Tuesday, October 30, 2012

REFLECTIONS ON THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH

A very meaningful and beautiful text by Uri Aloni

Emphasis is mine

REFLECTIONS ON THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH

“I believe with absolute faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even if he tarries, he will come.”


One of the core principles and most salient characteristics in Judaism is the belief in the coming of the Messiah. But when we deconstruct the concept into its component parts, paradoxes arise. It appears to be nothing but an empty signifier, something like a vessel for the assorted and idiosyncratic needs of one Jewish community or another.

There's “Messiah Now,” which advocates actively hastening his arrival, and there’s “one mustn’t hasten the end,” which advocates passivity, humbleness, and biding one’s time. There is a Messiah who embodies yearning for past glory, and a Messiah who evokes hope for the future. There’s a Messiah who signifies the end of history, and a Messiah who signifies its beginning. There is a Messiah who will come to redeem the individual from his agony, and a Messiah who will free the nation from its shackles. There is a Messiah who has been sent in the grace of God to redeem the world, and a Messiah who will redeem divinity itself. There’s a Messiah of light, and a Messiah of darkness. A Messiah who is present-continuous, a Messiah who is outside of time itself. A Messiah who is future-present, always to come, and a Messiah who is past-present, always-already. And there is a Messiah who will come one day after his arrival. There is a Messiah who will suddenly leap through a tiny, secret gate without prior consultation with the Timing Authority. There’s a true Messiah, and a false one. A youthful, innocent Messiah, who died for us on the cross, and one who, in Hebrew numerology, is equal to a serpent. And he is the origin of knowledge, and all of his acts are acts of cunning. There is a king Messiah, and a Messiah who is a pauper, riding on a donkey. There is a Messiah who will make whole the fragments, and one who is the fragments themselves, and it’s up to us to make them whole.

And yet, how much strength do I draw from repeating every day: “I believe with absolute faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even if he tarries, he will come.” It is possible that the essence of the sentence is the "I believe with absolute faith" and not the coming of Messiah itself. And yet I would be unsatisfied were I to suppose the Messiah no more than an empty means for the production of faith.

In theological-political terms, I would say that the Messiah is the gap between the physical and the metaphysical. He is the gap between Man and God, and, at the same time, the bridge connecting them. He is man's most hidden drive, the drive to raise himself within himself. Unlike Jesus, who is seen today as God’s incarnation in man, the Messiah is the image of man’s divine aspirations. The Messiah is not “what distinguishes man from animal,” but rather “what distinguishes man from himself.” Another possibility is that man places himself between animal and God, and the Messiah is the one who bends the vertical line into an equilateral triangle of which he is the center. God Nature Man, Spirit Time Matter, Tree of Life Tree of Knowledge Garden of Eden: the triangle restores their primal unity, or, at least, their striving for unity.

We can find in Kafka’s writing a mysterious saying, which can help us understand this core principle: “Man cannot live without belief in something that is indestructible, even as the indestructible, and the belief in it, are forever hidden from him.” So one could say that the Messiah is that indestructible something within us.

Now let’s consider the Jewish Messiah discourse in Israel/Palestine. Orthodox-national Judaism has placed all of its aspirations into the redemption of the land. Its actions to hasten the end and to bring about the coming of the Messiah are focused on the land, thereby elevating the physical to the level of the spiritual, allowing no room in which man's spirit can reside and robbing the land of its natural meaning. Those who are viewed as spiritual and faithful are bound to crash against the wall of matter and the distrust that has erected it. It is a wall that separates the farmer from his land, man from the feeling of freedom that animates him. They have carved a wall in their hearts: on its right side, infinite arrogance, and on its left, uprooted olive trees and humiliated men. And there is no opening through which the Messiah can come, even if he so desires. And therefore, the place they have created is named Death.

Maybe those Israelis who have rejected the Messiah and celebrate their obliviousness in
Trance/Nature bashes with arrogance and enormous sadness,
who have returned from their wanderings abroad adorned with symbols of love but their hearts shut
and locked,
who won’t embrace the stranger who lives among them, indifferent to his suffering, despising him,
who with too much unrequited self-love can no longer bear themselves,
who have divided themselves between left and right in order to have “a meaningful conversation,”
and in whom the void of unfulfilled desires grows in desperation while prowling the city alleyways,
dragging themselves in the streets at dawn looking for an angry fix from Yemen or a high-tech lab,
who continue to sustain and cultivate the legacy that their parents molded, the settler, who is a
perverse projection of their bleeding self, a Moloch-Golem who has vanquished his maker and
who is claiming his ransom in blood of human and devastated land,
Maybe, it is precisely they, in their endless pursuit of unattainable pleasures, who are creating a new dimension of absence.

