<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[The World is no&nbsp;Golem]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><strong>Uri Avnery</strong>, 23 Jan 2011 | | RO: Ramallah Online</p>
<p>ISRAEL IS, as we well know, the land of unlimited impossibilities. In Israel, for example, the diplomats are striking.</p>
<p>A strike of diplomats? But that is impossible! Postmen strike.   Longshoremen strike. But diplomats? The most conservative, the most   establishment people? The people who serve any Israeli government,   whatever its complexion? Who find pretexts for all its actions, whatever   they may be?</p>
<p>Well, in Israel it is possible. All the Foreign Office services have   ceased to function. No new passports for citizens who have lost their   papers in Moscow, no consular assistance for citizens who have been   thrown into prison in New York. No preparations for Binyamin Netanyahu’s   visit to Paris. For years, Foreign Office people have suffered from  miserable working  conditions. Their salaries are bordering on the  ridiculous. So they went  on strike.</p>
<p>DOES THIS infuriate the Prime Minister? Is the Foreign Minister   upset? Not a bit of it. Netanyahu does not go out of his way to put an   end to the strike, and Avigdor Lieberman does absolutely nothing to   tempt his employees back to their desks. Both do not care. On the   contrary, they look almost happy. For all they care, let them strike   forever.</p>
<p>And they are right. This week, everybody realized how right they are.</p>
<p>The President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, was   scheduled to visit Israel. But before that, he went to Jericho, which is   considered the oldest town in the world. There, in the presence of   President Mahmoud Abbas, he declared that Russia had recognized the   Palestinian state long ago, and that it continues to recognize the   Palestinians’ right to a state of their own, with its capital in East   Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Not exactly. It was not Russia that recognized Palestine, but the   Soviet Union. And the recognition was conferred on the virtual state   declared by Yasser Arafat in 1988. That is very different from   recognition of the Palestinian state now, when it is becoming a reality.</p>
<p>After his visit to Jericho, Medvedev was to come to Jerusalem, to be   photographed next to Binyamin Netanyahu and shake hands with Avigdor   Lieberman. How was Netanyahu to react to the Jericho declaration? How   could he extricate himself from this matter, without humiliating himself   or offending the largest country in the world?</p>
<blockquote><p>see also <a href="http://ramallahonline.com/2010/12/israel-hardens-repression-as-palestinian-recognition-increases/">Israel Hardens Repression as Palestinian Recognition Increases</a></p></blockquote>
<p>This embarrassment was avoided by the sanctions of the Israeli   diplomats. They refused to prepare the visit and organize the meetings.   Medvedev gave up, and the two great statesmen – Netanyahu and Lieberman  –  could breathe again.</p>
<p>Deep in his heart, Lieberman surely blessed the people of his office,   whom he hates. They saved him. What could he tell Medvedev? Ever since   walking into the Foreign Office like a bear entering the proverbial   china shop, he has boasted of his excellent relations with Russia. The   Americans loathe him?  So what? America is a declining empire. The   Europeans don’t want to meet with him? So what? Who are they, anyhow?</p>
<p>But Russia is Russia. Here we have a real friend. Lieberman admires   Vladimir Putin, that great democrat, who knows how to deal with cheeky   people like the Chechnyans. Lieberman speaks with him in his mother   tongue. He boasted of having established really intimate relations with   Russia. And now they do this thing to him. What a disgrace.</p>
<p>BUT THE truth is that Putin is not really his friend. Yvette   Lieberman (his original name) has only one real friend in the world:   Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of Belarus, “the Last Dictator in   Europe”.</p>
<p>True. Lieberman was not born in Belarus, but in Soviet Moldavia. But   there is no doubt that Belarus is his Second Homeland. In its capital,   Minsk, he spends his vacations. There he chose to hide in the   (successful) intention of blackmailing Netanyahu, when “Bibi” begged him   to join the government coalition. Lukashenko is his soul-mate. He is  his model. From him he learned how to  deal with human rights  organizations. The patent belongs to the  President of Belarus, and is  only licensed to the leader of “Israel Our  Home”. It was Lukashenko who  sent an official warning to the human  rights activists in his country  and threatened them with heavy penalties  if they continue to “distort  information” about Belarus.</p>
<p>“The Ministry of Justice has issued a written warning,” said the   text, “to the Belorussian Helsinki Committee for violations of the law   on civic organizations and mass media and for spreading dubious   information discrediting the law enforcement and justice agencies of the   republic.” The police raided the premises of the human rights   organizations and the KGB (yes, the old name lives on in Belarus) has   started to investigate.</p>
<p>From there Lieberman drew his inspiration, when he opened his   campaign against the peace and human rights activists in Israel, whom he   called this week “collaborators of terrorism”. I don’t speak Slavic   languages, but I am sure that it sounds more authentic in Belarussian   than in Hebrew.</p>
<p>ONE CAN laugh (for the time being) at Lieberman’s claim that the   peace and human rights organizations cause the de-legitimization of the   State of Israel, and especially the de-legitimization of the Israeli   army.</p>
<p>But one cannot laugh about the de-legitimization itself. More and   more governments are recognizing the State of Palestine, boxing the ears   of the Netanyahu government in the process.</p>
<p>When the Palestinian National Council declared, 22 years ago, the   foundation of the independent Palestinian state, about 110 countries   recognized it. All of them raised the status of the Palestinian   delegations to the rank of embassies. The Israeli government ignored   them. In its view, that was an empty declaration and a meaningless   recognition. It did not change the realities on the ground. In its eyes,   one new settlement in the West Bank was more important than the  opinion  of a hundred countries. As they say in Yiddish: Oilam Goilam –  the  world is a Golem (the clumsy monster of Jewish legend.).</p>
