Palestinian journalist argues for one state

[Resistance]

http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2003-09-18/news/13164

Students packed the Scheuer room on Monday to hear Palestinian journalist Ali Abunimah argue for a one-state solution to the beleaguered Middle East peace process.

Abunimah said he regretted the current media focus on whether killing Arafat was legitimate rather than how to handle the “separation wall” proposed by many Israelis. He supplemented his presentation with slides from his Web site, The Electronic Intifada.

Abunimah said he did not believe the conflict could be traced back to an individual or side. “If you take group A and group B and put them in one space, and group A has all the advantages — economic, military, social —and group B has none, there will be conflict. That is true everywhere in the world,” he said.

Although he originally embraced a two-state solution, Abunimah discussed his growing frustration with the Bush administration and its “road map” peace plan.

Henry Swift ’07 added that “it was very refreshing to hear someone discussing what is the most effective solution rather than what is the ‘right’ solution.”

[mddemo]

1. one state

I cant see this working, putting two people together who dont want to live together, i dont get on with my neighbour, so thers no way we could live together, thats why i built a 300meter 8 foot high fence, he does his thing i do mine, we are both happier that way.

[jayson23]

2. I hope it never happens

One state in Israel would mean a Jewish minority, and we'd see the old "push 'em to the sea" mentality of the Arab majority in the region re-emerge faster than you can unfold a road map. I agree, if your neighbor wants to kill you, the last thing you need to do is give them a bedroom in your house.

[mddemo]

3. amazed

wow mate, we agree on something, glad to see it. hope everything is well with you.

[Darranar]

5. Well...

there will be an arab majority in Israel anyway, within ten or so years. That is, unless you advocate genocide or ethnic cleansing of Arabs in Israel?

[LastDemInIdaho]

6. Maybe so but they are not being taught hate and martyrdem 24 x 7

People are not born with hate and distrust.

[Darranar]

7. So?

What is your point?

[MariMayans]

9. sure they are..

What you have written is a perfect example of the sort of indoctrination that the Israeli's teach. Of course you would consider "hate and mistrust" by the Israeli's to be a learned response from Palestinian agression but stand completely aghast that Palestinians may think Israeli's untrustworthy, opportunistic and seeking to destroy them even though there is no reason for a Palestinian to think anything otherwise.

[The Magistrate]

11. Check Your Figures, Mr. Darranar

You will find the ten year projection does not apply to Israel proper, but to the whole region west of the Jordan. Although there is a greater birthrate among Israel's Arab citizens, it is nowhere near sufficient to catapult them from about a fifth of the population to over half in a mere decade.

As regards the pipe-dream of a single state: it will not occur, no matter how many lectures on it are given.

[Darranar]

27. I guess I am mistaken here...

The point was, though, that if current arab Israeli birthrates increase, including the WB and Gaza or not, the Arabs will make a majority in Israel - especially with intermarriage. It does not matter much whether in will take ten years or twenty.

[MariMayans]

28. some estimates show fifty years

I have a feeling it's going to be less than that as everyone who would ever emigrate probably already has and Israeli Jews are leaving in record numbers that will affect the future demographics.

[Muddleoftheroad]

25. Bad math

Not a prayer that will happen. Your math is totally dependent on counting the entire Palestinian population as belonging in Israel. It doesn't. Israel has about 6 million people and about 5 million of those are Jews. I don't care if the one million breed like rabbits, they won't bridge that gap in 10 or 20 years.

[Alex88]

4. One-state solution

They're already living together and the Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza have no rights and the Israeli's don't have peace. South Africa and Malaysia are just two places where it works. The so called two-state strategy has only made matters worse.

http://www.one-state.org/

[sushi]

8. Not sure about South Africa

but in Malaysia it 'works' because the ethnic group in power, the Malay Muslims, are also the majority. A one-state solution for Israel-Palestine means the Jews, the minority, would be in power. Hardly a recipe for success.

[MariMayans]

10. it doesn't matter if they are or not

there is an old anarchist saying that goes something like "It doesn't matter who I vote for, the people with the money are going to do anything they want to".

Even in the face of a Palestinian majority population, Jews would do quite well and anyone who wished them harm would run afoul of the Palestinian bourgouis that makes up the political structure of the PA.