Possibly it is they, with the fierce faith they have cast in a Moloch-Golem, who could be the ones to open the door for a true Messiah to enter and fill that needy space of absence, born of their repeated, desperate failure. Maybe this dimension will be open enough to hold desire and love for both matter and spirit, the two facets of the dream that brought their parents here: the redemption of man.

For we are all sons and daughters of Adam, and one of the Messiah’s names is Son of Adam
And our motherland, mother of all humans, whoever is human, will be as content as we.
As it is written: the mother of the sons is content.
And the door of our communal home
Will open wide
To life

המניפסט המשיחי למען דו-לאומיות

טקסט גדול, תובנות עמוקות, מאת אודי אלוני:

אם הייתי צריך לכתוב מניפסט חף מכול אפולוגטיקה, חדור אמונה, חסר פחד מפאתוס ונקי מכול מירכאות וסוגרי
ברגע של התעלות חשבתי לעצמי: אם הייתי צריך לכתוב מניפסט חף מכול אפולוגטיקה, חדור אמונה, חסר פחד מפאתוס ונקי מכול מירכאות וסוגריים אירוניים, מה הייתי כותב -

המניפסט המשיחי למען דו-לאומיות


מנשר זה נכתב מהצד היהודי של המתרס החוצץ בינינו לבין שכננו מתוך תקווה שביום הניצחון החומה תכוּתת לסולם לעליית מעלה, ואז נוכל לנשום יחדיו אוויר פסגות.

אנו אנשי התקווה הגדולה מבינים שרגע זה בהיסטוריה המקומית של פלסטין/ישראל דורש שינוי רדיקלי במבני החשיבה והתודעה של העמים כדי להביא גאולה למקום ויושביו.

במקום לבטל את תפקידן ההיסטורי המרכזי של תנועות השחרור היהודית והפלסטינית כאחת יש לפעול להחזרתן של העוצמות האמנציפטוריות שפעמו בליבתן.

אנו מאמינים שכול עוד הפתרון יופיע ככוח חלש, כלומר פשרה, וההתנגדות תופיע ככוח חזק, כלומר אמונה, שכול הצעה לפתרון מדיני היא חסרת תכלית, כן ככול שהיא תתקרב להגשמתה כך תאי ההתנגדות לה ילכו ויגברו.

במשוואת הכוחות, מקדם ההתנגדות יעלה על מקדם הפתרון עד אין סוף, ולכן תחושה של פשרה מתקרבת אינה אלא אות לאסון מתהווה. חדורי אמונה עלינו לפעול למען המטרה.

הציונות שהופיע במפתיע בפלסטינה א"י בתחילת המאה העשרים אינה רק תנועה קולוניאליסטית כמו שהאנטי ציוני טוען, ואף אינה רק תנועה אמנציפטורית כמו שהציוני הדוגמאטי טוען. היא תנועה שהכילה עוצמות של שחרור משיחי לצד אינטרסים קולוניאליים. הפוסט ציוני הוא הישראלי המפוכח המזהה את הסתירה הפנימית בעמדה הציונית. הפוסט ציוני פועל, או מוטב אינו פועל, מעמדה ניהילסטית או למזער ספקנית. הוא בז לאלמנט המשיחי המשחרר שהניע את הציונות מתחילת דרכה, ורואה בעוצמה המשיחית את אם כול הצרות כולן.

אנו מאמינים שאין זו השעה לניהיליזם. יש להשהות את הספק גם אם האמת מכילה אותו או לחילופין להעניק לספק מעמד של אמת ששווה לצאת לקרב למענה.

