Peace in the Middle East

Can We Rank Palestinian Groups Based on Acceptence of Israel?

by Charles Lenchner

Published November 18, 2008 @ 05:50AM PST

This is part two of a series. As I wrote yesterday, this is an idea. Might be half-baked! It comes from a desire to look at data on Israeli-Palestinian political positions and see it in new ways.

Today we examine the issue of accepting Israel as a Jewish state and the one vs. two state solution.
This is a proposed ranking. Please - challenge me on the specifics, and we'll see.

This is the second measure, and any given group gets a rank of 1-5. Remember, all of these assume that Israel ends to occupation and signs a peace agreement that creates (at least) a viable independent Palestinian state.

Accepting Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state:

  1. Accepts Israel as a Jewish state. Fine. It's their country, let them figure it out.

  2. Accepts Israel, but will not utter the words 'as a Jewish state.' Won't get involved in internal Israeli matters.

  3. Accepts a two state solution, and will never say 'as a Jewish state.' Still, the issues of the Palestinian minority within Israel need to be resolved. Best case: Israel becomes a 'state of all its citizens' as the followers of Azmi B'shara demand. And what about the rights of the refugees?

  4. A one state solution is preferable to a two state solution. This solves three issues at once: boundaries, Zionism, and the right of return in one fell swoop. Israeli Jews are welcome to stay and help us forge a future together.

  5. All of Palestine is Arab and/or holy Islamic Waqf. The Jews are not entitled to remain, at least not in such large numbers. This is the language of the original PLO Covenant and the Hamas Charter. (Neither of which reflect the current views of Fatah of Hamas.)

To help us get acquainted with this scoring system, let's fit some groups into the mix:

  1. Government of Mahmoud Abbas, Sari Nusseibeh, American Task Force on Palestine

  2. Large parts of Fateh, big chunk of the NGO community, Gush Shalom, the Palestinian People's Party, Hadash, the Arab League, United for Peace and Justice, AFSC

  3. The Israeli Balad Palestinian political party, the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel, Hamas, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

  4. PFLP, enthusiastic secular one-staters, minority elements of Fatah, Boycott/Divest movement around the world, al-Awda

  5. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, some militant groups based in refugee camps in Lebanon, parts of Hamas (though not it's current leadership).

I'm particularly interested in positioning advocacy groups based in the United States, but I'm less sure of my initial ranking. What does everyone think? Remember - we will do the same exercise for Israeli and pro-Israeli groups.

Comments

  1. Aref Nammari

    Charles, I am struggling to come to understanding what is the purpose of this ranking system. What end does it serve? How does this ranking system serve the movement toward a solution?
    What I would like to see is rather what is offered on the table from all parties to the conflict.

    1- Two state solution.
    2- One state solution for both.
    3- An Islamic State in all of Palestine
    4- An Arab State in all of Palestine
    5- A Jewish State in all of Palestine

    Those to my knowledge are the major arguments and "proposed" ideas as to the future of the area. These sum up what Palestinians, Israelis and others believe as to what the resolution looks like. All organizations advocate some flavor of those.

    Posted by Aref Nammari on 11/19/2008 @ 06:18AM PST

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  2. Charles Lenchner

    Aref, I see that my approach is a bit confusing, because I'm not sharing my entire method. What you have above is a system to describe the alternatives - but it's not a spectrum going more of something to less of something.
    I am trying to look at the available information in a different way, to see what it can tell me. The spectrum (for Palestinians) is from more peaceful and accomodating to stated Israeli interests to less accomodating. When we cover the Israeli ranking system, it will be the other way - from more accomodating to Palestinian interests to less accomodating. In every catagory, the middle is where polls tell us the majority of the population lies.

    Posted by Charles Lenchner on 11/19/2008 @ 06:56AM PST

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  3. Aref Nammari

    Charles, I see your point. However, don't we know where most Palestinians and most Israelis stand? I think that we do: there are many polls which tell us. Is you ranking of those organizations aimed at showing how much support they actually have? I still don't understand I am sorry for missing the point.
    The problem of ranking is that it is somewhat similar to election and very often those elected do not necessarily reflect what the people think and believe. There are complex reasons why people vote the way they do.

    Posted by Aref Nammari on 11/19/2008 @ 10:49AM PST

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  4. Charles Lenchner

    This ranking system doesn't say much that isn't well known about where the populations stand. But... it helps reveal the distance of political groups from the center, and helps analyze different political perspectives from a new angle.

    I'm trying to bring out the some of the nuances that do indeed get lost when we just look at election statistics, or the popularity of a given position. For example, many in the U.S. don't see how it is possible for Palestinians to support terror while at the same time wanting a two state solution.

    And many do not understand that Israelis support some policies (assassinations for example) that they themselves do not think are effective deterrents.

    Posted by Charles Lenchner on 11/19/2008 @ 10:54AM PST

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  5. Aref Nammari

    Thanks Charles I understand.

    Posted by Aref Nammari on 11/19/2008 @ 11:50AM PST

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Charles Lenchner Charles Lenchner
Brooklyn, NY

Charles is a nonprofit professional with 20 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations in Israel, Palestine and the U.S. For the past few years, he's been specializing in online organizing.

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