Without recognising the first Nakba and explicitly repudiating it, liberal Israel will lose
The Nakba was and still is the truth that must never be referred to explicitly. That would be bad PR vis-à-vis the enlightened world. Expulsion and ethnic cleansing don’t sound good. Certainly when they are attributed to a people which has devoted more than any other people to the study of the Holocaust. ■ There can be no doubt that the Kahanist vision is a second Nakba. Without recognising the first Nakba and explicitly repudiating it, liberal Israel will lose. Because it is lying to itself.
By Rogel Alpher • [Translated by Sol Salbe]
The killing of Jews in the West Bank by Palestinians fighting against the Occupation, the settlement enterprise and Apartheid is increasing, and with it there are increasing calls by settlers, their political leaders, and their representatives in the Knesset for more violent and extensive military operations. According to the settlers these operations are required for the elimination of terrorism, or at least deterring Palestinians from using it. These calls are also expressions of dismay and frustration on the part of right-wing extremists towards the right-wing nationalist government whom they have elected, which, instead of proving that terrorism can be eliminated, proves that it is even not as competent in carrying out this task than the Lapid-Bennett government.
The entire obsessive discourse of terrorism in Israeli society, which has existed in an endless loop for more than 50 years, rests on the premise that terrorism in the West Bank can be eliminated by military means with the addition of extensive Jewish settlement and eventual annexation. And this premise, ingrained in the depths of collective Israeli consciousness, stems directly from the founding creation myth of the War of Independence. After all, in that war, Israel was founded on the principle that one must strive to expel the Arabs from the country: it is permissible, it is the only solution to terrorism, and it works. It is also something that has already happened. And the folkloric myth about 700,000 Palestinians who “fled” the country because they were cowards and not loyal enough to the land was always presented, even in schools, with a kind of wink.
The Nakba was and still is the truth that must never be referred to explicitly. That would be bad PR vis-à-vis the enlightened world. Expulsion and ethnic cleansing don’t sound good. Certainly when they are attributed to a people which has devoted more than any other people to the study of the Holocaust. But it is the Nakba that is behind all the harsh criticism from the Right of the IDF, Defence Minister Galant, and Netanyahu. And it is this Nakba that Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are contemplating. They are thinking of recreating a situation so intolerable that Palestinians will have no choice but to, once again, “flee.”
That’s why the running away myth is so important. Because it shows that the Palestinians have already done it once, and why wouldn’t they do it again? That’s what they mean by “deterrence.” Palestinians will be deterred from living in Hebron, Nablus and Jenin. And like the Arabs who remained in Israel in 1948, the Palestinians who would remain in the [Occupied] Territories will be shell-shocked, and it would be possible to place them under some kind of military rule. In the of messianic fascists’ consciousness, the drama unfolding here is still the drama of ’48. That is why they frequently emphasise that the Palestinians do not recognise Tel Aviv or a Jewish state along the Green Line. The [right-wingers] talk about pioneers, about conquering the land, about a new War of Independence.
The current argument in Israeli society is between those who are loyal to the War of Independence and those who are faithful of the Declaration of Independence. Between the Nakba and Oslo. And the Nakba contradicts what is written in the Declaration of Independence. There can be no doubt that the Kahanist vision is a second Nakba. Without recognising the first Nakba and explicitly repudiating it, liberal Israel will lose. Because it is lying to itself.