אנו קוראים לתושבי הארץ לזהות את התנועה הציונית כחוק האב שכביכול נרצח על ידי הישראלי החדש, אך הוא יונק את כוחו מגעגועים, הערצה ואשמה כלפי האב המת. כול ניסיון להתנגד לחוק האב בהופעתו כהקצנה האלימה של הציונות רק מחזק אותו. רציחתו החוזרת-ונשנית של האב מצווה לו חיים מחודשים, ועל כן היא בגדר ציות לחוקו. לכן אל לנו להעריץ את חוק האב, אך בה-במידה עלינו להימנע מן הניסיון להרוס אותו. תחת זאת עלינו לשנות את יחסינו אליו ואת תפיסתנו אותו, ועל ידי כך לשנות אותו עצמו. יש לחזק אותו באזור הארוס או האנרגיה החיובית שלו, ולסרסו מהיסודות הכוחניים שלו. במילים אחרות, יש לחזק את כוחו ולבטל את כוחניותו.

אנו קוראים להרחיב את מושג האמנציפציה של התנועה הציונית שבאה לשחרר את היהודי מכבליו ולהחילו על יושבי הארץ כולה, או במילים אחרות לאחד את שתי תנועות השחרור הנפלאות הללו היהודית והפלסטינית לכוח משחרר משותף, שיקרא לכול יהודי העולם ולכול פלסטינאי העולם לאחד את כוחותיהם לשם בניינה של חברת מופת.

יש לשחרר את החשיבה המקומית מהדיכוטומיה האתנית המושלת בה. יש להחזיר את האמונה במהפכה שהחלה לפני, כמאה שנה, וזאת תוך כדי תיקונה. יש לנקות את הציונות מהאלמנטים הלאומנים שלה מבלי לוותר על הלהט המשיחי לשחרור, לחירות ולשוויון.

יש לפנות לימין הדתי האוהב את הארץ אהבה עזה ומתקשה לעזוב את ביתו לאחר שלושים שנה של התיישבות, ולהאמין לאהבתו הפונדמנטליסטית. יש לעודד אותו להרגיש מבעד לאהבתו-שלו לארץ את אהבתו של התושב המקומי לאדמתו, שנושל ממנה וגורש אל מחנות הפליטים, וזאת לאחר שלוש מאות שנה ויותר שבמהלכן הוא הוריו והורי הוריו עבדו אותה באהבה ומסירות אין קץ. יש לקרוא לדתיים משני העמים להשתמש בכוח האמונה של הקוראן והתורה ולהעניק לנו מאמונתם בכול מי שנברא בצלם אלוהים, כלומר באדם באשר הוא אדם.

חדורי אמונה עלינו להתחיל לשנות את הגיאולוגיה הנפשית שלנו הרים צריכים לזוז ושברים סורים אפריקנים צריכים להתעצב מחדש.

במידה וטעינו ופיתרון מדיני יימצא במהרה, נתייצב תחת דגלו כאיש אחד. אך לפי שעה נמשיך לחתור למחוזותינו במסירות ובהתמדה של בנאים חרוצים, וזאת כדי למנוע את התרסקותו של בניין שנכון על יסודות חלשים ורעועים במיוחד.

בעזרת דיבור, פעולה ודיבור-פועל יש לחלץ ולחזק את היסודות המענגים ומחייבי החיים ממהפכות העבר ולדחות את דחף ההתענגות היהירות והחמדנות שאינה יודעת שובעה, שהוא דחף המוות המושרש בהן. שתי תנועות השחרור הלאומיות צריכות להתאחד כדי ליצור מקום חדש שיחצה את הגבולות הלאומיים וישמש מופת לעולם המערבי והערבי כאחד. בואו נפתח יחד פתח בזמן ובמרחב, שהמשיח יוכל לבוא בו,

נגייס אותו לשורותינו ונאמר אמן

Saturday, October 27, 2012

My plan at Best Plans


Federation
of Israel-Palestine
تحالف فلسطين-إسرائيل
ברית ישראל-פלסטין

The Federation of Israel-Palestine Plan published and presented at The Best Plans project, in 2011.



The 3-4-2 in 1 Federation of Israel-Palestine 

Three states for two peoples in one land




Our conflict is unique
Never in history a people claimed to return from Exile - where it lived as a stranger in autonomous communities, ruled everywhere in the world by the same rabbinic laws - to its historical land after 2000 years, while an other people claims the land as its one, because he is the native, the indigenous people born from this same land!
A unique conflict needs a unique solution: a special kind of federation

Three principles
Our conflict will be solved if we follow these three principles:
- recognition by each side of the other as an independent people, a nation which as a right of self-determination in the same Land.
- recognition by each people of the historical right of return of the other people
- recognition of one – and only one - common Sovereign on the undivided Land: the rule of Law and universal Justice


I. The model proposed

Concrete political realization
How do we achieve a concrete political realization of those principles?

