Very well put. Let us now hear a response from David Singer.

David

Neve really does stretch things, doesn't he?

He concedes that Israel has committed wrongs but then concludes that the Palestinians have as well so that makes both of them equal.

Since when is fighting against occupation a wrong? Were the people of Europe wrong to fight against German occupation in WW2? Were the European Resistance fighters in WW2 merely a group of criminals?

The reality is that Israel has committed a litany of wrongs, of war crimes, of brutality, the bombing of Gaza, etc. Palestine has done nothing else but resist the occupation which is their right.

It is Israel which has to right the wrongs it has committed, the genocide, the land-stealing, the collective punishment, the demolition of Palestinian homes and orchards, etc.

dangerouscreation.com

Excellent post that clarifies the meaning of nakba and recognizes the imperative of two wrongs not making a right. The post illustrates the necessity of recourse to the law. In Israel there is always that recourse and In the long run legality, justice and truth will prevail.
Without the law there is no hope and, within the Israeli legal system is the path to justice for Palistinian people. The primacy of law, argued by both sides of a dispute, is the very argument I believe that Singer advocates.

"In Israel there is always that recourse and In the long run legality, justice and truth will prevail."

There must be another Israel in the world. In the one I'm familiar with, none of these things prevail. Where is this other Israel?

Thank you Neve for this excellent and balanced article.

The law says "...commemorates Independence Day or the day of the establishment of the state as a day of mourning... "
-I wonder what's the legal status of an Israeli educational-institute that commemorates Independence Day as BOTH:

"Today we are happy that we have a state, where we as Jews can survive in relative safety, but today we also remember and feel sorry for the pain of the losers, those Arabs who lost their homes and became refugees in the process. While some cases of people losing their homes were unavoidable, and some others we managed to avoid, we regret that a significant portion of the losses were caused by the cruelty and insensitivity of some of our leaders and commanders. While we rejoice for what we have, we also feel shame for those whom our grandparents made to have not."?

Which brings me to the second question:

So one of your grandparents, Neve, caused someone to become a refugee.
OK, no doubt this is bad and indeed you should feel sorry and beat your chest.

But who is responsible for KEEPING that refugee a refugee till now, along with his children, grandchildren, grand-grand-children and grand-grand-grand-children?
It is unheard of - never before and never after were refugees kept being refugees for 64 years! All over the world, resettlement usually takes 2-3 years, perhaps 5-10: this is unprecedented!

It is the Arab countries which made every possible effort to keep those refugees as refugees, to lock them in camps, to forbid them to come out and resettle, in some cases even forbidding them to emigrate to other countries where they can start a new life. They enforced a system where those refugees are not allowed to work or leave their camps, but must rely on UNWRA food handouts for ever.

-All that for the purpose of propaganda, for vilifying Israel way beyond the wrongs it did.

I wonder whether anyone genuinely cares for those refugees -certainly not the other Arabs and certainly not the Left, who are too busy hating Israel.

David G.
Are you serious? "Were the European resistance just a bunch of criminals?" Well if you consider murder, torture, rape and terrorism criminal behaviour then yes, they were.
The "resistance" groups in Europe carried out terrible atrocities both during and after the war, including the murder of Jews.
Read up on the Antifa, the Chetniks, the awful crimes of the Latvian, Czech and Polish resistance.
http://www.freewebs.com/index44/chetnikhorrorsphotos.htm
http://www.revblog.codoh.com/2012/04/the-suppressed-history-of-crimes-committed-on-german-soldiers-in-wwii-part-iv/

That's a small sample, nobody from the allied side has ever been made to account for their war crimes against Europeans, none of the combatants are innocent and if anything in terms of sheer brutality (which is the only standard ever applied) the Axis forces come out looking rather better than the allies.

In all the narratives of the so called Nakba I have never heard mention of the 800,000 Jewish refugees forced to flee Arab lands in 1948 who like all other refugees of war have now over 60 years later have made a new life for themselves. It is only the so called Palestinians that continue to be used as a political tool by there Arab brethren by not allowing them to move forward. Furthermore, in 1948 the UN called for 2 states an Arab (not Palestinian as the Palestinians were not a distinctly different group at this time) and a Jewish state. The Jews accepted gratefully and moved and the Arabs declared war.The war began by the Arab countries attacking the newly formed state of Israel. The true Nakba is that the Palestinians have been offered a state many times and not accepted it.

Aaah dear old Neve Gordon at it again.

For anyone who wants to understand the psyche of the Neve Gordon types I strongly recommend Howard Jacobson's Booker Prize-winning novel, "The Finkler Question".

See: http://www.amazon.com/The-Finkler-Question-A-Novel/dp/1608196429/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

One of the books' protagonists, Sam Finkler, is the founder of "Ashamed Jews". He is a milder version of Neve Gordon.

Jacobson's almost clinical dissection of the Gordon types and their non-Jewish groupies is both hilarious and deadly accurate.

Dear Steven,

There is nothing wrong about feeling shame for what deserves shame. In fact, it is a virtue to do so.

