Yeshayahu Leibowitz Stan Account

Some people are objecting to “Ceasefire now” because they say it doesn’t solve any long-term problems and the status quo is intolerable. I agree (as does everyone pushing for ceasefire now). Here’s the big picture plan:

Ceasefire —>Justice —>Just peace

But ceasefire is the first step.

of denying the right of Palestinians to return home after the war.

Israel is explicitly a state for Jews and not a state of all its citizens. Its facade of a democracy is only possible through the Nakba. There is no Israel without the Nakba.

The short answer is because there were not enough Palestinians to be an effective voting bloc. The Jewish supermajority had been established through the Nakba, ethnically cleansing most Palestinians from the land Israel controlled, and cemented through the still-active policy

were held under martial law in quasi-internment camps, which would be their life until 1966. Their presence and citizenship was tolerated only for the sake of appearing democratic and avoiding global condemnation.
Why were Palestinian citizens given the right to vote?

in the first years of Israel, 1948–51, Israel’s government debated whether to allow Palestinians within Israel the right to vote.
The clear tenor of the discussions, since declassified, is the Palestinians within Israel are not considered true members of the state. In those years they

Denying an Arab right to vote is openly proposed by Israel’s far-right, it was part of the platform of the Kach party in the 80s (progenitor of the current Jewish Power party), and it is the status quo of West Bank Palestinians despite Israel permanent occupation of the West Bank.
More pointedly,

In oral arguments today over Israel’s new law ending judicial review of government action, a judge asked what if a law strips Arabs of the right to vote. Israel’s lawyer said that under the new law the court could not intervene.

Denying an Arab right to vote in Israel isn’t just a hypothetical. 🧵