Joh Domingo responds to Shraga Elam’s letter on Hamas:

Perhaps the biggest mistake the Palestinians ever made was to assume 
that whomever opposed Zionism was an ally, Reading Sharga Elam's 
essay of Feb 1st 2006, one gets an uneasy feeling in the pit of the 
stomach, that all is not well for Muslim - non-Muslim solidarity. 
There is simple too great a gulf for there ever to be a meeting of 
the minds.  I am just about utterly convinced that no dialogue is 
possible with this kind of thinking; it is completely programmed to 
reject any alternative value system besides its own. It can only 
exist beside Islam in an uneasy truce.

A green sheet should be erected, to ensure that these people remain 
a stranger, and free us from their influence. Muslims are sick of 
liberals fighting for the rights of Muslims while 
Muslims fighters themselves are banned, imprisoned or executed. 
There appears to be a praxis operating; Zionist kill Muslims so that 
ethnic Jewish anti-Zionist activists can step into the vacuum as 
leaders, and to prescribe policy. Ethnic Jewish anti-Zionist 
activists telling Palestinians what to do is no different to Bush 
insisting that Hamas abandon its principles and recognize Israel's 
right to exsist on stolen property.

Reading Shraga Elam's piece, one realizes it is completely devoid of 
any option outside the Western paradigm. Worse, western dogma is 
elevated and presented as if it contains all possible permutations. 
Hamas either does this or that happens .  if they do this then that 
happens. It is only towards the end that an inkling of an 
alternative is alluded to; that Hamas would simply dissolve the PA 
and throw the whole stinking mess into Israel's lap, where it 
belongs anyhow.

This secular Palestinian solidarity democratic ethos is a myth, and 
needs to be cracked and killed because it makes people believe that 
something is being done, when in fact these artificially integrated 
circles are soporific to the Palestinians, while slaving the 
conscience of the grief stricken anti-Zionist Jews.  It works on the 
premise that because it is difficult to bring people from different 
backgrounds together, this is in itself an achievement. Nothing 
could be further from the truth. 

How many of these people fighting for the Palestinians are actually 
concerned for the Palestinians? I know it is cruel to question the 
sincerity of people, but the methods suggested by pro-Palestinian 
ethnic Jewish activists suggest a real lack of commitment. Most pro-
Palestinian Jews are aware of the power wielded by Jews in the 
Diaspora. They are quick to quote the various elements of Jewish 
influence on Western policy towards the Palestinians, and are also 
acutely ware of the firepower deployed against the Palestinians in 
Palestine by the Israelis, They must be aware too that the problem 
is Jewish racism, feeding the ethnocentric racism of people in the 
West. Why then do they insist on addressing the attitudes of 
Palestinians, and pretend to be fighting the perception that 
Palestinians are anti-Semitic? 

While Shraga is not directly guilty of assessing the situation in 
such terms, it does frame the issues he raises. It essentially boils 
down to this: whatever the Palestinians (read Hamas) does, it has 
fallen into a trap wherein anything it does will be portrayed by 
Israel as confirming the worst stereotypes of Palestinians as haters 
of Jews, unable to be trusted, and lacking elementary standards of 
civilized behavior. Hamas' electoral victory is therefore a triumph 
for Israel, whatever Hams does. 

Shraga is completely convinced of the impotence of Palestinians. Why 
then does he persist in talking to them?  Why not address himself to 
his ethnic compatriots, since it is they that seem to be the 
problem, not the Palestinians? 

As painful as it is, we have to conclude that he is fact appeasing 
his own conscience, or at best, he is eager to identify with the 
Palestinians, only so far as it does not sever all his ties to his 
relatives on the other side of the fence. Being a member of the 
Jewish race, and an Israeli, he possesses the natural passport to 
Jewish privilege, from which he does not hesitate to extract 
whatever suits him. Yet, since he identifies with the Palestinians, 
he can move about within his privileged circles; Jewish suburbs, 
Jewish only roads, Jewish political groups - all the while feeling 
satisfied that he is not like THEM, the Jewish supremacists. 
Although he does not vote for Zionists, at least while they form the 
majority, he can feel comfortable about the protection offered by 
them, and subconsciously shuns the idea of change.

