Ethnic Cleansing: Some Common Reactions by Ran HaCohen 2:14pm Mon Jan 13 '03 My previous column – "Ethnic Cleansing: Past, Present and Future" – attracted more reactions than any other. Some of them were supportive and encouraging, for which I am grateful. Many were outraged and even offensive, for which I am even more grateful: not just for enriching my English vocabulary in certain semantic fields (I have been called everything from "anti-Semitic renegade" to "stupid dump ass"), but for reassuring me that I am not wasting my time writing for those who agree with me anyway. print article Almost all the fire was aimed at my claim regarding the ethnic cleansing carried out by Israel in 1948. These copious reactions reaffirm my argument that this is still a taboo in pro-Israeli discourse. Even when protesting the present "quiet" ethnic cleansing in the Occupied Territories or warning of future Israeli intentions is tolerated, saying that Israel owes its existence as a Jewish State to ethnic cleansing is evidently beyond the pale. As I said, fighting the present strangulation of the Palestinians should be the top priority of any peace activity on the ground; but on the level of consciousness, coming to terms with the ethnic cleansing of 1948 is an inevitable precondition for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. In spite of the heated tone of many reactions, not many of them were seriously argumentative. Several readers want me to stop criticising Israel and to focus on Palestinian terrorism instead. I get this advice regularly, as if Palestinian terrorism were a never-heard-of scoop just waiting for me to discover. Sorry, friends: I am convinced that stopping the occupation, the colonisation and the dispossession of the Palestinians is the only way to end both the justified Palestinian resistance and its unjustifiable terrorist actions. Pointing a finger at the Palestinians may serve the Israeli propaganda, the settlements and the gigantic American aid to Israel; but all these make my life in Tel-Aviv neither safer nor more moral. One reader claims that I "imply that the Palestinian Arabs who fled or were driven out […] are in the same boat as the Jews of Nazi Germany were". I did not imply that at all. The expulsion of the Palestinians took place within what can be termed a civil war (a war crime), whereas Hitler’s war on the Jews was an unprovoked genocide of defenceless civil populations (a crime against humanity). I used the Nazi case just to show that the way from mass-deportation to mass-murder is a dangerously short one, and that every Jew, including those calling for "transfer", should be aware of that. Another reader claimed that Palestinian nationalism was quite young, and that there was no Palestinian people prior to the twentieth century. Though this is true – Palestinian nationalism is even younger than the relatively young Jewish nationalism (a.k.a. Zionism), and is to some extent a reaction to it – I fail to see why this justifies an ethnic cleansing. Are human rights applicable to nationalists only? Pavlovian Reaction One issue, however, was repeated in many reactions: the so-called ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Arab countries. This seems to be the Pavlovian pro-Israeli reply whenever the ethnic cleansing of 1948 is mentioned. It can be traced back to official Israeli State propaganda as early as the 1950s. I say Pavlovian, because it is invoked instinctively and irrationally, just like the saliva of Pavlov’s dog. The argument of my article was that Israel carried out an ethnic cleansing in 1948, and that it may be prone to repeat it. As a reply, I am told that the Arab countries carried out an ethnic cleansing. What does this have to do with my argument? The assertion that Arab countries may be guilty of a similar crime does not make Israel’s crime any better; it definitely does not disprove that Israel is prone to repeat it. Again, the rhetorical trick here is the same as asking me to talk about Palestinian terrorism: whenever Israel is criticised, simply change the subject and talk about Arab or Palestinian faults instead (luckily for Israel, there is always enough of them). This is demagoguery, not a fair debate. However, irrelevant as it is to the argument of my previous column, the analogy between the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 and the exodus of Jews from Arab countries is worth relating to in its own right. 'Arab Ethnic Cleansing'? First let us recall the chronology. The ethnic cleansing of 600.000 to 720.000 Palestinians from Israel preceded the Jewish exodus from Arab countries. The exodus of some 125.000 Iraqi Jews to Israel started in 1949; that of about 165.000 North-African Jews took place as late as 1955-1957. It is therefore somewhat awkward to claim that Israel had deported its Arabs because of the exodus of Arab Jews that occurred years later. There is no doubt, however, that the establishment of the State of Israel played a major role in the deplorable deterioration of living conditions for Jews in many Arab countries. Whereas Jews had been living in the Arab and Muslim world for more than a millennium, for better and for worse but under generally more favourable terms than under Christianity (and with nothing even slightly comparable to the atrocities of the Crusaders or the Holocaust), Israel’s ethnic cleansing coincided with the Jewish State’s birth. And not by chance: the 600.000 Jews living in Palestine in 1948 could not have achieved a solid majority in the areas they occupied without getting rid of a similar number of Arabs. Unlike the Arab countries, that can show a long tradition of coexistence with Jews (notwithstanding discrimination though), and for which getting rid of the Jews had no demographic significance whatsoever, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine was both historically and demographically the constitutive event of the Jewish State. Moreover: even though Jews were indeed harassed (by the people and/or regimes) in Arab countries following the 1948 war, blaming the Arabs of ethnic cleansing is shamefully cynical when it is imputed by the very Zionists who demanded "let my people go", or by the same Israel that did all it could to force those very countries to let their Jews leave. The global Zionist pressure on each and every country, from the Soviet Union to Syria, to let its Jewish citizens go, was part of Israel’s efforts to consolidate its Jewish majority; that is why Israel always urged Western countries not to let those Jewish immigrants in, lest they fail to make Aliya. So oriental Jews were pushed out of Arab countries as a result of the conflict with Israel, and at the same time pulled by Israel, to consolidate its Jewish majority, and by Zionism, that regarded the Jewish state as the only proper place for Jews to live in. It is a major case of hypocrisy to compare those Jewish immigrants to Palestinians who fled or were driven out of Israel to other countries during a war, people for whom Palestine was their only homeland and who found themselves against their will as refugees in foreign and hostile Arab states, people who were willing but not allowed to return home, and whose property was dispossessed by Israel. Furthermore, this hypocrisy is symptomatic of the way the Israeli establishment treated the oriental Jewish immigrants. They were lured to come to Israel by promises of equality and welfare. They were zionistically indoctrinated to see Israel as their new homeland, in spite of their systematic discrimination compared to Jewish immigrants from European countries. Those who refused this zionisation were outcasts; those who did become Zionist and consider themselves as people returning home from a long exile, now have to take the insult of being described as foreign refugees, just like Palestinians in Kuwait. The cynicism of the Israeli establishment reached its highest peak when Israel raised the claim that the property of the Palestinian refugees, confiscated by Israel after 1948, was "balanced" by Jewish property left behind in Arab countries. This is a further development of the same manipulative analogy, in which the oriental immigrants are assigned the role of wretched pawns. The masses of oriental Jews, who lost their home and property as a direct result of the establishment of Israel, and then came to Israel and were housed here in poor slums hired to them by the State, never got any compensation for their lost property; Now they hear that the State that they see as their homeland considers them to be mere refugees, and that their lost property is bargained off by this State against some Palestinian property it confiscated, of which they themselves have not seen a cent. The State of Israel produces a lot of propaganda which is refuted by the slightest critical analysis. The analogy drawn between the Palestinian refugees of 1948 and the Jews from Arab countries is an especially repulsive example of this. It reveals not only how absurd Israel’s propaganda can be, but how humiliating, scornful and dangerous it is for many Israelis. A State that has been unable to grant its own citizens a day of peace in more than 50 years cannot be expected to treat them any better in its propaganda. Supporting Israel’s propaganda and war machines is definitely not the right way to help both peoples of Israel/Palestine to peaceful coexistence. www.antiwar.com/hacohen/h-col.html add your comments Source file

