I truly believe that Palestine is meant to be an example to the world of 'unity': Unity of religion, language and a unity point of East/West culture and ideology. And I am glad to find out now that I'm not the only ONE.I have just discovered the book ONE COUNTRY: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse by Ali Abunimah, a fellow Palestinian now living in the US who among many things is a cofounder and editor of the website Electronic Intifada.
About the Book
As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rages on with relatively new leadership on both sides, we are led to ask what has become a perennial yet only more urgent question -- will this conflict ever be resolved in a way that will finally bring peace to the region? This fall, Metropolitan Books published one of the most controversial approaches to a resolution. Noted expert on the topic and the son of Palestinians who fled the country in 1948, Ali Abunimah makes the radical argument that what is needed is one state shared by Palestinians and Israelis in his new book, ONE COUNTRY: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books; November 2006).
Clear-eyed, sharply reasoned, and compassionate, ONE COUNTRY revives an old and neglected idea of sharing the country. Although living together might seem impossible, Abunimah shows how Israelis and Palestinians are by now so intertwined -- geographically and economically -- that no kind of separation can lead to the security Israelis need or the rights Palestinians must have. He reveals the bankruptcy of the two-state approach, takes on the objections and taboos that stand in the way of a binational solution, demonstrates that sharing the territory will bring benefits for all, and asserts that the country can remain a homeland for both Jews and Palestinians. The absence of any other workable option can only lead to ever-greater extremism; it is time, Abunimah suggests, for Palestinians and Israelis to imagine a different future and a different relationship.
More urgent than ever, ONE COUNTRY is a provocative approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and one that is certain to cause a stir on all sides.
I believe it takes great courage to end the current cycle of: fear > hatred > war > terrorism > fear > hatred > war ....etc. The only way to get off this track is to try something different...a FREE and re-United Palestine, a secular country for ALL.
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12 comments:
Why should any Israeli go for your 'plan' they have everything to loose...Palestinians have everything to gain.
I guess you're right if you don't consider 'peace' a benefit...
Abu-Issa
I have not read the book, but based on the general idea of it and of your post, I was wondering what makes you think that with a 40+ year history of violence between Israelis and Palestinians they can ever live together in one state?
Where have you seen a good example of Palestinians and Israeli's living in peace and harmony? The Israeli Arabs are a different example as they have lived in the state since its inception as opposed to the Palestinians who have been living in limbo for years.
Look I am all for an independent Palestinian state one day, but why does that mean that my country has to disappear or be absorbed into a bi-national state? Why does the Jewish State have to disappear so that you can have a homeland?
why did Palestine and it's people have to disappear so you could have a Jewish state?
They didn't disappear, the Palestinains were given the same chance at a state way back in 1947 from the UN, just like the Jews were. They just chose war instead of a state of their own.
I imagine the Afrikaners in South Africa were asking the same question: why do we have to give up minority rule? Clearly you are clinging to the fiction Israel doesn't rule Gaza or the West Bank.
If one person/one vote is right for the rest of the world, how is it not right for Israel?
Hi Zack, thanks for stopping by. :0)
Unfortunately, you seem to be under the impression that "Israeli Arabs" (as you call them) are not Palestinian when in fact they are...therefore, you answered your own question:
"Where have you seen a good example of Palestinians and Israeli's living in peace and harmony?"
Another impression you seem to be under is that Palestinians (whether they be Jewish, Muslim or Christian) arrived at the same time as European Jews who were fleeing persecution in their countries: "Palestinains were given the same chance at a state way back in 1947 [but] chose war" when in fact they did not arrive at the same time is European Jews but were already there.
Palestinians are indeed descendants of the people of Canaan, 'Ancient Israel'...mixed with the many conquerers of the land from the Romans right up to the Turks. Palestine because of it's strategic, geographical location has always been a melting pot of language, religion and culture.
Creating a "Jewish State" in such a melting pot, which at the time had a Muslim majority, was not only ill advised but tragically short sighted.
Palestine was the homeland to many people of different religions and languages, Zionism tried (and continues to try) to change that by force and has failed.
The only solution I can see is to move forward and create a re-United Palestine for all not just one segment of it's population. At this point I see a United Palestine as: 50% Jewish, 45% Muslim and 5% Christian...and a path to peace.
Abu-Issa
And what would you call this "United States of Palestine"?
...how about PALESTEIN...
"Palestine" has a nice ring to it
Abu Shaar,
I'm with you...though Pale-stein is an interesting idea... :0)
Abu-Issa
Mahatma Gandhi:
Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. The mandates have no sanction but that of the last war. Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regard as an unwarrantable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds."
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