{"id":25037,"date":"2013-01-03T12:54:39","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T08:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=25037"},"modified":"2013-01-03T12:54:44","modified_gmt":"2013-01-03T08:54:44","slug":"moral-giants-israels-freethinkers-are-its-liberators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/showcase\/moral-giants-israels-freethinkers-are-its-liberators\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Moral Giants’: Israel’s ‘Freethinkers’ are its Liberators"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"peace\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Russian writer\u00a0Leo Tolstoy<\/a>\u00a0made a simple observation that fittingly describes Israel’s peace and just activists. He said, \u201cFreethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palestinians have the highest regard for Israel’s ‘freethinkers<\/a>‘. They are a rare breed- who despite the many privileges their religious beliefs and citizenship endows them bravely challenge Israeli policies, practices and assumptions. They are moral giants who refuse to accept Israel’s blind unquestioning patriotism that fuels much\u00a0cruelty<\/a>\u00a0and suffering on\u00a0Palestinians\u00a0<\/a>(Israel’s policy victims)\u00a0and\u00a0Israelis<\/a>\u00a0(who administer and sanction its brutality). They are their peace\u00a0partners<\/a>\u00a0in pursuit of one mutual objective – to liberate Israelis from the\u00a0moral burdens<\/a>\u00a0of its decades long\u00a0dehumanizing<\/a>\u00a0policies and free Palestinians from Israel’s\u00a0abusive<\/a>\u00a0and cruel occupation.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Israel’s secrete police are now utilizing the same measures they apply to Palestinian non-violent movement to investigate and describe a range of activities that involve Israeli citizens who challenge Israeli policies, take part or endorse Palestinian non-violent measures.\u00a0According to\u00a0Haaretz<\/a>, Israel’s security agents are engaged in a deliberate campaign to mute and intimidate Israeli peace activists. Shabak’s security police are targeting them because their activities fall under the purview of \u00a0“delegitimization<\/a>“- an ambiguous and confusing term that was first used to describe Palestinian non-violent campaigns.<\/p>\n

Israel’s security agency\u00a0Shin Bet (Shabak)\u00a0<\/a>was established in 1948 to monitor Palestinian Israelis; and in 1967 it’s decree was expanded to monitor the political activities of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and Gaza. Now its mandate includes\u00a0Israel’s Jewish peace activists<\/a>\u00a0who question their government’s policies. Shabak aims to\u00a0halt collaboration<\/a>\u00a0between Israeli and Palestinian peace and just advocates.\u00a0Shin Bet’s keen interest in Israel’s peace camp indicates that the Palestinian and Israeli non-violent strategies are effective in spite of the\u00a0recent claims\u00a0that\u00a0suggest “Israel’s peace camp is dead<\/a>.” These opinions overlook and underestimate the growth and potential of Israel’s grass root peace movement, which is clearly worrying Israel’s current government.<\/p>\n

Peace and human rights activists never imagined the scope and range of the flurry of\u00a0bills Israel’s Knesset initiated to mute\u00a0free expression<\/a>; color the\u00a0national discourse<\/a>; and limit discussion on the merits and moral cost of Israel’s occupation policies. While these laws were\u00a0first initially passed<\/a>\u00a0to target Palestinians, today they are used to investigate Israeli Jewish peace activists. Palestinians understand that not\u00a0all citizens are equal<\/a>\u00a0in Israel. They also are well aware that an Israel without a\u00a0constitution<\/a>\u00a0its judicial system is\u00a0rigged against<\/a>\u00a0peaceful protesters; nevertheless they hoped Israel’s\u00a0Declaration of Independence<\/a>\u00a0and its list of guarantees (that has yet to apply to\u00a0Palestinian Israelis<\/a>)\u00a0would at the least provide legal protections to their Israeli Jewish peace partners. Unfortunately these brave Israelis are left vulnerable and open to interrogation, intimidation and abuse with little legal protection from within Israel or objection from the larger Jewish community abroad- but a few most blindly follow Israel’s official script.<\/p>\n