Psychotic Synagogal Racism As Basis by Captain Nemo 4:06pm Mon Jan 13 '03 print comment It was present all way long, the ethnic cleansing. The 1948 Palestine murders are one of regular happenings. The hunt for goyim and shikses is also cleansing, a psychological cleansing when applied to own children forbidding them any contact with mentally healthy Other. It is not the conglomeration called Israel which was and is the motor of cannibal Judaic cleansings everywhere an Yiddish rabbi has put his tent, it is the racist, filled with the Talmudic software Synagogue. THE motor. THE question : if it is so, is reconciliation between two peoples possible?.. Here we have a typical logical misinterpretation as one of those peoples is just a cannibal, racist tribe with full house of pushing with hard knowledge Jewish nobel laureats and pushing with soft stupidity Jewish prostitutes. But even nobels & prostitutes cannot secure the lifes of the members of the neighboring tribe, you know I mean Palestinians. The key to success - the Peace - is a two-phase business project : 1) destruction of the Zionazist Bunker in the Middle East and 2) replaycing it with an Independent Jewish Authority, which may be funded by UN. From 200 atom bombs Jews have today in the ex-Holy Land, 100 must be transfered to Arafat. All Palestinians have right to return, even if they are dead long ago. Yes, the bi-national, unpartitioned democratic Palestine, having well trained psychiatrists to help everybody in need. shall br considered first. add your comments

