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Posted by: hyperbola 1 year, 6 months ago
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hyperbola1 year, 6 months ago
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Davis is a Jewish citizen of Israel, but staunchly identifies himself as a "Palestinian Jew." Born in an undivided Jerusalem in 1943--raised by his British and Czechoslovakian parents--he is an unlikely booster of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). For 30 years, the anthropologist and philosopher excavated Israel's democracy, trying to expose what he calls the "pervasive system of legal and social discrimination" against the Palestinian people. Davis is the founding member and chairperson of the Movement against Israeli Apartheid in Palestine (MAIAP) and an observer-member with the Palestinian National Council. An expert on Middle Eastern affairs and Islamic history, he is a fellow at the University of Durham and the University of Exeter in the U.K.
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hyperbola1 year, 6 months ago
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..The human rights defender has written and edited 15 books and numerous articles on politics, legal systems and human rights in Israel and Palestine. In his first book, Israel An Apartheid State, originally published in 1987, he claimed Israeli legislation guarantees the rights of only a "subset of its citizenry." He followed its success with his autobiography, Crossing the Border, and his most recent release, Apartheid Israel: Possibilities for the Struggle Within.
Davis resides in the Arab city of Sakhnin in northern Israel, although as a Jew, he may live anywhere in the state--a right denied to his Arab neighbours. He arrived in Sakhnin as director of external relations with the Arab Institute for Vocational Completion. And after his service there, he saw no reason to change his address.
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hyperbola1 year, 6 months ago
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His adopted home is not a collegiate town, nor a trendy tourist locale. It's an industrial park with no industrial plants of which to speak. However, as the only Jew, he does not face life imprisonment for membership in an illegal organization. He does not have tanks outside his window threatening his children. He says he has yet to be denied access to hospital treatment, or delayed "indefinitely" at a military checkpoint--the usual indignities endured by Palestinians. Here, Davis' choice of residence reflects his commitment to a future in which all Jews and Palestinians enjoy equal rights.
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hyperbola1 year, 6 months ago
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Standing up as a Jew
His consciousness comes from the Holocaust. His Jewish mother's family was killed in World War II, following the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia. "Her values underpinned my moral development and are universally relevant for all concerned, including myself," he remarked in an article in The Irish Times. In it, he also accused Israel of exploiting the extermination of Jews in Europe, describing it as "a direct assault" on his ancestors.
He says: "The publishing of any criticism of Israel charged with being anti-Semitic has been an instrument of intimidating critical debate on Israel for decades. It's therefore essential to base or anchor our narrative in fundamental separation between Zionism and Judaism. It's the most difficult obstacle that faces us."
Political Zionism, he says, is as a "wholly negative proposition."
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hyperbola1 year, 6 months ago
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"Zionist is not my identity. I operate on the basis of a clear distinction between Zionism and Judaism. I have nothing against the Jewish collective tribal identity or theological identity.. But Zionism is separate. It's a political program and has nothing to do with professional identity.
"I don't have a problem with Jewish identity; I have a problem with the claim that it is justified, that in the name of the national liberation of the Jewish people, to perpetuate crimes against humanity and war crimes."
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His duty, he says, is the same of all persons' worldwide--to mobilize against war crimes perpetrated by governments in citizens' own names. "Not in my name," Davis cries out--a closed hand gesticulating his affront. "Not in my name as an individual and citizen." He raises his voice as loud as he is able to shout. "Not in my name as a Jew."
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-124009042.html
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