Comments on: Nakba 1948-2009

By: Shirin

Shirin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:18:58 +0000

“But I didn’t detect any expression of respect.”

How about my first four words? Pretty explicit, I thought. :o}

As for the rest, I can see how they could have been taken differently than I intended them. Perhaps I should have been more clear that I was not talking about Rabbi Walt’s views, but the impression his comment left.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:48:06 +0000

I make no claim to be an expert on the 1948 era though of course I do know about it and have read extensively about it. So I would not dispute any of what you wrote above. Again, I wasn’t making a judgment about whether the Knesset debate was honest or whether the ILA’s real mission was to dispossess Israeli Palestinians. I was merely reporting what the Shaya’s lawyer quoted fr. those debates and riffing off that in terms of the resonance bet. the dispossession of the Holocaust era and of the those Palestinians dispossessed of their homes & property.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:43:02 +0000

Perhaps I missed something in yr comment toward Rabbi Walt’s remarks. I sometimes read these comments faster than I should & may miss nuance. But I didn’t detect any expression of respect. That’s why I felt the need to add some balance. But again, this might’ve been due to my hasty reading.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:31:53 +0000

Yes, thanks Mary. Ilan Pappe does go into that in The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, and I believe he also goes into it in an earlier book. If memory serves Tom Segev, Ian Lustick, and Sabri Jiryis, among others, also describe the mechanisms by which the Israeli State used the ILA and the JNF to “redeem” (i.e. steal) Palestinians’ land for “the Jewish people in perpetuity”, as well as the State’s looting of the contents of “abandoned” homes for distribution to new Jewish immigrants. And, of course, the invention of the Kafaesque notion of “present absentees” during the late ’40’s and the ’50’s was purely a (successful) attempt by the State to justify theft of the personal and real property of Palestinians who were not ethnically cleansed.

It is not a matter of the State and all its institutions being evil, mitigated or unmitigated, it is a matter of historical fact and reality, and reaching logical conclusions based on fact and reality.

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:15:42 +0000

It appears to be true, Richard. The ILA is an umbrella organization under which other agencies such as the JNF operate. The JNF, as we know, has administered land grabs since before 1948, including the acquisition of private Palestinian land. Ilan Pappe gives a great historical narrative of the JNF and its activities in his fine book, “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”. The ILA and the JNF are racist organizations who are prohibited from leasing property to non-Jews; hence, if a property comes under the administration of either of these organizations and the lease holder is an Arab or Palestinian, the Israeli government can evict them.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:12:33 +0000

“…I think the laywer is doing exactly what the situation calls for, turning the high-minded language against the usurper.”

Yes, I think you are probably correct here. I hope what the lawyer is doing is using the States own lies and propaganda against it. Nevertheless it is galling to hear this kind of nonsense, even when it is being thrown back into Israel’s face.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:07:37 +0000

Richard, surely you do not believe that the ILA was created to safeguard Palestinian property on behalf of its Palestinian owners. I am sure you do not disagree that in 1947-49 the Israelis systematically drove out by one means or another some 85-90% of the non-Jewish indigenous population, and that they clearly had no intention of allowing their return (IOW, they conducted ethnic cleansing). Among other means of preventing the refugees’ return they made a regular practice of razing villages and neighborhoods to the ground after depopulating them. Walid Khalidi and his team documented more than 400 villages that received this treatment, resulting in the book All That Remains.

They also in many cases rushed to move Jews into “abandoned” Palestinian homes often within days. In addition, they quickly moved into “abandoned” Palestinian homes to collect the belongings left behind, including furniture, bedding, appliances, kitchen implements and appliances, dishes and silverware (which in many cases, particularly in places like West Jerusalem consisted of fine china, crystal, and sterling silver flatware), jewelry, clothing, artwork, and musical instruments, and even family photographs, and distributed them to Jewish immigrants. And then, of course, there is the little matter of the “present absentees” which was nothing but a pretext to allow the property of non-ethnically-cleansed Palestinians to be taken by the ILA and the real estate handed over to the JNF to be held as property “of the Jewish people in perpetuity”. So surely you do not believe that the Knesset created the ILA in order to protect Palestinian property.

I know quite a bit about early Israeli history as it pertains to Palestinians and their property, and regardless of whatever supposedly took place in the Knesset debates, the ILA always served as part of the very deceptive mechanism for the looting by the State of Palestinian property, and the State confiscation of Palestinian real estate.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:35:35 +0000

Yes, Mary, that was exactly my point. So many people believe with all their hearts that Israel behaved wonderfully morally and ethically untill 1967, at which time it suddenly transmogrified into something completely different than it had ever been before. Their only references for Israel’s history prior to 1967 are the very romantic propaganda materials with which they were so heavily indoctrinated, and the glowing reports of Khaki-shorts-clad returnees from the carefully choreographed year-on-a-kibbutz experiences that American Jewish youth were expected to undertake.