Curious by Curiouser 9:55am Wed Jan 15 '03 print comment I am curious. Your hero at Indymedia is Stalin and we know that Stalin expelled and deported "transfer style" the entire populations of Volga Germans, Tatars and others. So can you Indymedia commies exlain to us all how come expelling Palestinians from the Land of Israel is any worse than the expulsion of the ethnic Germans from the Sudetenland, from Romania and Yugoslavia and elsewhere, or the expulsion of the Hindus from Pakistani Punjab, or the expulsion of the ethnic Chinese by the Vietnamese communists? We would really like to know!! add your comments

Stalinist?!!! Indymedia?!!! Never!!!!!! by Indymedia Israel 10:24am Wed Jan 15 '03 print comment What ridiculous nonsense. Indymedia is the opposite of Stalinist. It is about ending heirarchy. Stalin was a dictator. add your comments

WHo do you think you are kidding? by Stop Treason 6:04am Thu Jan 16 '03 print comment Who do you think you are kidding? You "Indy Media" traitors are devoted to nothing except seeing Israel destroyed and seeing its population annihilated in a Second Holocaust. That is why your web page is open to every neonazi and skinhead who wishes to defame Jews, while you censor out any Jewish patriots. That is why you feature and promote the rantings of Arab fascists and of Jewish traitors and Uncle Toms. That is why you support the Stalinists in the Knesset and the Islamist fascists. That is why you support Bin Laden. You hate America and "capitalism", while enjoying its fruits, because you seek to impose a Stalinist regime on the world. Sure you oppose "leaders" unless you can be the Gulag commandants. You are the 21st centurt web exquivalent to Lord Haw Haw. add your comments

objectivity by yunus 1:47am Fri Jan 17 '03 jlockemeadows@yahoo.com print comment I have seen hate propaganda of the zionist and anti-semitic lot both. I dont remember how long ago it was that a massive Baruch Goldstein collage was pasted all over many indymedia sites. Stalin was a paranoid dictator, concerned only with maintaining power, one look at Sharon and Arafat's rise since WWII points that they have the same Stalinist personality. They both rule with a strong fist, strongarming the electorate, leglislature and judiciary. Both must be replaced for peace. "Greater Israel" is totally possible, Israel, (by signing the NPT and abiding by the UN) could actually be the only democracy in the Middle East, instead of a ethnically pure "jewish state", more along the lines of South Africa and Rhodesia in the past. And i never see any commies posting here. Give me an example. How is asking for equal rights for ALL SEMITES in IDF Israel stalinist/communist/not-morally-right. the big problem is the fundamentalist lobby in the USA. Christian and Jewish. Not the majority, but a well-funded, political and vocal minority. add your comments

Indymedia's Own Pet Goldsteins by Commie Basher 7:54am Fri Jan 17 '03 print comment You Indymedia freaks trying to make us all laugh? Trying to convince us that you were outraged by Goldstein? You Indymedia racists have been touting and promoting thousands of Palestinian Goldsteins since you got started. Goldstein was universally condemned by every single part of the Israeli political spectrum, while the Palestinian nazis are justified and blessed not only by every single part of the Arab spectrum, including Israeli Arab fascists like Bashara and Tibi, but by the entire Indymedia anti-Jewish Fanatic Left. It is the classic axis of evil - allying Israel's anti-Zionist Left with Arab fascism!! add your comments

Curiouser misses the point again by Doug Terpstra 3:02pm Fri Jan 17 '03 dterps@uswest.net print comment In his "evil for evil" world view, Curiouser feebly attempts to justify Israel's purging of Palestinians by comparing it to a greater evil by Stalin. He or she is missing a logic circuit. By that "evil for evil" logic, Israel would be justified in killing all Palestinians in their quest for the messianic grail: greater Israel with pre-Roman, pre-Greek, pre-Babylon, 3,000-year ancient borders. Heaven help us, because their mission will surely rain down nuclear fire on all our heads. Israel's disobedience to Jehovah's or Yaweh's commandments, the reviling of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the lynching of Christ, have yielded horrific suffering for its people and the loss of God's covenant, now extended to vermin goya as the new Israel. It seems we are all subject to the self-perpetuating cycle of abuse wherein the abused perversely morph into their own tormentors. add your comments

