Latest UN map of the West Bank including Jerusalem.
Gideon Levy, the liberal Haaretz columnist, speaking in NYC about Israel’s subjugation of the Palestinian people, recently said:
Israel is `the only occupier in history that’s completely convinced of its own present ongoing victimhood’
The results of this victimhood (read PR campaign) can be seen in the above map of what’s left of the West Bank and East Jerusalem after more than 40 years of colonization.
Ahmed Moor, who attended the Levy NYC talk, reported that,
Levy talked about Israel’s rightward lurch over the decades… Early on in his career, Levy wrote about the death of a newborn Palestinian after the infant’s mother was forced to trek around three checkpoints on foot to reach a hospital. The Israeli left was outraged and the case resulted in a scandal for the army. At the time, the story demonstrated a moral dimension to Israeli political life….
By contrast, if that happened today, no one in Israel would register the fact. Just the opposite: Levy recalled the horrifying experience of watching Israelis and their children cheer the phosphorous and sulfur deaths of Gazans in 2008/2009 on a hilltop overlooking the Strip.
Along with this rightward lurch, Israelis have been fed a narrative which depicts them as victims, such that today, ‘they’re completely tone deaf and insular without much hope of awakening to the misery they’ve wrought (Levy).’
As to the reality of Israel’s victimhood, B’Tselem recently reported death and casualty statistics on the past 10 years of the Second Intifada which, as we might recall, was ignited by Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to al-Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
27 Sept. ’10: 10 years to the second Intifada – summary of data
Casualties in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians (29.9.2000 to 26.9.2010)
Israeli security forces killed 6371 Palestinians, of whom 1317 were minors. At least 2996 of the fatalities did not participate in the hostilities when killed. 2193 were killed while participating in the hostilities. For 694, B’Tselem does not know whether they participated in the hostilities or not. An additional 248 were Palestinian police killed in Gaza during operation Cast Lead, and 240 were targets of assassinations.Palestinians killed 1083 Israelis in Israel and the Occupied Territories. 741 of the fatalities were civilians, of whom 124 were minors, and 342 were members of the security forces.
B’Tselem Executive Director Jessica Montell: “Palestinian and Israeli Civilians have paid a terrible price due to the conflict. At the close of the decade, we hope to start a new chapter, in which both sides do all they can to adhere to their obligations and protect civilians from the impact of hostilities.”
The PR campaign about Israel’s victimhood has not only distorted thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West, especially in America, but in Israel as well.