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NLP: Israel-Palestine: Time for a Paradigm Shift?
Now, looking at the conditions that Palestinians in Israel have faced since 1948 highlights a lot of things which don’t normally get much attention. Because in the case of Palestinians inside Israel, there isn’t the ‘security’ paradigm that is often appealed to by Israel to try and justify or contextualise its policies in the occupied territories—here you’re dealing with citizens, who really, barring a small number of exceptions, have never been seriously engaged in violent resistance. And because that security paradigm isn’t really there, it can be very instructive about Israel’s policies of systematic discrimination in land, in housing, in citizenship issues, and so on. You’ve got that focus on those policies, removed from the typical justifications that are sometimes given in the context, say, of land confiscation in the West Bank. So for me, it gives that extra clarity, and it lays bare, with even more starkness, the real logic behind those polices.
- Ben White
It’s not like we needed confirmation that Israel has no interest in peace, but this is an excellent point. Look at how Palestinians inside Israel are treated…
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In the summer of 1981 Bradford’s Asian communities were flush with rumours of an impending attack by neo-fascists. A group of young Asians, including Tariq Mehmood, made and stashed away petrol bombs to be used in the event of any such attacks. They were all members of the United Black Youth League, a group that had broken away from the Asian Youth Movement which they felt was not sufficiently radical. Police discovered the petrol bombs on some waste ground and twelve members of the UBYL were arrested and charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion and endanger lives. The trial of the ‘Bradford 12’ the following year created a national sensation. The defendants put up an audacious defence. They openly admitted making the petrol bombs – but argued that they were acting legitimately to protect their communities. Astonishingly, the jury agreed and acquitted all twelve.
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Notes from the Margins | The Madness of Anders Breivik
Political murder, even on the scale of ruthlessness and brutality that Breivik displayed, cannot in itself be considered an indicator of mental health. Breivik’s dire warnings of the imminent Islamic cultural and religious domination of Europe may well have been delusional and paranoid, but his extremism belongs to an extremist and alarmist discourse on Muslims, Islam and immigration that is shared by politicians, media pundits, far-right political parties and ‘defence leagues’ across the continent. […]
Anyone familiar with the writings of a Melanie Phillips or an Oriana Fallaci, for example, will find views on Muslim immigration that are virtually identical to Breivik’s – without the homicidal intent.