In\u00a02009, the Knesset passed the\u00a0Nakba Law<\/a>\u00a0threatening individuals with imprisonment and organizations with loss of public funding for recognizing the\u00a0Palestinian Nakba\u00a0<\/a>(1948 catastrophe). The Nakba Law is meant to make sure that Israelis omit\u00a0Palestinian history\u00a0<\/a>and suffering sparing them from\u00a0reflecting\u00a0<\/a>on the harm unleashed on Palestinian Israelis or their Palestinian neighbors who remain\u00a0homeless<\/a>\u00a0refugees. In\u00a0January 2011, Israel’s Knesset passed a bill to fund a parliamentary commission to\u00a0investigate Israeli human rights organizations<\/a>\u00a0and peace groups categorizing their activities as “delegitimizing<\/a>” Israel and a threat to its\u00a0national interests.\u00a0The growth and momentum of the Palestinian non-violent international\u00a0Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions<\/a>\u00a0(BDS) movement\u00a0prompted the Knesset to pass the\u00a0boycott bill<\/a>-a\u00a0one of a kind<\/a>\u00a0bill unlike any law legislated by any other country including the US. The boycott bill\u00a0specifically bars boycotts of\u00a0illegal settlement<\/a>\u00a0products or Israeli companies operating within the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The bill provides Israel’s illegal settlement enterprises legal provisions to sue anyone within Israel or the West Bank inclined to object to Israel’s settlement policies through boycott with legal means to\u00a0exact<\/a>\u00a0unlimited compensation.<\/p>\n

It is important to note that Israelis are still free to organize and participate in boycott campaigns, but they are not allowed to participate, initiate or endorse boycotting\u00a0illegal settlements<\/a>, their companies, institutions, or products. Israelis are free to\u00a0\u00a0boycott Jewish businesses<\/a>\u00a0open during Sabbath; and their government still sanctions the boycott of\u00a0Palestinian Israeli or Palestinian owned businesses<\/a>\u00a0and products- because such boycotts are considered legitimate patriotic actions serving the national interest of Israel.<\/p>\n

Initially these bills were criticized, but since they have become useful instruments to investigate the activities of\u00a0Israeli human right organizations<\/a>, groups or individuals challenging Israeli policies, involved or supportive of the nonviolent Palestinian peace movement. Today Israelis who support Palestinian calls for ending their occupation or question Israeli policies are accused of \u00a0“delegitimizing<\/a>” the state of Israel.\u00a0These\u00a0legislative bills<\/a>\u00a0are used to sanction the interrogation of Israeli citizens- whether they protest Israel’s\u00a0illegal Separation Wall<\/a>, its settlement policies, house demolitions,\u00a0land confiscation\u00a0<\/a>or\u00a0refuse to serve<\/a>\u00a0in the IDF. These laws aim to control and regulate the work of Israel’s peace movement; arrest the growth of Israel’s\u00a0Boycott from Within<\/a>;\u00a0control the number of Israelis who advocate on behalf of\u00a0Palestinian prisoners<\/a>;\u00a0collaborate with Palestinian villagers or object to settler’s\u00a0uprooting of Palestinian olive trees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Palestinian and Israeli peace advocates are concerned with the recent rise of\u00a0antidemocratic\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0xenophobic\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0in Israel that is poisoning Israel’s political climate and society. Where\u00a0leaders loudly declare that Palestinians,\u00a0Africans<\/a>, and other non- Jewish minorities are a demographic threat that needs to be controlled.\u00a0They have little regard to the impact their words and actions on the moral compass of Israelis.\u00a0Israel’s parties and politicians are also employing fear\u00a0and ambiguous labels to achieve narrow political agendas and mobilize political support. Israel’s\u00a0politicians and their countless legislative initiatives are creating hyper national parties that\u00a0feed on a highly fractured and vulnerable<\/a>\u00a0society that has internalized fear, suspicion and loathing of the other.<\/p>\n

