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todaynewsstories · 6 years

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Brexit Diaries 43: Sweating bullets in London | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW

Despite the cool press conference room, the United Kingdom’s Brexit secretary was sweating horribly. Was it the pressure of spreading nonsense to the public that caused Dominic Raab such discomfort? Was it fear that, because of the findings in the government’s Brexit impact papers, he was likely to make a fool of himself? “Our institutions will be ready for Brexit — deal or no deal,” Raab promised, against his better judgment. It’s hard to be a government official sometimes.

In any case, the first 24 so-called technical notices about a no-deal Brexit were a hard sell. For exporters, there is more red tape. The UK government’s terse advice? Get a customs expert, or buy software to figure out how much you will have to pay the European Union for your products. After decades of free trade, no borders and no hassle, that is quite a shock.

Consumers will face higher charges for credit card payments and UK citizens living in the EU may for a while lose access to their pensions, bank accounts and investments. Drug manufacturers are being told to stockpile six weeks of medicine in case there is an import disruption after Brexit. Farmers should, on the other hand, prepare for trouble when exporting organic foods — it could take up to nine months until the EU approves a new UK regulatory body. Companies dealing with nuclear material should quickly engage with Euratom and figure out what will happen after the divorce. At least students may be able to enjoy the popular Erasmus exchange program until 2020.

Read more: Scotland wants to avoid Brexit but doesn’t know how

Theresa May stood back from the upheaval and let her Brexit secretary take the flak. Her only attempt to reassure people came when she set out on a trip to Africa in order to “deepen the UK’s global partnerships.” A Brexit without a deal would be “no walk in the park, but not the end of the world either,” May said.

Macron and May

May visited French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month at his holiday residence as part of an effort to soften his approach to Brexit. Couldn’t he be just a little bit less rigorous and more accommodating? She left empty-handed, as expected.

Macron was not as friendly an ear as May had hoped

Macron made clear Monday in his first response to those talks what he thinks of leniency towards the Brits. “France wants to maintain a strong, special relationship with London, but not if the cost is the European Union unraveling,” he said. “It’s a sovereign choice which we must respect, but it can’t come at the expense of the EU’s integrity.”

Read more: ‘Little Britain’ in Germany’s Rhine region lives on borrowed time

That ends on the spot her half-baked Brexit proposal, concocted over a dramatic weekend retreat with her ministers earlier this summer. A single market for goods only and without freedom of movement? Forget it, chere Madame le Premier ministre.

Back to the ‘troubles?’

Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg is a mutinous Conservative MP with aristocratic pretensions. He wants to take his country back to the past in every way possible and it has now emerged that he is advocating a heavy dose of nostalgia in order to solve the vexed Northern Ireland border question.

Rees-Mogg suggested reinstating the border checks between Ireland and Northern Ireland

Why not have inspections along the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, he asked, just like during the “troubles?” We used to keep a close eye on the border then, and it seems to have worked just fine, Rees-Mogg said. The violent, 30-year fighting between Unionists and Republicans in Ireland, known as the “troubles,” cost thousands of lives and almost ruined the country. Nobody on either side of the political divide wants to return to that. This rabid Brexiteer urgently needs a history lesson.

No thanks, Mr. Banks

Millionaire businessman Arron Banks was the main source of finance for the Vote.EU campaign that relentlessly lobbied for Brexit before the referendum. He is also a friend of Nigel Farage, the far-right firebrand looking to make another political comeback.

Read more: Is the Brexit hard-liner European Research Group running the UK?

Banks, who is accused of shady campaign finance dealings with Russia, assumes correctly that the struggle for Brexit is now being fought within the Conservative party. He therefore attempted to become a Tory member in order to throw his weight behind a hard Brexit candidate in the party’s upcoming leadership battle. But this was one step to far for the Conservatives, who aren’t interested in more infighting while May is battling for her future. Thanks, no Banks please, was the stringent answer from Tory HQ.

The Tories said ‘no thanks’ to Mr. Banks

No more Danes after Brexit

This is surely another consequence of Brexit that never crossed anyone’s mind: From the technical notices, it emerged that the import of sperm from the EU would come to an end after a no-deal Brexit. When the UK is no longer part of the bloc, directives on organ donation and tissues, which cover human sperm, eggs and embryos, will end. Couples trying to conceive by artificial insemination would no longer be able to use donations supplied by other EU countries, the majority of which come from Denmark.

Why Denmark? Do Brits feel connected to the Scandinavian country by their common Viking past? As it stands now, the report suggests that after Brexit, British men will have to make up the difference.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Britain’s embattled skipper: Theresa May

May became prime minister after David Cameron resigned from the post in the wake of the Brexit referendum vote in June 2016. Despite her position, she has struggled to define what kind of Brexit her government wants. Hardliners within her Conservative party want her to push for a clean break. Others want Britain to stay close to the bloc. The EU itself has rejected many of May’s Brexit demands.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Britain’s reluctant rebel: Jeremy Corbyn

The leader of the British Labour Party has no formal role in the Brexit talks, but he is influential as the head of the main opposition party. Labour has tried to pressure the Conservative government, which has a thin majority in Parliament, to seek a “softer” Brexit. But Corbyn’s own advocacy has been lukewarm. The long-time leftist voted for the UK to leave the European Community (EC) in 1975.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Britain’s boisterous Brexiteer: Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson’s turbulent two years as UK foreign secretary came to an abrupt end with his resignation on July 9. The conservative had been a key face for the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum campaign. Johnson disapproves of the “soft Brexit” sought by PM May, arguing that a complete break from the EU might be preferable. He became the second Cabinet member within 24 hours to quit…

Who’s who in Brexit?

