The Other Side:
To the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Hardly any other subject has caused so much controversy among critics of globalisation as the Middle East conflict.
"Solidarity with the Palestinian people” and condemnation of Israel dominated the ESF in Florence 2002 as well as in Porto Alegre 2003.
But is it that simple?
1. History: Suppressed by Islam and Christianity
In its 5000 years the Jewish people have been threatened with extinction many times: by Egypt, Babylon, the Greek-Roman emperors.
After the conquest of Palestine by Muslims they built the ‚Church of the Holy Sepulchre' - on the site of the destroyed temple, of which only
the Wailing Wall still stands. Jerusalem was now a place of pilgrimage of the three monotheistic world religions, of which two have an
evangelical mission: Christianity and Islam. Although both of them are founded on the religion of Abraham they are irreconcilably opposed to
each other. About 1100 A.D. the crusaders massacred many Jewish and Islamic citizens. 2 centuries later, after the crusaders were expelled
the Mamelukes destroyed all the towns along the coast and used the land as pasture. Palestine fell apart, the numbers of Jews and
Christians plummeted. From 1516 Palestine belonged to the Ottoman Empire. There were fewer and fewer Jewish communities. In Islamic
countries Christians and Jews were considered as ‚Dhimmi' (protected), that is as followers of the bible they were protected under a contract
(Dhimma) from the Jihad - but in return they had to give way to Muslims, were not allowed to give evidence against Muslims in court, were not
allowed to set up places of worship, had to pray quietly, were not allowed to marry Muslim women etc. If this subordination was broken by
one individual an official could order the punishment of the whole community. The Christian anti-Semitism stems from the belief that the Jews
killed Jesus. It lead to the Jews being the scapegoat for illness, pestilence and economic crises and their exclusion from many professions.
Mostly they had to live in Ghettos. Persecuted by ‚Reconquista' (1492) and countless pogroms they had to flee again and again. After the
French Revolution national states were founded in Europe based on a common culture or a common ethnic origin. Theoretically, Jewish
citizens now had equal rights but practically continued to be excluded. So, as a reaction to the European nationalism following the pogroms
of 1882 in Russia and the Dreyfuss-affair in France, Zionism as a liberation movement grew: the search for a safe homeland.
2. Questions on a tragic conflict
a) To whom does Palestine belong?
Until the beginning of the 20th century there was no national cohesion among the fellahs. In most cases the land belonged to the Christian
upper class that lived in the cities or feudal clans. The Arabic nationalism only became popular after the brutal actions of the Turkish
occupiers in the First World War. The British High Commissioner gave an assurance that there would be an "enlarged Arabic state”.
Almost simultaneously the British foreign minister Balfour promised a Jewish "national home in Palestine”. In the meantime, with the
help of Baron Rothschild, socialists migrating from Europe had acquired land.
As a result of several attacks - 1920 and 1929 in which several hundred Jews were killed - the pan-Arabic movement enforced a migration
limitation of Jews with the British. So millions of Jews had their escape route blocked when the German racial annihilation began to rage.
b) Why were the Palestinians expelled?
Jews had been Dhimmis for over a thousand years in the Middle East and Near East - therefore Zionism acted as a provocation to many
religious Arabs. When the UNO decided in 1947 that on the area of Palestine an Israeli state as well as an Arabic state should be founded,
the Arabic League rejected Resolution 181. So the civil war escalated, and immediately after the foundation of May 14, 1948 Israel was
attacked by a coalition of Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. In the one-year war around 6000 Israeli soldiers died and around
700.000 Palestinians fled. Even then no independent state was founded on the Palestinian area not belonging to Israel - as foreseen by
the UNO. Instead, refugees from Arabic states were exploited for their purpose. Until today, they have no civil rights, are excluded from
many professions, socially discriminated. They serve the government as cannon food.
c) Is Arafat a ‚moderate leader'?