We need two states because we are two peoples, we are two nations, and we don't want to loose our independence and our identity, we don't want to merge into one nation.
Jewish identity, in particular, limits absorption of others and resists to assimilation to others. This his connected to its long survival in exile as a minority among host peoples.

But we need one state because we have one only land. We can't be separated:
-          because we are geographically so mixed with each other
-          because we can't have two sovereignties and two national armies face to face in this small country

That is why we have reached the conclusion that the only solution left is nor separating nor merging, but entering a unique kind of Federal Alliance


This unique conflict needs a unique solution, with a unique structure:
The formula is: not a One State, not a Two State Solution, but a combination of both, a Three States for Two Peoples in One Land Solution. What does it mean? The three states are two states in one, two non-territorial nation-states federated in one supranational federation, which is sovereign on the Land, from River to Sea.

The specific logic for this federation is simple: if you want to have two independent nations in the same federal framework, the federation has to be supranational; if you want to eliminate the demographic problem without territorial partition, and without the risk of a future secession, you need to separate national identity from territory. This is achieved by having national laws applying only on individual citizens or communities, and not on the territory. So the national identity will be formed by Law, not by Land.
This non-territorial character of the national states will help preventing any future nationalist fight for the Land.

One supranational federation
The federal state is defined as supranational. What does it means? It means that it is sovereign and arching over several nations. It means that the territory belongs to the Federation, not to the nation-states.
Europe is a kind of supranational confederation; USSR was a supranational federation of national republics.
Why the federal state should be supranational? To prevent the two federated national states being forced to become one nation.
The federal constitution will protect the independence of each people; a just sharing of natural resources between both constituent people and the full respect of the Human Rights by the different Authorities, mutual right of Return, a joint defense of outer borders by the federal army, etc...

Abrahamic traditions
The EU and USSR have not really succeeded to become or maintain a supranational federation. How could we succeed?
Because of our common abrahamic traditions. Our federal model is a secular translation of the common Abrahamic beliefs of Judaism and Islam: the real sovereign is the Sovereign of the World, to him only the Land belongs – He gives it to who pleases Him.
The EU and USSR have not succeeded because that in their Christian cultural background those concepts were spiritualized in pure religion, while Judaism and Islam have kept alive their political meaning.

Federal institutions of government

The federal state includes a federal joint government and parliament. They are elected by all the federal citizens in order for them to be committed to the general interest of the federation.
Each nation has a right of veto. An upper chamber of lords arbitrate in case of stalemate.
Small ethnic groups or communities not affiliated with the two main Nations could send a few delegates to the Federal Parliament in order for their voice to be heard.
Ministers and deputy ministers, the Prime Minister and the President, could rotate every two years in order to allow a fair representation of Israelis and Palestinians.
Will fall under the responsibility of the federal government all domains managed as a whole, like: foreign policy, defense, environment, general means of communication, energy and information networks.
Foreign policy should have to be neutral, and both national states shall be forbidden to enter foreign alliances.

Two non-territorial national states
The two national states are non-territorial. What does it means? It means that the states of Israel and Palestine rule on their own citizens personally, not on the territory.
Every citizen enjoy personal autonomy; so one may live wherever he wants, and yet vote for his own national parliament
Why the national states should be non-territorial?
-          to allow freedom of movement and residency
-          to prevent any future risk of territorial conflict or partition
The national parliaments, governments and institutions of both people rule on their national citizens in autonomous regional districts.

National institutions of government

They include: two national parliaments, two national governments.

Regional and local councils

Each national state shall be largely decentralized, itself a federation of communities and districts which enjoy broad juridical, judicial and administrative autonomy, according to principles of communal democracy and democratic self-government.

No more demographic problem:
In a unitary state, there is a demographical problem because peoples are forced to fuse into only one nation. But here are living two nations, and we have to solve this problem.
The federal parliament, government and institutions will be paritary, 50%-50% Jewish/Arab, whatever the demography, so the demographic problem will have disappeared.

