Alternative Insight
The Making of Israel - Part 2
Two of Israel's more famous critics speak out
The growth of Israel from a dream and a document to a leading world military power and to a vibrant nation of more than six million inhabitants within one hundred years is one of the most interesting phenomenon of the twentieth century.
Part 2 - The dialectic of Michael WarshawskiThe son of the chief Rabbi of Strasbourg, France arrived in Israel at the age of 15. After being one of the reserve officers who refused to serve in Lebanon, Michael Warschawski founded the Israeli-Palestinian Alternative Information Center (AIC) in 1984. The AIC is a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization which supports advocacy,
critical analysis and information sharing on Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It promotes cooperation between Palestinian and Israelis based on the values of social and political justice, equality, solidarity, community involvement and respect for the human rights of the Palestinian people. Warschawski was arrested in 1987 for illegal support and contacts with Palestinian organizations. He recommends a secular Israel that is integrated in the Arab Middle East - a proposition which is not popular in present-day Israel.
October 31, 2007 - Michael Warchawski's visage does not reflect the struggles that engaged his life. He is calm, well spoken and a healthy presence with a clear memory and deep introspection. A Marxist vision guide his thoughts. He willingly elaborated on the events that have shaped Israel in the last decades.
From 1985 to the year 2000, the Israel government followed a worthwhile trajectory for obtaining peace and stability. The trajectory reflected the characters of the Israeli leaders. Prime Minister Ehud Barak shattered the beneficial trajectory with a false evaluation of the Camp David meetings, which Warchawski unmasked as not a genuine plan or offer. Barak differed from Sharon and Netanyahu by a racist approach to the Palestinian situation. While Rabin was always an Israeli, Shimon Peres was more Europe oriented.
Warchawski rejects the appeal of Oslo and the use of the word Intifada. The first Intifada was an uprising against a colonial power. The 2nd Intifada, which started because of the killing of children by Israel at checkpoints ( Note: statistics compiled by B'Tselem, an Israel Human rights organization, shows that from the start of Intifada II in September 29, 2000 until the beginning of the year 2001, 237 Palestinians, including 81 minors, were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied territories. More than 100 Palestinian civilians, of which about 1/2 were minors under 18 years of age, had already been killed before two terrorist bombings killed four civilians in Israel. No Israeli minors were killed in those terrorist bombings. The Israeli military launched heavy attacks against the Palestinians weeks before any terrorist campaign by Palestinian extremists.). Ariel Sharon's walk on the Haram al-Sharif/ Temple Mount was only a prelude to the re-conquest of Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
The neocon rise to power in the United States framed a new concept - an American strategy of pre-emptive war - a non-ending conflict that would determine the future of the world. The wars would progress to a Clash of Civilizations.The present struggle has become the last fight of colonialism.
Descriptions of other significant leaders in the never ending conflict:. Arafat can be praised for changing from a terrorist to a leader for national liberation. The Palestinian leader could not comprehend the happenings after Camp David; he definitely did not sabotage the peace effort. Warchawski recalls a meeting with Arafat after the PLO headquarters had been destroyed; "Why me?" he asked. "Rabin was my brother." Arafat begged to continue the peace process. Warschawski admires David Ben Gurion and Ariel Sharon for a reason; they were the only Israeli visionaries. As Ben Gurion's disciple, Sharon had a simple strategy - no peace for 100 years, no fixed borders, no constitution, a Jewish state. Sharon always emphasized time. He never believed the international community would interfere with Israel's actions. In an office filled with planning maps, the former Israeli Prime Minister used the maps to outline his conception for giving the Palestinians contiguity rather than continuity; a system of bridges and tunnels.
There are three Israels: The more wealthy Tel Aviv dwellers are oriented to the west. Jerusalem contains the poorer fundamentalists and there is the neglected Arab population. One hopeful note - we are nearing the end of the neocon era and their participation in creating chaos.
Michael Warschawski had no predictions about the future.
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