The diddley bow is a single-stringed children’s instrument that requires a slide to produce more than one droning note. Like some other opinion pieces occasionally published over the years in the CT Mirror and other Connecticut newspapers, John Fussell’s May 24 op-ed is a diddley bow without the slide when Fussell demands that Connecticut divest from companies that do business with Israel.
As has been previously noted, Connecticut’s investments in Israeli companies and other companies that do business with the Jewish state are among Connecticut’s most profitable investments. Divesting from them would harm Connecticut’s pensioners, state employees, and taxpayers in general. But financial arguments haven’t impressed Fussell, who seems to be more committed to the interests of Palestinian Arabs than those of Nutmeggers.
Fussell identifies himself as a board member of an organization called We Will Return, which betrays his priorities. Consider the organization’s self-concept statement, a lesson in legend and wishful thinking and about as realistic as Fussell’s financial advice:
We Will Return is a declaration of Palestinians’ unwavering desire and divine right to return to their … ancestral homeland. It embodies a deep connection to the cultural and historical roots of the Palestinian identity, symbolizing the unyielding commitment … to the restoration of their rightful place in the land they call home.
The claim to “divine right to return to their ancestral homeland” is both historically and theologically false. For a Muslim, divine authority resides in the Holy Koran, the revealed word of Allah, where not a single passage promises Muslims a return to Palestine/Israel/ the Holy Land. Nor could it because, regardless of what translation is used what the Koran does mandate specifically is that the Promised Land belongs to the Jewish people. Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:20-21 in the 5th Chapter is explicit and exclusive:
“When Moses said to his people [the Jews], ‘O my people, remember the favor of Allah [God] upon you when He appointed among you prophets and made you possessors and gave you that which He had not given anyone among the worlds. ‘O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back and [thus] become losers.’ “
So much for “divine right.”
As for “the historical roots of the Palestinian identity,” these are very shallow, indeed. Among Arabs living in Mandatory Palestine, the notion of Palestinian nationhood began to germinate only in the 1950s. According to demographic studies, half of these people were the grandchildren of foreign migrants from other Asian countries, Africa and Turkey who had immigrated into the area in the 20th century to take advantage of the economic opportunities resulting from the influx of European Jews who brought European technology and know-how, and from the economic development launched by the British Mandatory Authority.
So much for “historical roots.”
Most puzzling, however, is Fussell’s organization’s “unwavering desire … to return to their … ancestral homeland.” If they mean return to the territory ruled by the British Mandatory government, then their wish was fulfilled a long time ago. Palestinian Arabs are already living in their “homeland.” Mandatory Palestine consisted of Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. Palestinian Arabs inherited three of the four locations, while Palestinian Jews claimed a homeland in Israel. Jordan has an independent state, as did Gaza after Israel’s total withdrawal in 2005. Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority rules in Areas A and B of the West Bank.
Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank were offered a totally independent homeland of their own in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2008, and 2020. Basically, all they needed to agree to was to live in peace side by side with Israel. But each time, they refused because, no matter what they claim, what they really want is the destruction of the Jews who live and thrive in Israel. That’s what “From the River [Jordan] to the sea [Mediterranean]” really means. And no matter how he tries to disguise it, that’s what John Fussell and other writers like him mean when they call for divestment from Israel.
Mark Trencher lives in West Hartford.