In his final speech in court, Marwan Barghouti, the Fatah leader on trial, issued a resoundingwarning: If Israelis do not adopt the Two-States Solution soon, Israel will disappear. Thewhole country will become one state, and in this state the Palestinians will soon constitutethe majority.
I don’t know whom Barghouti talked with before using this argument. Probably it was Israelileft-wingers, who are convinced of the brilliance of this stratagem.
And indeed, it could be very convincing. Shimon Peres and people like him have been using it for a long time. It is based on the following reasonable assumptions:
- If there is one thing on which 99% of Israelis are united, it is the will to live in a state with a solid Jewish majority, whose language and culture are Hebrew.
- This is deeply imbedded in the collective consciousness, partly as a reaction to the persecution of the Jews, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism in countries where Jews were a minority. Of course, all other peoples want the same, too.
- To the vast majority of Israelis, the idea of a bi-national state, which means the elimination of the State of Israel, represents the loss of all they have achieved in the country since the first settlers came in 1882.
Therefore, the advocates of this tactic say: don’t come to the public with slogans of peace,reconciliation and hope. That will not work. The Jewish public hates the Arabs and does nottrust them.
Instead, let’s take the feelings of hatred and racial prejudice and use them for a good end.Tell the public that the idea of “two states for two peoples” is the only way to save our state. Ifit is not realized, the State of Israel will fall apart, a bi-national state will emerge and theJews will become here, too, a fast-shrinking minority. Like the Whites in South Africa, theywill gradually leave the country. After all, if we have to be a minority, then why in a poor Arabcountry, as Palestine is liable to become, and not in Canada or Australia?
Marwan Barghouti is not the only one who uses bi-nationalism as a scarecrow. Lately, severalPalestinian spokespersons have been waving this flag – not because they believe in it, but inorder to frighten Israelis into accepting the Two-States plan, which is the only realisticpeace plan on the agenda.
I warn against this tactic. It is very dangerous.
It may seem that there are only two possibilities: One state in the whole country, which willnecessarily be bi-national, or an Israeli state in a part of the country, inside the greenLine, next to a Palestinian state. But there is a third possibility: An Israeli state in all ofthe country, from which the Palestinian population will be expelled. Few Israelis speak ofthis openly, but a great many think about it.
Good people ignore this alternative because they do not find it thinkable. They imagineKosovo-style ethnic cleansing: driving millions out in one big dramatic sweep. They consolethemselves: “The world won’t stand for it! Sharon wouldn’t dare!”
But there are other ways to implement ethnic cleansing: not dramatically, but slowly, daily,even routinely. Like, for example, what’s happening now in Bethlehem.
It works like this: Pressure is put on property-owners. They are told: It’s better for you tosell us your properties now, before the authorities come and expropriate them for securityreasons. (In this case: the security of the near-by Rachel’s Tomb). Very high prices areoffered. They are promised that a new life will be arranged for them in Canada or Australia, farfrom the Palestinian organizations that might kill them as traitors. After some time, andafter the sellers are safely out of sight, the sale is disclosed to the public. Palestinianstenants are driven out and a new Jewish neighborhood arises.
These methods have served the “redeemers of the soil” (in Zionist terminology) for the last120 years. The tempo can be increased rapidly. The more hellish the life of the Palestiniansbecomes – for security reasons, of course – the more the Israeli leadership hopes that theArabs will go away “voluntarily”.
Therefore, the idea of “one state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan” cannot be used tofrighten Arab-hating Israelis. They see it only as another reason to put up more settlementsall over the West Bank, in order to make sure that Israel will dominate the area. As for thePalestinian population – well, Ariel Sharon and his ilk have a lot of experience in dealingwith them.
As a matter of fact, there is no need for such tricks to support the idea of Two States. It speaksfor itself. Slowly and surely it is convincing the Israelis, as it has convinced the “Quartet”and the world community. Those who doubt this should see the statement of the 27 combat pilots(who are now 30, after two left under pressure and five new ones joined).
The “pilots of conscience”, who come from the mainstream of Israeli society, are the swallowsthat announce the spring (as the Hebrew saying goes). People are fed up with the occupation,fed up with the oppression, fed up with the war.
There is no need to convince the Israeli public that peace is worthwhile. But they must beconvinced that peace is possible. In this respect, people like Barghouti can do a lot. Andpeople in Israeli must learn to listen to what they have to say.