Citizenship
Each inhabitant will have a double citizenship, a national one - Palestinian or Israeli - and a federal one, common to all, like in the European model: his own national citizenship which guarantees his national identity, and a common federal citizenship which guarantees equality and on the basis of the universal principles of Law and Justice.
Every federal citizen shall swear loyalty to the constitutional State, which means that he recognizes the other people's national independence.
Mixed couples could choose to which Nation-State they want to be attached. There could be a possibility to have federal citizenship alone, to be a kind of world citizen before time.

Right of Return

The Right of Return of Palestinian refugees and the Israeli Law of Return are implemented by the respective national governments in the administrative districts under their jurisdiction. They are a fundamental part of the Constitution and shall be both fully respected.
The national governments and communal administrations absorbing their nationals and members shall apply their own selection criteria, free of any federal control, and shall be responsible for their proper integration in the regional districts under their responsibility.
Once granted national citizenship, the immigrant shall receive its federal citizenship after a ceremonial swearing of allegiance to the Covenant.

Compensations for lost of property

Palestinians and Jews who have been evicted from their land, home, or any property because of the conflict, shall be compensated and will have pre-emption rights in case their property is being sold or rented.
The refugee camps shall be dismantled or rehabilitated. UNRWA administration will be terminated.
Old destroyed Palestinian villages could be rebuilt – when possible

Settlements

Existing settlements will remain, provided suitable compensation to private owners. New Palestinian and Israeli settlements could be created in their respective districts by their own national government, without any federal control.
In open federal districts could be built new Jewish, Palestinian or mixed settlements on a fair basis by decision of the proper federal authorities.

Jerusalem/Al-Quds will remain opened and united as a distinct federal district, capital of Israel-Palestine and capital of the two nation-states. It will be placed under the Federal government exclusively.
Jews and Arabs will be free to live anywhere in the town.
The federal municipality will be decentralized; it will coordinate the activities of various sub-municipalities and will harmonize their development.
Mixed towns and lands not included in the national districts will be like Jerusalem, federal districts directly under federal jurisdiction, a cement of unity.

Security: joint federal Forces of Defense and Federal Police protect the Federation from external foes and internal extremists.
The direction of the federal Army will be transferred progressively from Israeli command to a joint paritary one, as soon as a comprehensive peace with neighboring Arab and Muslim states will be signed.

Jurisdictions

A Federal Constitutional Court would take decisions as to the conformity of the federal laws with the Constitution, and as to the constitutionality and legality of other regulations and general and self-management acts. It would also be called upon to resolve disputes between the Federation and other territorial units, in particular, conflicts of jurisdiction as between the courts and other bodies of territorial units
The nation-states and their various communities will enjoy judicial autonomy.
Rabbinic and sharia' tribunals shall have extended and recognized jurisdiction on the community who choose to abide by their legislation.

Economy

Both Israeli and Palestinian economies will be integrated and will complete each other; total freedom of movement for workers and goods shall be guarantied.
The federation shall guaranty of a decent minimum subsistence to every inhabitant. A special tax shall be consecrated to fight poverty.
The Federation shall operate one federal Central Bank and shall have a common currency.

Health and Social protection

Health, social protection, and every matter of human rights in general shall be the responsibility of the federal state.
The Federation will provide a federal health system for all.

Culture and Education

Cultural and educational independence are provided for each nation and community.
A common core program of education shall include the study of the language and culture of the other nation, English and Sciences.
Official languages:  Arabic for the Palestinian state; Hebrew for the Palestinian state, and both Arabic and Hebrew shall be the Official languages of the Federation.

II. The road map to get there

Extremists are neutralized: The Federation is the final status itself.
- no need for negotiations about dividing the land, dividing Jerusalem, refugees, security, settlements, water, etc.
- no dependence on mediation by any international facilitator.
No negotiations means that no one will have the opportunity to torpedo them.
We the people at the bottom will decide by free elections, and that is enough. Reliance upon a democratic process empowers the moderate majority; extremists were the main obstacle to the Two-State Solution, now they are out of the game.

An answer to religious fundamentalism:
The Supranational Federation will attract moderate religious of both sides, which will lead to a weakening of the extremists. Supranational Sovereignty will be understood by believers as a starting recognition of the Sovereignty of God, the Sovereign of the World,
رب العلمين, ריבונו של עולם. Federal ownership of the Land and Jerusalem will mean: the Land belongs to our common Lord.
The personal autonomy, which results from national law applying on the citizens themselves and not on territory is similar to our traditional Halacha and Sharia'. They will have the same structure – non-territoriality and an external Sovereign - but not the same content. The gap between secular law of the state and religious law will be narrowed.
Having to vote for the Federation will put believer to a test: do you really believe in the One God, or are you a Nationalist disguised in religious? We have freed Religion from Nationalism! Their connection was the main obstacle to any political solution.

