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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2008, pages 58-59 Waging Peace Norman Finkelstein Speaks on Illegitimacy of Israel’s Occupation
NORMAN FINKELSTEIN, author of the international bestseller The Holocaust Industry, the controversial Beyond Chutzpah, and Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (all available from the AET Book Club), spoke at Iowa’s Grinnell College on April 21 to an attentive audience of about 130 on the subject of the Israel-Palestine conflict. In an hour-long presentation noteworthy for the former university professor’s erudition as well as for the grace, wit, and charm with which it was delivered, Finkelstein laid bare the illegitimacy of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands since the 1967 war. “There is a fundamental principle under international law,” said Finkelstein, “and that principle is, it’s inadmissible to acquire territory by war. In a modern world, you can’t change your borders by virtue of waging a war.” Referring to the July 9, 2004 Advisory Opinion of International Court of Justice in the matter of “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Finkelstein noted: “The court said Israel has no title to the West Bank or Gaza because it acquired the West Bank and Gaza during the June 1967 war. In the expression it uses throughout its opinion, these are occupied Palestinian territories.” He continued: “Then there is the question of those settlements, those 460,000 Jewish settlers who are now in the West Bank and the areas surrounding Jerusalem. The court said this is not a complicated question. Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention…it is inadmissible for an occupying power to transfer its population to occupied territory.…So the settlements that Israel has built constitute a flagrant violation of international law. “Israel claims Jerusalem as its ‘eternal and undivided’ capital, or as part of its ‘eternal and undivided capital,’” said Finkelstein. “But not so, says the court. East Jerusalem was acquired during the 1967 war, and under international law…East Jerusalem is occupied Palestinian territory. “Lest there be any question on the topic, throughout the opinion the court refers to ‘the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip’ as ‘occupied Palestinian territories,’” Finkelstein pointed out. “These were not controversial issues for the court, and the vote was not close,” Finkelstein said, noting that the court’s vote on the opinion was 14 to 1. Moreover, he added, the lone dissenting vote, cast by the American judge, Thomas Buergenthal, was not cast in the form of a “dissent” but instead as a more cautious and qualified disagreement called a “declaration.” The 56-page opinion is available as a pdf file at <http://www.bitterlemons.org/docs/ungawall.pdf>. Citing the work of Ze’ev Maoz, author of Defending the Holy Land: A Critical Analysis of Israel’s Security, Finkelstein then said, “None of Israel’s wars…was what Israel refers to as ‘a war of necessity.’” Instead, he stated, “Ethnic cleansing was part and parcel of the Zionist philosophy to expel the indigenous population.” Finkelstein examined the human rights record of what he called “the most heavily monitored conflict in the world,” and pointed out the disparity of suffering and loss. During the past seven years, Finkelstein told his audience, Israel has killed some 4,700 Palestinians and Palestinians have killed about 1,000 Israelis—a ratio of about 4.7 to 1. “The ratio for civilians is about three to four Palestinians for every Israeli civilian who has been killed,” he noted. Israel says it does not intend to kill Palestinian civilians, while alleging that Palestinians purposefully target Israeli civilians, Finkelstein said. But under international law, he pointed out, there is no distinction between “intentional” killing and “indiscriminate” killing, and Israel manages to kill three or four times as many Palestinian civilians with “indiscriminate” or reckless force as Palestinians kill with premeditated attacks. According to Finkelstein, resolution of the conflict will involve Israel’s withdrawal to 1967 borders and recognition by Palestinians and neighboring states of Israel’s right to exist in peace. He noted that the solution to the conflict is to “treat [the Palestinians] like human beings.” At the conclusion of his formal remarks, Finkelstein graciously invited members of his audience who disagreed with him to ask questions or make statements. During more than an hour of questions and answers, all the exchanges were respectful. Finkelstein’s visit to Grinnell was sponsored by the Grinnell Palestinian Solidarity Group. —Michael Gillespie |
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