More on the Occupation

In his letter to the Mirror [Sept. 11], Ralph Hajj raises once more the issue of what he considers the illegitimate Israeli Law of Return and the flawed moral foundations of Zionism.

Zionism is the nationalist movement of the Jewish people. It is no less exclusive or racist than any other ethnic nationalism, be it Slovenian, Chechen, Catalan, Corsican, Kurdish, Palestinian or Québécois. From nation to nationality to bestiality, all ethnic nationalisms, including Palestinian and Israeli nationalisms, lead to the exclusion and dispossession of the “other.”

Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority refuse to silence the vile rhetoric of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to “kill the Jews.” Islamic extremists stand unchallenged at the forefront of the Palestinian nationalist movement. Is their intent any less racist or repulsive than the extremist elements within Zionism?

Balancing the right of return of Palestinians, there is also a Jewish counter-claim. Well over two-million Israeli Jews base their origins in the Arab world. From Casablanca to Basra, Jews lived in Arab society for well over 1,000 years, if not prior to the rise of Islam. While their role as a dhimmi, relegated them legally to second-class social status, they were active and contributing members of society in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Syria Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

The rise of Arab nationalism and the creation of the Jewish state put an end to all of that. More than a million Jews of the Arab world were forced into exile, abandoning forever their homes, their businesses and their graveyards. Do they and their descendants also have a right of return and a restoration of their property, or does that right belong exclusively to Palestinians?

Let me be perfectly clear. I am against the Occupation and for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with just compensation for the Palestinian refugees. But it is pointless to argue the legitimacy or the existence of either Israeli or Palestinian nationalism. This will get us nowhere.

As a filmmaker, I have chosen to hold up a mirror to the ugly face of Israel and tell the stories of Israelis opposed to the Occupation and Israeli crimes resulting from the Occupation. I would respectfully suggest to Mr. Hajj that instead of wasting his time lambasting the morality of Zionism and the Law of Return, he and his supporters ought to try to make a documentary film that holds up a mirror to the underbelly of Palestinian nationalism, exposing its racist rhetoric, its flawed democratic structure, its appalling financial corruption and its choice of violent over non-violent tactics.

The solutions to the hell in which we have found ourselves reside within us, Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs. Let us first try to look deeply within ourselves before we point fingers at each other.

» Eric R. Scott

In his letter attacking Eric Scott’s response to criticism, Mr. Hajj seemed a bit confused about what exactly constitutes Zionism as an ideology. He believes it to be dependent on “racial/religious purity,” “dispossession of millions of people,” and “persecuting another people and taking away their land.” He also accuses Zionists of having “visions of moral superiority” that justify occupation.

Speaking as a progressive Zionist who opposes the Occupation, I am glad to clarify. Zionism as an ideology, like Palestinian nationalism, is based on the right of a long-oppressed people to self-determination in a land to which they have a historical connection. Zionism’s history has many negative manifestations of the ideology, including occupation and racist state policy. Being a Zionist however does not mean unequivocal support for historic injustice or the actions of the Israeli government; I oppose the current one vigorously and have fought, inside and outside Israel, to end its actions and the continuing occupation. I believe they shame the State of Israel and undermine everything for which it should stand.

Similarly, Palestinian nationalism is based on the acknowledged right of a people to self-determination, but has proponents who take actions that only postpone their cause of statehood. Suicide bombing has the trait Mr. Hajj criticizes in Israeli policy: it kills people not for actions of their own but based on hatred of their racial and religious background. Both military occupation and terrorism are not truly part of, but in reality work against, the fundamental justice of the original two ideologies. Without making any equivalency, I believe that both must be opposed by all who desire a free Palestine as well as those who seek a secure Israel. I know that neither can exist without the other. But only when the two peoples (and their supporters abroad) recognize the right of the other to exist within a limited part of the land they both live on will a just and lasting peace come about—one characterized by the fundamental rights they both deserve.

» Ruth Stevens

Survival Guide Corrections

The following are amendments to our Sept. 4 Survival Guide. The Concordia women’s centre is now called the Dragonroot Centre for Gender Advocacy, open to the transgendered as well as to women, and by appointment only (848-2424 ext. 7431). Fearless Tiger was omitted from the Women’s self-defence section (685-8888 or www.fearlesstiger.com). The correct address for Animalerie Little Bear is 4205 Ste-Catherine W. Super Club Vidéotron’s Parc and Mont-Royal outlets don’t offer two-for-one rentals on Wednesdays. And the Boulangerie St-Laurent is, sadly, no more.

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