Vision to Reality: The Reut Blog

One insight from the Reut team’s recent trip to London was that the perceived lack of options for those opposed to Israeli policy and wanting to ‘do something’ to help Palestinians creates an ‘option vacuum’ which often leads ‘soft critics’ (those unhappy with specific Israeli policies) to adopt the positions of ‘hard delegitimizers’ (who seek to undermine Israel’s existence).

A successful fight against delegitimacy will have to include suggestions for how to drive a wedge between these two groups.

Potential examples of how to drive such a wedge are presented by Khaled Abu Toameh who argues that rather than delegitimizing Israel, Pro-Palestinian group should seek to promote coexistence, peace and good government within the Palestinian Authority. “If anyone is entitled to be called “pro-Palestinian,” it is those who are publicly campaigning against financial corruption and abuse of human rights by Fatah and Hamas – Those trying to change the system from within.

He suggests dispatching teachers to teach young Palestinians English, monitor human rights violations by Hamas in Gaza and helping Palestinian women confront Muslim fundamentalists before concluding that Israeli Apartheid Week becomes Palestine Democracy Week.

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