With Israel’s election only weeks away, a rather remarkable online initiative has begun: Israelis are offering to give their votes to Palestinians occupied by Israel in the West Bank.
The idea behind this initiative is simple: Palestinians subjected to a military system of justice in the Occupied Territories, and wholly under Israel’s control, have no democratic say in the process that binds them. And so Israelis, to protest the occupation and this undemocratic dynamic, are offering to give their vote to a Palestinian and cast a ballot as their matched counterpart in the West Bank desires.
The Facebook site housing this initiative, Real Democracy, already has countless offers from Israelis willing to give up their votes as well as matches with Palestinians, such as the following:
This initiative, while modest, is more than symbolic, as real votes will be cast in Israel’s elections on January 22 as a result.
Will it skew the election’s results? No, it won’t. But this protest is striking a chord and experientially demonstrating how Israel’s occupation and military dominance of the West Bank isn’t just inhumane, but undemocratic as well.
Israel has a choice: give up the occupation and salvage those few remnants of a two-state solution which still exist or give Palestinians a vote in a bi-national, single state. For the status quo, in which Palestinians are controlled without any political rights, cannot continue.
Follow David Harris-Gershon on Twitter @David_EHG
What do y’all think of the idea of a Facebook page to mount a similar effort enabling disenfranchised Palestinians (in the Occupied Territories or in exile) to vote by our proxy in national and congressional elections in the USA?
A similar initiative was done in the UK elections in 2010, where UK citizens offered to give their vote to citizens of Ghana, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The logic is this: rules and policies are decided by the UK parliament, effecting people in developing countries through climate change, migration, trade and war. These people have a STAKE in the decisions and they have the right to influence them in return. That is the meaning of a true democracy. That is the meaning of electoral rebellion.
Another such initiative is being planned in Germany elections 2013
Alma Irshaid and myself are a vote switching pair, we talked about the initiative on KPFK radio, Los-Angeles. You can hear the interview in the following link: http://bit.ly/UNrtAc
Here’s the link to the UK initiative, 2010 http://www.giveyourvote.org/
I am a non-Jew who lives and works in Israel and your conclusion is totally backward. The Palestinians are the ones who have the choice: Give up terror, acknowledge Israel’s unqualified right to exist on the Jewish ancestral homeland, and give up on the bogus “right of return.” Then – and only then – can the Palestinians hope to have a real state.
Notice that I didn’t include Jerusalem in my statement. Jerusalem is certainly something that can be discussed, but anyone who has studied the history of this area knows the Palestinians have no legitimate claim to Jerusalem (and their “leaders” know it, too).
That is a very good tip especially to those fresh to the blogosphere. Simple but very precise information… Thanks for sharing this one. A must read article!