A PSEUDO PEACE......

 

by Jonathan Kuttab

On June 4, the Israelis bombed and killed Mona Khalil, a 67 year old woman living in Southern Lebanon. Ms. Khalil was an internationally-known environmentalist with a special passion for endangered sea turtles. Her brightly painted orange house in the seaside village of Al-Mansouri, where she kept and cared for sea turtles, was well-marked and known. No explanation for the bombing was made by the Israeli army, other than to state that everyone was ordered to evacuate that area and that she lived within the 20% of the sovereign state of Lebanon that Israel had marked for total destruction. She refused to abandon her precious turtles and was therefore declared to be a legitimate target. Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich has openly declared that Israel will destroy everything in the territory and that none will be allowed to return to it. The Israeli policy is declared openly: nothing will remain.  Houses, businesses, libraries, shopping centers,  schools, agricultural fields, and everything else will be destroyed. The people will be forced out, unable to return.

 
Over one million people in Southern Lebanon face the same fate as Ms. Khalil: “Leave your homes, your land, your schools, your memories, livelihood, hobbies, and community. Flee, or we will kill you. We don’t care where you go. This part of your country is now under our control, and we do not want you here.”

The story of Lebanon is the story of Gaza and of Palestine itself. The Zionist movement, whatever else it is, has determined that its goals and needs trump everything else. While it frequently exhibits elements of hatred, vengeance, sadism and rage, these attributes are really incidental. Its defining feature is a total disregard and lack of concern for any other human beings who happen to be in the way of its program and policies. What happened in Lebanon was the natural progression of what happened (and did not happen) in Gaza. In the words of Smotrich, “we were able to destroy and make Gaza unlivable, and the world was silent. We can now do the same in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere.” These were not just the rantings of an extremist ideologue, but they represent the logical conclusion of Zionism and constitute the guiding political principle supported by a majority of people in Israel. This includes many who personally despise Netanyahu and are embarrassed by the blunt and open fascism of Smotrich and Ben Gvir. 

It is important to note that this feature of Zionism has been there all along. Zionism was a response to anti-Jewish hatred and discrimination in Europe, which posited that such evil tendencies against Jews exist everywhere and that the only response to it is the empowerment of Jews through the creation of a Jewish state. This state would need to have and use overwhelming power that forces their enemies to submit. The state and its power becomes not a normal function of those seeking to have a state like all other states, but a necessary (and only) response to the problem of anti-Jewish bigotry and hatred. According to that logic, the failure of the state to achieve complete and decisive victory would inevitably result in another holocaust. Resistance by Palestinians in any form is thus seen as an existential threat and an extension of the historic bigotry aimed at Jews in the Christian West.

 Palestinian and Arab resistance cannot be seen as a legitimate desire for freedom and self determination, but must be viewed as evil and noxious terrorism. That is what Israelis are taught from a very early age. With such a mentality, eternal enmity and eternal militarism becomes necessary. All other values, including not only international law but also core Jewish ethical and moral values must necessarily be sacrificed, as the choice to “live by the sword” becomes ingrained as the sole means of survival. Compromise becomes treason. Accommodations are treated as appeasement. Those who hold out hopes for a genuine peace and reconciliation with Palestinians are treated as naive fools, at best, and as dangerous internal enemies, at worst. Tribal solidarity and a Machiavellian usage of the levers of power become necessary and even virtuous. Deception may be warranted, but the goals  must remain the same. 

What is happening in Lebanon, just as in Gaza and Iran, necessarily brings into question the fundamental values and ideology of Zionism itself. Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben Gvir therefore are not aberrations but the logical conclusion of the Zionism dominant in Israel today. Some of my Jewish friends point out that there are other forms of Zionism, like that of Ahad Ha Am, which are more humane and compatible with Palestinian rights, morality and justice. My answer is that those forms of Zionism have failed to gain acceptance, and are only referred to in Zionist apologetics. 

The only form of Zionism we have experienced is the prevailing one, which sometimes camouflages its true nature pretending to favor liberal democracy, but  is clearly articulated by Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben Gvir. It is also supported in reality by the rest of Jewish Israelis, who only prefer to pretend otherwise. 

The silver lining is that with the stripping off of the mask, with the horrors of genocide and apartheid, many Jews worldwide (and a small minority in Israel as well) now feel they have to deal with this reality. For many of them, Zionism and the state of Israel are no longer something they can support. For them, and for their supporters abroad, the legitimate concerns for the safety and well being of Jews in Israel must find their answer in advocating for Palestinian rights, for equality, and for a rejection of Jewish supremacy in favor of justice,  security, and dignity for Jews and Palestinians alike.

 This is something that sheer reliance on military power and ethnic superiority can never provide. Only this way can they preserve their own moral and spiritual values, and ultimately find peace and security as well. The alternative is only more suffering, in Lebanon, Palestine, and beyond. As well as a deepening of resentment, hatred, and even anti-Jewish sentiment worldwide.

As received by email from FOSNA, an excellent analysis by Jonathan Kuttab, of the present reigning atmosphere between Israel and its actual regime, and practically all of its neighbors, but mostly Lebanon and Syria, more so after the signing yesterday of an accord of pseudo peace between Lebanon and Israel, under the tutelage of the US. an accord that is very shaky and vague in many aspects, whereby I personally have a feeling it will not hold, but fail miserably, fail Lebanon, its population and eventually all parties of the eternal conflict. 
All my thanks to all, as always.