Flexible implementation
The implementation of the federal structure is flexible, and can adapt itself to different scenarios in case a two-state solution or a one-state solution is first implemented, willingly or not.
The federal solution does not contradict the two-state solution: the federation would appear never the less to be necessary in order to allow the borders between the two countries to stay opened, and its ability to institutionalize cooperation would be more than welcome.
It is true whether Israel would proceed to a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, or a negotiated solution would be implemented first -against all odds - in the narrow time window still left.
In case of a single unitary state - probably resulting from an Israeli annexation of the Occupied Territories - the federal structure will allow to solve the demographic and identity problem, while granting administrative autonomy to both peoples on an equal basis, transforming occupation in a true cooperation.

Movement of Palestinian and Israeli Activists for the Federal State
First we have to develop our movement of Activists for the Federal State of Israel-Palestine (www.pa-il.org) into a large association with several branches in Israel, Gaza, and in the West-Bank.
The movement acts according to the same constitutional principles like the Federation itself - Respect, Reciprocity and Justice. The spirit of respectful cooperation in view of the same aim that prevails in this group will be pivotal in building confidence between the two peoples.
This process can be implemented slowly, with your help, step by step: individual after individual, community after community, Israeli Arabs and Jews, Palestinians from East Jerusalem, the WB and Gaza, will sign the Federal Covenant Charter. The federal alliance will grow progressively, on a willing basis. Internationals from all over the world will join to as supporting members. They already joined our two growing Facebook groups: http://www.facebook.com/groups/federip/ and http://www.facebook.com/groups/israelpalestine/

Israeli-Palestinian Federalist Party
Then we will create a common Federalist Party, with Israeli and Palestinian branches. It will run for municipal elections for "Jerusalem our Federal capital", then for national elections in Israel and in Palestine.
As soon as there is a majority for the Party, the elections or a referendum will have performed a quiet revolution.
In case that such a Federalist Party, or free elections, will not be allowed, a popular revolution would have to do the change. It would be our Israeli-Palestinian Spring!

Like the conflict itself, this solution has no real precedent, but will become a living reality… with your help!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

איך מקימים מפלגה

הכללים להקמת מפלגה חדשה במדינת ישראל קבועים בחוק המפלגות

אנחנו מקימים מפלגה פדרלית - ברית ישראל-פלסטין - איך עושים זאת?

כדי לרוץ לכנסת, אנחנו צריכים:


 חוק המפלגות
נחקק ב- 1992 וקובע כי מפלגה הרוצה להתמודד בבחירות לכנסת צריכה להירשם כחוק אצל רשם המפלגות. כמו כן אוסר חוק המפלגות על רישום מפלגות שמטרתן, בגלוי או במשתמע, לעשות פעילויות לא חוקיות, להסית לגזענות, להטיף לשלילת קיומה של מדינת ישראל כמדינה יהודית ודמוקרטית או לתמוך במדינת אויב או ארגון טרור הפועל נגד מדינת ישראל., ואלה עיקרם:

 מפלגה יכולה להכיל עד מאה חברים, על כולם להיות אזרחי ישראל. חברים אלה רשאים להתאגד ולרשום בפנקס המפלגות את מפלגתם חדשה. לרוב מפלגה סובבת סביב דעה, דרך חיים או אמירה המשותפת לכל האנשים האלו.

 את הבקשה לאישור ורישום מפלגה יש להגיש לרשם המפלגות בצורה מסודרת רשמית, הכוללת את שם המפלגה, מטרותיה, ובנוסף את השם, מספר הזהות, שנת הלידה, הכתובת והעיסוק של כל אחד מחבריה.

 רישום המפלגה עולה כ-1,800 ₪ ויש לצרף לכך אישור על תשלום הוצאות פרסום בגובה כ-70 אלף ₪.

