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CounterPunch
December
28, 2002
It's the Occupation,
Stupid
Why the Pro-Occupation
Right is Running Scared
by LEAH HARRIS
On November 18, 2002, Georgetown University's
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, the Program on Justice
and Peace, and the Young Arab Leadership Alliance (YALA) co-sponsored
a talk by Norman G. Finkelstein entitled "Prospects for
Justice in Israel/Palestine." Finkelstein has come under
heavy criticism for his little book The Holocaust Industry: Reflections
on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, in which he argues compellingly
that Jewish suffering has been exploited by Israel for political
purposes. He is also an esteemed historian and political scientist
who supports a moderate two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israel
conflict. Finkelstein's appearance at Georgetown University sparked
a firestorm of outrage among the Georgetown Israel Alliance,
who accused Finkelstein of "Holocaust denial." This
accusation got picked up by the Georgetown Hoya, and then by
lazy Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher, until Finkelstein
threatened to sue unless the Post retracted (a retraction was
printed in the Post on December 8).
All of the hullabaloo revolving around
Finkelstein's talk at Georgetown University got me thinking about
this war of ideas currently raging in this country on the subject
of Israel and Palestine. The way I see it, this is not a war
between the pro-Israeli perspective and the pro-Palestinian perspective.
After all, one can easily be pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, and opposed
to the Israeli occupation. Instead, today's war of ideas is being
fought amongst those who support and those who oppose Israel's
35-year-old occupation of Palestinian lives and land.
Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada,
there has been a noticeable shift in the discourse around the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Throughout the Oslo years, the
focus was on the "peace process"--and with a few exceptions,
the only people questioning Oslo and talking seriously about
the "occupation" were Palestinian acctivists and intellectuals.
Now we understand that Oslo was a sham and the so-called "peace
process" is officially dead. A growing contingent of American
Jews representing such organizations as Not in My Name (Chicago),
Jews against the Occupation (New York), Jews for Peace in Palestine
and Israel (Washington, DC) and A Jewish Voice for Peace (San
Francisco), have come to see the conflict through the lens of
occupation, and contend that peace and occupation don't exactly
mix. Even President Bush has used the word "occupation"
in his speeches. And this has the pro-occupation right running
scared and name-calling.
Palestinians speaking against the Israeli
occupation can easily be dismissed by the Martin Kramers and
the Daniel Pipes' of this world as Muslim fanatics (even if they
are Christian). Average Americans or Europeans speaking critically
about the occupation can be denounced as garden-variety anti-Semites.
American Jews speaking about the conflict from an anti-occupation
perspective can be labeled as self-hating. Even someone like
Norman Finkelstein, the son of two Holocaust survivors, can be
maligned as a "Holocaust denier" and a "Holocaust
revisionist" for speaking from an anti-occupation perspective.
Finally, all people who denounce the Israeli occupation are accused
of supporting terrorism. According to this twisted logic, if
you oppose Israeli state terrorism, then you of course support
other forms of terrorism.
Among the pro-occupation right, the focus
is not on defending a morally and legally indefensible pro-occupation
perspective, but on discrediting and silencing those who oppose
the occupation. It's about whipping up deeply-rooted Jewish fears
about anti-Semitism and American fears of Middle Eastern terrorism.
In short, it's about creating a climate of hysteria instead of
conducting rational, informed debate.
That explains why an organization like
Campus Watch tries to turn professors who criticize Israel's
policies into pariahs. It explains why the pro-occupation group
the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) undertakes the
disingenuous practice of mistranslating excerpts of anti-occupation
articles published in Arabic press. These mistranslated excerpts,
taken wholly out of context, are then picked up by the sensationalist
American media and paraded as proof of the rabid anti-Semitism
of the Arabs. It is noble to stand against anti-Jewish bigotry
and bigotry of all kinds; however, the pro-occupation right goes
much too far. Organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Center,
fixated on the idea of tolerance toward Jews, are appallingly
silent on Israel's intolerance of Palestinians and its refusal
to allow them the same rights that the center advocates for Jews.
Instead of taking a critical look at why anti-Israel sentiment
is on the rise around the world, the Wiesenthal Center's focus
is on banning books and silencing speech. Anti-Israel or anti-occupation
sentiment is conflated with an endless irrational anti-Semitism
that always existed and always will. In short, either you're
with the occupation, or you're an anti-Semite and a terrorist
sympathizer.
That's why Norman Finkelstein's book
The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish
Suffering is so important. He takes the lesson of tolerance learned
from the tragedy of the Holocaust and applies it to the Palestinian
people. This is a dangerous idea, and that's why the pro-occupation
right is doing everything it can to discredit him and any institution
that hosts him as a speaker. The same fate is in store for any
professor or public figure who dares to suggest that Israel's
occupation might be illegal and immoral. The pro-occupation right
is running scared, and those of us struggling to end the Israeli
occupation in the hopes creating a better future for all peoples
in the Middle East, should take heart.
Leah Harris
is a member of the Executive Board of Jews for Peace in Palestine
and Israel in Washington, DC. She can be reached at: leah_ida@hotmail.com.
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