This column is in response to Ariel Dosetareh’s column, “Israel: A racist’s paradox” published Sept. 14.
I am not, by any means, an expert on Israel. I have not traveled to Israel or any Arab country. Despite my parents being Muslim, I am an atheist. But here’s an interesting fact: Had my parents been Jewish, I would have had the right to residence and citizenship in Israel. That is, Israeli laws discriminate among foreigners based on the religion or ethnicity of their parents, or even grandparents. I understand Israel was founded — at least in part — as a reaction to the severe organized discrimination and atrocities against Jews in Europe and elsewhere. But we should remember that positive discrimination, even the affirmative action laws here in the U.S., is still discrimination.
One example of racial practices in Israel is the relationship between Arab and Jewish citizens. According to philosopher Slavoj Zizek, “In Israel, there is a growing number of initiatives — from official bodies and rabbis to private organizations and groups of local residents — to prevent interracial dating and marriage. In East Jerusalem, vigilante-style patrols work to stop Arab men from mixing with local Jewish girls. Two years ago, the city of Petah Tikva created a hotline parents and friends can use to inform on Jewish women who mix with Arab men; the women are then treated as pathological cases and sent to a psychologist.” A 2007 poll reports more than half of all Israeli Jews believe intermarriage should be equated with “national treason.”
So far I have mostly focused on the internal policies of Israel. However, I don’t believe internal policies should be the main reason for Israel’s condemnation. Rather, it’s the Israeli government’s policies toward the stateless people of Palestine. The situation of the Palestinians who live in the “Israeli-occupied territories” (as recognized by the United Nations and the U.S.) is disgraceful. Israel has blockaded the Gaza Strip since 2007, a more severe version of the restrictions that began in 2001.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel has blocked goods including wheelchairs, dry food items, crayons, stationary, soccer balls and musical instruments. A 2009 UN report called the restrictions “draconian,” noting Israel has restricted the import of lentils, pasta, tomato paste and juice, as well as batteries for hearing aides for deaf children. The blockade has also had a devastating effect on the local fishing industry. In the 1990s, the Gaza fishing industry represented 4 percent of the total Palestinian economy; this was halved between 2001 and 2006. The situation in the West Bank is not much better, with the wall separating Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land — built illegally, according to the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice — from the Palestinian population.
Finally, I want to join Ariel in condemning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his questioning the Holocaust. I also condemn Hamas for its totalitarian practices in the Gaza Strip. However, according to Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, the charter of Hamas — which calls for eradication of the Jews — is “a piece of history and no longer relevant.” Hamas has not adopted its charter as part of its political program since it won a majority in the Palestinian legislative election in 2006. In 2008, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, stated that Hamas would agree to accept a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and to offer a long-term truce with Israel.
Mohammadreza Ghodsi is a doctoral student in computer science. He can be reached at ghodsi@cs.umd.edu.
