Friday's Supplement to the Israeli Hebrew langugage daily, Yediot Ahronot, had a very interesting commentary on Naqba Day by Shlomo Avineri, a well-known professor of policial science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. This translation was provided by the Israeli Government Press Office, via IMRA.
Every year, Palestinians - including those who are Israeli citizens - mark May 15 as a day of national mourning, in remembrance of the disaster, which befell Arabs in the Land of Israel in the 1948 war. As human beings and as Jews, we must be attentive to their pain and suffering: Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were uprooted from their homes - some fled, some were expelled.
This is a human tragedy beyond its national dimensions. Whoever hopes for peace and reconciliation between us and the Palestinians, cannot be indifferent to their sorrow. However, whoever wishes to be attentive to the Palestinians' pain must see things in their proper political and moral contexts.
It is no coincidence that the Palestinians chose the phrase naqba, meaning "disaster". This is a neutral term, as if one were discussing a natural disaster. But what happened to the Palestinians in 1948 was the result of a political decision on their part, and political decisions have consequences.
We should say it openly and forthrightly: The Palestinians who mourn on May 15 do not believe that the decision to prevent the carrying out of the partition of the Land of Israel was either incorrect or immoral. What they regret is that they lost that war, not that they began it.
Avineri makes so many important points here that I'm tempted to quote the whole essay (but I won't). Among them, that the Arab states hawking strict adherence to U.N. resolutions and "international legitimacy" today were singing a very different tune back in 1948 when the U.N. and the international community recognized the legitimacy of both national movements seeking a home and refuge in "Palestine." Also among them, a reminder that there has always been a price for failed military aggression, and that relocation of non-combatants has long been a common and accepted component of that price.
Somewhat ironically, in light of the events of the past 24 hours, Avineri's piece continues with this.
It is possible to understand the heart of the Palestinians in particular and that of the Arabs in general: From their point-of-view, the Zionist settlement was an act of colonialism that came to rip away a section of the Arab homeland. Arab consciousness finds it hard to accept this fact and therefore, the Arab response to the Zionist attempt to gain a foothold in the land was, from the outset, a total war - in which the murder of civilians is considered a legitimate tool.
So I will quote Avineri's conclusion, and I'll keep quoting it and repeating it and paraphrasing it in the hope that, somehow, it will get through to those who need to hear it.
However, with all the understanding for the suffering of fellow men, the truth must be told to our Palestinian neighbors: Just like Germany in 1939 went to war - and lost; just as in the German case, the fall was bound with much suffering; but just as Germany internalized the messages of the World War, in the same way - with all the pain and understanding - if the Palestinians want peace, they must take moral responsibility for the decisive outcome in 1948, to go to war, not just against Israel, but also against international legitimacy, which accepted the Jews' right to sovereignty.
