Tag archieven: Israël. Palestina

From temper tantrum to maturity.

Since the foundation in 1948 of the State of Israel, no-one, no country or organization, sanctioned Israel for the things it did. It disregarded several UN resolutions, it violated international law repeatedly, but the only responses from the outside world (apart form the Palestinians) were some paternal reprimands, with no further consequences. That reminds me of parents who, after their children do something that is not acceptable (such as, for example, throwing food, or beating other children), rebuke their children, after which nothing happens (the behavior continues). Then of course the net result is that those children in the end cannot accept any boundaries. They in a way get stuck in an age of three, when autonomy is developing and boundaries should be set.

Now something remarkable happened. The European Union decided that Israel is not allowed anymore to import goods from the occupied territories with the label Made in Israel. The label should make it clear that the goods are coming from the Westbank or Gaza. Also the special favorable income tariffs for Israelian goods will not be applied anymore to goods of Westbank or Gaza origin.

This caused a temper tantrum in Israel. Everyone (apart from some Peace groups) was very upset, angry, annoyed, indignant, irate, enraged, livid, vexed, displeased – you name it. Israel reacted as a three year old child that was never confronted with any real limits. My personal conclusion from this is that the psychological age of the state of Israel is three years.

This made me wonder. What for example is the psychological age of the United States of America? It feels as: in the midst of the teens. Dynamic, impatient, optimistic about the future, an exploring mind, exuberant, arrogant, assertive. No sense for postponing satisfaction – if I want something, I want it now.

What is the age of Europe? On the one hand we are old. Conservative, wise, rigid, haughty, skeptical, careful, spiritual, compassionate. But on the other hand the younger generation, at least the native whites, are influenced a lot by the american way of life. They are young, critical, individualistic, and they don’t easily give up. So in the end Europe is a schizy continent, at least for the time being. I think it is difficult to be a mature, flexible, open minded person in Europe. Mindfulness is a heavy assignment in both continents. This is probably why our leadership fails.

It would be interesting to estimate the ages of, say, China, India, Russia, Brasil. I personally don’t know enough of those countries to say something intelligent about it. But it would be useful knowledge if one wants to estimate the processes and outcomes of negotiations and cooperation. Real cooperation is only possible between parties that are both mature and grown up. How important that is shows the Israelian case. Anyone who wants to promote Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestines, should know that no result can be accomplished unless the Israelians learn that boundaries exist. They will not learn that the soft way, by words alone. Only sanctions can make that clear. It doesn’t seem to me that the American government (Kerry, Obama) is seeing this.

And what should the Palestinians learn? As a result of ages of repressions they appear to me as primary school kids, who see only two possible reactions in life: submission or rebellion. They have to rediscover their own strength. If they don’t negotiations with Israelians will fail. The facilitators of the negotiations should know that as well.

(I apologize for mistakes in my English. Blogs are cursory – not stuff for correction by a native speaker)

The season for peace and watermelons is short

12 reacties

I always thought that it were the Palestinian schoolbooks that were biased concerning the history of Israel and Palestine. And that Israelian schoolbooks were more neutral. That appears not to be true, it is the other way around. Israelian schoolbooks hardly mention the Palestines or Arabs, and as far as they do they are mentioned only as terrorists or very primitive rural people. They preach racism and hatred. Palestinian books as far as maps are concerned are even more selective than the Israelian books, but they are not militaristic and don’t romanticize their own violence, as the Israelians do. This is the outcome of an investigation of Nurit Peled, the authority in the field of textbooks in Israel. Needles to say that since she published these results she is banned from all conferences and meetings about textbooks in Israel. (source: NRC/Handelsblad, April 22/2013)

I don’t think that Palestinians are ‘better’ than Israelis, but I do know that schoolbooks in Palestine territories are financed and therefore checked by the European Union, whereas the Israelis, who receive a lot of help from the United States can do as they please. That is also true for other activities, such as building the wall outside the border, building communities in Palestinian territory, violating international law, or protecting colonists who exert violence against Palestinians in occupied territory.

