June 06, 2006

A pluralistic and inclusionary Israel?

Some chance but this Palestinian writing in the Toronto Star thinks it could work:
In her article, Linda McQuaig addresses a subject rarely spoken of in mainstream North American media — the plight of the millions of Palestinian refugees and the inherent injustice of the Israeli treatment of these refugees. As a Palestinian refugee, I was born "stateless" and felt, for much of my life, as though I was a non-entity. When I moved to Canada as a child, eventually becoming a Canadian citizen, I realized for the first time what it meant to have a real passport, to be able to travel freely without threat of harassment or imprisonment. I also finally gained the right to visit my homeland of Palestine as a Canadian citizen, a right I had been denied as a Palestinian refugee.

I am not opposed to the idea of Israel as a state. Nor am I opposed to the idea of Israeli Jews and Palestinians living peacefully and equally side by side. However, I am opposed to the discrimination and injustice perpetrated against the Palestinian people. Granting Palesitinians the right to return to their homes, as well as the right to live with dignity — equal to their Jewish counterparts — would not lessen the state of Israel. It may take away from it the fact that it is a Jewish state but, as McQuaig mentions in her article, what is wrong with a state that is pluralistic and inclusionary?
What's wrong with it indeed?

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