That said, I'm not sure what to make of the general's comment below. I've had this conversation in Gaza a bunch of times, but still haven't managed to disentangle Arab-ness from Palestinian-ness. Nationalism in the romantic, 19th-century Europe, nation-state sense hasn't exactly caught fire in this part of the world. To the extent that they claim any nationality, plenty of Palestinians would call theirs Arab, rather than Palestinian. Which leaves Palestinian-ness as what? A political aspiration, but surely something more than that, as well? And of course plenty of Palestinians would claim something entirely non-nationalist - Islam - as the basis of both their collective identity and their political struggle. (I sometimes suspect Hamas only brings out the Palestinian flags when they know foreigners are coming. Islamic Jihad often doesn't have any to bring out.)
In any event, I'm not convinced that challenges to Palestinian nationality pose such a grave threat, or even demand a rebuttal ("The more we ignore their national identity, the more we delegitimize their struggle for independence"). Is it true that "As 'Arabs,' Palestinians could be absorbed by any other Arab nation"? Leaving aside the question of could vs. should (of course any or all of us *could* be), this seems to condition certain rights - like the right to not be ethnically cleansed, or live under apartheid - on existence within a nation-state framework. Why not use these challenges as opportunities to point out that there's nothing well-established, universal, or objectively good about nationalism? I mean, I'm not a nationalist, and I certainly don't condition my solidarity with anyone else on their embrace of what most of us would regard as a highly problematic system.
On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 7:43 PM, Joel Schalit <jschalit at gmail.com> wrote:
"‘I can’t believe Bibi [Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu], is
> forced to listen to that,” my wife said as the muezzins began their evening
> call to prayer. Less than half a mile from Caesarea, in the village Jisr
> az-Zarqa, their sound is inescapable. Five times a day. “It’s divine
> justice,” a family friend remarked. “Even at his vacation home, he still
> can’t escape the Palestinians.” “Palestinians,” a general snorted. “There is
> no such thing. These people are Arabs.”
>
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."