I would refer readers of 4international to the following article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/27/trials-of-the-diaspora-julius
I would further point the reader to a contribution a few comments down by a Mr Robinson which is based on the thinking of a Mr Jeff Halper.
It is a long time since I first met the writing of Halper. I probably first saw him on the website of a man from Belfast called Anthony McIntyre, the website being called “The Blanket”, obviously a connection to the Republican “Blanket” protest by provisional Sinn Fein and IRA prisoners in The Maze Prison, in Lisburn, some 15 miles outside of Belfast.
McIntyre expressed this hatred of Israel which was and is contained inside that Provisional (and Stalinist Official IRA as well) movement.
Why this should be is for another article. Suffice to say now is that these Republicans tended to read certain books inside the Maze. That is good but the question is WHAT books? In any case they did not know, and do not know to this day, the history of the Jewish people, the history of the Arabs, associated with the latter the history of Islam.
The words of McIntyre in his articles are still seared on my mind. This is because continually he pushed the totally antisemitic claim that the Zionists of Israel in their treatment of the “Palestinians” were the new Nazis.
Now this is a thought to me that was and is profoundly disturbing, if not infuriating.
I was brought up too in an atmosphere in the left that the Palestinians were the victims of history.
But when I began to think seriously about the various propaganda stances being taken on the left in Britain, by all of the left groups there, Stalinist CP and “Trotskyist” SWP, Militant and WRP etc, SOMETHING DID NOT MAKE SENSE!
How could the Jews so grievously wounded by the Nazis suddenly in 1945 as if turning on a sixpence become in turn the Nazis, as described by McIntyre. (In fact they did not! McIntyre was simply lying)
At first this was a thought…along the lines of…This is not logical.
But this thought was to soon turn into hatred for these like McIntyre, and in this case Halper, who argued that the Jews of Israelis were the new Nazis.
That kind of hatred that finds on investigation that they were and are telling lies about the Jews.
So in this Guardian piece I refer to Dr (let us give him his full title) Brian Robinson is using the thoughts of Jeff Halper (he is a “Professor” by the way) and without overquoting (Because I am hopeful that the reader will study this) I include the following comment from Robinson, based on Halper:
- I’ll end with a quotation from the Jewish theologian Prof Marc Ellis. He has written: “”Could a Jewish future be fashioned with integrity and ethics if we did not confess our sins against the Palestinian people?”
See <http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=3&ar=21>
So in response to that, as the basis of the thinking of 4international on the issue, consider this:
- In history there is NO Palestinian people
- The Jewish people have a right to a piece of land somewhere in the Middle East, somewhere in that area which is connected to their original Homeland, where they were initially driven from by the Roman conquerors, but which they did not succeed in driving out completely, and which place the Jews never dropped from their consciousness.
- And the Arabs came into this area as conquerors and with the very worst imperialist practices and colonialist mindset
And there we on 4international more or less just leave these like Halper and Robinson to their fate. We tend to go our own way and not bother TOO MUCH with their mental gymnastics.
And so we say the following
- The Jews have been a horribly persecuted and abused people
- As a true Trotskyist movement we on 4international will at every point stand alongside the Jews
- We feel that a future society will have to make amends for that past
Jews have decided to go in one direction, which is to have within their state about 1 million of the enemy, who are “Islamicised” Arabs.
4international believes that is a big mistake. Jews must live in a place which is free from antisemitism.
That is they must live alone as long as antisemitism exists in the world, and anybody who lives in their midst must be a guest, meaning a friendship and not an enmity.
Also they muist live in a space which is defensible, meaning it CAN be defended.
Consequently, apart from the “West Bank” being really JUDEA, it is lunacy to have an enemy in a state overlooking Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion airport, that is within spitting distance, and these Islamics will spit, that is for sure.
I am a socialist. I do not mean the above in the context of a future socialist society, I mean it now, immediately, like 2 hours ago.
It is long past the time when a single Jew on earth should or can be molested for being a Jew.
Finally I intend to buy this book that the Guardian here reviews (Trials of the Diaspora, by Anthony Julius)
4international 