I am not sneering at Shraga, neither am I suggesting that Jews like 
him are the most responsible for the plight of the Palestinians, I 
am illustrating a fundamental fact that identification with an 
oppressed group is impossible in a system that forces one group to 
enjoy privilege, that exists on the tears and blood of another. Jews 
collectively owe Palestinians a huge debt and no one member should 
expect to escape from the blanket condemnation that needs to come 
from the rest of the world. It is not as if Jews enjoy privilege 
only when they express their solidarity with the Jewish supremacy 
forces in Israel. They are born into it.

Jews like Shraga must fight on his own, and for himself. He must 
realize that he is himself oppressed. And that he must fight for his 
own freedom, and not for the nebulous `they', with whom he can 
hardly claim identification. Not only are Jews kicking Palestinians, 
they are also telling them how to react to the kick. For a long time 
the Palestinians have been patiently listening to the advice they 
have been receiving. Now they are beginning to show signs that they 
realize that they should react as they see fit. But no, then a Jew 
must come along to tell them that their reaction is itself a trap. 
Whatever happens, their reaction cannot make the Palestinian 
condition any worse. Palestinians need not go searching for an 
ideology, they have a ready made one, and it is Islam. Too bad if 
that makes Jewish identification with them harder.   

JohD 

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Joh Domingo responds to Gilad Atzmon’s piece on antizionist Jews: 

While I can agree with the principle of a common movement, the ANC were
only effective outside the country. It is important to have a group like
Hamas in country, so the common group can work effectively outside the
country. Open groups like the ANC have to walk a fine line between being
quislings and being a resistance. The PNC became fragmented, with some
factions openly collaborationist, and some, like Islamic Jihad,
extremely resistant. The PLO should stay out of Palestine as a
government in exile to curtail these collaborationist tendencies. A
group like Hamas is extremely important to engender a cohesive
resistance. The atmosphere will become hot, with civil disobedience
coming to the fore. I have every faith that Hamas is more suited to the
kind of organization required for a civil disobedience campaign becuase
of their uncomprominsing, principled stance, and their experience
organizing while under fire. I hate to say this, but Palestinian
liberation is at least two decades away, and the country will end up
being one democratic state. No need to cry crocodile tears for your
beloved secularism just yet, save your tears for twenty years time.
There is no profit in engaging the Israelis, they do not feel enough
pain yet. Suicide bombing is a a puny effort compared to the firepower
ranged against them. It is fighting on the Israelis terms. The issue
will come to a head because of manpower hours, and shekels. Hamas is
there to make sure Israel wastes money, the PNC is there to ensure that
financial support for Israel dries up, or is painful to maintain. Hamas
is important because they provide justification for shifting the funding
source for the Palestinians from the West to Islamic Countries. This is
important to insulate the Palestinians in-country from the moral
authority of the West. They should be shielded from Western hypocritical
influence altogether, so that they can implement civil resistance
without western interference. Better hypocritical Islamic support. 

This is all that is important at present concerning Hamas. I am certain
most Palestinians, inside and outside the country feel it in their guts.
This is a long struggle, and no amount of crying is going to do anyone
any good. The best thing has happened, Palestinians have changed from
within. 

As it concerns Jews against Zionism - their opinion about what happens
inside the territories matters as much as European opinion about what is
happening inside the territories - absolutely nothing. The only way
Europeans should be able to influence the situation inside the
territories is if they implement boycots and marginalize Israel;
otherwise it should be made clear that they are part of the problem. An
ideological disection of the situation is meaningless and irrelevant.
Liberation is too far away for such indulgences. South Africans were
burning schools, burning people, and burning their identity documents,
and it did not matter one bit to the outside world. Israeli Apartheid
should be opposed and defeated regardless of any particular situation at
any given moment. It is One Country and has been for 39 years - THAT is
the reality on the ground. 

JohD