כדי להקים מפלגה אתם צריכים 100 חתימות של אזרחים, מאומתות ע"י עורך-דין. כל אימות של חתימה אצל עו"ד עולה 160 ש"ח (שכר-טרחה לעו"ד). כלומר - אתם צריכים לפחות 16000 ש"ח, אלא-אם-כן אתם מכירים עו"ד שמוכן לעשות את זה בהתנדבות...

 רשם המפלגות בודק האם ניתן לאשר את המפלגה, או שמא יש לפסול אותה. מפלגה תיפסל במקרים הבאים:
- אם במטרותיה עלולה להתפרש שלילת קיומה של ישראל כמדינה יהודית ודמוקרטית
- אם יש בפעולותיה הסתה  לגזענות, תמיכה במדינה אויבת או ארגון טרור
- אם יש חשש לכך שהיא משמשת באופן סמוי לפעילויות לא חוקיות

 אם אישר הרשם את המפלגה, הרי שנוצרה מפלגה חדשה וכל אזרח ישראלי מעל גיל 18 רשאי להצטרף אליה.

 כל מפלגה רשאית להגיש את מועמדותה בבחירות לכנסת, על ידי הגשה של רשימת מועמדים מטעמה לאישור ועדת הבחירות המרכזית. מפלגה לא חייבת להתמודד בבחירות, אם כי רוב המפלגות קמות על מנת לנסות להיבחר לכנסת.


Thursday, October 18, 2012

A 1931 Zionist Proposal for a Federal State in Palestine

A 1931 Zionist Proposal for a Federal State in Palestine

Rather than listen to Bibi's speech about his vision for an emasculated Palestinian quasi-"state" (maybe), I thought that I would tell my readers of a bold plan for a federal state proposed by an important Zionist leader of the Yishuv in 1931. This is dedicated to those of you who think that the Zionists believed that the Balfour Declaration guaranteed the Jews an independent state.

I. General Prologue…It is important to determine just relations between Jews and Arabs that are not dependent upon the relation of a majority and a minority. The regime in the country must in all periods ensure both to Jews and Arabs the possibility of undisturbed development and full national sovereignty, such that in no period will there arise the rule of Arabs over Jews or Jews over Arabs. The regime must also aid rapprochement, agreement, and joint action between the Jewish people and the Arabs in the Land of Israel.
[…]

V. The changes during the third period.

When the building of the National Home is complete, the Mandate will expire. A national constitution will be determined in a Founding Assembly that will be called by the High Commissioner and will be approved by the Mandate Government and the League of Nations. In place of the High Commissioner, an Emissary of England will remain in the country as an agent for the League of Nations, whose authority will be that of a General Governour in British dominions. Of the powers of the High Commissioner, the only thing that will remain will be the guardianship over the Holy Places in the country.

The municipal government will be free of all external supervision, and will possess independent authority by virtue of the constitution to be ratified. The autonomous provinces will become cantons that are entirely independent with authority granted by the constitution to be ratified.

The Land of Israel will become a Federal State whose governing bodies will consist of

1. The municipal government in the city and village which will be self-governing.

2. The cantons will constitute autonomous states in the Federal Country of the Land of Israel. Each contiguous settlement of no less than 25,000 people will be able to organize into a free canton. Each canton can arrange its own constitution. […]

3. The National Autonomy will have absolute authority in all matters of education, culture, language, in the framework of the constitution to be approved by the Founding Assembly. Religious matters will be handed over to autonomous religious communities which will be organized as voluntary associations, ratified by law.

4. The Council of the Federal Alliance, which will be composed of two houses:

    a. The House of the Peoples, in which Jews and Arabs will participate in equal numbers.

    b. The House of the Inhabitants, in which the delegates of the cantons will participate in proportion to their respective populations therein.
Every federal law and every change in the federal constitution will be ratified only with the approval of both houses.

[…] Arabic and Hebrew will be completely equal in all their rights throughout the Land of Israel and in all its institutions […] The international status of the State of the Land of Israel will be determined by a reciprocal agreement of the Council of the Federal Alliance from one side, and the Mandate government and the League of Nations on the other.

And who was this Zionist leader, who, four years after the formation of the Brit Shalom of Buber and Simon, proposed his own vision of a binational state?

None other than David Ben Gurion, writing in HaPoel haTza'ir , May 20 1931. The text is from the a Hebrew book published in 2008, entitled "Brit Shalom" and Binationalist Zionism: The Arab Question as a Jewish Question, ed. Adi Gordon (Carmel), pp. 311-12. Ben-Gurion's proposal certainly gave the Palestinian Arabs as much national rights as it did the Jews. In fact, his proposal gave much more rights to the Arabs than did the Adalah Proposal of several years ago.

