Israel Moves Closer to Banning Naqba Memorials

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"An Israeli government committee has approved a draft law that would prohibit commemorating Israel's independence as a day of mourning.

The decision by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation Sunday drew fierce criticism from Arab parties. They say the proposed legislation is an act of an "apartheid" state.

Many Palestinians call the 1948 creation of Israel the Naqba, the Arabic word for "catastrophe."

They mark the anniversary with ceremonies paying tribute to the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled, or were forced from their homes, during the Arab-Israeli war that began in 1948.

If passed by Israel's parliament and Cabinet, the proposed ban on Naqba memorials would punish violators with up to three years in prison."

more

[Lerkfish]

1. three years in prison for commemorating an anniversary?

seems a bit harsh.

[donco6]

2. Fascists. n/t

[rateyes]

3. That's the word for it. nt

[IndianaGreen]

4. I put this in the same category as Holocaust denial

Denying that the Holocaust took place is as reprehensible as denying that the Nakba took place, or its memorializing.

During the 1948 war with the nascent state of Israel it is estimated that around half of the 1.4 million Palestinian Arabs were driven from their homes or fled, to neighboring Arab states. This period of Palestinian history has come to be known as al-Nakba, ‘the catastrophe’. Of the 750,000 displaced Palestinians, approximately 110,000 (mostly from northern Palestine) sought refuge in Lebanon.

While recent historiography of the Palestine question has shown a growing awareness of the importance of recording the events of 1948 from the perspective of those previously marginalized in nationalist narratives – peasants, women, camp refugees, poorer city dwellers, Bedouin tribes, etc. – there is still little documentation on the events of 1948 as experienced and remembered by the non-elite majority of Palestinian society.

Since 2002 the Nakba Archive has recorded filmed interviews with first generation Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon about the events of 1948. While the project has centered its work in the twelve official United Nations Relief and Works Administration (UNRWA) camps around the country, it has also conducted interviews and research within unregistered refugee “gatherings,” and with middle class and elite Palestinians living in urban centers around Lebanon. Between December 2002 and September 2005 a team of local and international researchers and scholars, have created a unique archive of approximately 500 video testimonies with refugees from over 130 villages. The collection consists of around 1,000 hours of filmed testimony.

Five duplicate sets of the interviews have been produced, along with a detailed database and search engine. Copies of the archive will be held at Oxford University, Birzeit University, Harvard University, the American University (Cairo) and as part of the Remembrance Museum being established by the Welfare Association in the West Bank.

The work of the Nakba Archive was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ford Foundation and the Welfare Association, and a number of private donors.

http://www.nakba-archive.org/

[IndianaGreen]

5. Statement by Communist Party of Israel and Hadash

Israeli cabinet wants to ban Naqba commemoration

The Israeli cabinet has voted yesterday (Sunday, May 24, 2009) in favour of a racist proposal to ban Naqba commemorations. Many Arab-Palestinians commemorate the proclamation of the state of Israel as Naqba, the Arabic word for disaster.

In the proposal, anyone participating in the commemoration of 15 May 1948 could face a three-year prison sentence. The proposal has been made by the racist coalition party Yisrael Beitenu. It still has to go through the Knesset.

The Communist Party of Israel and Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) have sharply criticised the proposal and call it an act of an apartheid regime. Hadash chairman, MK Mohammed Barakeh said the fact the cabinet "ratified the delusions and lack of historical and factual knowledge of a single MK shows the stinking sewers to which government discourse has sunk, as is very much to be expected." Barakeh said Arabs would continue to commemorate the Nakba, adding that the commemoration was not meant "to threaten the existence of Israel, but to correct a historic wrong to the Palestinian people." The proposed bill "is no less severe than the laws enacted by the Third Reich," added MK Afo Agbaria (Hadash). "The State of Israel has declared jihad on the Arab population. Israel is gradually becoming an apartheid state. I won't be surprised if in the future the Netanyahu-Lieberman government imposes additional restrictions on Arab citizens, including forbidding the use of the Arabic language."

The Civil Rights Association also attacked the draft law. "For the past year we have witnessed a worrying deterioration in Israel of the right to expression and other democratic rights," association chairman and well know author Sammy Michael said in a statement. "Commemoration of the Naqba does not threaten Israel at all. It is a legitimate expression of the feelings of individuals and an entire people," he said.

Tel-Aviv, May 25, 2009

http://www.maki.org.il/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3452&Itemid=106

[azurnoir]

6. That Yisrael Beiteinu made such a proposal

is no surprise hopefully it will not make though the Knesset and cabinet to be a law, a year ago I would have said no chance but now?