‘Peace Now’ And Racist Demographics
When ‘Peace Now’ began decades ago, I was among those who thought they had the right idea. Working for peace. Who could be against that? Maybe they were not racist back then, but I think they are now.
I will show you some material from their website and what came to my mind when I saw it. Let us start with this graphic representation of the population of the so-called West Bank (Judea & Samaria) as it appears on the Peace Now website:
Now, this is what I saw in my mind’s eye:
When Peace Now refers to “settlers” versus “Palestinians” they are actually referring to Jews versus Arabs. But if they put it in those terms, it would look a bit racist, no?
Demographic Data for Judea & Samaria (aka The West Bank)
Also, they do not cite the sources of their data and when I searched the Internet I found some inconsistencies. First of all, the World Population Review gives 2014 stats of 2.8 million Arabs in J&S. They give a larger number estimated for 2018 but include eastern Jerusalem suburbs in that count. Confusing the issue, the same website has a separate page for “The West Bank” on which they claim that according to 2007 census, there were over 3.2 million people living in J&S and eastern Jerusalem; of these 85% are Muslim and 15% Jews and other religions.
According to the CIA World Factbook, there are only 2.75 million people in J&S (they seem to be including eastern Jerusalem) as of 2017, of which about 390,000 are Jews in J&S (as of 2016) and 200,000 are Jews in eastern Jerusalem (as of 2014). That would mean that over 20% are Jews.
The Palestinian Bureau of Statistics puts the 2017 population of the so-called West Bank at 3.01 million. They did not count Jews at all. We are probably added into the figures for cattle and sheep. (Sorry for that nasty comment but just last week Abbas called Trump the “son of a dog” and I remember him having referred to Jews as worse.)
Now, perhaps a few hundred thousand people here or there do not make much of a difference to overall statistics. But reliable data would make a difference.
What if we make comparable graphics for Israel?
Times of Israel published a summary of the latest census in Israel and I filled the data into the graphic prepared by Peace Now:
This is remarkably similar to the guestimated population figures for J&S. If 15-20% of J&S is Jewish, then perhaps Peace Now be amenable to the idea of a population exchange — you know, like the Muslim-Hindu population exchange when Pakistan and Bangladesh were carved out of Indian land in order to try to get some peace and quiet in that region. Peace Now is not saying that that was immoral, so perhaps they would agree to do that in our little corner of the globe.
Unfortunately, there are two major problems with this possibility:
- Try getting the Arabs living in Israel to move voluntarily to the Palestinian Authority. I think it might turn out to be at least as violent and heartbreaking as it has been dragging Jewish families from their homes in Gaza (2005) and in J&S (since 2005). The world, and Jewish leftists, cheer the latter but I do think they would take us to The Hague over the former. Who said life is fair?!
- Seems to me that the population exchange between India and Pakistan/Bangladesh did not bring peace to the region. I have heard that the Muslims want more pieces of India than they already got. Sound familiar?
So what do you call an organization that gives those “bad Jews” over there the label “settlers,” thereby taking away both their identity and their humanity? I call it the kind of racism that is called antisemitism.
Some people lie in wait for an organization to build up a good reputation and then they sneak in and start unraveling the fabric Perhaps they don’t agree with the organization’s agenda and know that they best way is to crumble it is to work at it from “the inside”. My observation is based on your statement “Maybe they were not racist back then …” Maybe the original organizers weren’t. But as organizations grow they take on new people to perform the work. The newcomers may say one thing but do the opposite. It’s like sowing tares among wheat.
Another observation is that these days there are so many people who bend over backwards just trying to be “politically correct”. It’s an effort to try to keep the peace. Not sure what this organization’s current agenda is but as you say “Working for peace. Who could be against that?” If their main mission is truly to achieve peace, then I hope they continue striving for it. I have to admit the name of the organization is very attractive. When I saw the words “Peace Now”, I was immediately attracted to your blog post and had to come and see.
Thanks for your comment. In the beginning, Peace Now was a grassroots organization that was sincere and naive. Over the years, they have become anti-Israeli and they are working at undermining Israel by manipulative means that on the surface seem to be for humanitarian goals. They are funded by European governments, the largest portion of which comes the UK. Interestingly, the list of funding sources are available only in Hebrew and that is only because of the new law that states that funding sources must be transparent. I think you must wonder about an organization’s real goals when you see that the money is coming only from foreign government’s with a specific political agenda.
I totally understand. Whenever money comes from a government, I am always suspect. For example, during the administration of Bush Jr.., they wanted to initiate funding for faith-based operations. I was and still am totally against it. As a Christian, our faith-based acts should be free will offerings to God. We don’t need and should not accept funding from the government to support our acts of benevolence and charity.
Jesus said “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” To me that clearly draws the line.
As soon as the government starts providing funds to support or help or assist the works of the church, I have no doubt the government is not supplying that money with “no strings attached”. The next thing they will want and expect for you to do is to compromise your faith and your belief system to serve or support something that supports their “political agenda”. If you object they will threaten to cut off funding. I’m like: ‘Well if the church (i.e. the faith-based organization) had kept Caesar and God separate, no such threat could be made.’
When governments get involved, specifically if the American government gets involved, I don’t think they can give funds with “no strings attached”. That money comes from taxpaying citizens and they may not want their tax dollars supporting faith-based works. They have a right to object. I strongly believe that funds from the government to support our acts of faith should be REFUSED. That way the work of God can not be compromised or corrupted by a work of the government.
I agree with you. A money trail usually always leads to revealing an organization’s true purpose and intent.
The Palestinians have only one goal in mind regarding peace, the genocide of every Jew they can find and the absolute destruction of the Jewish State of Israel. That is the entire negotiating platform of the Palestinians and the Arab world in general. No people, especially the Jews, can argue with groups who publicly proclaim their deep desire to do all in their power to slaughter every Jew man, woman, child, teen age girls, little Jewish babies in their mother’s arms. The Arabs want all the Jews dead and Israel destroyed, now how do you argue with deranged killers like them?