Blind for Israel

"Cegos por Israel" (Blind for Israel) is an excellent article that Rui Tavares (who is a member to the European Parliament) published in the newspaper "Público" last 2 June and also in his personal blog. Check  here the original article in portuguese.


I have allowed myself to make a 'free' translation in english of what he wrote so that more people can read it. I think it is important to disseminate this type of opinion articles, particularly when the media in Portugal, unlike in many other countries in Europe, seem to deliberately justify and clear Israel's actions, with tendentious articles, that blindly defend the indefensible, such as newspaper Público or even the TV channels (RTP, etc). It seems these always try to justify whatever Israel does, without any critical and/or objective approach. That is for me unacceptable and there is less and less patience to read certain articles published in Públcio, for instance.


Blind for Israel
by Rui Tavares


"I have family in Israel and Jewish relatives or of Jewish descent, who, if they so wished, could obtain Israeli citizenship. Theoretically, it seems that even I could claim the right to live in one of those villages that I have never visited, but to which Palestinians who were born there cannot return - the villages where already their parents, grandparents and great grandparents were born.
What represented a hope of justice (and still does) for Jews around the world, after centuries of persecution, has actually been a tragedy for Palestinians. There are no affinities - ideological, family, or of pure obstination - that can silence this truth.
Unlike fanatics of all kinds suggest, within and outside the region, it is obvious that the world does not know how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
With more or less detail, the solution can only be to have two separate states side by side, according to the 1967 borders, with occasional exchanges of land on a 1:1 basis; Jerusalem as a shared capital of both states, perhaps under international supervision, with financial and moral compensation for the Palestinian refugees, with the possibility of living in their independent state or, in some negotiated cases, return to their home place.
Another possible solution, supported by a minority although still by many people who want peace, would be to have a single state with equal rights for all religions and people living on its territory.
Like any non-fanatic, I am not worried about the details. What I want is that Palestinians may reach self-determination with dignity, in the same way as any other nation in the world. At the same time, I respect the state of Israel and the Israeli citizenship of my cousins. I cannot respect, however, the actions of the Israeli government because this government has not respected any limits of decency, honesty or international law. Neither have they respected their own commitments. It's even hard to believe that they have made those commitments in good faith. The Israeli government is a pariah one and should be treated as such.
However, for some fanatics, to be a "friend of Israel" seems to imply two things: first that everything the Israeli government does, no matter how brutal and inhumane, is always legitimate, is always justifiable, second, that international standards are not to be applied equally to Israel as to other countries.
Extraordinary as it may seem, these fanatics of Israel can justify everything, even the recent raid and kidnapping of a small fleet of unarmed boats in international waters, killing a dozen people. When a boat is in international waters, it is acceptable to approach it, perhaps to guard it or even escort it, at most. It is certainly not acceptable to attack the boat and kill the passengers, that is an act of pure piracy. Not even a so-called "state of war", mentioned by some commentators, could justify this: and Israel has not declared war on Turkey (in international waters, attacking a boat means attacking the territory of its flag), and even if it had, wars have rules to which States are obliged by signing conventions - and even when they do not sign, war crimes continue to exist. You may decide: what happened was either piracy, act of terrorism or war crime. But it is never justifiable.
It is often said that the fanatics are the worst enemies of Israel. It's true: the fanatical Muslims,
the fanatic pseudo-friends of Israel in the West and, increasingly, the fanatics in the Israeli Government."


By Rui Tavares, Historian, independent MEP.
(Http://twitter.com/ruitavares)
[free translation, not the responsibility of the article's author]
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