Britain’s cheery ex-delegate: David Davis

David Davis headed Britain’s Department for Exiting the EU and was the country’s chief negotiator in the talks before he quit on July 8, less than 24 hours before Downing Street announced Boris Johnson’s departure. Davis had long opposed Britain’s EU membership and was picked for the role for this reason. Davis was involved in several negotiating rounds with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Britain’s legal envoy: Dominic Raab

Theresa May appointed euroskeptic Dominic Raab the morning after Brexit Secretary David Davis resigned. Raab, a staunchly pro-Brexit lawmaker, was formerly Davis’ chief of staff. He previously worked for a Palestinian negotiator in the Oslo peace process and as an international lawyer in Brussels advising on European Union and World Trade Organization law.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Britain’s turnabout diplomat: Jeremy Hunt

Jeremy Hunt was Britain’s Health Secretary until he replaced Boris Johnson as foreign secretary in early July 2018. The 51-year-old supported Britain remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, but said in late 2017 that he had changed his mind in response to the “the arrogance of the EU Commission” during Brexit talks. He has vowed to help get Britain a “great Brexit deal.”

Who’s who in Brexit?

Britain’s firebrand: Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage was the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) until July 2016. Under his stewardship, the party helped pressure former Prime Minister David Cameron into calling the EU referendum. He was also a prominent activist in the Leave campaign in the lead-up to the vote. Farage still has some influence over Brexit talks due to his popularity with pro-Leave voters.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Europe’s honchos: Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk

EU Commission President Juncker (left) and EU Council President Tusk (right) share two of the bloc’s highest posts. Juncker heads the EU’s executive. Tusk represents the governments of the 27 EU countries — the “EU 27.” Both help formulate the EU’s position in Brexit negotiations. What Tusk says is particularly noteworthy: His EU 27 masters — not the EU commission — must agree to any Brexit deal.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Europe’s steely diplomat: Michel Barnier

The former French foreign minister and European commissioner has become a household name across the EU since his appointment as the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator in October 2016. Despite his prominence, Barnier has limited room to maneuver. He is tasked with following the EU 27’s strict guidelines and must regularly report back to them during the negotiations.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Ireland’s uneasy watchman: Leo Varadkar

The Irish PM has been one of the most important EU 27 leaders in Brexit talks. Britain has said it will leave the EU’s customs union and single market. That could force the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, to put up customs checks along the border with Northern Ireland, a British province. But Varadkar’s government has repeatedly said the return of a “hard” border is unacceptable.

Who’s who in Brexit?

Europe’s power-brokers: the EU 27

The leaders of the EU 27 governments have primarily set the EU’s negotiating position. They have agreed to the negotiating guidelines for chief negotiator Barnier and have helped craft the common EU position for Tusk and Juncker to stick to. The individual EU 27 governments can also influence the shape of any Brexit outcome because they must unanimously agree to a final deal.

Author: Alexander Pearson

The post Brexit Diaries 43: Sweating bullets in London | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW appeared first on Today News Stories.

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newstfionline · 7 years

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With a blockade deadline looming, families in Qatar face a tough choice: Stay or go?

Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2017

Wafa Yazeedi, a doctor and single mother who runs a hospital in this tiny Persian Gulf nation, has found herself in the middle of a sudden political crisis that has engulfed parts of the Arab world--and threatened to break up her family.

A blockade of Qatar that took full effect this weekend technically requires all three of Yazeedi’s children to leave the country immediately for nearby Bahrain, the country whose citizenship they hold--though Yazeedi has been divorced from her Bahraini husband since 1999, and her children grew up with her in Qatar.

“How will they get an education? And will I be able to visit them?” Yazeedi said between meetings at her office Monday. “My children, they are all at risk now.”

In the wake of the blockade announced by several neighboring Arab countries this month--ostensibly to force Qatar to break its connections with Iran and extremist Muslim organizations--thousands of families with mixed citizenship are having to make similar dire decisions: stay or go?

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have ordered their citizens to return home. Egypt recalled its diplomats. Qatari citizens were blocked from traveling to participating countries, and those already there were directed to return home.

Already, there is widespread alarm over just how devastating the consequences of the political standoff could be in this tight-knit cluster of desert emirates whose connections have always been deep.

More than 13,000 people are affected by the blockade, including at least 6,500 mixed-status families, according to Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee.

A Saudi man said he was unable to claim the body of his father who died in Qatar two days after the blockade began--but that was only one of hundreds of complaints.

