Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Elder of ZiyonZochrot, a radical Israeli NGO that advocates the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees to the State of Israel, has been forced to cancel a workshop in Ramallah due to Palestinian anti-normalization pressure placed on the organizers.Yes, an Israeli NGO that wants to welcome unlimited Palestinian Arabs to Israel is barred from joining a conference in Ramallah because it is Israeli.
Eitan Bronstein, Zochrot’s spokesman, told The Times of Israel on Wednesday that his organization was invited by a Quaker-run social club in Ramallah to present a counter-mapping project, dealing with the practical aspects of Palestinian return to abandoned villages within Israel.
The event, advertised on Facebook, garnered more than 100 RSVPs within hours, Bronstein says. But some Palestinians protested that an invitation had been extended to an Israeli organization, however sympathetic to Palestinian goals, considering it an unacceptable instance of “normalization” with Israel.
“Most Palestinian reactions continued to support the event,” Bronstein said. “Dialogue with an organization that supports the right of return and Israeli recognition of the Nakba is not only not ‘normalization,’ but it is moreover vital to create a common Israeli-Palestinian discourse among those who object to the current regime of separation.”
He said the event was nevertheless canceled due to the organizers’ sense that “the atmosphere that was created was not conducive to such an important discussion.”
And you can be sure that Zochrot will not stand up for itself in front of its Palestinian Arab masters. It will not insist that "Palestine" should welcome friendly Jews the way the Jewish state must embrace hostile Arabs. Because, you see, it has a thorough understanding of how the other side thinks, and is very, very respectful of the other's sensibilities, to the point of abandoning its own.
