The Israel-Palestine conflict is quite a complex one. There are two peoples who both lay claim to the same land. The backers of both sides often have a large amount of emotional and political investment in their cause. However, the pro-Palestinian cause is often labeled antisemitic. While we live in a world where antisemitism still exists, to label the entire pro-Palestine cause as antisemitic is ludicrous as it distorts the meaning of the word antisemitic, shows the ignorance of those who label the pro-Palestine cause as such, and ignores the problems that certain Israeli policies have had on the Palestinians.
The word antisemitism means “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group”. [1] Antisemitism is hatred or hostility towards the Jewish people, not being against certain Israeli government policies, thus when the pro-Palestinian cause is labeled antisemitic, the word is being misused to negatively label political opponents rather than actual antisemitism.Labeling the pro-Palestinian cause antisemitic actually shows the ignorance of the people who engage in such activity. Many define the state of Israel through the lens of it being a homeland for the Jewish people and subsequently see any attack on Israeli policy as an attack on Jews as a group. This is quite foolish as one must separate the government from its people. Criticizing the polices of a government is not criticizing an entire people. One is no more antisemitic for criticizing Israeli government policy than they are anti-American for criticizing American foreign policy.
In accusing those who stand up for Palestinian rights as antisemitic, supporters of Israel show that they cannot separate the Israeli government from the Israeli people and that they cannot see how certain Israeli policies not only harm Palestinians, but are also self-defeating to Israel. One example of this is Israel’s recent plan to build a new settlement consisting of 2,600 homes. [2] This, coupled with the fact that Israel is moving to legalize settlements in the West Bank [3], is one of Israel’s self-defeating policies. By moving to legalize settlements on what is internationally recognized as Palestinian land, it does not aid in the move towards peace, nor does it make Israel safer. Rather, it exacerbates already strained tensions and emboldens Palestinians to violently resist Israel.
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Israel’s policies often have negative effects on ordinary Palestinians. These negative effects on regular Palestinians would fit into the category of externalities, as the main goal is not to hurt ordinary Palestinians, but rather to lessen the power or influence of those who wish to do harm to Israel. Nonetheless, these policies still have a painful impact on regular Palestinians. One such example in the blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has caused “Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages,” leaving “four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid.” [4] While the reason for the blockade was to end Hamas rocket attacks and to decimate Gaza’s economy [5], the blockade took a major toll on the Gazan economy.
The pro-Palestinian cause is fighting for the people of Palestine. For their right to self-determination, to have a state, and to not be under occupation by the Israelis. That it not antisemitism. That is the right thing to do as it advocates a viable solution for both Israeli and Palestinians.
Endnotes
1: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-semitism
2: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/16/israel-settlement-isolate-arab-jerusalem
3: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204774604576629390821057276.html
4: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/suffocating-gaza-israeli-blockades-effects-palestinians-2010-06-01
5: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/05/wikileaks-israeli-blockade-targeted-gaza-economy/
By the way, you said that the following article will be forthcoming:
Israel, Palestine, and A Seperate Peace.
I hope that you will not fail to mention Arab rejection of peace offers in 1947 (the UN partition), 1948, 1993, and 2000 all from Israel. Somehow I think that I shouldnt be holding my breath for anything resembling factual history in this upcoming masterpiece.
Should I assume that the author of this essay would have no objection to Mahmoud Abbas being labeled as an individual anti-semite? abbas is an avowed Holocaust denier, and refuses to accept the idea of Israel as a Jewish state at all. In fact under his government, Israel is not represented on maps, and the Jewish nature of historical sites is denied. I could go on, but if criticism of Israeli government policy is ok, and from the article it seems you have no problem with that, then criticism of Palestinian government policy should be ok as well.
IN addition, there is a comment above referencing “many atrocities Zionists committed” and the bombing of the Kind David hotel is mentioned..do you know what year that occured? (1947)Do you know who was being attacked in that bombing? (The British)Can you name a terrorist attack carried out by Israelis since then? (Good luck…there arent any)
Frankly there is no equivalence between the Israelis and Palestinians on anything resembling a moral basis…all you have to do to see the value the Palestinians place on life is look at the recent deal that freed Gilad Shalit…1000 to 1. Even the Palestinians agree that their people are worth 1/1000 of an Israeli.
Actually, I don’t have a problem with criticizing the policy of the Palestinian government. Criticism can be a good thing.
Also, in my forthcoming article Israel, Palestine, and A Separate Peace, I will in fact mention the Arab rejection of the 1948 partition plan.
I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t do these slanderous attacks me with no evidence whatsoever.
Antisemitic is a label thrown around to discredit people who have brought up legitimate problems with Israel.
What the Zionist patsy above forgets is there is no explaining away war crimes crimes against humanity medical blockade the prison camp people in their home are forced to live in while it gets stolen daily in illegal settlements. Hed live to omit Israel is the racist apartheid state. There’s no hiding fact.
Yes, until you come up with another reason why anti-Zionists ONLY condemn the actions of Israel, while ignoring/overlooking/downplaying/straight up supporting the much worse racial/religious supremacy and human rights violations of its surrounding countries, it’s antisemitism.
Don’t get me wrong; there should be a Palestinian state. But those who discuss the conflict always omit some key points that lead me to believe they are indeed anti-Semitic. Left out of the discussion are the equal number of Jews murdered or driven from Arab lands and their property confiscated, when Palestinians were likewise dislocated in 1948. Left out of the discussion are the large tracts of land legally purchased by Zionists on the West Bank, only to have them confiscated / stolen and a law passed barring Jews from owning land, when the West Bank was under Jordanian occupation. Left out of the discussion of the two-state solution is the insistence upon Palestinian rights for Israeli Arabs, while the new Palestinian state insists upon being, to use Hitler’s word, “Judenrein” (“rid of Jews”), not one Jew left in that land. Until I hear these issues brought up in the discussion, it is hard to take the reasonability of the Palestinian position seriously, sorry. Resolution 242, carefully negotiated, says Israel will withdraw from “territories”, and specifically not “the territories”. The difference in meaning between these is that there must be two-party negotiations, not just giving all of the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians without any requirements on their part. Israel captured these territories from Egypt and Jordan in a defensive war for Israel’s existence, so of course the borders must be defensible in a way they barely were before. The “peace” plan saying they should be EXACTLY the pre-1967 borders was a suggestion made by Saudi Arabia, the world’s most brutal dictatorship. Israel gives up all land captured in a defensive war, in exchange they get abstractions from its enemy, a part of whose government still doesn’t even recognize their right to exist.
While I understand where you are coming from, ommitting those facts is not anti-Semitic. While I am not a stickler for dictionary defintions, ommitting those facts does not mean that one hates Jews or Judaism. In addition to this, one could argue that many atrocities that Zionists committed in Palestine are ignored, such as Zionist terrorism (http://www.scribd.com/doc/46708225/Zionist-Terrorism-and-Crimes-in-Palestine-1939-1945-Issa-Nakhleh). A prime example being the bombing of the King David Hotel (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/King_David.html).
However, I will address this and the conflict in general in my forthcoming article entitled Israel, Palestin, and A Seperate Peace.