Ronnie Barkan

Palestine and Israel are the same place.

Softcover 19,00 €

This conversation with the Israeli dissident and activist Ronnie Barkan took place in the apartment of a Jewish friend in Munich-Haidhausen—a personal space in which an open exchange about Palestine, Zionism, Judaism, Israel, and the consequences of decades of violence could unfold. Barkan does not see himself as anti-Israel, but as decidedly anti-Zionist: he regards Zionism as an apartheid ideology that forms the basis for the expulsion of Palestinians. He is not alone in this stance; it connects him with those Orthodox Jewish groups that also reject Zionism for religious and ethical reasons.

Shaped by his own family history—his grandparents survived Auschwitz and Dachau—and by experiences in a village in the West Bank where, as a young man, he met refugees from Tabsur, Barkan views it as a moral obligation to advocate for the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian population. The interview explores the personal motivations behind his activism and his hope for a future coexistence of Jews and Arabs on the basis of equality and justice.

Sample

The following excerpt comes from the full interview that was published in the publication.

HMV: … Poor prospects for the future …

Ronnie Barkan: Yes. I mean, I try to look to the future optimistically. And I think there is a real possibility for a better future, but the current situation is the worst it has ever been.

I left Palestine about a decade ago because I felt it was irresponsible to stay there, since I can be much more effective from the outside in changing the situation inside. Unfortunately, the situation is such that it is very difficult to change it from within.

However, many people, including many Palestinians, are abroad. Half of all Palestinians have been living in forced exile for the past seven decades.

And there is obviously a worldwide community that is very supportive of Palestine, in contrast to their governments, in contrast to elected officials. In most countries in the world, governments support Israel, while people actually understand and support those who are oppressed and subjugated. That is why I became involved in the BDS campaign, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, similar to the boycott campaign that existed back then against South Africa. There is a global, Palestinian-led BDS campaign against Israel to fundamentally demand that Israel comply with its obligations under international law and respect the basic human rights conventions, and I was involved in it. This too is based on exerting pressure from the outside in order to change the situation inside.

HMV: Ronnie, when you say that there is a BDS campaign and you are a supporter of the BDS campaign, I assume you would be accused of antisemitism in this country. What would you say to such an accusation?

Ronnie Barkan: First we need to talk about what the BDS campaign is about and what the struggle for Palestinian rights is about. The BDS campaign demands three fundamental rights for Palestinians, all of which are protected by international law and human rights conventions.

So, basically, anyone who demands equality, freedom and justice for those who are currently oppressed in Palestine is, for some reason, regarded as antisemitic by German authorities or Israeli authorities, as you mentioned. In fact, it is exactly the opposite.

Those who call for equality and rights for all are the ones standing up for their human values, while the Zionist racial state, which from the outset is designed as a racial state, is based on the distinction between what it regards as “the superhumans” and “the subhumans.”

And this state has no legitimacy whatsoever. It is exclusively about racial superiority, white superiority.ität. Es geht ausschließlich um Rassenüberlegenheit, weiße Überlegenheit.