Palestinian columnist praises Israeli democracy and calls for Palestinians to learn from Israel
Op-ed by Imad Abd Al-Hamid Al-Faluji:
Headline: “Israel’s democracy and our anarchy”
“It is no shame to see the truth as it is, and there is no sense in cultivating the art of cursing and denigrating our enemy. I understand the difficulty of speaking [about] or comparing our internal Palestinian situation, the way we design our policies and internal relations, and how we deal with our disagreements with the internal situation of our enemy, who occupies our land, turns our holy places into forfeited [property], and does not even recognize a minimum of our rights. Yet this enemy has proven to us and to the international community that, despite its oppression and aggression, it surpasses us in many respects, which are evident to any observer who possesses a minimum of objectivity…
Anyone who observes the internal state of the Israeli entity will be amazed by the range of internal disagreements that exist between the religious and the secular on every issue, and by the disagreements within each of these groups. There is right, center and left, center-right and left-right, and every standpoint has its supporters and opponents, and every official has a file of accusations against him. Yet despite this, they have made laws to regulate these disagreements, and have set a common goal for all, which is ‘to serve the State of Israel and the People of Israel,’ and have succeeded in utilizing their disagreements, turning them into a power that serves them, instead of letting the disagreements control them.
And we, who ‘possess the truth,’ look what is happening around us. We are moving in all directions without an agreed plan or goal. Every party, group or individual has its own private plan and goal. We do not believe in any all-inclusive means. We have breached all laws and agreements, and destroyed everything that unites us. Each group claims it possesses the absolute truth, and that all the others are completely wrong. We are no longer able to hear the other, and at the moment anarchy has taken over – political, economic, social and even intellectual anarchy.
If we examine the platforms of the Israeli parties during their election campaigns and what they concentrated on, we will find unanimous agreement on the way [they intended] to serve their people economically, socially, in developing employment [opportunities], establishing families and solving their problems, eliminating unemployment, strengthening education and achieving security for every citizen – while politics and empty shouting were the aspects [of the elections] that drew the least attention.
With us, by contrast, the majority speaks of politics and general external issues, and only rarely does a party address [the issue of] improving our nation’s [standard of] living, and of solving the internal crises that trouble us. Furthermore, no one proposes solutions to anything. I know the comparison is harsh and highly debatable, and that it is therefore liable to anger those who do not wish to see reality in all its difficulty. Yet we have no choice but to discuss [it]; this way, perhaps one of us will wake up and use this opportunity to improve our situation. Our brothers, the Palestinians of the interior (i.e., Israeli Arabs) have set an example for us with their unity (several small Israeli Arab parties united into one party for the Israeli elections in March 2015 –Ed.), and have proven that we can make a change in the face of danger, and that there is still hope.”
Headline: “Israel’s democracy and our anarchy”
“It is no shame to see the truth as it is, and there is no sense in cultivating the art of cursing and denigrating our enemy. I understand the difficulty of speaking [about] or comparing our internal Palestinian situation, the way we design our policies and internal relations, and how we deal with our disagreements with the internal situation of our enemy, who occupies our land, turns our holy places into forfeited [property], and does not even recognize a minimum of our rights. Yet this enemy has proven to us and to the international community that, despite its oppression and aggression, it surpasses us in many respects, which are evident to any observer who possesses a minimum of objectivity…
Anyone who observes the internal state of the Israeli entity will be amazed by the range of internal disagreements that exist between the religious and the secular on every issue, and by the disagreements within each of these groups. There is right, center and left, center-right and left-right, and every standpoint has its supporters and opponents, and every official has a file of accusations against him. Yet despite this, they have made laws to regulate these disagreements, and have set a common goal for all, which is ‘to serve the State of Israel and the People of Israel,’ and have succeeded in utilizing their disagreements, turning them into a power that serves them, instead of letting the disagreements control them.
And we, who ‘possess the truth,’ look what is happening around us. We are moving in all directions without an agreed plan or goal. Every party, group or individual has its own private plan and goal. We do not believe in any all-inclusive means. We have breached all laws and agreements, and destroyed everything that unites us. Each group claims it possesses the absolute truth, and that all the others are completely wrong. We are no longer able to hear the other, and at the moment anarchy has taken over – political, economic, social and even intellectual anarchy.
If we examine the platforms of the Israeli parties during their election campaigns and what they concentrated on, we will find unanimous agreement on the way [they intended] to serve their people economically, socially, in developing employment [opportunities], establishing families and solving their problems, eliminating unemployment, strengthening education and achieving security for every citizen – while politics and empty shouting were the aspects [of the elections] that drew the least attention.
With us, by contrast, the majority speaks of politics and general external issues, and only rarely does a party address [the issue of] improving our nation’s [standard of] living, and of solving the internal crises that trouble us. Furthermore, no one proposes solutions to anything. I know the comparison is harsh and highly debatable, and that it is therefore liable to anger those who do not wish to see reality in all its difficulty. Yet we have no choice but to discuss [it]; this way, perhaps one of us will wake up and use this opportunity to improve our situation. Our brothers, the Palestinians of the interior (i.e., Israeli Arabs) have set an example for us with their unity (several small Israeli Arab parties united into one party for the Israeli elections in March 2015 –Ed.), and have proven that we can make a change in the face of danger, and that there is still hope.”