What is Zionism by John Veldhuis 1:53pm Mon Jan 20 '03 print comment Couldn't you state that you believe anti-zionism is anti-semitism at the beginning? That would have saved me from reading the whole piece. I resent your views, and I am offended by them. I have nothing against Jews, I have something against people that believe themselves better than others and make those others suffer the consequences. If this is what Zionism is, I am against it. If Zionism is nothing more than the belief every Jew has the right to live in peace and security, I'm in favor of it. But then, what is happening to the repressed in Israel and surrounding territories, has nothing to do with Zionism anymore. add your comments

A Pro Israeli seeking Peace by Sarah 2:22pm Mon Jan 20 '03 print comment First of all, I want to say I am an Israeli Citizen, and I love Israel, and it is due to my love of Israel and respect for the equal rights which should be afforded to everyone that I seek a peaceful resolution to the conflicts in the Mideast. I am not the most religious of Jews, but when I do go to Synogogue, I pray for the end of the occupation, and when I see that is not enough I protest. But, that does not mean I am willing to disregard the crimes committed against Israeli's, being Israeli Jews and Arabs. Independence in 1948 was not a mere handing over of the keys to the Jews, which was taken as an excuse for ethnic cleansing. There are certainly Jews who were and are guilty of crimes against the Palestinian people, including all out massacres. But, 1948 was a war. Innocent civilians died on both sides, both sides committed genocide. I don't mean they cancel each other out, but they both must be regarded. When Israel was granted independence, all the countries surrounding declared war against the Israelis. I don't want to excuse any acts of violence, but I also don't want to dismiss any. However, if we want to be digging up pages of history in the current seek for peace, lets begin in the 1970s, when Israel looses a great deal of respect in my eyes, by accepting US miliary funding. add your comments

Marching SOng of the Anti-Zionist Fascist Lef by progressive 7:00am Mon Jan 27 '03 print comment We are progressive, caring, socially advanced, egalitarian and freedom-loving Anti-Zionists. Here we present to you our Grand Marching Song. Set to John Philip Sousa. All together: We believe in enlightened government and progress. And that is why we support Arab fascism. We believe in peace. And that is why we support all military aggression against Israel. We believe in democracy. And that is why we believe that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that must be destroyed. We believe in freedom. And that is why we support Saddam Hussein and Hafez Assad, as well as His Ugliness Yassuh Ara-fat. We believe in the freedom of speech and of the press. And that is why we support the Palestinian Authority. We believe in self-determination and self-definition for all. But not for Jews. We oppose violence. And that is why we support Palestinian terror. We believe in human dignity. And that is why we applaud when Arabs blow up Jewish women and children. We believe in human rights. And for this reason we support Arab atrocities. We believe in fraternity and the brotherhood of nations. Which is why Israel must be de-Zionized and converted to a clone of Lebanon and Bosnia. We believe in voting. Which is why we applaud Libya, Sudan, Iran, and Iraq and demand that Israel be destroyed. We believe in freedom of movement. Except for Jews. We favor equality. As in Syria, Iraq and Libya. We favor minority rights. But not for Jews, Kurds, Southern Sudanese, Copts or any other politically incorrect groups. We believe in freedom. But do not mind that slavery still exists in Sudan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere among Arabs. We believe in a free press. And so we support censorship by the PLO. We believe in freedom to practice religion. But only for Moslems. We believe in affirmative action preferences for those who suffered from past discrimination. But not for Jews. We believe in progress and enlightenment. And so we support Jihad and pogroms. We believe in egalitarianism. And so we support demands for ethnic cleansing of the Middle East to drive out the Jews. We love children and living things. And this is why we applaud suicide bombers. We hate it when people blame the victims. Which is why all terrorism is the Jews' fault. We believe in education. As long as we never have to read any books. We believe in multiculturalism. As long as no one ever has to learn respect for the Jews or for the West or for Amerika. We believe in progress. And so we celebrate barbarism and savagery. We believe in progress. As long as Arab countries never are asked to progress beyond the 12th century. We believe in democracy. But not for Arabs. We believe in prosperity. And that is why we support Arab feudalism and kleptocracy. We believe in equal citizenship. Just as long as Israel never conscripts its Arabs. We believe in freedom of expression. Which is why people who do not agree with us must be censored. We believe the human rights of Arabs must be protected. But not in Arab countries. We are upset by illiteracy. And that is why we practice it. We believe in women's equality, but not for Arabs. We oppose torture, Except when it is by the Palestinian Authority or similar progressive Arab force. =========== add your comments

