The rejoinder of the judges made in reference to the emphasis on "Jewish settlement" was that "the fact that Jewish settlement is perceived as a national value does not mean that there should be no equal allocation and legitimate civil rights for others." As observers noted, this reply is a-historical. It simply ignores Israel's history of "over 70 years of discrimination, in which hundreds of towns, cities, and villages were established for Jews while not a single new locale was built for Palestinian citizens. As if Palestinian land was not expropriated for constructing Jewish communities."
The same obtuseness was displayed when it came to the demotion of the Arabic language. The judges just could not see why losing its status as an official language was so painful for Arabic speakers. They were not moved when one of the plaintiffs pointed out, "there is a violation of convention here. The rules of the game have changed. My language, at least formally, has maintained its status from the time of the Ottomans until the 20th Knesset. Language was the only collective right [afforded to] the indigenous minority in its homeland."
The cultural divide between Jews and non-Jews in Israel/Palestine that has been evolving into apartheid since before 1948 reached a tragic legal climax in the decision-making of these eleven judges. They confirmed in law a process that condemns non-Jews to a legal no-man's-land. As the Druze lawyer told the court, "There is not a word on minority rights; it is a badge of shame for the State of Israel. " It is doubtful whether Jewish students who are educated on this law will be willing to accept Arab citizens at all in the future."
Part V -- "The Desired Reality"
Why were the 11 Israeli High Court judges so obtuse? Perhaps it is because they have been acculturated to see Zionist Israel as an exceptional place -- a justification unto itself. As Yariv Levin described it above, Israel is "a country that is different from all others in one way, that it is the nation-state of the Jewish people." This exclusiveness is the raison d'Ã ªtre of the Zionist project -- it is its ultimate "noble" goal. For those within the exclusive Zionist tent, assigning the term apartheid to their accomplishment is to judge a special case by supposedly non-applicable generic rules. To persist in doing so is regarded as a sign of anti-Semitism rather than facing the facts.
This situation has been addressed by the Haaretz journalist Amira Haas. Haas is "the daughter of Holocaust survivors and resides in Ramallah, where she is the only Jewish Israeli journalist living in the West Bank." She was in the United States in June 2019 and gave an interview to Mari Cohen for the publication Jewish Currents.
Haas explains the current situation this way: "The current reality is actually one state, which is an apartheid state. This means there are two separate laws: one for Palestinians and one for Israeli Jews. The Palestinian population is subdivided into groups and subgroups like the nonwhite population of [former apartheid] South Africa. They're disconnected from each other. They are treated differently by Israel, while Israeli Jews live in the entire country, like one people, with full rights."
The apartheid nature of Israel is a developmental plan of the state. Haas explains that Israel's main goal is "to get more land, and to manipulate the Palestinian demography. ...You see that this is really a plan. [Israeli leaders] sit and they think about how to implement it, and what regulations will achieve this goal. ...One by one, step by step." And, one has to conclude after 70 years, that Israeli apartheid is sustainable because most of the world's governments accept it. That, of course, could change, but there is no sign that it will in the near future.
It is also sustainable because it is what Israeli Jews want. "For Israel, this is the desired reality: that Palestinians live in their enclaves, deprived of any ability to develop their economy, and that the world gives them donations so that they can sustain themselves. And that's it. There is no desire on the part of Israel to reach a different reality. There has been a kind of an illusion among Jews [in the diaspora] that Israel wants a solution. But [Israeli Jews] don't see that this is a problem."
Can it get worse? Yes, it can. Religious fanaticism can make it worse. Haas goes on to explain, "The question is, will the Israeli messianic religious right-wing segment of the population that has gained a lot of power in Israeli politics -- will it succeed in accomplishing its aims: the mass expulsion of Palestinians and annexation of the great majority of the West Bank? It's not enough for them to have Palestinians living in enclaves. They want more."
It is this overall attitude that explains the ability of Israeli Jews to feel little or no obligation to help Palestinians in the Occupied Territories to maintain their healthcare systems or provide COVID-19 vaccinations. The act of official segregation has not diminished Israeli control, only any acceptance of Israeli responsibility.
Part VI -- Conclusion
History is full of tragic irony. At the end of the 19th century Germany was considered one of the most civilized nations on the planet. One world war and a Great Depression later, many Germans were electing Nazis and gearing up for the Holocaust. Up until the mid-20th century, the Jewish people were considered peace-loving and a reservoir of brilliant minds. One Holocaust later, many of them, both survivors and those in the diaspora, had joined a Zionist movement determined to create a racist warrior state.
Over time we become products of our local environment. That environment narrows our range of thought and choice. When the environment changes, those who endure change with it, not always for the best. The Holocaust traumatized its survivors, and some of them went on to produce "a nation-state for the Jewish people." They might have pulled this off benignly if they had done so on some unpopulated planet. However, they chose Palestine in an allusion to biblical Israela disingenuous choice given that most Zionists were atheists. Palestine was not an unpopulated place, and thus, today, over 20 percent of Israel's population is not Jewish.
The fact that Palestinians have no nationality rights means, historically, that their possession of any other sort of rights is precarious. They are like the Jews in any number of anti-Semitic historical circumstances -- a fact that seems to have escaped our modern-day Hebrews.
It didn't have to be this way. As a species we have a very wide range of experience, and with the proper historical awareness we can broaden out our current decision-making beyond the dictates of our local environment. In fact, after World War II some Jews tried to do just this. Even through the trauma of the Holocaust, they could see that the goal of a Jewish state in Palestine meant war with the indigenous population. Their own sense of the Jewish past told them that there were alternatives. These people were known as "cultural Zionists," and they sought a democratic, equalitarian Palestine as a shared, multicultural home that guaranteed the protection and continuing development of Jewish cultural heritage, alongside those of Muslims and Christians. Palestine could have become a "spiritual" home for the Jews, with generous though controlled immigration opportunities. It was a possible peaceful route to Jewish recovery after the Holocaust.
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