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By Rekha Basu
It might have been the quickest and most self-serving reversal ever of a campaign promise. Two days after winning re-election in Israel by vowing to reject a Palestinian state ― which he previously endorsed ― Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Americans he'd support one again.
It's clear he will say anything to get elected, and also to keep $3.1 billion a year of U.S. aid coming ― even if they're the opposite things.
But something is also clear to three Palestinian women who visited the United States the previous week and talked about the deplorable conditions under which they live: There will be a Palestinian state, no matter how this election turned out. "Shimon Peres once said, 'We have beaten Palestinians on every level but they refuse to admit they were defeated," said Tamara Tamimi, 26, referring to the former Israeli president. "We will continue to say 'No,' until our basic rights are recognized."
Tamimi, Ayah Bashir and Mary, who did not give her last name, were brought to several American cities, including Des Moines, by the Quaker American Friends Service Committee as part of a project called Palestinian Youth: Together for Change. Its goal is to connect young Palestinian adults to collaboratively promote policies for change in Israel and the occupied territories.
College-educated, smart and keen students of their history, the three offered a perspective that needs to be heard even if Netanyahu would prefer their silence.
"The right-wing government is in danger," he warned in a bit of Election Day fear-mongering. "Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls."
It's one thing to spread fear about Palestinian militants, as Netanyahu does to justify Israeli shelling campaigns and occupation of Palestinian territories. But spreading fear about some of the 20 percent minority population eligible to vote says the prime minister regards all Palestinians as the enemy.
By their accounts, these women experience that attitude every day. Mary even has Israeli citizenship. Though Arab, and Christian, her family's homeland became part of Israel when it was established in 1948. But she learned nothing about her Palestinian heritage in school and says Israel's restrictive laws prevent her from going into the West Bank and Gaza to connect with "my Arab brothers and sisters."
Tamimi's living situation epitomizes the fragmentation of Palestinian identity. Her mother is from the West Bank and isn't allowed to live with Tamimi's father in Jerusalem, where his father settled after the creation of Israel routed them from their home city of Jaffa. Tamimi and her father have Israeli identity cards because she was born there, but are not citizens. Tamimi's elder sister was born in the West Bank and has the same restrictions as their mother. So to be together, the family has to live in an area under Israeli control called Kufr Akab, between the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Tamimi says its residents pay Israeli taxes, but get no services such as garbage pickup or public safety, so it has become a hub for drugs, prostitution and robbery. Her father's car is licensed in Israel, so he risks arrest for having passengers with West Bank IDs, such as his wife and daughter. Tamimi works in Jerusalem, a 25-minute drive that can take an hour because of the security checkpoints.
But Bashir, who lives in Gaza, may have it worst. That area has been under siege since 2006, she said; the blockade prevents the movement of people and goods in and out, so livelihoods exporting fish and farming products have evaporated. Her father used to grow flowers for export. Palestinians' fishing rights have been reduced from 21 nautical miles negotiated under an international peace agreement to three.
The 26-year-old says she has survived three extended bombing campaigns, most recently over seven weeks last year, which killed 2,300. Croplands were destroyed and now 80 percent of Gazans depend on food aid, she said. She gets six hours of electricity a day and the water is only 5 percent drinkable. Human rights organizations call Gaza "the largest open-air prison," Bashir says ― and young people have little hope for the future. All three women describe lives stripped of dignity.
As Netanyahu plays a yo-yo game with Palestinians' future, Tamimi has given up hoping for a two-state solution. She says Palestinian land has been taken over by half a million new settlers in 22 years, and now the answer lies in a single state where everyone has equal standing.
A Palestinian state? "Call it whatever you want," she answered, quipping, "We Palestinians reproduce very quickly. We will regain the majority."
Israeli Jews have a right to live safely and productively in Israel. But Palestinians also have a right to live free from occupation. Now that Netanyahu has shown he lacks a genuine commitment to a Palestinian homeland, President Barack Obama is right to re-evaluate relations with his government. It's time to end unconditional aid guarantees, and start demanding concrete steps be taken in exchange for future support.
Rekha Basu is a columnist for the Des Moines Register. Readers may send her email at rbasu@dmreg.com.
