Two-thirds of Israeli Jews want Palestinians denied the vote if their country annexes the West Bank.
Three out of four are in favour of segregated roads for Israelis and
Palestinians in the West Bank, and 58% believe Israel already practises
apartheid against Palestinians, the poll found.
A third want Arab
citizens within Israel to be banned from voting in elections to the
country's parliament. Almost six out of 10 say Jews should be given
preference to Arabs in government jobs, 49% say Jewish citizens should
be treated better than Arabs, 42% would not want to live in the same
building as Arabs and the same number do not want their children going
to school with Arabs.
A commentary by Gideon Levy, which accompanied the results of the poll, described the findings as disturbing. "Israelis themselves ...are openly, shamelessly, and guiltlessly defining themselves as nationalistic racists," he wrote.
"It's
good to live in this country, most Israelis say, not despite its
racism, but perhaps because of it. If such a survey were released about
the attitude to Jews in a European state, Israel would have raised hell.
When it comes to us, the rules don't apply."
There is nothing particularly shocking in these results, perhaps except for the open expression of a reality rational people always understood existed.
Israel is not "of us." It is not a Western state nor does it embrace our values. It is a quintessential Middle Eastern, theocratic state only it's Jewish, not Muslim. Israel faces an intractable problem, its Arab residents. Some are Israeli citizens, others are Palestinians under occupation. Israel has no intention of returning the West Bank to the Palestinians. It sits atop a strategic aquifer that Israel deems critical to its survival. That land and that aquifer are not going to be restored to Palestinian control. Netanyahu has said as much.
We in the West have built a relationship with Israel founded on illusions. We need a new relationship, one based on reality.
4 comments:
Sources please. Whatever kind of good chap you fancy yourself to be, following the example of academics illuminates the path to persuasion.
Go to Haaretz.com
Right on, it is about time we start identifying Israel as the militarist, expansionist, racists state that it is.
What it tells me, K.C., is that Israel is a state incapable of finding peace with its Arab neighbours. As that very peace is vital to our world, a solution will probably have to be imposed. The broadly agreed upon solution is a return to Israel's 1967 borders with a DMZ of, say, 10-miles on each side heavily manned by UN forces. Israeli forces stay 10-miles distant of their border, Palestinian forces keep the same distance on their side.
This would be a Herculean undertaking that could have to continue until the hatred and distrust dies out, potentially two generations... 40-years. But it's an obligation the West, particularly the U.S., must accept.
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