My latest New Matilda column is about Israel after its 60th anniversary and features an exclusive interview with Palestinian-American Ali Abunimah:
Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations are over. Hardline British Zionist commentator Melanie Phillips hopes that Israel or America will now bomb Iran. Israel complained to the UN about its use of the word “Nakba” to describe the Palestinian experience. US President George W Bush told the Knesset that “one of Israel’s greatest leaders”, Ariel Sharon, “a man of peace”, should still be present with the Jewish State’s “best friend in the world”.
In Australia, NSW Premier Morris Iemma told more than 700 guests last week that, “Israel endures … and longs for nothing more than peace”. Unreported were the ham-fisted and ultimately futile attempts by the local Zionist lobby to cancel the commemoration of the Nakba at the NSW Parliament on the same night as Iemma’s speech.
In Palestine, Palestinians and their supporters tried to mark the solemn occasion but were physically assaulted by the Israeli Defence Force. Some Israelis also wanted to show their solidarity with a people whose existence and history was denied throughout the anniversary. Some American Zionists – unlike in Australia, where the sycophancy towards the Jewish State knew no bounds – at least acknowledged that the illegal settlement program in the West Bank was leading to the country’s destruction.