Disturbing Israeli Poll, An Israeli Activist's View On Divestment, and A Mainstream Israeli Critique of the Wall

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Today's Contents:

More Israeli Jews favor transfer of Palestinians, Israeli Arabs - poll finds (Ha'aretz) Israeli leadership's fearmongering is paying dividends

[JPN CORRECTION: In our October 7 edition, an article was sent from Ha'aretz entitled "More Israeli Jews favor transfer of Palestinians, Israeli Arabs - poll finds". Although the article appeared on several reputable web sites as being current, and was not behind Ha'aretz's subscriber page, as most archived articles are, it was, in fact, an article from 2002. JPN regrets the error.] [JPN Commentary: A very disturbing poll appeared in Ha'aretz last week. The poll indicates a hardening of Israeli views on Arabs; not only regarding those in the Occupied Territories, but also within Israel itself. To be sure, the second intifada has a lot to do with these feelings. Still, when one steps back for a moment, it seems clear that something else must be at work. In the past year, Israelis have experienced considerably fewer violent attacks as the intifada has slowed (it should be noted that there is little evidence, other than the coincidental timing, that the wall is the reason--rather, the fact that Hamas and even Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade have repeatedly agreed to halt violent attacks and the engagement by mahmoud Abbas in a political process seem the much more prominent reasons for the decline in attacks). Other than Syria, Israel finds itself without any neighboring countries that pose any threat, and only a handful of nearby states that are not in some kind of formal state of peace, de facto or de jure. Yet Israelis seem to be feeling less secure than ever, and they are responding, as people who are frightened often do, with bigotry. Attacks during the second intifada obviously increase Israeli rage, fear and bigotry. Americans should certainly be familiar with this phenomenon--it is no different than what happened here after 9/11, except that the response is to somewhat smaller scale, but very much more frequent attacks. But the attacks themselves don't explain the hardening of feeling--if they did, the decline in attacks would affect the polls. The more important factor is what is done with the attacks by israeli leadership and propagandists. In what is perhaps the most important example of how forces working against peace among both Israelis and Palestinians in fact work together, we can see-- in news reports, political speeches, op-eds and other sources--how these attacks are used by a broad spectrum among the Israeli leadership to enhance Israeli hostility toward Arabs. Some of it is subtle, subtexts in articles and talks, or statements that simply assume Arabs as being apart from Jews, or as being "different" citizens of Israel. Some, like statements by major Israeli figures supporting expulsion of Arabs (as, for instance, Benjamin Netanyahu did earlier this year) are overt. And the result is what we see reported. It must be stressed that no matter how many Israelis support such a barbaric act, it remains illegal, immoral and, indeed anti-democratic, as it has long been realized by virtually all clear thinkers on questions of democracy that the "tyranny of the majority" must be held in check by provisions, usually constitutional, that prevent madness such as this from taking over. Words, of course, are one thing, actions another. But action has been underway for some time. It has been clear for years, long before the intifada, that Israel was employing a strategy in the Occupied Territories of making life so hard on Palestinians that they would "decide" to leave. In the past few years, Israel has been increasing the isolation and demonization of its own Arab citizens, despite platitudes like the recent ones from Ariel Sharon about regarding Arab victims of terrorism as the same as Jewish. Zionism, like all forms of nationalism, is not a universalist ideology, but an exclusivist one that values only one particular group of people. But we all have a right to expect any government to transcend the nationalist ideology on which it built in this regard. Israel must be held to the same standard as any other country. Transfer is not on the horizon--this would be too costly in terms of world opinion, as well as bringing an unwelcome response from American and large sectors of world Jewish opinion. But the more subtle forms of "pressuring them [Arabs] to leave" are already being enacted. It must be exposed and confronted in no uncertain terms. -- MP]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=140196 Some 46 percent of Israel's Jewish citizens favor transferring Palestinians out of the territories, while 31 percent favor transferring Israeli Arabs out of the country, according to the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies' annual national security public opinion poll. In 1991, 38 percent of Israel's Jewish population was in favor of transferring the Palestinians out of the territories while 24 percent supported transferring Israeli Arabs. When the question of transfer was posed in a more roundabout way, 60 percent of respondents said that they were in favor of encouraging Israeli Arabs to leave the country. The results of the survey also reveal that 24 percent of Israel's Jewish citizens believe that Israeli Arabs are not loyal to the state, compared to 38 percent who think the Arabs were loyal to the state at the beginning of the intifada. The poll, overseen by Prof. Asher Arian, also finds that Jewish public opinion is Israel has become more extreme on issues of foreign affairs and defense as well as on possible concessions by Israel during peace talks in particular. A representative sample of 1,264 Jewish residents of Israel were polled for the survey last month in face-to-face interviews. Israeli-Arabs pose a threat to Israel's security, according to 61 percent of the Jewish population, while around 80 percent are opposed to Israeli-Arabs being involved in important decisions, such as delineating the country's borders, up from 75 percent last year and 67 percent in 2000. Some 72 percent of Jewish Israelis are opposed to Arab parties being part of a coalition government, compared to 67 percent last year and 50 percent in 1999. This overall shift to the right has been coupled by a significant fall in support for the Oslo process; down from 58 percent last year, to 35 percent this year. Support for the establishment of a Palestinian state has also dropped from 57 percent last year to 49 percent this year. Only 40 percent of Jewish Israelis support transferring control of Arab areas of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians as part of a peace agreement, compared with 51 percent last year. There has also been a fall in the number of people willing to leave the settlements as part of an agreement with the Palestinians: 49 percent are in favor of Israel leaving the settlements, apart from large blocs, under a permanent status agreement, compared to 55 percent last year. Around 41 percent of those polled said that the acts of Palestinian violence have made them less open to compromise, while just 10 percent said that the on-going violence has had the opposite effect.

[JPN Commentary: Shana Tova to you all, Assaf Oron's first claim to fame (or to notoriety, as the case may be) was as one of the early signers of the Courage to Refuse document. The talk he gave, as part of a panel on the issue of divestment, touches on issues many of us have experienced or struggle with. I agree with his description of the fear [and I would add: fear- mongering] within the Jewish community, and the resultant attitude towards anyone who dares criticize Israel - even as more and more people find that they can't really go along and pretend that they can support Israeli policies. And I especially liked his comment on how we should "selectively invest", as well as selectively divest! We all know that many Israeli and Palestinian peace groups are in desperate need of funds. Unlike the Israeli government - there is no endless stream of money flowing in their direction. Perhaps as the new Jewish year arrives, we can make a commitment to increase our support for those deserving it, even as we work to divest - financially and otherwise - from the many institutions in this country which prop up the occupation. - R.G.]

Thanks for inviting me here. Just to make sure my looks and style don