By GABRIEL KOLKO
In late 1949 I worked on a boat taking Jews from Marseilles to Haifa, Israel. Jews from Arab nations were in the front of the boat, Europeans in the rear. I was regarded by many of the Europeans as some sort of freak because I had a United States passport and so could stay in the land of milk and honey. One man wanted me to marry his daughter – which meant he too could live in the land of milk and honey. My Hebrew became quite respectable but the experience was radicalizing or, I should say, kept me radical, and I have stayed that way.
Later I learned from someone who ran a displaced persons camp in Germany that the large majority of Jews wanted to go anywhere but Palestine. They were compelled to state Palestine or else risk receiving no aid. I understood very early that there was much amiss in the countless Arab villages and homes I saw destroyed, and that the entire Zionist project – regardless of the often venal nature of the Arab opposition to it – was a dangerous sham.
Counterpunch
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Rescuing the past from the propagandists - a noble calling.
ReplyDeleteI recall reading about all those faux-Jewish refuseniks who poured out of the Soviet Union hoping to go to the flemingite Utopia. The Yanks didn't want them and passed them on to the Israelis. "But we are Christians with a little Jewish ancestry" they protested. "Don't tell them that in Tel Aviv" they were advised. Now they reside in the Jewish homeland where they built their Orthodox churches and raise pigs while waiting to migrate to the US.
Allah knew better. Now they're in Israel and satisfied with life.
ReplyDeleteMoroccan Jews happiest; Ashkenazis healthiest
And taken at the height of the Intifada before Israel fought back and won:
Always looking on the bright side of life
:-D
Garbage in, garbage out.
ReplyDelete