“This arbitrary deadline has caused widespread uncertainty and dread among thousands of people who fear they will be separated from their loved ones,” James Lynch, deputy director of Amnesty International’s global issues program, said in a statement Monday.

Crucial family decisions were being made days before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan concludes with the Eid holiday June 25, a time when families traditionally reunite.

Arabs from the blockade countries who stay in Qatar risk losing their passports, citizenship and ability to visit family again. Qataris who stay in the four countries abroad risk losing their freedom if convicted of sympathizing with Qatar, which has now become a crime in those countries.

The four countries implementing the blockade say it is aimed at halting Qatar’s aid and funding for “terrorist” organizations such as the radical Palestinian group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The countries severed diplomatic ties, plus land, air and sea connections.

Qatari officials have insisted the country has been working to combat terrorism through its connections and condemned the blockade as a violation of its sovereignty. The ruling emir remains popular, and a black-and-white stencil of his face has become a symbol of resistance pinned to shirt fronts and plastered across SUVs and towers in the capital.

“The humanitarian impact of the blockade is real. Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini families are being forcibly recalled by their governments today, despite being invited to stay by the Government of Qatar,” government spokesman Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed Thani said Monday.

“The social fabric of [the region] is being torn apart for political reasons and we will not allow ourselves to be a party to this injustice,” he said.

Qatar has strong military ties to the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in the capital city of Doha. The base is home to 10,000 U.S. troops. Last week, Naval forces from both countries conducted joint exercises, and the U.S. recently approved a $12-billion sale of fighter jets to Qatar.

Qatar’s foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Thani, is scheduled to travel to Washington next week to try to end the blockade. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has met with Saudi and United Arab Emirates leaders since imposition of the blockade, launched shortly after President Trump traveled to the Saudi capital and made an appeal for a united Arab front against Iran, which is an ally and trade partner of Qatar.

The foreign minister said Trump called Qatar’s emir days after the blockade commenced to invite all parties to the White House.

“The U.S. is helping us in pressuring the parties to solve this,” the foreign minister said. Still, he said, Qatar is not yet ready to talk with the Arab states involved. “They have to lift the blockade to start negotiations.”

Many of Qatar’s 2.6 million residents initially panicked after the blockade was declared, emptying store shelves of Saudi milk and other goods they worried would soon be in short supply. New foodstuffs were flown in to fill the gap from Algeria, Iran, Morocco, Turkey and other allies, but most of those goods went to large markets in the capital.

Smaller stores in low-income areas are beginning to have bare shelves, and migrant workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal are having to scavenge.

A man who came looking for yogurt at one such market Sunday found the refrigerator case nearly empty, as were the vegetable bins. Manager Ashraf Thazhekizhakkayil Peedikayil said business is down 30 to 40% since the blockade.

At branches of Al Meera market, a national chain selling state-subsidized goods, shelves were well stocked with what signs said were Turkish eggs “flown in by air,” Iranian sweet melons and Algerian potatoes. Managers posted signs identifying local goods that urged, “Let’s support Qatari products.”

Store manager Saad Tamim said he already had been importing some fruits weekly from the U.S. Now he has added a truck for daily shipments, including berries and grapes from California.

Though the store is surviving, Tamim, 35, is suffering. His family lives in the United Arab Emirates. He used to commute to Dubai weekly, but since the blockade he has stayed in Doha. He checks the news daily hoping for an improvement, but doesn’t expect to celebrate Eid with his mother.

“Every day I pray for it to finish,” he said.

One couple from Egypt, residents of Qatar for 11 years, said they lost their tickets to Cairo on Qatar Airways to visit relatives for Eid after the blockade closed airspace.

“People from other countries don’t want to leave. We love it. This is our business, this is our life,” said the man, Abu Mohamed, who was using a nickname because he feared repercussions due to the blockade.

A 23-year-old Qatari medical student who asked to be identified by her first name, Haya, left classes in the United Arab Emirates shortly after the blockade was declared, before taking her final exams and graduating after five years of study.

“My exams started today and I’m still here,” she said this weekend.

Haya said she would not feel safe returning to Abu Dhabi now. “How are you going to assure me I’m going to be fine there?” she said. “My future is pretty much gone.”

A Qatari businessman said he was faced with a requirement to send his wife, who is seven months pregnant, back to her home in Saudi Arabia--leaving their 6-year-old son behind with him.

“The target is the families,” Naif, 38, who declined to give his last name, said of the blockade. He said he ultimately left the decision to stay or leave up to his wife, and she decided to stay, for her job and her family.

Their second son would be born in Qatar.

Even if Arab leaders mend the diplomatic rift, Naif and others said they take the attack on their families personally. Once travel resumes, many said they won’t go back to visiting, shopping or doing business with the blockade countries any time soon.

“What’s broken does not come back like before,” he said. “We don’t trust.”

#Qatar

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jewishphilosophyplace · 7 years

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One State And Democratic in Palestine & Israel (Interview with Ahmad Tibi)

This fascinating interview which you can read here with MK Ahmad Tibi by Carolina Landsman here at Ha’aretz follows the political logic at this precise moment when the ultra-righwing settler government under the leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu is finally shutting the door on the two-state solution. Now there are two options left, a democratic one-state in all of Greater Israel/Historic Palestine with a Palestinian majority or apartheid Jewish minority rule.

