Book Review:

Married to Another Man: Israel's Dilemma in Palestine

Dr. Ghada Karmi's latest book Married to Another Man: Israel's Dilemma in Palestine opens with the problem European Zionists faced over a century ago when they first mooted the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine . They found then that there was already a well-established Palestinian society existing in the land they wished to claim as their own. Hence the message sent back to Vienna by the two rabbis who made the discovery: 'The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man.'

It is the essence of ' Israel 's dilemma': how to effect the disappearance of the ever-present Palestinians so that a purely Jewish state can exist on Palestinian land? The Zionist program of ethnic cleansing that has been going on since Israel 's creation has not solved the problem. Neither has the living hell of occupation.

Essentially, Karmi says that Israel should never have been created in Palestine , but she does not suggest that present-day Israelis must be removed. Instead, she argues that a single state for two peoples offers much more hope for peace than a state based on Jewish exclusivity next to a truncated and utterly unviable proposed Palestinian state under Israel 's vice-like control.

Karmi's book is controversial, particularly since the West is still talking about a two-state solution that totally ignores the realities on the ground. Pointing out that all peace efforts have so far come to nothing, and the two-state solution is now impossible, Karmi argues that the one-state alternative may be the only chance of resolving the conflict. Other solutions raised recently, such as federation with Egypt and Jordan , will further divide the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza and will only lead to more conflict.

Karmi skillfully guides the reader through the political contortions and cruelties that have time and again failed to bring peace to both peoples. She is one of very few writers who have managed to untangle the mess of hypocritical and devious maneuverings enough for the reader to grasp the unfairness and tragedy of the Palestinian predicament. Instead of Oslo being the catalyst for change, the book shows how those hopeful but flawed beginnings quickly deteriorated as Israel continued to balk at reaching a fair settlement. One has only to look at Israel 's land expropriations and the illegal expansion of Jewish settlements deep inside Palestinian territory that went on throughout all the peace talks and continues even now.

The extraordinary nature of 'Zionist machinating and Jewish sentiment' to preserve the state of Israel is formidable, but all the same, Israel could not have survived without Western support. This raises the question, why does Israel receive such absolute support, particularly from the United States ? The book provides some of the answers, showing just how the Israel lobby has managed to influence both houses of the US Congress and how Christian Zionism has also been a powerful factor in US decision-making. It is doubtful though that the ideological hope of preserving Israel for the return of the Messiah is more influential than the imperialist agenda. Regardless, says Karmi, maintaining Israel's existence without justice for the Palestinians will only lead to further instability and increasing violence between the two sides, which in turn has serious implications for world peace.

This brings us back to Israel 's dilemma -- what to do with some 5 million Palestinians? If it is not to be a democratic state for all Muslim, Christian and Jewish citizens, then Israel 's solution can only be expulsion and genocide. Alternatively, says Karmi, all efforts should go into reversing the damage that Zionism has wrought, not just since 1967 as the two-state solution implies, but back to 1948 when Israel was created. The reader will find it difficult to ignore the appeal of her argument in light of the harsh reality to which the last six decades have led us -- from the first realization that 'the bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man' to the reckless decision to take the 'bride' regardless, and the devastating consequences that have followed.

Ultimately, Zionism needs to change because it was always unworkable. The solution Karmi proposes shows remarkable magnanimity considering the terrible human cost of Israel 's venture. Her vision is to bring Palestinians and the now-established Israeli Jewish community together in one state so that justice can be served for both sides. The challenge, she says, is to change the current paradigm of thinking that has now become so entrenched in political discourse, yet for which there is no future at all. Karmi's book allows the reader to look beyond the grim predictions and to see a solution that may be the only way for peace and justice to ever prevail in this troubled land.

Sonja Karkar is the founder and president of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia .

A friend of mine who has formed an organization to promote the sharing of Jerusalem by all three faiths, Christian, Jew, and Muslim, and to promote a two state solution forwarded this article on to me. The author, Ali Abunimah, argues that the only viable solution is a one state with Jews and Muslims living side by side as they did for centuries before the creation of modern Israel. It is an intriguing idea. I doubt if it could happen in my lifetime.


Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Subject: CSM:A political marriage of necessity: a single state of Palestine-Israel
Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 13:08:37 +0000


from the May 14, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0514/p09s01-coop.html
A political marriage of necessity: a single state of Palestine-Israel
The case of South Africa shows that a unity government can succeed.
By Ali Abunimah

Chicago
As Israel celebrates 59 years of independence, Palestinians on May 14 commemorate the Nakba, the catastrophe of expulsion and decades of exile that continue to this day.

When my mother was 9 years old, she and her family mounted the back of a pickup truck and left their village of Lifta, adjacent to Jerusalem, under threat from Zionist militias. My grandmother covered the furniture in the family home that my grandfather had built. Anticipating a short absence until fighting in the area died down, they took only a few clothes. That was almost six decades ago. Like hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians, they were never allowed to return, and their property was seized by Israel.

My mother remembers her early childhood and the Jewish neighbors who rented the apartment her father owned. She recalls helping them on the Sabbath and playing with their daughter after school. A life such as this is no more than a distant memory for most Palestinian refugees, who, with their descendants, now number more than 5 million.

But a better life needn't be just a memory. It is feasible for Palestinians to return to their homeland while peace with Israelis is built at the same time. Another diplomatic push will not bring about the fantasy of neat separation of Israelis and Palestinians into two states. This would only perpetuate inequality and division. Instead, international pressure should be put on Israel to drop its insistence on supremacy over Palestinians. Then both parties can come together to begin building a single, multiethnic state where Jews and Palestinians can again live side by side.

One of the hard – but not impossible – tasks will be convincing many Israelis of the viability of a single-state solution. In 2004, for example, Israeli historian Benny Morris, who has written several books documenting the forced expulsion of the Palestinians, said that a "Jewish state would not have come into existence without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them." But Mr. Morris is no bleeding heart. He added, "There are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing." If Israel's founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, could be faulted, Morris said, it was because he "did not complete the transfer in 1948."

Millions of Palestinians live in squalid camps under Israeli military rule and in surrounding countries. Israel has refused to allow these refugees to return home as required by international law.

The reason is simple: From its inception, the Zionist movement set out to turn a country where the vast majority of people were not Jewish into a country that gives special rights and privileges to Jews at the expense of non-Jews. If Palestinian refugees were black Africans, no one would dispute an "apartheid" label that former US president Jimmy Carter has used to describe the situation.

But while some see Israel as a miracle, many Israelis themselves recognize that the Zionist project has been far from a success: Today the number of Israeli Jews and Palestinians inhabiting the country is roughly equal at about 5 million each. Just more than 1 million Palestinians live as citizens of Israel, albeit with inferior rights, while almost 4 million live under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. Their high birthrate means that in a few years, Palestinians will once again become the majority as they were prior to 1948.

To assert, as Israel does, that it has a right to be a "Jewish state" means to recognize that it has a right to manipulate demographics for the purpose of ethnic domination. This outlook violates fundamental human rights.

Palestinians, many of whom are already being forcibly displaced by the cruel wall that snakes through the West Bank, fear another 1948-like expulsion. At the last Israeli election, parties that explicitly endorse ethnic cleansing of Palestinians made major gains, including the one led by Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Palestine/Israel is as unpartitionable as was South Africa and Northern Ireland, where similar ethnic conflicts had also defied resolution for generations. In both places, it was only when the dominant group dropped its insistence on supremacy that a political settlement could be reached. What was once unimaginable happened: Nelson Mandela's African National Congress and F.W. de Klerk's National Party joined hands in a national unity government in 1994. Leaders in Northern Ireland made similar progress this year.

Neither political marriage came about through love, but through necessity and with outside pressure. In time, social reconciliation may come, but it has not been the prerequisite for political progress in South Africa or Northern Ireland. Such pressure on Israel as the strongest party is necessary, which is why I support the growing movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions modeled on the antiapartheid campaign. At the same time, we must begin to construct a vision of a nonracial, nonsectarian Palestine-Israel, which belongs to all the people who live in it, Israeli Jews, Palestinians, and all exiles who want to return and live in peace with their neighbors.


• Ali Abunimah is cofounder of the online publication The Electronic Intifada and author of "One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse."