Orient XXI said that the American-Jewish scientist Peter Penart launched a bomb in his intellectual and emotional environment in early July 2020, when he published two consecutive articles questioning the "existence of the state of Israel", the first of which called for equality in Palestine, and in the second He openly declared that he no longer believed in the Jewish state.
In the article written by Sylvan Sibel, the website said that Benart, a professor of political science at New York University, defines himself as a progressive "liberal" Zionist, and he directly addresses those who belong to his Zionist movement.
The French website notes that Bennart says that he enthusiastically adhered to the main idea of the 1993 Oslo accords: “two states for two peoples living side by side in peace”, and therefore wrote that one could remain “progressive and supportive of the Jewish state,” but “events (that followed Oslo ) I extinguished this hope, "and the evidence is there that" Israel annexed the West Bank in practice for a very long time. "
As for the possibility of two separate states, it has disappeared - as Bennart says - and only "coverage" is left to further exacerbate the deprivation of occupied Palestinians. Therefore, "we, the progressive Jews, must confront this fact and make our decisions." The two states, but the equal rights of the Jews and the Palestinians, "who inhabit the same land.
Constitutional apartheid state
On the political level, according to Beinart, this equality can take the form of one state with equal rights for all "one person's vote" or "a union of two deeply integrated states", and in both cases Israel will not remain a Jewish state.
Beinart responds in advance to those who see him as just a dreamer or a traitor to the Zionist cause, that Israel is in fact a binational state, in which one nation dominates the other, and that "the solution to equal rights has become more realistic than the solution to separation" given the growing intertwining between the two peoples.
In short, Bennart believes that the Jewish state can no longer be what it is, “a constitutionally segregated apartheid state,” and it is time to extract what may follow in the future that “this state has no future that deserves support.”
From this logic, Bennart tried to answer the question of the political future of Jews on this common land, and how Zionism remains with abandoning the Jewish state, saying that "the essence of Zionism was not the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel, but rather the establishment of a Jewish home there."
Beinart cited an important Zionist who did not see the establishment of a Jewish state contrary to the desire of the founder of the Zionist movement Theodore Herzl, but rather the establishment of a culture center in the Land of Israel in order to form a spiritual pole for the Jews of the world, as he criticized the position of the first Jewish settlers in Palestine towards the indigenous population.
Pinart also referred to the German Zionist philosopher Martin Buber who called in the 1930s to build a joint binational state between Jews and Arabs, warning that promoting equality between Jews and Arabs "does not require giving up Zionism."
A project based on equality and parity
The writer pointed out that the pretext of preserving Zionism at the present time is not likely to convince contemporary Zionists nor the Palestinians as well, firstly because the founding book of Zionism is not entitled "The Jewish House" or "Jewish Spiritual Center" but rather the Jewish state, and secondly because the thinkers referred to by Bennart They remained very marginal within the Zionist movement, and finally because it is difficult to move beyond more than a century of "true" Zionist history, which has consistently shown that it intends to establish a Jewish ethnic state at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine.
Although the prospect of a joint state as Bennart envisions does not appear realistic in the near future, it is not possible - according to the author - to avoid the necessary issue of equality "in dignity and rights," as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
By offering this precondition as a key to ending the conflict, Bennart admits that it constitutes a radical break with the State of Israel and its discriminatory policy, and requests his readers to engage with him in this boycott until the end.
Bennart believes that what is required is to get out of the infernal trap that prevents any development of the issue, and believes that the current situation leads to the worst, that is, exacerbating the Israeli tendency aimed at a new "collective expulsion" of the Palestinians, noting that the annexation of parts of the West Bank that the Israeli Prime Minister is planning Benjamin Netanyahu now "is not the end of the road, but just a stop on the road to hell."
The Law of Return of Jews and Palestinians
Beinart proposes strengthening the concept of a binational state as a first and only option, and equality between citizens in a joint state between Palestinians and Israelis must protect the individual rights of both, as well as the national rights of both peoples.
Bennart envisions a law of return equal to Jews and Palestinians in the diaspora, in contrast to the existing law on Jews, saying that “Jews envisioned for generations that the Jewish state is compensation and a way to transcend the legacy of genocide. To justify our persecution of the Palestinians, the idea of the Jewish state required that we see them as Nazis. (...) Compensation The real thing is equality, in a Jewish home it is also a Palestinian house. We will only free ourselves from the weight of genocide by helping the Palestinians achieve freedom.
The author clarified that Bennart in this vision joins the vision of Avraham Burg, the former Speaker of the Israeli Parliament and the World Zionist Organization who, after the failure of the Camp David negotiations in July 2000, tended to abandon the Zionist ideological foundations, and began to support the idea that the Jewish state led to the destruction of Israeli Jews "Trapped in a Zionist ghetto," because this country exploits the tragic past of Jews to impose a system of permanent injustice on the Palestinians.
Beinart joins, in particular, the Anglo-American historian Tony Gedt who raised a resounding controversy in 2003 in the United States, when he questioned the possibility of a single state common between Israeli and Palestinian Jews, which means that there is no future place for a Jewish state, which reserves for its Jewish citizens alone a set of rights.
Unacceptable situation
The writer pointed out that the ideas that led 17 years ago to cast aside the historian found in America, are received differently today inside and outside the Jewish community in the articles of Peter Pinart, which reflects the current developments in the United States.
In Israel, Bennart’s articles have been largely ignored, as well as in France, although some have supported it, but Dror Yamini, an Israeli writer with a newspaper calling on Aharonot, wrote commenting on these ideas that “denying Jews the right to a national home is a form of anti-Semitism. He is not anti-Semitic. His intentions are different, but his stance supports an anti-Semitic campaign. "
Author Nicholas Goldberg offers a key to reading multiple reactions, saying, "Some may say that Bennart betrays Zionism and puts Jews at risk. Some may say he offers the only moral alternative expressing modernity and equality for a century of failed nationalism, and many may prefer to revive the two-state option, and I belong to The last category, but Bennart's opinion has changed, although provocative, reminds us that the status quo is not acceptable.
The author concluded that the idea of coexistence between Jews and Palestinians in a state in which they participate is legitimate for many, even if that is more in academic circles than among politicians, noting that the legitimacy of the ideas announced by Bennart expresses the process of delegitimization that now affects Israel in the United States And in circles expands steadily.