Consider the difference between what’s “possible” and what’s “actual.” It used to be that the one state idea was considered a possible solution to the conflict over Palestine and Israel, but not a realistic one. Today it’s no longer so clear if the two-state solution is even possible given how entrenched the settlement project is, in the occupied West Bank, and also on the Israeli political and social scene. As a thought exercise, Tibi’s projection of a democratic one-state is worth serious consideration. While the two-state solution remains somewhere out there as a possible future, given the actual alternative today between democracy and apartheid, his is coherent and compelling vision.

More pessimistic, my only thoughts are two. First, I don’t think Tibi’s model adequately grapples with the problem of domination as a basic feature of society, one that can be ameliorated even down to point zero, or reconfigured, but never eliminated. Societies are always organized on majority-minority relations. Second and based on the principle of national self-determination, I still believe that a two-state confederated solution between a Jewish majority and Palestinian State constitutes the better option. But that ship is sailing. The country’s future as a bi-national entity is being determined not by the left, but by the sovereign rightwing government of the State of Israel. This means that Tibi’s is the only practical alternative to apartheid.

The interview is magnificent. I’ve never believed in the idea of a one-state solution, but if it’s going to look like anything, then let it look like this. No matter what happens, Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and Israeli are going to have to come to terms, one with the other, will have to begin to understand each other better than they do now. This is especially true of Jews who, in Israel today, enjoying all the arrogant trappings that come with power and privilege seem not to take much interest in or even notice of their neighbors, the Palestinians, except in terms of threat. If the choice is going to be between apartheid and democracy, then the principle of “mutual recognition” will have to trump the principle of “national self-determination.”This should hold true no matter how the future turns out, if, that is, it’s going to be democratic. The details about domination will have to be worked out and in good faith. About that, I cannot pretend to be optimistic.

For those of you who can’t get behind the paywall, I’m pasting the whole thing here:

The Arab lawmaker vying to be prime minister of a utopian Israeli-Palestinian state

Which flag? Which religion? And what about the army? Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi lays out his vision for the one-state solution.

By Carolina Landsmann Mar 04, 2017

Half an hour was all MK Ahmad Tibi needed – from the moment U.S. President Donald Trump stated, two weeks ago, that he was committed to a solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but not necessarily a two-state solution – to appear on CNN and illustrate what Israeli Palestinians mean when they hear “one state”: “If this will be the case,” he said, “I will be running for the post of prime minister, and I can assure you that I will win [over] Bibi Netanyahu.”

On the way to a meeting with Tibi in his Knesset office this week, I remembered a letter that was sent to Haaretz last year in response to a controversy that played out in the paper about the meaning of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state. The writer, a Rimon Lavie from Jerusalem, noted: “Whoever talks about ‘Jewish and democratic’ is evading the main issue without which a democratic state is not feasible: In the future, the minority, every minority, can become the majority.”

Observing the separation barrier through a car window, one understands that for Israeli Jews, the attraction of maintaining the “Green Line” is that it allows for the civil affiliation of the millions of Palestinians who live in the West Bank (and the Gaza Strip) to a Palestinian state, even an imagined one. The “two-state vision” makes it possible to exclude the Palestinians who live on the other side of the Green Line from being counted with the Arab citizens of Israel. Because the number of the latter constitutes just one-fifth of the country’s population, the prospects of Mr. Lavie’s principle being tested in reality are quite slim.

However, the moment we discard the two-state vision, even if only for argument’s sake, and adopt the one-state vision in its place, Israeli democrats have no choice – even before we’ve annexed a millimeter of land – but to imagine the possibility that the Palestinian minority will become the majority. Which is exactly what I invited MK Tibi to do.

Why him? Because he was the first to bring it up.

What’s the first thing you would do as prime minister?

“Ensure that the principle of equality among all citizens is the country’s primary value.”

Israel’s Declaration of Independence states that the state is committed to total social and political equality for all its citizens, irrespective of religion, race or sex.

“We will annul the Declaration of Independence and in its place write a civil declaration that represents all citizens: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze. The entire public. It’s untenable for a democratic state to have a declaration of independence that is fundamentally Jewish.”

What would the country’s name be?

“I don’t know. Its parliament will decide.”

What about the flag?

“That would have to change.”

The national anthem?

“It would be changed.”

The Law of Return [enabling all Jews to establish residency and citizenship in Israel]?

“That would automatically be annulled, because the country would no longer be a Jewish state as it is today. The single state will not resemble the present-day State of Israel. It will be something different. Why should Jews be able to return here and Palestinians not?”

Could there be a Law of Return and a right of return [of Palestinian refugees from 1948 and their descendants]?

The country would be open to all Jews and Palestinians from everywhere in the world. There would be equality in entering the country and in returning for all citizens – Jews and Arabs. The Law of Return embodies the state’s Jewishness, which I do not accept.” In other words, the single state you envision would mean the dismantlement of the State of Israel.

