Golan, who entered politics five years ago after a career in the army, is one of the most prominent of the many brave Israelis who took matters into their own hands that day to save others. His new image as a hero has given his political career a shot in the arm – and he has decided his new mission is to revive his country’s moribund left.
“The right today in Israel is people who think we can annex millions of Palestinians, and Israel should adopt some sort of policy of revenge, that we can live by our swords and not attempt to reconcile with the Palestinians or any other hostile entity in the region. I think 180 degrees the opposite.”
Israeli politics has changed, Golan said. “I’m not sure whether Israel right now is truly a democratic state any more … It is not a question of left or right any more: these titles are meaningless,” he said.
Did you understand what A1kmm is trying to say? If Israel was a democracy Palestinians in occupied territories would have equal voting rights. This was never the case at any point in Israeli history, ergo Israel was never a democracy.
Sure, if it was all one state all along, it was not a democracy, because half of it had no say in its government.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.
person above is suggesting that Palestinians should vote in Israel elections and if they don’t, it cannot be a democracy. I assume they think that Israel is a 1-state solution de facto, in which case half the country does indeed not get a vote.
That person is me, and yes this is exactly the case.
sorry, didn’t check username.
Sure, don’t forget to hammer the nerrative.
“The narrative” that everybody should have voting rights?
Oh no, the horror!
In order to do that israel would have to formally declare that territory theirs. Increase the borders of israel. Im pretty sure many in israel would very much like that to be the case but I doubt it will happen.
This premise is invalid. Hamas governed Gaza for the past fifteen years, not Israel. Palestinians held elections until they voted in Hamas, which put an end to that. Israel maintained a blockade, but Egypt also strictly controlled Gaza trade and passage at Rafah. Not being able to ship stuff from your ports sucks, but Hamas made no good faith efforts to really improve the security situation to enable easy trade through Egypt. Having significant external influence over a region doesn’t mean you are their government.
The Israeli imposed closure on Gaza began in 1991, temporarily, becoming permanent in 1993. The barrier began around Gaza around 1972. After the ‘disengagement’ in 2007, this turned into a full blockade; where Israel has had control over the airspace, borders, and sea. Under the guise of ‘dual-use’ Israel has restricted food, allocating a minimum supply leading to over half of Gaza being food insecure; construction materials, medical supplies, and other basic necessities have also been restricted. This has been a deliberate tactic of De-development.
OK. Now do the West Bank.
Does Mahmoud Abbas not exist?
Oh, is he stealing land, building illegal settlements and oppressing the people living in the West Bank?
Blatantly untrue. Palestinians in the occupied territories did not hold elections before 2006. The first and only Palestinian election was held as a result of the second Intifada, and after the election the international community refused to accept the result because Hamas didn’t agree to denounce violent resistance (which of course they didn’t because peace doesn’t work with Israel).
Oh I guess this is fake news
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Palestine
Okay admittedly I didn’t know an election was held in 1996. That said, the PNA was (and still is) an Israeli subcontractor, and not at all a state in any sense of the word. The implication that Palestinians had political independence is false. When I said elections I meant elections as a state, which only happened in 2005-2006 after Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005.