"Real News" piece on the Israeli demonstrations.
A comment from Joel Beinin: Impressive. Something is happening, but too soon to tell what. They want me to lecture about Egypt on Thursday at the Rothschild camp-out (the most yuppie). The numbers in this report are somewhat inflated. But the original call for "Tahrir, Jihad" (see recent MERO) seems to be catching on. But note the Israeli flags (absent in Jerusalem on July 15 by prior agreement). And the Director General of the Treasury didn't quit at Bibi's request, but as a protest against the pig-headed approach of the Minister, Yuval Steinitz, who may yet be thrown under the bus.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7118
And then an excellent piece by Joel about the influence of the Arab Awakening on both Israelis and Palestinians.
Joel Beinin: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Arab Awakening
August 1, 2011
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero080111
Writing a few days later:
In the meantime, demonstrations in Israel have been growing in size. It's estimated that about 300,000 people demonstrated yesterday (Aug. 6), in various locales across Israel.
Here is an additional piece by Abir Kopty, describing the massive demonstrations and encampments from the point of view of a Palestinian. The essence of her message is:
"Social justice can't be divided or categorized. If it is not justice to all including all Palestinians, then it is a fake justice, elite justice or "Justice for Jews only" exactly as the Israeli democracy functions "for Jews only". July 14 is a great opportunity for Israelis to refuse to allow their state to continue to drown into an apartheid regime."
Whether Israeli Jews will seize on this opportunity or not still remains to be seen.
Racheli Gai.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/08/tent-1948.html#more-48846
ABIR KOPTY: Tent 1948
AUGUST 6, 2011
If you are Palestinian, it will be difficult to find anything to identify with in Tel Aviv's tents' city on Rothschild Boulevard, until you reach Tent 1948. My first tour there was a few days ago, when I decided to join Tent 1948. Tent 1948's main message is that social justice should be for all. It brings together Jewish and Palestinian citizens who believe in shared sovereignty in the state of all its citizens.
For me, as a Palestinian, I don't feel part of the July 14 movement, and I'm not there because I feel part. Almost every corner of this encampment reminds me that this place does not want me. My first tour there was pretty depressing, I found lots of Israeli flags, a man giving a lecture to youth about his memories from '48 war' from a Zionist perspective, another group marching with signs calling for the release of Gilad Shalit, another singing Zionist songs. This is certainly not a place that the 20% of the population would feel they belong to. The second day I found Ronen Shuval, from Im Tirtzu, the extreme right wing organization, giving a talk full of incitement and hatred to the left and human rights organizations. Settlers already set a tent and were dancing with joy.
The existence of Tent 1948 in the encampment constitutes a challenge to people taking part in the July 14 movement. In the first few days, the tent was attacked by group of rightwing activists, who beat activists in the tent and broke down the Palestinian flag of the tent. Some of the leaders of the July 14 movement have said clearly that raising core issues related to Palestinian community in Israel or the occupation will make the struggle "lose momentum". They often said the struggle is social, not political, as if there was a difference. They are afraid of losing supporters if they make Palestinian issues bold.
The truth is that this is the truth.
The truth is, this is exactly what might help Netanyahu, if he presses the button of fear, recreates the 'enemy' and reproduce the 'security threat', he might be able to silence this movement. The problem is not with Netanyahu, he is not the first Israeli leader to rely on this. The main problem is that Israelis are not ready yet to see beyond the walls surrounding them.
Yet, one has to admit, something is happening, Israelis are awakening. There is a process; people are coming together, discussing issues. The General Assembly of the encampment decided on Friday that it will not accept any racist messages among its participants. Even to Tent 1948 many Israelis arrived, read the flyers, listened to what Tent 1948 represent and discussed calmly. Perhaps if I was a Jewish Israeli I will be proud of the July 14 movement. But, I am not a Jew, I am not Zionist, I am Palestinian.
I don't want to beatify the reality, or hide anything for the sake of 'tactics' and I will not accept crumbs. I want to speak about historical justice, I want to speak about occupation, I want to speak about discrimination and racism, I want to put everything on the table, and I want to speak about them in the heart of Tel Aviv.
Social justice can't be divided or categorized. If it is not justice to all including all Palestinians, then it is a fake justice, elite justice or "Justice for Jews only" exactly as the Israeli democracy functions "for Jews only". July 14 is a great opportunity for Israelis to refuse to allow their state to continue to drown into an apartheid regime.
Abir Kopty blogs here. Follow her twitter feed @abirkopty. A media analyst and consultant and political activist, she is a former city council member in Nazareth & former spokeswoman for Mossawa, the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel.
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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Ofer Neiman
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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