A debate on the definition of the state has been raging in Israel since the birth of the Zionist entity. The Israeli or Hebrew state defining the national identity of the Zionist entity has been rejected by the Israeli Supreme Court in favour of the ‘Jewish state’, which negates the democratic political structure and violates the civil rights of non-Jews who are citizens of Israel.
Until the issue is finally settled, a general consensus has emerged among secular Jews in Israel and around the world that the Zionist entity has become a colonial settlers’ state, which is self-destructive and has to be saved from itself. This consensus appears to have placed responsibility of turning Israel into a colonial racist entity upon the right-wing religious coalition headed by Likud under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Secular Jews accuse the coalition of “highjacking the secular democratic state of Israel” and turning it into “a [colonists’] state” that rendered Israel in the pit of isolation around the world.
The entire apparatus of the Likud government has been put into service to fulfil the agenda of the ruling ultra-religious and ultra-nationalist faction that demands the total Judaisation of historical Palestine. For the Zionist colonial project to succeed, the proposed two-state solution (i.e. a Palestinian state next to Israel) had to be buried alive without ceremony and with open defiance to the western world by Netanyahu’s government. Almost all secular Jews believe that Israel is turning into a bi-national state with the Arab majority, devoid of any civil rights, ruled by the military force of the Jewish minority.
In order to negate the Arab majority place in “the Jewish state”, the Palestinians have to be persuaded to leave by all means possible, including forced expulsion, as a last resort. That is why Zionist religious gangs, known as the “Price Taggers” were formed in religious Ashkenazi schools to terrorise the Palestinian population, burning their homes while asleep, desecrating their churches and mosques and uprooting trees in Palestinian farms.
Israeli columnist Ari Shavit said that in the last few years, extreme religious groups greatly mushroomed and turned into a very strong and influential political base in Israel, addicted to violence with no moral values that respect any law. He wrote in Haaretz that “their vandalism is self-destructive and threatens Israel’s survival in the long run and definitely will lead to a bi-national state with Jews as a minority”. He warned that “Jewish religious extremism is destroying what is left of the democratic foundation of the state and is violating every human moral value, besides alienating the western world, including all secular Jews from Israel who are extremely vital for the survival of the state”.
Another Haaretz editorial declared that “the real aim and target of the [colonists] is to make the sharing of occupied Jerusalem with the Palestinians to achieve a peaceful resolution, an impossible task. The government’s policies blindly obey the colonists’ dictated agenda by giving them the deeds of the annexed Palestinian lands to rule out any peaceful settlement.” While they rely on their political influence upon the Likud government, the editorial noted, they also rely upon their numerous numbers in the Israeli military structure, especially among the General Staff. Gaining the political base of colonists by the Netanyahu’s government, the newspaper said, does not serve the Israeli national security or interest and will not enhance the survival of Israel.
The colonists’ racist agenda has now indeed become the official policy of the Likud coalition, which is geared to entrench and strengthen such schemes to include historical Palestine. Once more, Haaretz recently warned about the above by stating that “Netanyahu’s strong support of building [colonies] is a clear proof of his lies and double-talk to deceive and please the party being addressed”. The newspaper recalled that Netanyahu, in the White House, had supported the two-state solution, but “instantly negated this position when he came back by allocating more than 1,500 dunums of Palestinian land in Area C, as state lands to be given to [colonists], which negates the establishment of the Palestinian state”.
The Zionist colonists rely also upon the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), which is vital for their agenda to enact laws to make it legal to rob Palestinians, not only of their lands, but also of their human and civil rights. Yediot Ahronoth drew attention to an imminent new proposal, which it said is “ready to be passed that would enhance the economic prosperity in the sector of [colonies] outside the green line (in the West Bank) by lowering taxes and increasing investments at low interest rates”. The Likud government is now taking measures to eradicate the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the colonists by having Israel mentioned as the origin of the products, instead of the colonies in the West Bank.
The Zionist colonists are striving to establish their state upon the ashes of the so-called the “Zionist democratic state of Israel”. The religious bigotry and the beastly brutal violence have eradicated every democratic structure in Israel, including Palestinian civil and human rights. Now the Arab-Israeli conflict is about to turn into “a fight till death” with probably no real possibility of a peaceful resolution, whatsoever. And all merits to such a devastating end go to the Likud coalition under the leadership of Netanyahu.
Professor As’ad Abdul Rahman is the chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopaedia.
