Tag: Imperialism

Does It Matter If Israel Annexes the West Bank?

Annexation is bad news, but we should understand it as a material expression of Zionism.

Annexation of the West Bank isn’t a new idea.  Zionists always had their eye on what they call Judea and Samaria, the actual sites of biblical significance as opposed to the coastal and desert areas they conquered in 1948.  As soon as Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in 1967, its leaders began discussing annexation. 

In fact, Netanyahu’s effort isn’t much different from Yigal Allon’s 1967 proposal (the so-called Allon Plan).  It’s still not clear exactly how the Israeli government will proceed—apparently it intends to annex Area C, including the Jordan Valley, although some officials reportedly want to claim the entire West Bank—but the idea is to make a viable Palestinian state impossible, in keeping with Allon’s vision. 

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Andom Ghebreghiorgis and the Limits of Left Electoralism

What must a radical candidate do to get some love?

For various reasons, I avoid political campaigns.  I just can’t get excited about them, in part because electoralism has so thoroughly colonized the US left.  In a healthy intellectual culture, its predominance would be automatic cause for skepticism.  Unfortunately, these days sickness feels compulsory.  Rejecting electoralism invites disdain and derision. 

Amid the bickering on the US left about the utility of voting, a compromise usually emerges:  voting is merely a form of damage control that one performs every few years before returning to the serious stuff.  But the rhetoric of voting supersedes the physical act. In turn, elections have become a nonstop preoccupation.  The off-season no longer exists. 

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