During August, I had a poll running on this website in which I invited visitors to vote for the name they thought best suited to the small nation-state in the Middle East commonly known as ‘Israel’ since its inception in 1948.
Here are the results:
I didn’t ‘push’ the poll by actively urging people to vote. That invites the Hasbara crowd to fly-by in a rage, like a swarm of angry wasps. So I just let nature take its course.
Now, I’ll admit to some bias. I consider this website is visited by a selection of the smartest people on earth. My dog (rumoured to have an IQ of 250+) assures me most material here is crafted, like fabulous tropical flowers, to attract the most discriminating pollinators.
Therefore I shall take heed of this poll-of-the-well-informed and follow the popular will. Personally, I voted for ‘Rothchildistan’ – but in hindsight the democratic process has yet again come up trumps.
What acronym should I use for the ‘Jewish Apartheid State in Palestine’? Is it JASP – or JASIP? Should that be put to the vote as well?
Nelson Mandela was released long ago: FREE MARWAN BARGHOUTI!
On a more serious note, the vote that’s really needed to sort this tangle is the vote that’s never allowed to happen: that’s a one-vote, one-value poll of all people associated with the land of Palestine in recent times, whether by birth, direct descent or immigration.
An initial question well worth asking is whether a majority actually want segregation on a long-term basis. Most people in the world don’t. Could it be that the people of Palestine – as a whole – prefer unity and real democracy?
Such a vote could launch the region – and the world – onto a peaceful trajectory. It could help turn the Jewish Apartheid State in Palestine into a genuine democratic country. It would help bring an end to segregation in the Holy Land and stimulate general disarmament.
That’s what worked in South Africa. Post Apartheid South Africa has its problems too – but at least today it’s not a widely-despised, nuclear-armed. international pariah.
A similar process can work in the still-fractured land of Palestine, correcting the historical error of 1948.
The Jewish Apartheid State in Palestine is the sour, maggot-ridden fruit of the greatest holocaust the world has known to date: The Second World War – a cataclysm that plunged the world into chaos and caused the deaths of some 60 million people.
We should spit out this rotten fruit and pick from the tree of peace and reconciliation.