<p>But the new wave of recognition of Palestine is a different matter   altogether. When important countries like Brazil, Argentina and Chile   recognize Palestine, and draw behind them the other Latin American   countries, this is significant. When Russia renews its recognition,   through its highest official and on Palestinian soil, this is an   important event. If anybody is relying on the rock solid American   support we are used to, they should pay attention to a small news item   that appeared this week: the permanent delegation of the PLO in   Washington DC was allowed to fly the Palestinian flag over its building –   a right generally reserved for embassies alone.</p>
<p>An interesting plot is unfolding. Two thirds of the world’s countries   have already recognized the State of Palestine, and the wave is   gathering momentum. These are no longer just small third world states,   but significant actors on the world stage. Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayad   are quietly and persistently building the institutions of the   Palestinian state. They are investing a lot of effort in development,   building a new town north of Ramallah, restricting the powers of the   security services and gaining the sympathy and attention of the world’s   governments.</p>
<p>So what? – the average Israeli asks. After all, the Goyim are only   proving yet again that they are all anti-Semites. How is this important?   We control the territory and no diplomatic tricks will change that.  And  as long as we have unlimited American support, we don’t give a  damn.</p>
<p>Really? For many years we could rely on the Americans with eyes   closed. Every “anti-Israeli” resolution was met with a firm American   veto. But is this still so certain? When all the important countries in   the world recognize the State of Palestine – will the US alone hold out   forever?</p>
<p>While the Israeli diplomats are striking, a new initiative condemning   the settlements is gaining momentum in the UN Security Council. The   entire world is against these settlements, which are manifestly illegal   under international law. Even the US has demanded a freeze. Can the US   veto a resolution that expresses its own policy, without becoming a   laughing stock? And if it does do so all the same this time, what about   next time, or the time after?</p>
<p>And if the American veto still rules the Security Council – it does   not rule the UN General Assembly. It was the General Assembly – and not   the Security Council – that resolved in 1947 to set up in Palestine,   next to each other, a Jewish and an Arab state. If the Assembly decides   now that the time has come to realize the second half of the resolution  –  the establishment of the Arab State in Palestine – it will  strengthen  even more the  world-wide recognition of Palestine.</p>
<p>THE ARAB governments, which have lately paid only lip-service to the   Palestinian cause and have not lifted a finger to help in the creation   of the state – must now think again.</p>
<p>In Tunisia the people rose up against a dictatorship just like all   the other Arab dictatorships – a small and corrupt elite, indifferent   towards the wishes of the people and overtly or covertly collaboration   with Israel. During the 13 years of Yasser Arafat’s stay in Tunis, I  visited there  many times. I always knew that lurking behind the liberal  and attractive  facade was a tough and oppressive police-state. But I  saw the Tunisian  men walking in the streets with a Jasmine flower over  their ear (called  Shmum) and I could never have imagined that here, of  all places, the  first popular Arab revolt would erupt.</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em> see also <a href="http://ramallahonline.com/2011/01/robert-fisk-about-tunisia/">The brutal truth about Tunisia</a></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now it has happened. And in Tunisia. This is a wake-up call to all   Arab countries, from Morocco to Oman, that dictatorships will fall, that   there will be an endeavor to set up liberal democratic regimes, and if   that does not succeed – Islamic regimes will take over.</p>
<p>That is the writing on the wall. The present Israeli government is   leading us towards disaster. But this week this government was shored-up   even more, when Ehud Barak, the pocket Napoleon, finally abandoned all   pretense of belonging to the social-democratic left and set up a  clearly  rightist party, something like Likud II, that will be a loyal  partner  of Netanyahu and Lieberman.</p>
<p>With such leaders, does our country really need enemies?</p>
<div id="attachment_4181" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width:129px;"><a href="http://ramallahonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/397px-UriAvnery.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-4181 " title="Uri Avnery" src="https://i2.wp.com/ramallahonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/397px-UriAvnery-198x300.jpg" alt="Uri Avnery" width="119" height="180" /></a></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text">Uri Avnery</p>
</div>
<p><strong>Uri Avnery</strong> is an <a title="Israeli Jews" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Jews">Israeli</a> <a title="Writer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writer">writer</a> and founder of the <a title="Gush Shalom" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gush_Shalom">Gush Shalom</a> <a title="Peace  movement" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_movement">peace movement</a>. A member of the <a title="Irgun" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun">Irgun</a> as a  teenager, Avnery sat in the <a title="Knesset" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knesset">Knesset</a> from 1965–74 and 1979-81.</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="http://ramallahonline.com/?s=Uri+Avnery&amp;x=0&amp;y=0" href="http://ramallahonline.com/?s=Uri+Avnery&amp;x=0&amp;y=0" target="_blank">More Articles</a> on RamallahOnline by Uri Avnery or vist <a title="http://zope.gush-shalom.org" href="http://zope.gush-shalom.org/" target="_blank">Gush-Shalom.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p>via <a href="http://ramallahonline.com/2011/01/the-world-is-no-golem/">The World is no Golem | RO: Ramallah Online</a>.</p>
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