by Uri Avnery, September 07, 2009
".....This time I feel that I owe it to my readers to clear up some of the points I was trying to make and answer some of the objections. So here we go......
What really disturbs me about this is that almost nobody in the West comes out and says clearly: Israel must be abolished. Some of the proposals, like those for a "One State" solution, sound like euphemisms. If one believes that the state of Israel should be abolished and replaced by a state of Palestine or a state of Happiness, why not say so openly?.......
We must laud the Norwegian decision, this week, to divest from the Israeli Elbit company because of their involvement with the "Separation Fence" that is being built on Palestinian land and whose main purpose is to annex occupied territories to Israel. This is a splendid example: a focused action against a specific target, based on a ruling of the International Court.......
I have been asked about the Palestinian reaction to the boycott idea. At present, Palestinians do not boycott even the settlements; indeed, it is Palestinian workers who are building almost all the houses there, out of economic necessity......
To remove any misconceptions about myself, let me state as clearly as possible where I stand:
I am an Israeli.
I am an Israeli patriot.
I want my state to be democratic, secular, and liberal, ending the occupation and living at peace both with the free and sovereign state of Palestine that will come into being next to it, and with the entire Arab world.
I want Israel to be a state belonging to all its citizens, without distinction of ethnic origin, gender, religion, or language; with completely equal rights for all; a state in which the Hebrew-speaking majority will retain its close ties with the Jewish communities around the world, and the Arab-speaking citizens will be free to cherish their close ties with their Palestinian brothers and sisters and the Arab world at large.
If this is racism, Zionism, or worse, so be it."
".....This time I feel that I owe it to my readers to clear up some of the points I was trying to make and answer some of the objections. So here we go......
What really disturbs me about this is that almost nobody in the West comes out and says clearly: Israel must be abolished. Some of the proposals, like those for a "One State" solution, sound like euphemisms. If one believes that the state of Israel should be abolished and replaced by a state of Palestine or a state of Happiness, why not say so openly?.......
We must laud the Norwegian decision, this week, to divest from the Israeli Elbit company because of their involvement with the "Separation Fence" that is being built on Palestinian land and whose main purpose is to annex occupied territories to Israel. This is a splendid example: a focused action against a specific target, based on a ruling of the International Court.......
I have been asked about the Palestinian reaction to the boycott idea. At present, Palestinians do not boycott even the settlements; indeed, it is Palestinian workers who are building almost all the houses there, out of economic necessity......
To remove any misconceptions about myself, let me state as clearly as possible where I stand:
I am an Israeli.
I am an Israeli patriot.
I want my state to be democratic, secular, and liberal, ending the occupation and living at peace both with the free and sovereign state of Palestine that will come into being next to it, and with the entire Arab world.
I want Israel to be a state belonging to all its citizens, without distinction of ethnic origin, gender, religion, or language; with completely equal rights for all; a state in which the Hebrew-speaking majority will retain its close ties with the Jewish communities around the world, and the Arab-speaking citizens will be free to cherish their close ties with their Palestinian brothers and sisters and the Arab world at large.
If this is racism, Zionism, or worse, so be it."
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