This is the essence of the Israeli zeitgeist: first a frenzied wallowing in the cult of mourning and a no less frenzied worshiping of death and the dead on Memorial Day, immediately followed by an ultranationalistic and militaristic orgy, with flights of self-adoration and tons of scorched meat on Independence Day. Not an iota of proportion, neither regarding the dead or the living, nor the meat either.
No other state grieves for its dead like this and celebrates its achievements – real and imaginary – like this. Of course there’s also no other state, except our new friend Turkmenistan, whose national ceremony resembles our torch lighting.
Out of all this sludge, this year the beginning of hope sprouted. The protest that erupted in every place, including in our modern-day temples – our military graveyards – and the 15,000 people at the alternative, binational memorial ceremony, are a source of emerging hope. It’s a hesitant, timid beginning, not honest or resolute enough, of what should really have been happening here in the days of remembering and independence – but it’s a start.
Israel is mourning its dead, and of course for them alone, as though they were all innocent, guiltless victims of a mysterious, hidden force of evil whose sole objective is to kill and hurt our pure, naïve country. Israel celebrates its founding and independence knowing it’s doing so on the back, life, property, liberty, land and dignity of another nation. It’s doubtful there are many other national holidays celebrated for the disaster of another nation, while trampling on every display of its self-expression.
All this is even worse since most victims of the other nation’s national disaster and their offspring – that national disaster that Israel celebrates with jubilation and exultation – live under Israeli rule. Yes, this is their day of disaster, which never ends, an awful, appalling disaster, a small Holocaust. And yes, we can grieve for our dead, and celebrate our independence too, while taking that into consideration. But when a nation has no confidence in its morality, when it knows very well that something bad happened as well as all the good, and that the fire of guilt is still hissing and burning under the carpet – then it will trample any reminder of that.
It could have been different, and it must be different. Israel is strong and mature enough to make room for other sentiments in addition to its nationalist religious sentiments. The Jews don’t live alone, not even in their state. It’s impossible to celebrate Independence Day without talking about the Nakba, and it’s impossible to mourn for the dead without asking why they were killed. It’s impossible to ignore the other dead, our victims; it’s possible and necessary to respect the feelings of those mourning for them, those who see them as heroes.
On the eve of Memorial Day, this week I visited the graveyard of the Jenin refugee camp. The graves of dozens of new fatalities of the past, cursed year in the camp look amazingly similar to the graves of our soldiers, and the bereaved mother who was watering the flowers on the fresh grave of her son there looked amazingly like our own bereaved mothers.
One day, when Israel will believe in the justice of its cause, it will finally be able to expose itself to the whole story and even to respect it. It will stop force-feeding itself with the false propaganda it’s telling itself and others and look directly at the truth.
Then it will be able to mark the national events differently: a memorial day for the fallen of the other nation as well, memorials and plaques telling its story and honoring its history. A memorial day for the Israelis on Mount Herzl and a memorial day for the Palestinians at the cemetery of the lost Sheikh Munis. Performances on Independence Day in the Jews’ cities, and memorial rallies for their dead and fallen in the Arabs’ cities. Israeli flags beside flags of Palestine, with the protest’s black flags between them. This must take place before the establishment of the one democratic state, in which this dream will become a reality.
There Is No Israeli Independence Day Without the Palestinian Nakba
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28.04.2023
This is the essence of the Israeli zeitgeist: first a frenzied wallowing in the cult of mourning and a no less frenzied worshiping of death and the dead on Memorial Day, immediately followed by an ultranationalistic and militaristic orgy, with flights of self-adoration and tons of scorched meat on Independence Day. Not an iota of proportion, neither regarding the dead or the living, nor the meat either.
No other state grieves for its dead like this and celebrates its achievements – real and imaginary – like this. Of course there’s also no other state, except our new friend Turkmenistan, whose national ceremony resembles our torch lighting.
Out of all this sludge, this year the beginning of hope sprouted. The protest that erupted in every place, including in our modern-day temples – our military graveyards – and the 15,000 people at the alternative, binational memorial ceremony, are a source of emerging hope. It’s a hesitant, timid beginning, not honest or resolute enough, of what should really........
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