“The single democratic state will have a different format from the present State of Israel.” ‘Rolling apartheid’

Ahmad Tibi, 58, was born in the Arab town of Taibeh in central Israel, studied medicine but didn’t practice (he didn’t finish his internship in gynecology), and served as a political adviser to the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Currently a member of the Ta’al faction of the Joint Arab List party, he is one of a number of deputy speakers of the Knesset, where he began his career in 1999.

The profile image accompanyinig Tibi’s WhatsApp account is Martin Luther King’s assertion, “I have a dream.” It’s certainly difficult to think of a more apt slogan for the civil struggle for equality between Jews and Arabs. If the two-state paradigm is to be supplanted by the one-state conception, the struggle of people like Tibi against the occupation will become a fight for one person, one vote. Nonetheless, it’s important for Tibi to point out that he himself does not advocate one state but believes in the two-state solution: a Palestinian state, and Israel as a state of all its citizens. It was only when President Trump spoke about the acceptability of a single state that he began to imagine what that would mean on a practical level.

Before we met, Tibi asked me what the thrust of my article would be, whether for or against the one-state notion. I Trumped him: I said I thought the two-state idea was best for both peoples, but that if both want to live together in one state, I would flow with that. I’m in favor of the future. “Yes, exactly,” Tibi said.

Is that how you understood what Trump said?

“What surprised me is that for the first time an American president spoke about one state, with an Israeli prime minister standing next to him and not opening his mouth. Were Trump’s remarks those of someone who’s not versed in the details, or were they very sophisticated? It’s hard to know. I belong to those who support the two-state vision, have fought for it and continue to fight for it. I think it’s the optimal solution for the existing situation. The international community wants it and the majority on both sides wants it, even though that majority is diminishing according to the surveys I see, among both Palestinians and Israelis. And with 620,000 settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and two separate judicial systems, there’s a reality today of one state with rolling apartheid.

“And then along comes Trump, who says ‘one state,’ and the debate is launched. There are three possibilities: two states or one state that could take two forms. One form is apartheid, where a privileged class, namely the Jews, gets all the rights, and there’s a class with diminished rights, or no rights, no vote, namely the Palestinians. The second form that a single state could take is that of a democratic, equal state: one person, one vote. My point is that if there is to be one state, we will want the democratic model and we will never accept the apartheid model. But not only us. The international community in the 21st century will not accept an apartheid model.”

Even though it’s accepted a 50-year occupation.

“Even though it’s accepted a 50-year occupation. And in such a state, I assume that the Palestinians will take power, because they will have a majority.”

In other words, by virtue of demography, you will be prime minister.

“I don’t like the use that’s made of the demography issue in the political debate in Israel.

It draws on all kinds of professors who count us day by day and talk about us as a demographic threat. I am not a demographic threat.”

You are a democratic threat.

“Exactly. I am not a demographic threat, I am a democratic hope. And I am not saying that I or some other Palestinian will be prime minister in order to frighten the Jews, but to make it clear that there will not be an apartheid state, because we sanctify the value of democracy. For years you feared and attacked our nationhood, and lately there are those in the government who are fearful and who are trying to assail our citizenship – whether it’s Bibi warning that we are ‘flocking to the polling stations’ in droves, or [Defense Minister Avigdor] Lieberman who wants a transfer of Wadi Ara. When I said I would be prime minister, I meant Ahmad Tibi as a parable.”

Do you think a state like that would be able to fulfill the national aspirations of the Palestinian people? Can you envisage a single state, in which Jews and Palestinians live, that meets the criterion of Palestinian self-determination?

“Those who support it as a first option think so. When the Palestinian national movement was founded, it spoke of one state. The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish told me, two years before he died, that two states is the possible solution, one state is the just solution. Why is it just? Because all the refugees will return; Jews will live where they want, Palestinians will live where they want; and there will be no problem of borders.”

Can the Zionist dream be realized in the one-state format?

“Not in the way you demonstrate Zionism to us on a daily basis. You know, we get lessons in Zionism: in laws, in the definition of the state, in the attitude toward the Arab Other. Zionism prefers the Jew over the non-Jew. And that’s translated into a discriminatory approach toward Arabs in Israel and across the Green Line: through the Law of Return, through the Jewish National Fund, through land seizures. Zionism advocates ‘a nation that dwells alone.’ Zionism will come to the end of its road in a one-state format.”

Recognizing the Nakba

Will the one-state format be empathetic to the harsh history of the Jewish people?

“Of course. In my speech about the Holocaust, I spoke out against Holocaust deniers, because it’s not humane: To deny the suffering of the Other is to cause suffering. But I also want empathy for my nation, which is suffering today. There must also be empathy for the Palestinian narrative. The single state must recognize the Nakba [“catastrophe,” in Arabic, used to describe the 1947-49 Israeli War of Independence when more than 700,000 Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes], with all that this entails historically, legally and judicially.”

So you say we would mark the Nakba. And would we celebrate Independence Day?

“The independence of the new state.”