Palestinians also recognize that Israel is an\u00a0army nation<\/a>,\u00a0where boundaries between the IDF and society are blurry. Israelis’ regard service in the IDF as the highest honor. IDF mandatory service provides young impressionable soldiers with one unifying\u00a0national identity<\/a>, experience and one enemy- the Palestinians.\u00a0Because of Israel’s unique national military character many of Israel’s peace advocates are former IDF soldiers who after considerable reflection on the\u00a0cost of the Israeli occupation policies\u00a0<\/a>on both Palestinians and Israelis\u00a0break rank and join hands with Palestinians.\u00a0Consequently they are seen as undermining and weakening Israel’s national will.<\/p>\n

Palestinians understand the tremendous courage it takes for Israel’s ‘freethinkers’ to buck the system. They are appreciative of the moral fortitude it takes to recognize the\u00a0ills of Israel’s occupation policies<\/a>\u00a0that brutalizes and\u00a0degrades\u00a0<\/a>the IDF soldiers carrying and administering it, the Israeli politicians who approve and legislate its policies, and the Israeli society that sanction its\u00a0oppressive<\/a>\u00a0daily practices. \u00a0These\u00a0young\u00a0<\/a>and old Israeli activists are reaching out beyond the confines of their comfortable life to work with like-minded Palestinians by building trust,\u00a0partnerships<\/a>\u00a0and understanding.<\/p>\n

Israelis who question and challenge Israel’s occupation policies are Palestinian household names and heroes. Any attack on their legitimacy is an attack on the non-violent movement in both camps. Israel’s ‘freethinkers<\/a>‘ play a critical and necessary role that helps maintain Palestinian faith in the possibility of an Israel free of discrimination, hate and bias. \u00a0They are the moral guard that protects Palestinians from succumbing to\u00a0branding<\/a>\u00a0all Israelis as supporters of Israel’s brutal practices. Israel’s attempt to impede the collaboration among Palestinians and Israelis seek to compromise the integrity of the Palestinian non-violent movement. The absence of Israel’s peace activists will create the moral void between the two groups that has been instrumental in fending off the distrust and animosities that hovers and\u00a0permeates after every IDF<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0settler\u00a0<\/a>encounter.<\/p>\n

Branding Israel’s peace movement with the ” delegitimizing” label is a formidable challenge\u00a0meant to intimidate Israel’s peace activists. It’s objective is to kill their (Palestinian and Israeli) collective dream for a better future and arrest the development of collaborative relations and understanding between the two peoples. \u00a0The label while ambiguous, allows Israeli officials to imply that Israelis who question their government’s narrow national agenda and destructive policies are a considerable threat.\u00a0While\u00a0Shabak’s silencing campaign\u00a0<\/a>is a concern to Palestinian and Israeli peace camp advocates,\u00a0it also provides concrete evidence of the important role Israel’s peace activists’ play that surpasses their small number and political weight. Shabak’s tactics\u00a0also demonstrates that these cross lateral partnerships between Palestinian and Israeli non- violent activists are making a difference and alarming Israel’s right wing politicians- who are today its\u00a0dominant and overriding political force<\/a>\u00a0within Israel.<\/p>\n

Palestinians\u00a0seek, find and cherish Israel’s fearless ‘freethinkers’. These liberated Israelis are\u00a0their partners<\/a>\u00a0and hope for building and establishing their mutual dream- to free Palestine and liberate Israel. Together they work to free Palestinians from Israel’s oppressive occupation and liberate Israelis from the shackles of its\u00a0tyrannical illegal settlement\u00a0<\/a>ideology, militaristic culture,\u00a0narrow nationalistic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0extreme right<\/a>\u00a0exclusionary policies that have no room for descent.<\/p>\n

Israel’s Knesset and security police\u00a0miss to appreciate the power of ‘free thinkers’ who time and again manage to change the course of history. Banded together to liberate two peoples they articulate and demonstrate their shared dream. \u00a0They will not be stopped by monitoring, interrogation or even arrest- Israel’s ‘freethinkers’ are transformative agents unafraid to expect more of themselves and their people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAI ABDUL RAHMAN: They are a powerful force within Israeli society and their courage is deeply appreciated by Palestinian activists <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":25251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,82,171,483,60,482],"tags":[5964,278,2622,1572,18311,726,7390,191,18297,1747,2608,18302,580],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}