The Jerusalem Post gives space to the debate that brings Israeli demographers face to face about the future of the “Jewish majority” in Israel. For those who oppose Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories, the possibility that the Jews may represent less than 50% of the population is an absurd thing that must be denied. For the supporters of a two-state solution, it is necessary to overdramatize the “demographic time bomb”.
The withdrawal from Gaza that was recently postponed continues to be an issue debated in Israel’s political circles that opposes Ariel Sharon to the settlers’ movement and its ultra right-wing. The leader of the ultra-Zionist movement Bead Artzeinu, Abraham Shmulevitch, is one of the most fervent followers of the colonization trend who expressed his point of view about the policy that Israel should develop in an interview with Vremya Novostyey. Saying that the land of Israel was given by God to the Jewish people, he affirms that the Prime Minister should destroy the mosques of the “Temple Mount” (another name for the esplanade of the mosques) and re-build the Temple of Jerusalem in order to redo the alliance with God. Afterwards, Israel should build an empire from the Nile River to the Euphrates. No comments! In the battle that opposes Ariel Sharon to the madmen of the Israeli God, the Israeli Prime Minister has received the support of the Left although he has not denied that the withdrawal plan serves, above all, to reinforce Israel’s control in the West Bank. In the Daily Star, the former Mossad agent, Yossi Alpher, published a text that perfectly shows the shady game of the Zionist Left. He denounces Ariel Sharon’s policy and he assures that he can not lead Israel to peace but he adds that it is necessary to be pragmatic and to support him until the withdrawal from Gaza takes place. He does not mention the fact that this withdrawal will entail the resettlement of the settlers in the West Bank and it will make even more difficult the hypothetical creation of a Palestinian state.
As to the Palestinians, the withdrawal is seen as a victory of Hamas and as evidence of the effectiveness of the armed struggle. Today, the Islamist movement could win in next summer’s legislative elections in the territories. The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, makes efforts to block a law that could give advantages to that locally well-established group. This action could lead to a postponement of elections. For researcher Hussein Agha and for Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group in the Guardian, it is a maneuver of Al Fatah to put off elections that would be backed by the Israelis and by the West who fear a victory of Hamas. On the other hand, for the two authors, it is necessary to recognize the influence of Hamas among the population and to encourage the movement’s joining Palestinian institutions and participating in negotiations.
The foundation of the Gaza withdrawal plan is what they are calling in Israel as “the demographic time bomb”. According to studies, in a relatively short period of time, the non-Jewish population will be a majority in the territory that goes from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and that is the argument that some Zionists use as an excuse for the division of the zone into two different states.
A group of American and Israeli researchers have written a report entitled West Bank/Gaza Demography Study: the 1.5 Million Population Gap. This study was presented to the ultra-reactionary think-tanks of the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute earlier this year. The three American authors of this topic, Bennett Zimmerman, Roberta Seid and Michael J. Wise, published their conclusions in the Jerusalem Post: the figures traditionally published are false, the Palestinians are not as many as they say and the Jewish majority could no be threatened in a long time. In the same newspaper, Israeli demographer Sergio Dellapergola, challenges this study. In his opinion, their approach is not scientific and its only objective is to undermine one of the arguments of those who support the two-state solution. For him, it is clear that, in 2020, the Jews will be a minority in the territories that are part of the historic Palestine. Consequently, it is necessary to implement a policy that leads to a solution between the two states if they want Israel to remain as a Jewish and democratic state.
Again, we feel astonished, not even surprised, by the logic of the authors of this debate, According to them, Israel is a democratic state because the political leaders of the country belong to the same religious group than the majority of the population. On the contrary, the Israeli government can not regard itself as a democracy as it divides its population depending on their faith or their origins and deprives 50% of the population under its authority from the political rights reserved for the Jews.
Finally, to mark the 40 years of the German-Israeli reconciliation, the Foreign ministers of the two countries, Joschka Fischer and Silvan Shalom, celebrated the German-Israeli friendship in Ha’aretz. They reaffirmed that Germany has an eternal debt with Israel and that it has a commitment to do anything possible so that Israel preserves it Jewish identity.
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