[Fight_n_back]

12. You are a genius

the bourgouis is what protected Jews in Poland, Russia and Germany...

[MariMayans]

13. However you want it..

The PNA as a little Hitler government has a soothing, familiar, agitprop ring to it. Feel that way if you want, it's a free world but it's a fantasy. Most of the members of the Palestinian Authority very much appreciated and liked the plan characterized as a sort of collapsable Bantustan because they had plans to turn the West Bank and Gaza into Maquiladora's for Israeli companies. They were going to make a shitload of money out of it and could have cared less if the whole thing was pretty much a sham made to try and stick a bandaid on Palestinian pride without any real substance.

Why you think they would ever have much reason to identify with the Palestinians against Israeli industry escapes me.

[Fight_n_back]

14. What are you talking about?

I was only pointing out to you that your grasp of history is tenuous. I made no comparison of anyone to Hitler. there were pogroms in Germany for hundreds of years before Hitler.

How about a one state solution in North America?

[MariMayans]

16. That would be fine

I could care less, I'm not big on nation states anyway.

I rethought it anyway, and while I probably overstated the rosy nature of a one-state solution it wasn't for the reasons you state. Jews would likely leave Israel altogether if they ever became a minority within one state there.

It's a striking constrast between Arab Palestinian ambitions and Jewish Israeli ambitions. Arab Palestinian nationalism took a long, long time to evolve because in general they weren't interested in a state, they were interested in a house or a business they left in Acre or Haifa. Jewish Israeli ambitions are tied to the European Romantic version of a state based on race and would likely be uninterested in living there if those conditions were undermined.

[Fight_n_back]

18. Gosh

that doesn't explain why Jews lived there for thousands of years without a state though does it?

Let me guess...you are about 22 years old.

[MariMayans]

21. Jews lived everywhere for thousands of years without a state

What does that prove?

[Cassandra]

29. Jews also died everywhere for thousands of years without a state

and that proves why Israel needs to exist.

[Fight_n_back]

15. Other hot spots that a one state solution would solve

India/Pakistan

China/Tibet

China/Taiwan

China/Mongolia

Turkey/Northern Iraq

Germany/France

Great Britain/Scotland

Bosnia/Serbia

Its the silver bullet, like a flat tax. The simple idea for simple people.

[MariMayans]

17. India/Pakistan

would be the only one of these countries seperated by ethnic partition and there are serious scholars in both countries who think partition was a waste and that both countries would benefit from reunification.

[Fight_n_back]

20. Not an ethnic partition

India and Pakistan are seperated by religeon only. There are numerous ethnic groups in each nation. The people of Eastern Pak and Western India are the same ethnic group (Punjabi).

Most of the other nations on the list are seperated along ethnic lines. For example China/Taiwan. The Chang in Taiwan have no interest in being ruled by the Han.

And of course Great Britain and Scotland, Id like to see you get out of a Scottish bar alive after telling them they are the same ethnicity as an Englishman.

you should get out more.

[MariMayans]

23. definition of partition

The act or process of dividing something into parts

These other regions came by either conquest or revolt, India/Pakistan and Israel/Palestine were both imposed by the British.

[Fight_n_back]

30. Hello old friend

http://www.absinthebuyersguide.com/marimayans.html


your point is moot as well as baseless.

[tinnypriv]

19. GB/Scotland? :nutter emoticon:

You do realise Great Britain is:

1. England
2. Wales
3. Scotland
4. Isles governed from the mainland (not Isle of Man and the Channel Islands)

I think you meant England/Scotland. :crazy:

And you're saying other posters have a tenuous grasp on history?

Door. Ass. Out. Etc.

[Fight_n_back]

22. It was a joke

dear numbnuts.

Scotland is endeavoring to leave Great Britain because they are rejecting a single state solution.

fuck.you.get.grip. etc

[tinnypriv]

24. No, this is a joke

Two oranges walk into a bar, one says to the other:

You're round.

:hug:

I forgive you, numbnuts.

[Muddleoftheroad]

26. Darn nice of him

To envision a single state solution where the Palestinians would end up being in charge. Why the Israelis would agree is beyond me.