Jasser Arafat al-Husseini defines himself as "soldier"of Hadschi al-Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. He, a burning
anti-Semite, was the one who organised the bloody attack against Jewish civilians in 1920 and in 1929 a massacre of the old Jewish
community in Hebron that had not been Zionistic. With weapons delivered by Hitler he lead the Arabic riot, in 1941 he was received by
Hitler in Berlin and then recruited 20.000 Bosnian Muslim volunteers that fought in the Waffen-SS against the partisans and hunted Jews,
Serbs and Romanies. After al-Husseinis death in 1974 his relatives exerted a decisive influence, as did Jasser Arafat. Hedominated the
radical Fatah, the moderate PLO and the autonomous authorities including their ten safety services comprising about 100.000 men. After
the PLO in Oslo officially recognised the right of existence of Israel the Fatah founded die Al-Aqsa-martyrs brigades that together with the
Hamas, the holy Djihad and the Hisbollah has been responsible for the murder of more than 800 Israeli civilians since the beginning of
the 2 nd Intifada. The West-Bank and Gaza belonged to Jordan and Egypt until 1967. Why has the PLO never claimed a Palestinian State
from these countries?
Because they - dependent on money from Saudi Arabia - in reality are also an instrument of pan Arabic politics to destroy Israel. That is the
reason why at every cease-fire the conflict is intensified by renewed attacks.
d) Is every critic of the Sharon-government anti-Semitic?
In Israel there is racism, religious fanaticism and a capitalist economy. Why should Israel be different from any other country in this respect?
Those who condemn illegally set up settlements, the siting of the safety fence or the targeted killing of Arabic terrorists (including the
acceptance of civilian victims) are not necessarily anti-Semitic.
Among "anti-imperialists" there is a sort of criticism which delivers common points of identification for anti-Semites and Nazis -
deliberately or not - for their transverse front strategy by which they attempt to attract people critical of globalisation for their alliances.
A popular game is for example to use vocabulary from the Nazi-times to describe activities of the Israeli: "Völkermord",
"Nazi-methods", "Sharon = Hitler". On the one hand this plays down the systematic destruction politics of the
German Nazis who together with Japan wanted to enslave half mankind. On the other hand it overstates by far the real situation in Israel,
whose government is right wing - but whose constitution is still democratic. Contrary to the constitution of all surrounding states. Who is
interested in the fact that in the Arab States there is neither freedom of coalition (independent unions) nor freedom of opinion or press? That
women are totally governed by the men? That conscientious objection is forbidden, gays end up in prison, and parliaments are merely fig
leaves?
e) Apartheid? - Why the focus on Israel?
Approximately 30 million people/year die of starvation because of worldwide Apartheid even more die of avoidable diseases and environmental
catastrophes. Thousands of refugees drowned, froze, suffocated on the borders of fortress Europe in recent years. In the EU hundreds of
thousands are threatened by deportation. Patriarchal religious fundamentalists preach the legal powerlessness of half of mankind. In the
Sudan, in the Congo and about 30 other war sites millions of civilians become the victims of the power and gold hungry elite.
Ethnic, nationalistic and racist ideologies block the heads of billions of people and hinder the development of a self-determined individual.
Why then do so many internationalists concentrate on "solidarity with the Palestinian people” and the denouncement of Israel?
For demographic, economic (no oil) and military grounds Israel, today, is the weaker part in the near-East conflict - against terrorism no
atom bomb can help. Every condemnation of Israel therefore takes a biased side in favour of the Arab dictatorships of the surrounding states
and the Islamic fundamentalists. The Middle-East conflict can only be solved if the Israeli people acknowledge the social situation of the
Palestinians and the Arabs the Shoah as the background for the existence of Israel. We in Europe should support those on both sides who
stand for the understanding of the corresponding sides' position.
For the free development of everyone as a condition for the free development of all!
Hartmut Regitz, Nov. 2003