Ilan Pappe argues that the end of the Israeli State as it now exists is likely and says that: “We are witnessing a historical process – or, more accurately, the beginnings of one – that is likely to culminate in the downfall of Zionism. And, if my diagnosis is correct, then we are also entering a particularly dangerous conjuncture. For once Israel realizes the magnitude of the crisis, it will unleash ferocious and uninhibited force to try to contain it, as did the South African apartheid regime during its final days.”
He refers to the ongoing divisions within Israeli society and the growing power of the settler movement and notes that upwards of half a million Israelis have left the country since October 2023. He also argues that the power of the lobby is reducing, not least because of the significant number of Jewish people, especially young Jews who now actively support justice for Palestinians.
Nothing is certain and what follows may be more violence and turmoil but perhaps the most hopeful part of Pappe’s article is what he writes about the actions and positions of young Palestinians who are working together to establish a genuinely democratic organisation that looks beyond the Palestinian Authority’s campaign for recognition as a state to decolonisation. Read the original here.