In the past history there have been short periods of real peace negotiations resulting in short flares of hope. But these periods came and went without results. And no peace initiatives are to be expected, neither form the European Union, nor from the the United States. Both entities have the power to exert real pressure on Israel to move (the Palestinian Authority, as the underlying party, is willing enough), but they will not use their power, which is strange, because as far as I can see this is certainly not in their own interest. As they say in Arab: no peace initiatives and no watermelons. The season for peace initiatives and watermelons is short. (Uri Avnery). As I discussed elsewhere, (in my recent book), the momentum for a two state solution has passed. So the hope for peace at the moment is gone.

However, hope is never gone for those who do what their hearts and ands find tot do. Like they do in the HopeFlowers School in Bethlehem (https://www.hopeflowersschool.org) and in Hajar School in the Negev: https://www.hajar.org.il. Education as it is meant, education for peace. So let’s follow their example, and do what our hearts and hands find to do.

(I apologize for mistakes in my English. Blogs are cursory – not stuff for correction by a native speaker)

Onheil in het Heilige Land.

1 reactie

Er is veel te schrijven, en ik ben jullie nog een blog schuldig over economische groei, maar eerst even iets anders.

Gisteravond hield de heer Van Agt, op mijn uitnodiging, een lezing in onze loge onder bovenstaande titel. Een lezing waarin hij onder andere liet zien dat Israël sinds 1948 consequent het bestaande volkenrecht aan zijn laars heeft gelapt. Uitspraken van het hooggerechtshof in Den Haag en van de Algemene Vergadering van de Verenigde Naties legt het consequent naast zich neer. Ook houdt het zich niet aan de Geneefse Conventies.

Het kan dit straffeloos doen omdat de Verenigde Staten en Europa hier niet tegen optreden. Ze zouden dat heel makkelijk kunnen doen, Amerika door financiële steun en wapenlveranties aan Israël te onthouden, en Europa door het associatieverdrag met Israël op te schorten, omdat Israël zich niet houdt aan artikel 2 van dat verdrag (dat gaat over de mensenrechten). Dat laatste zou Israël enorme schade berokkenen, omdat Europa twee derde afneemt van de Israëlische uitvoer. Waarom treden deze landen niet op? Wat betreft Amerika valt te wijzen op de krachtige Joodse lobby, die elke president denkt nodig te hebben voor zijn herverkiezing of de verkiezing van een opvolger uit zijn eigen partij. Maar belangrijker lijken me nog de commerciële belangen, onder meer van de wapenindustrie.

Wat betreft Europa spelen commerciële belangen zeker ook een rol, maar er speelt meer mee. Van Agt noemde gisteren een paar factoren: schuldgevoel over de holocaust en onze passiviteit tijdens de 2e wereldoorlog, van Calvinistische zijde: een bijbels funderen van de missie van Israël, het slaafse volgen van Amerika, en zo meer. Nederland heeft wat dat betreft een opvallende rol. Het is er tijdens de ministerschappen van Verhagen en Rosenthal in geslaagd om elk initiatief in Europa, dat tot enige actie zou hebben kunnen leiden, te torpederen.

Ondertussen is de toestand op de Westoever zo rampzalig geworden (mede omdat Israël alle invoerrechten heft en int, en beperkingen oplegt op het gebied van export, transport van goederen en personen, en het innen van belastingen) dat de Palestijnse president Abbas een wanhoopspoging doet: hij heeft de status van staat zonder land aangevraagd bij de Verenigde Naties. Als hij die status heeft kan hij namelijk Israël voor het International Hof van Justitie dagen. Dit is geen agendapunt voor de Veiligheidsraad, maar wordt beslist in de Algemene Vergadering. Het kan dus niet door een veto worden tegengehouden en de aanvraag zal waarschijnlijk worden gehonoreerd. De Verenigde Staten hebben aangekondigd dat ze in dat geval alle steun aan de Palestijnen stop zullen zetten. Dat is misschien nog niet eens zo verkeerd, omdat dam de ellende zo hoog oploopt, dat er wel wat MOET gebeuren.

Ik ben benieuwd wat de koers van onze nieuwe minister van buitenlandse zaken zal zijn.