Ethnic Cleansing and Israel- "The Ultimate Aim is the Transfer of Arab-Israelis"

[MikeWB]

Ethnic Cleansing and Israel- "The Ultimate Aim is the Transfer of Arab-Israelis"

By Conn Hallinan in Counterpunch - March 3, 2009

http://www.counterpunch.org/hallinan03032009.html

One of the more disturbing developments in the Middle East is a growing consensus among Israelis that it would acceptable to expel-in the words of advocates 'transfer'-its Arab citizens to either a yet as unformed Palestinian state or the neighboring countries of Jordan and Egypt.

Such sentiment is hardly new among Israeli extremists, and it has long been advocated by racist Jewish organizations like Kach, the party of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, as well as groups like the National Union, which doubled its Knesset representation in the last election.

But 'transfer' is no longer the exclusive policy of extremists, as it has increasingly become a part of mainstream political dialogue. 'My solution for maintaining a Jewish and democratic state of Israel is to have two nation-states with certain concessions and with clear red lines,' Kadima leader and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told a group of Tel Aviv high school students last December, 'and among other things, I will be able to approach the Palestinian residents of Israel, those whom we call Israeli Arabs, and tell them, ` your national solution lies elsewhere."

Such talk has consequences.

According to the Israeli Association for Civil Rights, anti-Arab incidents have risen sharply. 'Israeli society is reaching new heights of racism that damages freedom of expression and privacy,' says Sami Michael, the organization's president. Among the Association's findings:

   * Some 55 percent of Jewish Israelis say that the state should encourage Arab emigration;

   * 78 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose including Arab parties in the government;

   * 56 percent agree with the statement that 'Arabs  cannot attain the Jewish level of cultural     development';

   * 75 percent agree that Arabs are inclined to be violent. Among Arab-Israelis, 54 percent feel the     same way about Jews.

   * 75 percent of Israeli Jews say they would not live in the same building as Arabs.

The tension between Israeli democracy and the country's Jewish character was the centerpiece of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu Party's campaign in the recent election. His party increased its Knesset membership from 11 to 15, and is now the third largest party in the parliament.

Lieberman, who lives in a West Bank settlement near Bethlehem, calls for a 'loyalty oath' from Arab- Israelis, and for either expelling those who refuse or denying them citizenship rights. During a Knesset debate last March, Lieberman told Arab deputies, 'You are only temporarily here. One day we will take care of you.'

Such views are increasing, particularly among young Jewish Israelis, among whom a politicized historical education and growing hopelessness about the future has fueled a strong rightward shift.

In a recent article in Haaretz, Yotam Feldman writes about a journey through Israel's high schools, where students freely admit to their hatred of Arabs and lack of concern about the erosion of democracy. ...

[Conn Hallinan is a foreign policy analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus (online at www.fpif.org) and a lecturer in journalism at the University of California, Santa Cruz.