Splitting the homeland

"The smashing of the Palestinian community into six or seven sub-communities could have won the Israeli regime the colonial club prize of the imperialist era, but that is long gone, and in the 21st century "divide and rule" is considered a procedure that deserves to be condemned and boycotted. However, the results of this fragmentation can serve as a broad basis for socio-political research, as before our very eyes a process is occurring that belongs to an era that no longer exists, and it is possible to study it over time with the most current research methods.

"As for the community fragments and those who are being offered the scrap of 8 percent of their homeland, they should ostensibly be very grateful, as going by past experience, when they did not agree to a "generous partition" they lost, because afterward they were offered an even less generous partition. And all of those who are agog at "the partition of the land" and Ariel Sharon's initiatives should know that the crushing of the Palestinian people does not presage peace, but rather a longing for a new Saladin who will put together the fragments of the communities, like the Kurdish hero of the Middle Ages."

Meron Benvenisti [former Deputy mayor of Jerusalem], Haaretz, October 6