Boycott for Peace: Does Israel Exist?

Does Israel exist?

Israeli media and popular thought questions Palestine and Palestinian existence. However, if you look at the facts, the real question is not whether or not Palestine exists, the real question is, "Does Israel exist?"

Palestinian identity existed in many forms depending on the historical perspective of time and location. Before Christ, there are several references to an area known as Palestine in the works of Herodotus and Ptolemy. Under the Ottoman Empire's rule the Palestinian identity existed as several other identities under the umbrella of the Ottoman political sphere. After World War II, defining Palestinian identity and therefore existence became more difficult because in Western terminology Palestine was not identifiable based upon Western definition of national identity.

Before Christ, Herodotus - the Father of History, described a region known as Palestine. On the same note, Ptolemy, founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, expressed his reign over a territory known as Palestine: http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot.com/2012/03/herodotus-palestine-and-jews.html ,http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Ptolemy:I:of:Egypt.html. It is obvious that the issue of perspective needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating evidence during that time because of the way narratives are often presented with a flare of exaggeration. The bottom line is that an area known as Palestine existed.

Even though, under the Ottoman Empire political independence was not encouraged there is clear evidence of a viable Palestinian community. Coins with reference to Palestine support the existence of the Palestinian people: http://www.bing.com/images/search?. Many of the formerly suppressed identities are today identified as nations--Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Lebanon. Unfortunately, Palestinian interests were divided up in three documents pledging ownership of the land to anyone whose interest reflected British imperial interests at that time: the Balfour Declaration, http://history1900s.about.com/cs/holocaust/p/balfourdeclare.htm, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/britain-and-france-conclude-sykes-picot-agreement, and the Hussain-MacMahn Accords, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/mcmahon.htm. In this case, the Balfour Declaration supported the elite interest at that time in a very important way. Through it Britain created a surrogate state within the Middle East to protect their oil interests from Arab nationalist and to also protect the territories under French hegemony-- specifically Syria & Lebanon.

Any indication that Israel was created by the United Nations also needs to be thoroughly reevaluated by the public. The United Nations do not have the authority to create a new state because it runs against the United Nations' mission to represent the self-determination of the peoples in the territory. The main objective of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and based upon the General Assembly Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine into two areas will not be an advantageous resolution to the growing interest of the Holocaust survivors in the region. Unfortunately, Jewish politicians announced the creation of Israel against the recommendations of the United Nations fact-finding mission on May 14, 1948. http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/10/26/the-myth-of-the-u-n-creation-of-israel/view-all/

Suggestions that Palestine is an invented identity must be put to rest especially after Benedict Anderson's book Imagined Communities clearly maps out how all identities are abstract constructions of the popular culture around us. Most notedly today, the press seems to think it is in charge of identity! This issue begs us to take a deeper look at Israel's less than impressive creation which has built upon ideas such as "land without people for a people without land," and "God chosen people." An idea that has been supported by Shlomo Sands' book, The Invention of the Jewish People, and Arthur Keostler's book The Thirteenth Tribe. For this arguments sake, we are all the result of the constructive process of our imaginations. A link analyzing Shlomo Sands' book is included http://www.haaretz.com/general/shattering-a-national-mythology-1.242015

It is especially important to note that Israel does not match Western standards of a national identity. Israel does not have a constitution nor defined borders. Israel has no constitution because without one it is easier to apply different laws and rules to different peoples based upon their ethnicity, religion and race. Israel has not recognized borders because of their will to expand their borders to include all Palestinian designated territory, and beyond. It is important to keep in mind these two defining markers of Israel's status--as not in existence--which supports the further conclusion that Israel has been operating in bad faith during the entire peace process.

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