Is Peace (in Israel-Palestine) Possible?
The truth is not only that Zionism and Judaism are total opposites, but that the return of Jews to the land of biblical Israel by the efforts of man was PROSCRIBED by Judaism…. After my wife, my second best friend in the world is my very kosher Jewish accountant. Until this Gentile told him, he didn’t know that Zionism was proscribed by Judaism. I wonder how many other Jews don’t know.
I also wonder how many Jews, and Gentiles, are aware of the following….. Many if not most of the Jews who went to Palestine in answer to Zionism’s call had no biological connection to the ancient Hebrews. The incoming Zionist Jews were mainly foreign nationals of many lands, descended from those who became Jewish by conversion to Judaism centuries after the fall of the ancient Jewish kingdom of Israel and what is called the “dispersal” into “oblivion” of its people. The notion that there are two entire peoples with an equally valid claim to the same land is an historical nonsense. The relatively few Jews with a valid claim were, are, the descendants of those who stayed IN Palestine through everything. They numbered only a few thousand at the time of Zionism’s birth; they regarded themselves as Palestinians; and they were fiercely opposed to Zionism’s colonial enterprise – because they rightly feared that it would make them as well as the incoming, alien Zionist Jews enemies of the Arabs among whom they had lived in peace and security.
JUDAISM is the religion of Jews and, rather like Christianity and Islam, it has at its core a set of ethnical principles and moral values.
ZIONISM is not only a secular, colonialist ideology, it makes a mockery of, and has contempt for, the ethical principles and moral values of Judaism. Which is why those most often described as “ultra orthodox” religious Jews say, and I believe they are right, that Zionism is destroying Judaism.
* For those of you who might wish to have a much deeper understanding of the difference between Zionism and Judaism, I recommend a recently published book – A Threat From Within, A CENTURY OF JEWISH OPPOSITION TO ZIONISM. Its author is a Canadian Jew, Yakov Rabkin, who is Professor of History at the University of Montreal….. When Yakov was here in London, I asked him a very explicit question: “Is it reasonable to say that the Jews of the world now have a choice to make – either to reaffirm their commitment to Judaism and renounce Zionism, or to reaffirm their commitment to Zionism and renounce Judaism?” He replied with one word, “YES!”
(That conversation is a matter of record and can be found on the DVD with the title Hart of the Matter, Why Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism.It is, mainly, the recording of a presentation and debate here in this chamber last year. The platform party was yours truly with Ilan, Dr. Hajo Meyer, a holocaust survivor, Rabbi Ahron Cohen and, for a Palestinian perspective, Dr. Ghada Kharmi).
To sum up so far… When you know the difference between Zionism and Judaism, you do NOT have to be frightened about being falsely charged with anti-Semitism for criticising the Zionist state of Israel. It really is very important for citizens of goodwill everywhere to know this because, right now, Zionism’s heavyweight spin doctors are trying to get governments to accept a new definition of anti-Semitism which, effectively, will make criticism of Zionism’s colonial enterprise illegal. That’s outrageous. It’s also a sign of how desperate Zionism is becoming as Ilan and I and others (including Avi Shlaim) make progress in replacing its lies of history with the truth. When you know your story cannot be subjected to informed and honest debate, you seek to prevent it, informed and honest debate, happening. That is, and always has been, Zionism’s game. (In verbal parenthesis I’ll add that it might well be that Western governments WILL do Zionism’s bidding on the matter of a new definition of anti-Semitism. If they do, those of us who care about the truth of history will have to tell our governments, as well as Zionism, to go to hell!)
Now to the question – Is peace possible?
Let’s first of all take a look at the peace that was made possible by Yasser Arafat’s success, as far back as 1979, in persuading the decision-making institutions on the Palestinian side to back his policy of politics and compromise with Israel; a policy which, if Zionism had been interested, could have led to a genuine two-state solution – Israel inside its borders as they were on the even of the 1967 war (in accordance with Security Council Resolution 242), and Palestinian mini-state on the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem, preferably as an open city, the capital of both states.
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