whitebeard

Don't curse the darkness, light a candle.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

"It is easier to get the Jews out of the ghetto than to get the ghetto out of the Jews!" - this dictum of the early Zionists is now assuming a new meaning. Israel is cutting itself off from the world and enclosing itself in a ghetto, and not only physically.

In The Hague, the proceedings of the International Court of Justice on the Separation Wall have started. Sharon's people understand that they have no chance of winning and have decided, therefore, to boycott the session. Instead of arguing their case before the court, they decided to organize a street event, in the spirit of the classic Israeli maxim: "If your case is weak, raise your voice!"
A Prime Minister is waging war. The great majority of the people oppose the war. The majority vote for the Prime Minister. Absurd? Well, that was the situation in Spain. It also applies, more or less, in Israel. But here the similarity ends.

The Spanish people have thrown their Prime Minister out. The Israeli people go on supporting their Prime Minister.

The Spaniards, in their innocence, believe that if a Prime Minister does the opposite of what the great majority of the people want, he has to go. They think that this is what democracy is all about. In Israel, such a thing is unthinkable.

And that is not the only difference. follow...

Israel is the only state in the world that has a population of 200%. And that's a fact. Public opinion polls show that it has two simultaneous majorities. One is peace- loving, the other supports extreme nationalism.

At the present time, it looks like this: In every public opinion poll there is a large majority that supports the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. Sharon wants, of course, to enlarge the settlements, intensify the war against the Palestinians, eliminate Yasser Arafat, postpone a permanent solution and refuse any peace negotiations until unattainable conditions are met. Anyone who supports him must be a radical right- winger. follow...