In Germany, the weight of historical guilt silences protests for Gaza victims

“As the example of the Israel-Palestine conflict shows,” writes Pappe, “historical disinformation, even of the most recent past, can do tremendous harm. This willful misunderstanding of history can promote oppression and protect a regime of colonization and occupation. It is not surprising, therefore, that policies of disinformation continue to the present and play an important part in perpetuating the conflict…The Zionist historical account of how the disputed land became the state of Israel is based on a cluster of myths that subtly cast doubt on the Palestinians’ moral right to the land…This book challenges these myths, which appear in the public domain as indisputable truths. These statements are, to my eyes, distortions and fabrications that can—and must—be refuted through a closer examination of the historical record.”

https://mondoweiss.net/2018/01/examining-myths-israel/

What do we expect from immigrants? That they respect our customs and habits, right? Is it asking too much for them to follow our laws and integrate, at least in the second generation? Of course, they should receive help and support from the local administration if they are poor. Unfortunately, we lack this because we have not wanted to be a country of immigration for far too long.

What do we think of people who believe that immigrants are only coming to displace us and take over everything here? Obviously pathetic paranoid followers of baseless conspiracy theories, aren't they?

What duties does the government of a country have towards the population? It has to ensure that the population is safe, both physically and economically, right? It may not always work, but it is undisputedly the goal; something along these lines is also part of the oath that members of the government usually take when they take office.

But what if the immigrants explicitly refuse to learn the language and respect local customs from day one, if they refuse to integrate, not because of a lack of education but as a conscious political statement.

What if it were actually the case that the native population should be displaced or at least marginalized, if that was demonstrably the declared goal of the immigrants. What if they had the more or less tacit consent of the most powerful states in the world?

What if they actually manage to found this immigrant state and gain control over the native inhabitants with terrorist attacks and superior weapons technology? What if they drive out and dispossess most of the local population and exclude, disenfranchise and terrorize those who remain? Is this proper government work?

This is not a fantasy, not a conspiracy theory, this is our European colonial history in all states of North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

And it is the colonial history of Zionism, a movement of European Jews who, in a time of growing national consciousness, racism and anti-Semitism in the late 19th century, declared the Jews to be a people and settled a "land without a people" for this "people without a country". wanted to.

In addition to Palestine, Uganda and Argentina were also considered. No thought was given to the people who lived there and considered the land to be theirs. Although the Zionists were not anti-Semites, they were Europeans and had absorbed the European arrogance of superiority since childhood.

Germany destroys the European Jews. A European crime against humanity. All European countries including the USA, Australia etc. have a bad conscience because of their anti-Semitism and their lack of helpfulness towards the persecuted Jews and organized a solution in the UN General Assembly with their own state for the Jews, from which fortunately not a single European power had to suffer .

They could also have given Schleswig-Holstein to the European Jews. It would have been fair. (Whether we Germans would insist so unconditionally on the right to exist of a Jewish state in that case?)

But all the old European anti-Semites were content to send the Jews, their suddenly found siblings in Christian-Jewish culture, to the Arabs. They're not important anyway. Who cares what Arabs think and feel?

No one. Til today. People babble about a two-state solution, but for decades they have unconditionally supported Israel in making this solution impossible.

My view of the conflict has changed greatly over the past two months as I have listened to what Jewish human rights activists, critical Israeli journalists and former Israeli soldiers have to say on the subject.

Even the Czech Republic and Poland apologized for the expulsion of Germans after the war. Germany has asked for forgiveness for the genocide of the Herero people 100 years ago. The United States and Canada have acknowledged what they have done to indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities as an evil stain on their history.

This is the least that the Palestinians can expect from Israel, combined with the offer of proper compensation.

And of course Israel should negotiate with the Palestinians even if the democratically elected negotiators are terrorists. Israel's first parliaments were full of former terrorists. There is no better way to turn terrorists into ex-terrorists than to negotiate with them.