In other words, the Independence Day celebrations of the state that was established in 1948 will be canceled?

“For the Palestinians, your Independence Day is a catastrophe. It is our Nakba, which denotes suffering of a people that fell apart. Crashed. Was crushed. Was expelled. Killed. How can it be celebrated?”

So we cancel Independence Day and mark the Nakba. What about Memorial Day?

“You mean with all the sadness and so on? Everyone is entitled.

At present it’s a day of national mourning. There’s a siren, there are ceremonies. What would happen with all those practices?

“There were also Palestinians who fell.”

What do you mean?

“The question is whether the single state will want to emphasize the contrasts or push them aside and emphasize what there is in common.”

From your perspective, is there a difference between 1948 and 1967?

“Politically, yes, because I am demanding two states. But I have a narrative that goes back to 1948, and I will not revoke my narrative just because a Palestinian state has come into being. I do not forget my memories. Look, 1948 is the homeland, 1967 is the state. There’s a difference between [the entire] homeland and state. Homeland is in the heart. Jaffa is homeland. My father was born in Jaffa; my mother was born in Ramle. People were born in Haifa. I can’t annul the feelings of those people, not even if a Palestinian state is established in the territories [conquered in] 1967. The feeling a person has for his first birthplace, his homeland, will always continue to exist.”

And that feeling, you say, is not divided by a Green Line?

“Feeling is not crossed by lines, but there are pragmatic policy decisions that incorporate concessions. A state that’s established within the 1967 lines covers 23 percent of greater Palestine. You can’t imagine what it was for Yasser Arafat to agree to that – for the leader of the PLO, the leader of the Palestinian people, the leader of the national liberation movement. It’s the same for [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, who is from the founding generation. He told me: It’s 23 percent of the homeland. And yet even that is not agreed to. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn’t agree to it.”

In the single state, if we want to push the differences aside and emphasize the common elements, do we need to cancel Independence Day and Memorial Day, or maybe expand them? To celebrate both, to remember both? How do you envisage it?

“I don’t want to go into details now. You are getting into the minute details of a single state, which is far off.”

We are trying to imagine what the one-state solution will look like concretely.

“I will sum it up in one sentence: With one, equal state, the State of Israel in its present format will not exist. All its symbols will change, and the narrative will be different. The unifying element in one state will be different from what it is today, because it will be a state of everyone, not a state of the Jewish collectivity in which there is a tolerated minority that is thrown a bone in the form of gestures like new roads and the establishment of well-baby clinics. In an equal, single state, equality is a supreme value.”

What about the language?

“Both Hebrew and Arabic, which will be taught and spoken at the same level. At present Israel does in fact have two official languages, Hebrew and Arabic, but Hebrew is dominant. And the leader will have to be articulate in both languages and deliver speeches in both – like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who speaks English and French.”

In all the schools.

“That would be decided by the one-state parliament – what the education system will be. Whether there will be separate systems, like today, or a joint one. There are several examples, such as Belgium and Canada, of a bilingual system.”

But in the education system you envisage, with two languages and two narratives – how would that work?

“I don’t know, but getting to know the Other is important.”

What would be the core subjects? What would be studied by all pupils?

“I’m sure that the Education Ministry of the future will be different from the one under Naftali Bennett.”

In what way?

“There will not be control of Arabs by Jews, nor control by Arabs of Jews by coercion. In a lecture I gave two months ago, I said that if there were to be one binational, democratic state, and elections were held, it was probable that I would be prime minister, and I added: But I want to promise you that I will behave toward you as you behave toward us. A cabinet minister from the previous government who heard me said, ‘Ahmad, don’t be bad.’ That says it all.”

You are saying to the Jews that they would not want a Palestinian majority to treat them the way the Jews now treat the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

“The attitude toward us is discriminatory, exclusionary, unequal, and there is great bitterness and anger over that. I am talking about the Arab public that I represent, but also about the Palestinians who are under occupation. Between themselves, Jewish Israelis know they are not treating the residents of Taibeh or Nazareth equally. Or those in Umm al-Hiran and [elsewhere] in the Negev. I don’t know how a people that suffered a great deal has reached the present pass in its attitude toward the Other. Look at who’s leading public opinion, who the social leaders in Israel are: Netanyahu, [Gilad] Erdan, Miri Regev, ‘The Shadow’ [the far-right rapper Yoav Eliasi], Bennett, the fans of [the soccer team] Beitar Jerusalem in the eastern stands of the stadium, Elor Azaria as a national hero.”

Jokes and racism

While preparing for the meeting with Tibi by watching videos of some of his speeches in the Knesset – as impressive as they are numerous – I found it impossible to ignore the fact that the most beautiful moments in the House, as well as the ugliest ones, are embodied in the interaction between Jews and Arabs. There are moments where everyone is laughing and joking, and the Israelis [Jews and Arabs alike] look normal, and suddenly it seems as though the conflict is no more than a misunderstanding that has swelled to monstrous proportions. But at other times the hatred and the racism rise to the surface, and you are ashamed to hear what the Jewish MKs and ministers are saying, and the future looks bleak. Tibi agrees with that description, and adds that even when interrelations are good and cordial, this cannot blur existing ideological disparities. I admit to Tibi that I identify with Darwish’s remark.

