From Occupied Palestine

Palestine: democracy not Zionism
JOHN V WHITBECK
Christian Science Monitor, 14 September 2007

Jeddah -- With some sort of "meeting" or "conference" to kick start the peace process now being touted by the Bush administration, there is at least the appearance of an understanding in Washington of the importance for the region and the world of solving the "Palestinian problem."

Mechanisms of denial
ILAN PAPPE and JUSTIN PODUR
ZNet, 20 February 2005

Ilan Pappe is a professor of history at Haifa University in Israel. He is an activist for Palestinian rights. He was in Toronto in February to give the keynote speech at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at the University of Toronto. He was interviewed by telephone on February 5, 2005.

Zionism, antisemitism, and the people of Palestine
NOEL IGNATIEV
Race Traitor, May 2004

Zionism as a political movement developed in the late 19th century. Its founder, Theodore Herzl, was influenced by two phenomena: the extent of French anti-Semitism revealed by the Dreyfus Trial, and nationalist ideals then popular in Europe. Herzl held that Jews cannot be assimilated by the nations in which they live, and that the only solution to the "Jewish question" was the formation of a "Jewish state" in which all the Jews would come together. The early Zionists contemplated as the site of the future state Argentina or Uganda, among other locales. Herzl favored Palestine, because, although an agnostic, he wanted to make use of the custom, widespread among Jewish mystics, of going on pilgrimages to the "holy land" and establishing religious communities there.

Too late for two states?
SEUMAS MILNE
Guardian, 24 January 2004

More than three years into the intifada, the Palestinian situation seems worse than ever: the weekly death toll, the poverty and now the wall. So has the uprising failed? And how can suicide bombings ever be justified? Seumas Milne had exclusive access to leaders across the political spectrum - from president Yasser Arafat in his devastated compound to the underground strategists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He found an unprecedented willingness to compromise - but a growing belief that the wall will scupper the best ever hope for peace.

Palestinians may demand a 'one-state solution'
JUSTIN HUGGLER
Independent, 10 January 2004

In a move that could transform the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qureia has warned that he will demand a single state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, if Ariel Sharon goes ahead with his threat to annex parts of the West Bank and unilaterally impose a border on a Palestinian state.

Making threats, cultivating an image
DANNY RUBINSTEIN
Ha'aretz, 9 January 2004

Two prominent Palestinians, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) and Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, gave expression last night to the prevalent mood that the frozen peace process has created among the Palestinian public.

Qureia's words in favor of establishing a single binational state echo statements that have recently been made in the Palestinian media by political activists and academics. Many Palestinians have come to understand that for Israel, the threat of a binational state is the greatest threat of all.

Relative humanity: The fundamental obstacle to a one state solution
OMAR BARGOUTI
Znet, 16 December 2003

'[A] Conquest may be fraught with evil or with good for mankind, according to the comparative worth of the conquering and conquered peoples.' 1 - Theodore Roosevelt

1. Introduction

Good riddance! The two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is finally dead. But someone has to issue an official death certificate before the rotting corpse is given a proper burial and we can all move on and explore the more just, moral and therefore enduring alternative for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Mandate Palestine: the one-state solution.

One state awakening
PETER HIRSCHBERG
Ha'aretz, 16 December 2003

For almost his entire thinking life, Daniel Gavron has been a Zionist. The first inkling that he did not belong in the country of his birth, England, came at age 11, at a middle-class boarding school. "Lots of the kids there were the sons of farmers," he recalls. "They had this very strong link with the land that I felt I lacked. Once I heard about Zionism, it all seemed to fit. That England was not my land and that my land was in another place - this country in the Middle East."

Israel and the Empire
JEFF HALPER and JON ELMER
FromOccupiedPalestine.org, 20 September 2003

[an excerpt of this interview appears in "Documents and Source Material", Journal of Palestine Studies vol XXXIII no. 2 (Winter 2004), p. 102-108.]

Jon Elmer, FromOccupiedPalestine.org: You use the term 'matrix of control' to describe the Israeli occupation. Can you explain exactly what that is and how it functions?

Jeff Halper: The Israel-Palestine conflict is often framed in terms of territory: ending the occupation, a viable Palestinian state, and what that means in terms of territory. But two states and a complete end of the occupation, even in the best scenario, is not really the best solution. The whole Palestinian state would be on only 22% of the country, divided between the West Bank and Gaza. The State of Israel today, within the 1967 borders, represents 78% percent of the country. So even in the ideal situation, if the entire occupation ended and Israel pushed back to 1967 borders, the Palestinian state would be in only 22% of the country. Israel can't compromise on any more than that - even that is a question mark.

One State: Preparing for a post Road-Map struggle against apartheid
JEFF HALPER
UN International Conference on Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People
New York, 5 September 2003

Everyone pooh-poohs the road map. From State Department and other "quartet" officials through the office of Ariel Sharon to international activists and the average person on the streets of Palestine and Israel, one would be hard-pressed to find a single believer in the "road map." From the start it has been dismissed as another failed initiative, joining a long line from Mitchell and Tenet to Gunnar Jarring and the Roger's Plan. But is it? In my view the road map possesses a significance that has been lost even on its adherents.