Comments on: No Exit? Israel – Palestine

By: Jeffrey Goldfarb

Jeffrey Goldfarb — Mon, 06 May 2013 11:28:00 +0000

Nahed does not live securely and with dignity in her own land, Grzegorz. Read her account and put down your preconceived position. Her struggles and experiences are very real and certainly not normal. And Dayan’s position concerning democracy (and I would add fundamental minority rights) is much more than a truism. Rather it underscores that any formula – one state, two state, Jewish state, Jewish homeland, federation etc. – must be measured by how it affects the lives of people, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Christians and Muslims, secular and religious, Nahed, Riki Cohen, et.al.

By: Nahed99

Nahed99 — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:46:00 +0000

What does it matter where I live? I go to the gulf, Jordan, the US for research, work and personal matters. My analysis (true) was based on personal experience nonetheless it is an objective observation and the argument that Israel is democratic than other countries is problematic as democracy must be applied to ALL citizens which is not the case in Israel as it was not the case in South Africa.

By: Grzegorz55

Grzegorz55 — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:58:00 +0000

I am sorry to say, but I am unable to read articles with a phrase “progressive forces” – in my old communist Poland propaganda it always meant “antidemocratic left alied with the Soviet Union”. Who are “the progressive forces” supporting now? Castro? China? Venezuela? As for “I am not for ‘one state’ but for democratisation, in whatever form (be it federal, bi-national, power sharing, what have you)” it is just a meaningless platitude, similiar to a Polish saying goes: it is better to be healthy and rich than poor and sick. So there is only this one tiny problem left – how to reach that wonderful, happy state of personal or national bliss?

And why wouldn’t Habiballah securely be at home in her own land? Does she have more freedom of speach, habeas corpus, independent judiciary there? That would be news to me, as Jordan is 90 places lower than Israel in Freedom House freedom of the press report and is clearly among non democratic states while Israel is listed as fully democratic in FH democracy reports.

So I suspect that “normalcy” means something very different to all three of the authors, not necessarily a democratic, Jewish Israel. “Normal” for people living in the communist Poland meant “the way it is there in Western democratic capitalist countries” not “in a fairytale land”.

Let me finish with an old joke, that somehow seems apropos here: What is a difference between socialist democracy and democracy? The same as between an electric chair and a chair.