Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territories
Background For a Better Understanding of the Situation
12/10/2023
ACADEMIC ARTICLE: Zionist hegemony, the
settler colonial conquest of Palestine and the problem with conflict: A critical genealogy of the notion of binary conflict. (By Anne de Jong, May 3/2017;
Taylor & Francis Online)
ABSTRACT: Describing the situation in
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a ‘binary
conflict’ is taken as a value-free and academically neutral
depiction. This article challenges the objective nature of the notion
of binary conflict. Contributing to scholarship that prioritizes
subjugated knowledge, this article poses that the depiction of the
situation entirely in terms of conflict – and the rigid alterity
that such a perspective tacitly transmits – should be recognized as
a paradigm with an inherently Zionist bias. A genealogy of the notion
of conflict shows how early Zionist leaders consciously advocated a
framework of binary conflict in order to counter accusations of
settler colonialism and garner the support of non-Zionist Jews and
other potential allies. This exposition draws out how the notion of
binary conflict is instrumental in obscuring settler colonial
dispossession and Palestinian lived experience; in forging the
hegemonic unification of Zionist Jews; and in negating critique from
third-party others. An understanding of how this perception of
Israel–Palestine came about offers fresh insight into the
strategies adopted by the early Zionist movement. Furthermore,
acknowledging the power-nexus behind the binary conflict perspective
has the potential to deepen our understanding of the discursive and
oppressive mechanisms of contemporary settler colonialism.
Link: Zionist hegemony
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BOOK REVIEW: Inventing the new
antisemitism. Book review written by Em
Hilton; Book -- "Whatever Happened to Antisemitism?: Redefinition and
the Myth of the 'Collective Jew," by author Antony Lerman; Pluto
Press, June 2022, pp 336)
INTRO: Israel and its
acolytes have long pushed the agenda that anti-Zionism is a form of
anti-Jewish racism. A new book shows how this endeavor came at the
expense of Palestinians and diaspora Jews alike.
EXERPT: We
are living through a particularly troubling moment in the global
struggle against antisemitism. Amid resurgent right-wing
authoritarianism, antisemitic conspiracy theories are being deployed
as the basis of electoral campaigns all over the world; violent
attacks on Jews in Europe show no signs of decreasing, going
hand-in-hand with attacks on other minoritized communities; and in
the United States, the masks continue to fall from white nationalist
politicians, while public figures with enormous platforms profess
their support for Nazism . . . . Yet, all the while, public
understanding of what constitutes antisemitism is more muddied than
ever. Accusations of antisemitism are regularly rolled out to silence
critics of Israel — very often by Israel itself — and to attack
any form of Palestine advocacy as being solely motivated by
anti-Jewish racism. In the U.K., this politicization of antisemitism,
manifesting in large part as a battle of definitions, has reduced the
once intellectually rigorous pursuit of understanding how
antisemitism manifests to a political football and tedious identity
politics.
Link: Inventing the New Antisemitism
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Statement Regarding US Veto of a UN Ceasefire Resolution Israel/OPT: US veto of ceasefire
resolution displays callous disregard for civilian suffering in face
of staggering death toll
Reacting to the United States (US) veto
of a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate
ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and
Israel, Amnesty International’s
Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:
“By vetoing this resolution, the US
has displayed a callous disregard for civilian suffering in the face
of a staggering death toll, extensive destruction and an
unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe happening in the occupied Gaza
Strip.
“The US has brazenly wielded and
weaponized its veto to strongarm the UN Security Council,
further undermining its credibility and ability to live up to
its mandate to maintain international peace and security.
“There can be no justification for
continuing to block meaningful action by the UN Security Council to
stop massive civilian bloodshed. The use of the veto is morally
indefensible and a dereliction of the US duty to prevent atrocity
crimes and uphold international law.
“On top of blocking the adoption of a
ceasefire that would end mass humanitarian suffering in Gaza,
aid the return of hostages, and calm tension multiplying in the
region, the US continues to transfer US-made munitions to
the government of Israel that contribute to the decimation of
entire families.
“As the only state to veto, it’s
clear the US stands isolated from much of world, and a large portion
of its own population. It is displaying a complete absence of global
leadership and failing to understand the historical significance of
the moment.
“The US purports to champion a
rules-based international order, however its brazen double standards
and disregard for international law has repercussions that extend
well beyond the horrific catastrophe in Gaza, weakening the already
enfeebled international system for protecting civilians in conflict."
Link: Amnesty statement
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ARTICLE BY BRANKO MARCETIC: A Tidal Wave of State and Private
Repression Is Targeting Pro-Palestinian Voices
Critics of Israel's merciless war on
Gaza are facing threats of government persecution and blacklists or
firings. In this neo-McCarthist environment, anything pro-Palestine
is being made to carry the whiff of bigotry or even incitement to
violence.
EXERPT: last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) teamed up with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to send a letter
to nearly two hundred colleges and universities, warning them that the
pro-Palestinian organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had
“escalated significantly” its anti-Israel “rhetoric and activity,” and
demanding that they open investigations into chapters on their campuses.
The ADL wanted the chapters scrutinized over their funding, possible
violations of school codes of conduct and state and federal laws, and,
most seriously, whether they might be materially supporting terrorists, a
charge that can bring a maximum sentence of between ten and fifteen years of prison, or even a life sentence in certain circumstances.
The demand from one of the country’s most influential pro-Israel
organizations to have pro-Palestinian student groups prosecuted under a
federal anti-terrorism statute is alarming. But it’s only a dramatic
escalation in a rising wave of political repression aimed at
pro-Palestinian voices and those critical of Israeli policy ever since
the brutal Hamas attacks on October 7.
“The backlash we’re seeing against people in the US speaking out for
Palestinian liberation has become a new McCarthyism,” says Dylan Saba,
staff attorney at Palestine Legal.
Link: Anti-Palestine Censorship
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ARTICLE BY CAITLIN JOHNSTONE: The Official
Story of Oct 7
If you question any part of it, you’re
an evil an-Semite who loves terrorism and wishes Hitler had won. You
should be censored, fired, kicked off campus and disappeared from
polite society.
Link: Commentary
