March 27, 2008 at 05:39:20

Jonathan Cook's "Blood and Religion"

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By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 8 of 8 page(s)

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-- downgrade them to permanent residents or guest workers;

-- deny them their former rights (meager as they were); and

-- henceforth subject them to the whims of Israeli authority that may in the end expel them.

The process is underway, legislation to complete it exists, and all that remains is a "pretext" to enforce it "ruthlessly." What better one than the illusion of a "Palestinian state" next door. It's being constructed inside enclosed West Bank walls that include fences and barriers to incarcerate a quarter million Palestinians in walled-off ghettos on the "Israeli side." The argument then goes: if Jews can be uprooted from Gaza and isolated West Bank homes, why not Israeli Arabs as well.

Zionism and the Glass Wall

In 1937, David Ben-Gurion was blunt about his vision: "A partial Jewish State is not the end, but only the beginning." Today it means "an Arab Israeli is not a real Israeli" because they're as much part of the regional conflict as Palestinians in the Territories. An influential minority of hardcore Zionists believe Israel is the Promised Land, Jews are God's Chosen People, and they have a "divine obligation to settle the whole of Greater Israel." According to them, Jews have as much right to Gaza, Hebron and East Jerusalem as they do to Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Until the second Intifada's outbreak, Israel's main fault line was political. Labor wanted a maximum of land with a minimum of Arabs. "Likud (in contrast) wanted a maximum of land, period," and it allied them naturally with religious Zionists. The tie was threatened, however, when Sharon opted for territorial separation, abandoned Likud's traditional position, and adopted Labor's vision.

As political fault lines closed, a secular and religious one widened. It threatens severe West Bank clashes if Israel plans significant settler withdrawals to solve its demographic problem. Cook believes settlers, in the end, will seek compromise, not a showdown, but whatever happens, disengagement will be traumatic enough to "have profound effects on the future of religious Zionism." Analysts speculate what's next, and Hebrew University professor Moshe Halbertal suggests a possibility - that religious Zionists won't "break the(ir) bond with mainstream Israel." A critical mass of them will place Jewish unity above other considerations.

It's another matter, however, when it comes to Jewish versus democratic. When Jews are united, Arabs lose. The challenge for future leaders is how to forge an ethnic consensus, ideologically consolidate a Jewish state, and do it successfully by addressing issues important to secular and religious Jews alike. Ensuring a "family-type feeling" may be the way "to carry out the required surgery of partitioning the country without civil war," according to Hebrew University Professor Alexander Jacobson.

Arabs are the "Other," and if secular and religious Jews unite, they become "the enemy." They're "unwelcome, intruder(s), saboteur(s) (and) terrorist(s)." Solution - leave or be forced out. Religious symbolism becomes crucial, and nowhere more than on most sacred land for Arabs and Jews - the Noble Sanctuary or Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. Fundamentalist Jews covet it with clear aims in mind - to destroy its mosques, erect a Third Temple, and await the Messiah's arrival. Palestinians resist and demand Jerusalem's Old City for their capital.

Battle lines are drawn; Palestinians are weak, divided, unaided and without allies; and who dares predict what's next in their struggle for justice long denied. At its epicenter is Islam's third most sacred site, the holiest one for Jews, and what Ehud Barak calls "the Holy of Holies." It's fundamentally symbolic for both sides, each is united and firm, and here's where things stand. Israelis claim sovereignty over what all Islam won't relinquish.

Try imagining what's ahead. Opinions differ but one thing is sure - more turmoil, oppression, killings and unimaginable human suffering with Palestinians, by far, paying the greatest price for what they hope in the end will be worth it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions on world and national topics with distinguished guests.

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