By Nasim Ahmed
July 04, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" - Supporters of Israel would
have breathed a sigh of relief when the Zionist state
postponed its 2 July annexation of the West Bank, in
what was a humiliating about-turn. The formula for peace
envisaged in the two-state solution is considered the
last chance to redeem the Zionist project from tipping
over into a full-blown apartheid state.
With annexation being a
daily reality for Palestinians, the international
backlash concealed a level of hypocrisy and ignorance
that is particularly unique to this issue. Israel
formalised its annexation of Jerusalem and the Golan
Heights with very little resistance from the same
outspoken critics. One has to ask: is one set of
illegal annexation worse than others? Would
annexation of another 30 per cent of the West Bank be as
disastrous as it’s made out to be, when all the
territory west of the Jordan River is controlled by
Israel? What should Palestinians do when annexation
eventually goes ahead?
These were some of the
questions raised in Thursday’s webinar hosted by
MEMO:
Israel Annexation, Apartheid & the Media.
With three experts: Dr Virginia Tilley, David Cronin and
Shafiq Morton offering their unique perspectives on the
issue, the 90-minute virtual forum offered MEMO
readers around the world a unique opportunity to
critically look at the debate around annexation.
We should “embrace”
annexation, Tilley insisted in her 20-minute
presentation. The Southern Illinois University professor
urged listeners not to get carried away with the
palpable “alarm” over Israel’s unilateral move, which in
reality is merely seeking to formalise what has been de
facto annexation for decades. “Let’s just accept
annexation and call Israel on the consequences,” advised
Tilley.
The arguments presented by
Tilley are debated in greater detail in her book The
One-State Solution. By embracing
annexation, the paradigm that has allowed Israel to
continue on a path of ongoing land theft can be
challenged more effectively, suggested Tilly. The
argument is that Palestinians can advance their cause
for basic human rights through an anti-colonial and
racist movement, far more effectively than the current
failed model of Palestinian statehood. The full weight
and scope of law will come to bear on Israel under such
a campaign, explained Tilley.
“Annexation is Israeli
policy and settlements are its instrument,” Tilley went
on to add, dismissing the illusion that such takeover of
Palestine is carried out by religious zealots on little
hilltops. “That’s a lie,” she insisted. Israel’s
takeover of Palestine: “Has always been a
state-sponsored programme. Every ministry is involved
with some ministries spending their entire budget on
settlement programmes,” according to Tilley.
Tilley argued that the
centrality of the West Bank to Zionist vision has made
reversal of annexation programmes impossible. “Israel is
absolutely committed to its annexation programme and no
outside actor including the US is going to be able to
muster the political will to counter the settlement
enterprise,” she affirmed. Such a scenario, she claimed,
made the creation of a Palestinian state impossible, and
therefore forces Palestinians and the international
community to rethink how best to uphold and protect the
basic human rights of the different populations living
within historic Palestine.
Tilley insisted that the
alternative to the
one-state model was “dangerous” and would lead to the
creation of an apartheid situation with Palestinians
forced to live in bantustans. Palestinians can expect to
gain much more under a
one-state programme, by accepting full annexation of
Israel over the entirety of historic Palestine, she
argued. “They will have access to the full gamut of
human rights law developed over the last half century
about equal rights including prohibition on racial
discrimination and apartheid.
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In his observations about
the manner in which the media has covered the topic of
annexation, David Cronin spoke about the BBC’s
failure to discuss this issue in any shape or form that
could be considered “honest”. Concurring with Tilley,
the associate editor of the Electronic Intifada
explained that though annexation is a daily occurrence,
the mainstream media ignores the reality of Israel’s
takeover of Palestine. “Facts on the ground are that
Israel is in violation of the fourth Geneva Convention;
settlement activities are war crimes,” asserted Cronin
pointing to the BBC’s neglect to speak about
annexation in a direct manner. He indicated that the
BBC’s insistence on making light of the illegality
of Israeli policies with the phrase “settlements are
considered illegal except by Israel,” is no different to
the suggestion that everyone considers the Earth to be
round except The Flat Earth Society.
Watch:
Israel Annexation, Apartheid & the Media
Shafiq Morton, an
award-wining South African journalist described the
challenges of covering annexation under a global
pandemic. With fewer journalist on the ground, Israel
has found it easier to squash news of its illegal
practices in Palestine. His main concern over the
coverage alluded to the lack of context and history.
“Many stories pretended as if annexation fell out of the
sky,” expressed Morton. Annexation, he explained, is:
“The oldest narrative of the Palestinian story.” The
global outrage to the threat of annexation of the West
Bank, suggested Morton, implied that soft critics of
Israel were completely detached from the reality. He
warned that without more context, nobody will understand
the Palestinian question.
Morton shared several
observations on the parallels between apartheid in South
Africa, which he covered extensively during his 30-year
career as journalist, and Israel. He mentioned the
architect of apartheid itself, racist prime minister of
white South Africa, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, who in 1963
declared that: “Israel, like South Africa, is an
apartheid state.”
The
two-state model has utterly failed the Palestinians,
was the webinar’s key message. With Israel’s annexation
irreversible, Palestinians have no alternative but to
transform their state-focused campaign for
self-determination into an anti-colonial, civil-rights
movement. Such a campaign has a greater potential for
success in protecting the basic human rights of all
communities in the territory.
With nearly a century of
conflict triggered by attempts to divide Palestine into
two countries on the basis of ethnicity, who can argue
with that? Maybe now is the time to restore the Holy
Land to the original ideals of its people — a state
founded on territorial, civic nationalism protecting the
rights of all people, of all faiths and communities
living in the country without racial and religious
discrimination.
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