Comments on: Violence and the Crime of Dispossession in Israel/Palestine http://borderlinecrimes.com/2009/10/02/violence-and-the-crime-of-dispossession-in-israelpalestine/ on critique, boundaries, and activism Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:50:52 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: tompe http://borderlinecrimes.com/2009/10/02/violence-and-the-crime-of-dispossession-in-israelpalestine/comment-page-1/#comment-13551 tompe Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:50:18 +0000 http://borderlinecrimes.com/?p=321#comment-13551 I'm just reading about 1948 (maybe I'll post on that sometime), and about the very widespread pacts that were signed between Palestinian villages and the neighboring Jewish communities, even to the point of Palestinians actively preventing attacks on these communities (of course, not everywhere, but there were a lot, apparently) - which were then violated by the IDF in the name of... security! it's the key justification for any kind of violence to secure Israeli dominance. I'm just reading about 1948 (maybe I'll post on that sometime), and about the very widespread pacts that were signed between Palestinian villages and the neighboring Jewish communities, even to the point of Palestinians actively preventing attacks on these communities (of course, not everywhere, but there were a lot, apparently) – which were then violated by the IDF in the name of… security! it's the key justification for any kind of violence to secure Israeli dominance.

]]> By: itamar http://borderlinecrimes.com/2009/10/02/violence-and-the-crime-of-dispossession-in-israelpalestine/comment-page-1/#comment-12737 itamar Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:33:00 +0000 http://borderlinecrimes.com/?p=321#comment-12737 Yeah, this is basically something that is missing in Israelis' knowledge about the situation,. Even those who say that such dispossession is justified (as I've recently come across) don't know exactly what it is that they are justifying. I've recently been thinking about 'defense' and 'security.' Attacks by Palestinians have been used to justify the violence of the occupation and the importance of maintaining a majority Jewish state (because otherwise they will slaughter us) but there is no awareness of instances where it is Jewish domination that is being defended rather than the lives of Jewish people. In other words, people cannot conceive of securing a Jewish majority as separate from securing people from violence, even though historically it was this latter concept that preceded the first. Yeah, this is basically something that is missing in Israelis' knowledge about the situation,. Even those who say that such dispossession is justified (as I've recently come across) don't know exactly what it is that they are justifying.

I've recently been thinking about 'defense' and 'security.' Attacks by Palestinians have been used to justify the violence of the occupation and the importance of maintaining a majority Jewish state (because otherwise they will slaughter us) but there is no awareness of instances where it is Jewish domination that is being defended rather than the lives of Jewish people. In other words, people cannot conceive of securing a Jewish majority as separate from securing people from violence, even though historically it was this latter concept that preceded the first.

]]> By: tompe http://borderlinecrimes.com/2009/10/02/violence-and-the-crime-of-dispossession-in-israelpalestine/comment-page-1/#comment-12644 tompe Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:07:48 +0000 http://borderlinecrimes.com/?p=321#comment-12644 it's extremely important to point out dispossession isn't a response to something, a security need etc., but a dynamic in its own right that is driving the confict. This reminded me of an old NY Times article about a settlement: "The construction project in question, in the Givat Zeev settlement, was approved in 1999, but the developers stopped building for commercial reasons with the outbreak of the intifada in 2000. The developers recently asked to resume the project because of “the relative quiet and the rise in demand for apartments in Jerusalem and its environs,” the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing said Sunday in a statement". <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/world/middleeast/10mideast.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/world/middleeas...</a> The government spokeperson says that the relative quiet, i.e. the *absence* of violence, enables the expansion of the settlements. So contrary to what we hear so often (as you mentioned), it isn't just a question of "ending terrorism" etc. This dynamic would not be affected by that - quite the opposite. it's extremely important to point out dispossession isn't a response to something, a security need etc., but a dynamic in its own right that is driving the confict. This reminded me of an old NY Times article about a settlement:

"The construction project in question, in the Givat Zeev settlement, was approved in 1999, but the developers stopped building for commercial reasons with the outbreak of the intifada in 2000. The developers recently asked to resume the project because of “the relative quiet and the rise in demand for apartments in Jerusalem and its environs,” the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing said Sunday in a statement".
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/world/middleeas...

The government spokeperson says that the relative quiet, i.e. the *absence* of violence, enables the expansion of the settlements. So contrary to what we hear so often (as you mentioned), it isn't just a question of "ending terrorism" etc. This dynamic would not be affected by that – quite the opposite.

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