Which just goes to show how easy it is to offer power-sharing when you have no power yourself; or binationalism, when you are a tiny minority.

Dan Goldenblatt - Transcend the two-state solution, create a federated state



By Dan Goldenblatt

For years now, the Israeli government has been involved in duplicity: it says it is preparing to turn over Area C to the Palestinians, as mandated by the 1993 Oslo Accords. On the other hand, Israel is making plans to expand settlements in that same area. Though a growing number of Israelis have clung to the Oslo Accords because of its promise of a sustainable Jewish demographic majority, it has become clear that Israeli government have not shared the same concern.

Though difficult, depressing and for some even tragic, the Oslo promise has been a failure. It is time to start seriously considering alternative strategies for reaching a just solution to the Jewish-Arab/Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is an urgent need for deep introspection, because in clinging to the separation paradigm of Oslo we are also maintaining the false perception of a peace process. But since that process has been failing continuously for 21 years, at this point, it mainly ensures that the occupation will not end.

The Israeli government’s strategy and actions on the ground speak louder than any of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speeches. The international community needs to come to terms with a reality of a permanent occupation regime which the Israeli government is willing to maintain indefinitely. With one path towards a peaceful resolution to this situation now all but closed, we must make room for a new one.

Those of us who believe in and care about the possibility of a just resolution of the conflict must do several things: First, we must express vocal, active and unrelenting objection to the status quo. As human beings we cannot accept a situation whereby more than two million Palestinians are permanently denied human and political rights through a military regime. Every one of our actions, activities, energies and funds must be examined through the filter of whether or not it contributes to the end of the status quo. If it does not, then such actions are acquiescing to the Israeli occupation, should be labeled as normalization and condemned as such.

Second, we need to start a deep examination of the federal or confederate solution for Eretz Israel/Falastin (I use this spelling, as a Palestinian term, in Arabic – as equivalent to “Eretz Israel” in Hebrew). By this I mean a solution that includes two political entities (two states), a Jewish one and a Palestinian one, within a single geographical space.

For true supporters and lovers of Israel, who support the right of Jews to live safely in Eretz Israel/Falastin, but who are concerned about being labeled anti-Semites, I suggest the following two fold message: the first part calls for an immediate end to the status quo/occupation; the second part involves the inalienable commitment to a safe, secure, vibrant and eternal existence of Jews in the region. The “only” thing that Israel is going to have to forgo is its exclusivity over the land. Once it does this it will have the strong commitment and backing of the international community to its safety. And Israel will not have to rely only on the international community for its safety. It is not far fetched to assume that if the Palestinians are made a just and fair offer of a federal or confederate arrangement with Israel, they would agree to Israel maintaining responsibility for external security, say for the coming century. I have even heard Palestinians saying that they would welcome the Israeli army defending their external borders as well.

With the end to the solution based on two separate states, all immediate efforts, energies and funding must be directed towards determining the best way to have two states in one geographical space. Either a federal or a confederate arrangement needs to be devised. This is no easy matter. The Israeli GDP per capita is 10 times higher than the Palestinian GDP. The two entities will have to put aside 100 years of hostilities, address the problems of resources and their division and agree on the question of Palestinian and Jewish immigration, as well as Jerusalem and other issues. However, there is also a deep mutual acquaintance of the two people and an extremely important bridging role for the Palestinian Arab Israelis.

The bottom line is that both people are too attached to the parts of the land they would have to concede in the solution based on two separate states. Jews cannot give up access to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and other places in Judea and Samaria; Palestinians cannot give up access to the holy places in Nazareth and Jerusalem, let alone the sea. Failing to account for this is, in my opinion, the one of the main flaws of the Oslo Accords. The problem can be remedied by a federal or confederate arrangement, which would allow access of each citizen to the entire geographical space. Though anything but simple, a federal or confederate solution can transcend major problems.

In the business world, failed strategies are replaced. Two decades of a failed peace process are more than enough reason for Israelis and Palestinians to replace the solution of two separate states. The new strategy is one that enables us to share Eretz Israel/Falestin for the benefit of us all. There is so much to gain.

Dan Goldenblatt is the Israeli co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information.