M I D - E A S T  R E A L I T I E S - ISRAEL SHAHAK WRITES

**********************************************************

London Review of Books 2 January 1997 - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

"With all Netanyahu's faults, Labour Zionism, as exemplified by Rabin and Peres..., is much worse. There will be no progress on anything if this basic fact is not understood."

The following is a letter written by Prof. Dr. Israel Shahak, a life-long human right activist, a retired chemical professor and a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Dr. Shahak also regularly translates articles from the Hebrew press in a monthly journal titled From The Hebrew Press. He is author of Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years. This letter is in response to Ira Katznelson's letter critical of Prof. Edward Said's article which appeared in the London Review of Books several months ago.

Arafat's Palestine

I hope that you will permit me to rebut the claims of Ira Katznelson in his dispute with Edward Said, about what can, or cannot, be called 'moderate' in Zionism (Letters, 31 October). In the first place, Zionism, exactly like its mirror image, anti-Semitism, is a discriminatory movement. It is not necessary to speak of the Occupied Territories in order to establish this irrefutable fact. In Israel itself, 92 percent of the so-called 'national land' can be used (for living, business, etc.) only by the Jews. A major Zionist organisation, the Jewish National Fund, is trying to enlarge 'national land' and close it to Palestinians. Try to imagine that Jews would be denied the use of 92 percent of Britain and a 'Christian Fund' would buy Jewish shops to rent them exclusively to Christians, and you will see some of the routine discrimination practiced by the 'Jewish state'. Thus, in respect of both Zionism and anti-Semitism the real question is which part of an evil movement is less evil than the other parts. If we ignore religious Zionists, who are by far the worst, it can be shown that Labour or 'left' Zionists have been and are much worse than right-wing Zionists, in spite of the fact that the latter bluster more than the former. Let me illustrate this fact with two basic examples.

The explicit wish to expel all or most Palestinians from the 'Land of Israel', known as 'transfer', is associated especially with Labour Zionism. Most of the major leaders of this tendency expressed themselves in favour of expelling as many Palestinians as possible, and tried to realise this wish in times of both war and peace. It may interest British readers that in 1944 the British Labour Party passed a resolution in favour of 'transferring' Palestinians out of Palestine and this recommendation has never been rescinded. Labour took this step on the recommendation of Mr. Katznelson's friends. Just as I am conscious, as a Jew, of the difference between the anti-Semites who 'only' want to discriminate against the Jews, and those who want to expel them, so I distinguish between Likud Zionists, who 'only' oppress and discriminate against, and Labour Zionists, who wish to establish apartheid, which will lead to expulsion.

Second, let us look at the structure of the two major secular Zionist parties, Labour and Likud. Likud, and its parent party, Herut, has, since 1949, accepted into its membership any Israeli citizen. For many years Labour only accepted Jews as members and relegated Palestinians to vassal parties which it dominated from the outside. Even now, it does not accept Palestinians as members in its branches. A Palestinian living in say, Haifa cannot belong to the local Labour Party branch, but is relegated to 'an Arab district' to which all Arabs, wherever they reside, belong. Imagine the Jews being forbidden to belong to local branches of a British party and, instead, no matter where they live, relegated to 'a Jewish district' for Jews only, and you will grasp the 'moderation' recommended by Labour Zionists. Let me add that the kibbutz movement, of which they are so proud, is only for Jews. Non-Jews must convert to Judaism to become kibbutz members.

With all Netanyahu's faults, Labour Zionism, as exemplified by Rabin and Peres and recommended by Mr. Katznelson, is much worse. There will be no progress on anything if this basic fact is not understood.

MID-EAST REALITIES
News, Information, & Analysis that
Governments, Interest Groups, and
the Corporate Media Do Not Want
You To Know!
To receive MER regularly just send a message to LISTSERVER@MiddleEast.Org
with the words "SUBSCRIBE MER-L".