[lbo-talk] Susan Abulhawa on WITBD for Palestine (rights vs. statehood

Joseph Catron jncatron at gmail.com
Sat Oct 15 13:04:58 PDT 2011


On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 7:34 PM, James Heartfield < Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

I think statehood is a clearer demand. What natural right? What are
> indigenous people? Are some humans indigenous and some not? ‘to be accorded’
> – by whom?

What's remotely clear about statehood? By some counts, Palestinians have had it since 1988, by others, they would have it if the UN now admitted the State of Palestine, etc. And what's a state? The Navajo Indian Tribe? The Principality of Liechtenstein? The Republic of Bophuthatswana? It's hard to think of a vaguer, more amorphous concept. Which is to say nothing of the outstanding questions of territory and citizenship! I'll pick something like "the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality," ill-defined as it may be, over that confusing morass any day.

-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list