On the footpath to transfer

Ha'aretz:

Sixty-eight percent of Israeli Jews would refuse to live in the same apartment building as an Israeli Arab, according to the results of an annual poll released Wednesday by the Center for the Struggle Against Racism.

The "Index of Racism Towards Arab Palestinian Citizens of the State of Israel," conducted by Geocartographia, revealed on 26 percent of Jews in Israel would agree to live with Arab neighbors in the same building.

Forty-six percent of Jews would refuse to allow an Arab to visit their home while 50 percent would welcome an Arab visitor. Forty-one percent of Jewish support the segregation of Jews and Arabs in places of recreation and 52 percent of such Jews would oppose such a move.

There's been a lot of ink spilled about the alleged resurgence of a "new anti-Semitism" in recent years. The typical charge is that criticism of Israel today has stepped over the line and is simply a cover for base hatred of Jews. The more cynical among us have then used the threat of the "new anti-Semitism" to beat back any negative remark about Israel as having malicious intent: criticism of Israel, you see, cannot come about because one abhors racism, but rather because it's a front to hide one's racism towards Jews. It's damn near the perfect racket.

To make things worse, when polling unearths racist viewpoints well within the mainstream in Israel, it's as if we're not supposed to notice. Or, even further, we're supposed to sympathize with the traumatized racists who have been forced to put up with the "crazed violence" of the Palestinians' intifada.

Commenting on the poll above, Jonathan Cook sees ominous things ahead as it betrays the likely maneuvers of the Kadima party, which is the expected winner of next week's elections in Israel.

If elected, Cook contends that Kadima will likely adopt a platform of "reciprocal separation," which essentially boils down to the logic that "if Israel is making sacrifices in Gaza and the West Bank by 'expelling' settlers from their homes, then the Arab minority currently living in Israel should expect to pay a similar price."

Needless to say, this would be a monstrous development, but I wouldn't be surprised one bit to see it enacted and fawned over by the international media, like the Gaza withdrawal was, as a "bold" gesture to reach a "peaceful settlement."