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Jennifer Lipman

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Jennifer Lipman,

Jennifer Lipman

Opinion

Haneen Zoabi's black and white argument

June 30, 2011 10:10
1 min read

Haneen Zoabi, the Israeli Arab MK, writes a vitriolic piece for Comment is Free on the deportation of banned Israeli Raed Salah. I won't go into the details – you can peruse the contents as you wish – but there was one point that particularly jarred.

She says: "There is no other meaning to a "Jewish state" except the recognition of the legitimacy of granting privileges to Jews in Israel at the expense of Palestinian citizens, annulling the legitimacy of our struggle for real democracy."

So, question from the class. If there is "no other meaning" to a Jewish state than the denial of privileges to its non-Jewish citizens, what exactly would a Palestinian state amount to?

Presumably, by Zoabi's logic, one which would inevitably entail "granting privileges" to Palestinians at the expense of those who are not Palestinian.