a honest article based on common sense by dani 5:43am Tue Jan 28 '03 print comment What is wery impressively in Ran Hacohen's articleis the fact that he doesn't use "hisorical"document"and does't quote some sentences of "important" personalities to get the conclusion:Israel propaganda used a lot of cheap slogans which immediately were transformed in myths.He calls just to the common sens of the people to wheight the facts.What a pity,this basic compass lacks totally in Israel and maybe this is the reason that so kind of myths could appear. add your comments

Ran's Belt by Arthur 10:51am Thu Jan 30 '03 print comment Hey Ran Hacohen Any truth to the rumor you bought yourself your own explosives belt to show your solidarity with the PLO? add your comments

oh by boy 6:15pm Thu Feb 20 '03 address: Freudian slip? phone: lee john print comment "So can you Indymedia commies exlain to us all how come expelling Palestinians from the Land of Israel is any worse than the expulsion of the ethnic Germans from the Sudetenland, from Romania and Yugoslavia and elsewhere, or the expulsion of the Hindus from Pakistani Punjab, or the expulsion of the ethnic Chinese by the Vietnamese communists?" Interesting that you are putting Israel in the same league as these countries. add your comments

MOKE ROOM BY LEAVIG SPACE by Orit 6:42pm Thu Feb 20 '03 print comment Sarah you said ,,I pray for the end of the occupation,, Uz Terdi,,, you take part in the occupation by living in Israel. add your comments

Gradual Destruction Of the Palestinians by Ralph 11:02pm Sun Feb 23 '03 print comment It is so depressing and frustrating to see the Palestinians being systemactical destroyed by Israel while the world stands by and does nothing. It is every bit as disgusting as the world standing by while Jews were being destroyed in Germany. The "new" Nazis get a 'green light' from Washington so that makes the Israelis actions somehow acceptable. add your comments

ALSO by S 11:12pm Sun Feb 23 '03 print comment The "previous" Nazis got a 'green light' from Washington too and later recruited for the CIA. Check the facts... add your comments

When You Start With Lies by Hanavi 6:49pm Mon Mar 10 '03 print comment When you start with lies you end with confusion and more lies. the fundamental lie is that israel has the right to exist in some straightforward non-machiavellian sense. the next lie is that palestine was a land without a people. Then the lie that Jews invited Arabs to stay and build a state in 1948 but that they left because they unjustifiably opposed the state of Israel. The next lie is that Jews are better than everyone else and therefore are entitled to expropriate others. Like antisemitism in the goyim this tenet is imbibed in mother's milk by Jews. We are taught based on Jewish doctrine that we are the chosen, the blessed better than all others and therefore entitled to whatever vileness. The next lie is that this is a battle of political ideologies rather than the simple struggle of an indigenous people to secure their rights. So here the wool to pull over the eyes is a transfer of hatred of communism to a hatred of islamic fundamentalism submerging the need to give any attention to the rights of the Palestinians and the fundamental injustice manifestedin the existence of the state of Israel. the next lie is that, as usual, the world is antisemitic and therefore no sympathy from the world for Israel is the result of antisemitism. the next lie is therefore that the Jews need a place to live so that the holocaust will never happen again and that moreover the Arabs must pay for the holocaust with their land. The Jews have a place to live and a state too--the United States, New York city. the next lie is that the Un in 1948 had the right to create the state of Israel and everyone must live with the results of colonial Turkish and British politics forever. the next feeble lie is that morality is a balance between good and evil so that even placing on the side of evil all that must be done to ensure the survival of Israel, Jewish life is ultimately moral because: Jews are better than Arabs and therefore their goodness will outweigh any brutality. here the lie is that Jews can murder and defile because they will build hospitals and universities so that in the long run they will accomplish more good than evil. Where is this written? I some sense the insoluble problem of Israel and the path of destruction to which the world is committed in support of the fundamental lie may be viewed as the enactment of jewish revenge against the world for 2000 years. This attitude would justify any and all crimes against humanity committed by the Jews. What do we care what the word thinks in light of the holocaust. Thus the result of the fundamental lie of Israel's right to exist is a pervading cynicism with respect to the rights of the Palestinians, the objections of most of the world and indeed of common morality add your comments