UPDATES

Media Week – One sided conversation

May 30, 2013 | Allon Lee

Media Week - One sided conversation
news_item/spin640___________________________________.jpg

The Conversation is a website funded by Australian universities and the Federal government for academics and post-grad students to share the fruits of their enquiring minds.

Unfortunately, where the topic of Israel is concerned the Conversation is fast devolving into an outlet for a great deal of slothful, partisan and just plain stupid analysis.

Surely a nadir has been reached with a piece from Lori Allen – a lecturer at the prestigious Cambridge University, no less – who argued on May 24 that Israeli “settlements are at the heart of the conflict” and “the main obstacle to peace”.

How can an honest academic committed to the truth make reference to “US senator George Mitchell in 2001 called on the government of Israel to ‘freeze all settlement activity, including the ‘natural growth’ of existing settlements’ as a means to rebuild confidence and restart peace negotiations”, but neglect to acknowledge Netanyahu’s good will gesture in 2010 of a 10-months settlements building freeze that was rebuffed by the Palestinian Authority?

Nor did she point out the offers of statehood that Israel made in 2000, 2001 or 2008 that were rejected or the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005?

Maybe the proposals weren’t acceptable to the Palestinians but it behoves Allen not to pretend that Israel has not repeatedly committed itself to a Palestinian state, land swaps, and removing settlements for peace

Later, it became abundantly clear why none of this was relevant, Allen’s ostensible over the top claims about settlements are simply a fig leaf exposing something else:

The ever-expanding colonial enterprise has been at the core of Israel’s existence as a state and at the heart of Zionist nationalist identity since it developed more than a century ago.

The corollary of Allen’s statement is that the Zionists didn’t merely steal the land from the Palestinians in 1967 but all the way back. In other words, Tel Aviv, which was established in 1909, is an illegal settlement.

Therefore, Zionism is not about the legal right of Jews to self-determination in the place where they became a people.

Never mind that Zionism existed well before the British and French subdivided the modern Middle East after 1917, thereby creating national identities and countries that had never existed before.

And who has allegedly been by Israel’s side all the way through? The United States, which Allen claims has been “an enabler of the Israeli colonial project.”

The upshot is “this is destroying Palestinians’ faith in the international community, the human rights system, and the US”.

Yes, the poor Palestinians – where PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ term of office expired in January 2009, and Hamas rules in Gaza through a coup since 2007, and where Palestinian bodies report more than 50 cases per month of alleged torture by Palestinian security forces – are in danger of losing “faith” in the human rights system.

This sort of juvenilia should embarrass any self-respecting undergraduate student, and the Conversation has diminished its reputation in running it.

Allon Lee

Tags:

RELATED ARTICLES


D11a774c 2a47 C987 F4ce 2d642e6d9c8d

Bibi in DC, the Houthi threat and the politicised ICJ opinion

Jul 26, 2024 | Update
Image: Shutterstock

Nine months after Oct. 7: Where Israel stands now

Jul 10, 2024 | Update
Palestinian Red Crescent workers from Al-Najjar Hospital in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip (Image: Shutterstock)

Hamas’ impossible casualty figures

Mar 28, 2024 | Update
455daec3 C2a8 8752 C215 B7bd062c6bbc

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire for hostages deal

Nov 29, 2023 | Update
Screenshot of Hamas bodycam footage as terrorists approach an Israeli vehicle during the terror organisation's October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, released by the IDF and GPO (Screenshot)

Horror on Video / International Law and the Hamas War

Oct 31, 2023 | Update
Sderot, Israel. 7th Oct, 2023. Bodies of dead Israelis lie on the ground following the attacks of Hamas (Image: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/Alamy Live News)

Israel’s Sept. 11, only worse

Oct 11, 2023 | Update

RECENT POSTS

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan (centre) announces his request for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders on May 20 (Screenshot)

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

International Criminal Court 2018

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

Screenshot 2024 11 20 At 4.49.05 PM

Australia out of step with US and other allies on UN vote: Joel Burnie on Sky News

UNRWA is portrayed as the “backbone” of Gaza aid efforts, but actually supplied only 13% of aid there over recent months (Image: Anas Mohammed/ Shutterstock)

An empire of perpetual suffering

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and PM Anthony Albanese have degraded our relationship with our most important Middle Eastern partner (Screenshot)

The consequences of Australia’s Mideast policy shifts since October 7

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan (centre) announces his request for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders on May 20 (Screenshot)

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

International Criminal Court 2018

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

Screenshot 2024 11 20 At 4.49.05 PM

Australia out of step with US and other allies on UN vote: Joel Burnie on Sky News

UNRWA is portrayed as the “backbone” of Gaza aid efforts, but actually supplied only 13% of aid there over recent months (Image: Anas Mohammed/ Shutterstock)

An empire of perpetual suffering

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and PM Anthony Albanese have degraded our relationship with our most important Middle Eastern partner (Screenshot)

The consequences of Australia’s Mideast policy shifts since October 7

SORT BY TOPICS