenly thought perhaps he wouldn’t
understand that by this I meant Palestinians in
Israel
, so I began to explain “Oh I guess you might say ‘Israeli
Arabs’…”
“Actually
I wouldn’t say ‘Israeli Arabs’,” he said, (a term which
Israel
uses that explicitly excludes the word “Palestinian” in the
identity label).
“Oh”
I said in relief/surprise. I had thought you could count on one hand
the number of Israelis who didn’t use the term “Israeli
Arabs.”
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Israeli peace activists place signs in sites of pre-1948 Palestinian life. Here, an activist places a sign on a mosque. |
Zochrot
(meaning “to remember” in Hebrew) is a group made up of around
ten key members and several others who participate in the
activities. “The group is about learning to take responsibility
for 1948,” explained Yosef, “and about recognizing that what was
done in our name is still going on.” The group has three main
activities,
preparing
a website in Hebrew about the Nakba, raising awareness in
Jewish schools of the history that the Israeli curriculum tries to
hide, and posting signs on the sites of destroyed Palestinian
villages.
“Many
monuments and road signs point out the loss of Jewish soldiers in
wars, yet no indication of the destruction of Palestinian life may
be found at all on our cultural and geographical landscape” states
the position paper of the organization, written by activist Eitan
Bronstein. The group sets out to change this, and the ceremony at
Deir Yassin was part of fulfilling this goal.
On
April 9, 1948
, 93 Palestinians were killed in Deir Yassin by the Irgun and Stern
gangs, including some captives who were first taken and paraded
alive around
Jerusalem
. Fifty-five years later, the protestors gathered at the site, now
home to the
Israeli
Kfar
Shaul
Psychiatric Hospital
,
where they put up a list of the dead in Hebrew and Arabic on the
perimeter fence, and erected a signpost to the village. Abdul
Barakat, 81, whose mother was from Deir Yassin, and who has 17
family members killed in the massacre, spoke to the group of around
80 Jews and 20 Arabs. Nearly as many police as protestors arrived,
and also dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews from the neighboring
apartment blocks to shout abuse at the demonstrators.
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Abdul Barakat speaking to the crowd |
“Palestinian
pain… is illegitimate; all expressions of pain are considered
hostile and threatening,” continues Bronstein. “Israel regards
its Arab citizens’ grief as a threat to Jewish existence here and
now.” While the group has Palestinian members from inside the 1948
areas, it is primarily for Jewish citizens. “We don’t need to
teach the Palestinians about 1948,” said Yosef, “we need to
teach ourselves.” The group is translating important documents
written by Palestinian historians into Hebrew to make information
available for a Jewish audience. They are trying to broaden contacts
with Palestinian refugee groups to get advice on their activities,
and to let Palestinians know that there are Israelis trying to
overcome the deep denial about the Nakba at the heart of Israeli
society.
The
criticism often leveled by Palestinians and foreign campaigners for
Palestinian rights is that Israeli activists fail to realize that
recognition of pain should lead to concrete support of the Right of
Return. I brought up the Right of Return with Yosef, an issue that
distances many activists from supporting Jewish “peace” groups.
“The group doesn’t have an official policy on the Right of
Return,” said Yosef, “but on a personal level, most of the group
members would support that this is a just claim from Palestinian
refugees. However, we believe that with the deep denial that Israeli
society is in, our primary task now is simply to work towards
recognition of the wrong that was done to Palestinians in 1948. This
is the first task.” And it is not an easy task. To persuade
schools to allow speakers or alternative reading material about the
Nakba is an uphill struggle. Signs marking unrecognized villages are
sometimes removed by Jewish residents.
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Israelis
who support Palestinian rights are considered treacherous. |
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Jewish
citizens of Israel who support Palestinian rights are sometimes seen by the government
as even more treacherous than Arab citizens. They are dismissed and
labeled as “self-hating” Jews. A clear example is the case of
two Jewish activists who were subject to a campaign by local media
to have their children taken away from them as “unfit parents.”
While genuinely radical Israeli-Jewish citizens are few and far
between, it must not be forgotten that there are a few people who
believe that their status as an Israeli bestows a moral obligation
to redress the wrong done to those dispossessed in the name of a
Jewish state.
Zionist
collective memory… prevents Jews from acknowledging their part in
the destruction, from accepting responsibility and, consequently,
from achieving real reconciliation with the Palestinians. The Jewish
people have not taken and do not take any action aimed at
acknowledging their part in the Palestinians’ suffering.
Posting
signs at destroyed Palestinian villages is part of a larger effort
to bring civil and national equality to the country. Physically
marking these villages and holding public discussions on the
Palestinian Naqba may encourage a more ethical discourse and reveal
both the victims and the initiators of the hardships - Zochrot
Isabelle
Humphries
is researching the situation for Palestinian refugees living inside
the 1948 borders. She has an MA in Middle East Politics and has worked
for three years with Palestinian NGOs, and as a freelance writer, on
both sides of the 1967 border. You can reach her at innazareth@yahoo.co.uk
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