But would the moral corruption of the occupation make it possible for a single state to be just, or would the bitterness you mention be translated into revenge?

“We have to do all we can to create a structure that would gradually do away with that bitterness. The bitterness exists and it won’t go away automatically by pushing a button. The national tension will remain, and the inter-religious tension, too. It’s important to neutralize this structurally. You know what, it’s important to neutralize it today, even before there is a single state. Everything I said about the one-state option and about the anger and so forth – we have to start dealing with it now.”

Would it be important to guarantee equal representation in a single state?

“No, there would be democratic elections.”

But democratic elections in which 50-50 representation between Jews and Arabs would be mandatory?

“I don’t know, I hadn’t considered that. My vision is two states, but I’m not one of those whose knees wobble or who goes into defensive mode or gets nightmares from the one-state vision. Even more so because now there is one state with three governmental systems [for Israel, and in the territories, for settlers and for Palestinians] and two national groups, toward which there are divergent approaches. And I assume that in democratic elections no one will be shortchanged. No group must be shortchanged in an equal state.”

Do you think that the structure of the regime of such a state must by definition oblige equal representation of the different nationalities?

“In Lebanon, for example, there are communities. I don’t think it should be like Lebanon: distribution of roles according to communities.”

Do you have any sort of state model in mind?

“I don’t think there is anything similar.”

Though there have been similar failures in history.

“True, there have been failures. It will be pioneering – after a conflict of this kind, entering into a model of an equal, democratic state that hasn’t yet been tried. I am aware of the debate and of what the majority of the Jewish public says: that this is not why we’re here. They say they will leave the country if that happens. There are some who leave because of [the price of the snack] Milky. I don’t think it’s a nightmare.”

But the country will look different.

“The country will look completely different.”

Is there any area in Israel today where you can get a feeling of what it would look like?

“Neve Shalom [a community west of Jerusalem]. Jews and Arabs live there, and there’s equality. Sometimes there are serious differences, but they still live in peace and in mutual respect and with respect for the two narratives. Or the bilingual schools in the country – my daughter went to one of them.”

Where?

“In Jerusalem. It was attacked and burned several times, so it’s possible that the single state will also be attacked.”

But the places you mentioned do offer a glimpse of this possibility. Can you describe what it will be like? For example, will both languages be heard equally?

“Each person will speak his language, and it’s desirable for everyone to know the other’s language. In today’s Israel, 90 percent of the Arabs speak Hebrew and want to learn it, and 90 percent of the Jews don’t know Arabic and don’t want to learn it. Knowing the Other is an important element. That doesn’t exist today. The Arabs know the Jews better than the Jews know the Arabs. In regard to the language, in terms of the desire to know, to read Hebrew, we know Hebrew literature – we study Tanach [the Hebrew Bible] in high school. Jews don’t study the Koran, for example.”

So in the single state, the Koran will be taught, too.

“I think that those who wish can study both the one and the other. It’s preferable to learn the other in all its aspects. Jews and Arabs will learn Tanach and Koran and the New Testament.”

But there will be separation of religion and state.

“Yes.”

And there won’t be an official state religion?

“No. There has to be separation of religion and state. The vision of the Palestinian secular left was of a secular state.”

What about the division of taxes? Would people in Tel Aviv and Ramallah pay the same taxes?

“Yes, provided the investments will be the same: when the investments in Arab or Palestinian locales are similar to those in Kfar Sava or Ra’anana. After the two Germanies were united, West Germany embarked on affirmative action costing hundreds of billions of dollars in order to develop the eastern section, and now there is a large-scale narrowing of gaps. My opinion is that this should be done in Israel today.”

What about the army?

“I don’t know. In one state, it would be the army of everyone. But I’m telling you once again: We haven’t reached that point. It would not be an army that occupies the Palestinians, because the Palestinians and the Israelis will be equal citizens in the same country. It sounds like a dream, like utopia, and when I talk to you now, it really does seem utopian. But utopia, too – you can draw it, picture it; you can fear the possibility of failure and hope for the possibility of life together that will succeed in one form or another. Look, the situation today is catastrophic, and the worst thing is the desire to preserve the status quo.”

In the one-state situation, aren’t you concerned about a Hamas takeover, as happened in the Gaza Strip? You and I can say, okay, one democratic state, but there are also antidemocratic forces.

“They exist today, too.”

But they are restrained by the Israel Defense Forces.

“I mean that they exist today within Israel. True, the structure is democratic, but the government takes the form of an oppressive rule over a nation, rule that discriminates against 20 percent of the population. And there is an antidemocratic thrust led by influential Jewish forces that is threatening the traditional democratic structure.”

In other words, you don’t see a greater threat to a one-state situation by Hamas than by Jewish nationalists.

“I think that no religious movement on either side supports the idea of a democratic secular state.”

If we try to imagine the single state in a regional context, would it in effect resemble an Arab state?