Are you implying that the only reason for not wanting to remain Jewish is shame? What for example about disgust, once uncovering the web of lies that holds Judaism together? Or what about simply wanting to have a life? Or what about seeking a religious path that leads to God rather than to nationalism in a disguise of religion?

The tragedy is that there will always be others who do not care what you think and what you feel - if you were born an Israeli, then even if you stand on your head, the only thing which matters to the surrounding people is that you are not a Muslim (and in the case of Hitler, even converting to Islam was of no use).

I find Neve Gordon a genuine sensitive person who tries to contend honestly with his complex predicament.

Like most countries in the West, until very recently Israel did not engage in deep public reflection about or acknowldgement of many painful aspects of her history. Like the displacement of 750,000 Palestinian Arabs OR indeed, as SC, says, the displacement by the surrounding Arab countries of approx 800,000 Jews and Israel's initial failure to integrate them with respect or dignity. Israel has moved on and now acknowleges both: certainly in the teaching of history in schools and in public debate in its media, academic and social forums. Neve Gordon as an Israeli academic expresses himself freely on the subject of the Nakba constantly, paid to do so by the Israeli taxpayer.

It is indeed time that justice was served, both to the forgotten Jewish refugees - full acknowledgement of their suffering and dispossession and economic compensation by the Arab governments who caused them - and to the Palestinan Arab refugees. To them also, full acknowledgement of their suffering and dispossession and economic compensation by the Israeli government who caused them and the Arab governments who encouraged at least 250,000 of them to leave (see for example, Palestine's Tragedy http://standpointmag.co.uk/counterpoints-april-2010-palestine%27s-tragedy-efraim-karsh-palestine and The truth should be taught about the 1948 war http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/the-truth-should-be-taught-about-the-1948-war-1.368167?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.225%2C2.227%2

Leah. Your second post..Haaretz will not open. Try again please?
SC. You reveal an untold element of the historic narrative! Thank you.
Yuyutsu... Very thoughtfull.. Balanced. To study further.. Cheers.

Thanks Prompete, try this: http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/the-truth-should-be-taught-about-the-1948-war-1.368167?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.225%2C2.227%2C

Essential reading on The Nakba and Israel is Efraim Karsh's "Palestine Betrayed". Here is a review of the book, including interview with Karsh:

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/detail/continue-reading-1948-palestine-betrayed

Aw Leah,

Karsh is such a spoilsport trying to disrupt a glorious global hate movement with something as mundane as the facts. And to do it with such a well written and well documented book puts him beyond the pale.

But, never fear, hatred trumps the facts any day. True believers are not going to let the facts change the politically correct narrative.

Of course you are right Steven, but the real tragedy is that all that hatred doesn't help the Palestinians still classified as refugees 64 years on one bit.

While my family lives mostly in Israel - most for hundreds and some apparently thousands of years (yes, my own family are that supposedly mythical people: Jews indigenous to the Land of Israel!) - I feel not guilt, but rather tremendous sympathy for the Palestinian people and a strong desire to see a resolution for them which would allow my people to continue as well.

Not one at the expense of the other, the two in parallel. There is a dearth of visionary leadership in both Palestine and Israel. Israeli leaders need to commit more to resolving the social and economic inequities among its citizens: Jewish and Arab. Palestinian leaders need to recognise that the only way any Israeli government will return to the table is for them to accept and acknowledge that the Jewish people are there to stay. Israeli leaders have and will continue to compromise on land, if this fundamental recognition is forthcoming.

It's time for two states for two people, both of whom belong in the region. Time for recognition that half of Israel's population is or is descended from Jews expelled from Arab lands in 1948. They can't go back to their homes in Baghdad or Saana and equally, the Arab refugees from Haifa and Lod can't go back to theirs either. Dispossession happens in every war, in every region. And peole move forward - just look at the hundreds of thousands of Australians, including Vietnamese, Sudanese and Holocaust survivors who have never been able to return to their original homes but have rather moved on.

Both people deserve justice - the Palestinians have suffered far longer because their leaders gambled with their lives and lost. They deserve justice and new homes and a transparent leadership that will put their welfare first instead of the spewing of hatred against Israel, aided by the likes of Neve.

As Australians – of all races and backgrounds - we could all relate the situation in Israel and Palestine to the Aboriginal situation in our country:
Whilst Australia Day is celebrated, some commemorate it as ‘Invasion Day.’ Many may disagree with that, but would be even more outraged if the Government passed a law discriminating against users of that label.
We are beginning to acknowledge the mistreatment of their ancestors by our forefathers and the Government has apologised to the ‘Stolen Generation,‘ but equally we would not expect to hand back all of the land taken from Aboriginals in the course of history.
The reality is that historical facts have been distorted by all sides of both disputes.
Therefore, living as close neighbours, just as we should do in Australia, each group in the Middle East must acknowledge all the truth of the past, recognise and accept the presence of each other now, and then be pragmatic about securing a peaceful future.

The difference between Israel and Australia is that we are giving large tracts of land back to the Aborigines, whereas in Israel, land which rightly still belongs to the Arabs is being stolen by the Israeli settlers with the connivance of the Zionist government.

David