Palestine and Israel are the same place.
In an apartment in Haidhausen, Munich, a conversation unfolds between Israeli dissident and activist Ronnie Barkan and interviewer Heinz Michael Vilsmeier about Palestine, Zionism, Judaism, Israel, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and resistance.
Ronnie Barkan’s family lives in Ra’anana, a city north of Tel Aviv. „My father’s family,“ he reports, „arrived shortly after the foundation of the Zionist state, and my mother’s family came in the early 1960s. Both parents were born into Hungarian-speaking families in Eastern Europe, not in Hungary, but to Hungarian-speaking families. My father arrived in Palestine as a baby, while my mother spent her childhood in Romania and had quite a good, happy childhood, even though it was after the war. My grandparents were survivors of the worst events. On my mother’s side, my grandmother is a survivor of Auschwitz. My grandfather, a survivor of Dachau.“
In his 20s, Ronnie went to demonstrate in the West Bank in a village where refugees from Tabsur—now Ra’anana—ended up. It was very important for him. This knowledge drives Ronnie Barkan. He says, „Israel is literally built on top of Palestine, at the expense of its indigenous population.“
For Ronnie Barkan, this gives rise to the obligation to fight for the rights of the Palestinians until their rights are restored and thereby lay the foundation for a peaceful coexistence of Jews and Arabs in Palestine.
Table of content
Preface
By Israeli law, I am regarded as a privileged Israeli-Jew.
My grandparents were survivors of the worst things.
The Nakba has never stopped.
The Zionist state is a race-state by design.
Israel was founded as a supremacist entity.
The Zionist state was always fascist.
Change will not come from Israelis.
Zionism is an invention of the 19th century.
There is not an iota of democracy.
Atrocities should be seen in context…
Lefties within Zionism
The only solution is to come together.
Co-resisting the oppression is needed.
UK has actively protected war criminals.
We have the first live streamed genocide.