“I am telling you now that it is Palestinians and Jews – Arabs, Christians, Jews, Druze. It’s something special. There is nothing comparable.”

And you see it being welcomed in the Middle East region?

“I think it will be more exceptional and more progressive than other countries.”

Do you see a state like that being accepted by Iran, Syria, Lebanon?

“I don’t know what kind of a welcome it would get even from the United States. I don’t know how it would be viewed by Iran. It would depend on what it looks like, because a secular democratic state will be something attractive.”

And with a joint Jewish-Muslim army?

“I don’t know if an army would be needed, though every country needs an army in the end. But it would be different from an occupation army. It will not be an army of occupation or oppression of a people under it. There will not be a Jewish army that will oppress Palestinians in the democratic state.”

Do you coordinate moves with Abu Mazen?

“We meet. But this present declaration of mine is not coordinated with anyone.”

Would he be warranted in viewing you as an opponent?

“Abu Mazen is committed to the two-state idea, but he comes from the PLO, which originally advocated one state. The one-state idea is not foreign to him.”

But Abu Mazen would run against you for prime minister, won’t he?

“It seems to me that when that happens – in another 20, 30, 40, 50 years – neither I nor he will be here,.”

You would have opponents in Israel, too. Why you and not Ayman Odeh, who heads the Joint Arab List and is also the leader of Hadash, which has five seats, compared to your party’s two seats?

“Each person has the right to present his candidacy.”

Why do you think it will be you?

“Possibly because of my popularity and the public surveys. According to a poll conducted by Statnet [a research institute based in Daliat al-Carmel], I am the most popular Arab MK among the Arab population. But I am certain that there are people who are perhaps better suited than I both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Again, I meant Ahmad Tibi as a parable.”

Hadash defines itself as an Arab-Jewish party.

“Yes.”

But your party, Ta’al [Arab Movement for Change], doesn’t categorize itself like that. “Our slogan is ‘a state of all its nationalities.’ I am in favor of cooperation with Jews, I think it’s important, but that’s not how Ta’al defines itself, Jewish-Arab, no. Our party represents the Arab public, but is in favor of Jewish-Arab cooperation.”

But let’s say that in the one-state vision, you see a possibility of redefining your party.

“Everything will change. But I challenge you to conduct a survey of the whole public in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza – Israelis and Palestinians – that asks, ‘Bibi or Tibi?’ If you ask the whole population, I beat Bibi.”

What’s the first stage in getting there? For the Palestinians to forgo the struggle for a Palestinian state?

“That won’t happen. That’s why I told you that I prefer two states, which is the preferred, optimal option. The demand for national liberation is for national liberation from the yoke of the occupation. That cannot be relinquished.”

But the question is whether a paradigmatic change is implemented – if we change course in the direction of a one-state situation and in the first stage say that you no longer aspire to a state of your own and want equal rights in the State of Israel.

“A few Palestinian intellectuals have spoken of equal rights in one state. But never at any stage have we said that we were stopping the struggle.”

But maybe in order to change tracks, the first thing to say is that we are no longer aspiring to a state of our own.

“That won’t happen.”

The Palestinians could announce that they are joining the state and then they would fight from within for civil rights and for changes in the state’s character.

“No. I am familiar with that thesis of ‘civil rights for all in the State of Israel.’ That is not the intention. A secular democratic state is something else, it’s not joining Israel, it’s a whole new game. It’s an equal game between Palestinians and Israelis, there’s no Israeli hegemony.”

But how does it get off the ground?

“There is no Jewish-Israeli hegemony at any stage, it’s a new state.”

In other words, without a struggle.

“At no stage will a national struggle be forgone. The banner now is two states; the banner can be replaced, but while continuing the struggle against the existing occupation, because the Israeli establishment, the governing establishment, does not want to forgo the hegemony of the occupier. Accordingly, it’s necessary to go on struggling against the occupier. We don’t have to make things easier for the occupier by a one-state declaration.”

The question is whether you change tracks.

“We don’t change tracks. We don’t replace one track with another. There are two options. My preferred track is the two-state solution, which calls for an end to the occupation. Maybe if you ask one of the Palestinian intellectuals – ask Sari Nusseibeh [a philosopher and the former president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem], for example – he will tell you equal civil rights for everyone, as he’s already said in the past. Possibly if you ask someone from one of the Popular Front organizations, he will say straight out: a secular democratic state. But we will not stop the struggle.”

I didn’t say to stop the struggle, but to conduct it within the state as a civil battle to change the character of the State of Israel. To start with the call, “Annex us.”

“No. No one is saying ‘annex us.’ There are some who have been positive about the notion of one state in which there are equal voting rights for all, as President Rivlin said. That changes the whole situation but doesn’t eliminate the struggle. It’s only a semblance of the victory of the struggle.”

What you’re actually saying is that it has to be the result of an agreement, a prior decision about a change in Israel’s character. And not as a different track of the struggle that’s planned in stages – first you ask to join and then begin to spearhead a struggle for civil equality.

“Which is why I am telling you that, despite my personal ambitions, it will probably be someone else, many years from now.”

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