Yesterday marked a grim anniversary for the Palestinian people. On
November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a
Partition Plan calling for the creation of two States, one Jewish and
the other Arab. Since then there has not been peace between the two
people. Yossi Schwartz in Jerusalem comments.
We have just received this latest update on the situation Tali Fahima
is facing in an Israeli jail. It confirms what we said back in
September. It shows how the Israeli state deals with anyone – even if
they are Jewish – who dares to take up the plight of the Palestinians
in the refugee camps in a serious manner.
No evidence has been produced by the police authorities in Israel to
justify the continued incarceration of Tali Fahima. In spite of this
she is still brutally treated.
Both Bush and Sharon wanted the moderate Abbas as leader of the
Palestinians. They will now put pressure on him to curb the more
radical elements in the occupied territories, but so long as the
Palestinians are denied their basic rights the conflict will continue
to fester.
It is common among some groups on the left to portray Israel as not
being a “democracy”. Bourgeois politicians on the other hand say that
Israel is the only “true democracy” in the Middle East. None of this
serves to understand the real nature of Israel. The Middle East
Panorama show on Resonance FM radio (London) sent Yossi Schwartz in
Israel a list of questions relating to this issue. Some parts of this
were read out on the show. Here we provide the full interview. See also in Arabic: هل إسرائيل دولة ديمقراطية؟