I read with appreciation the deeply felt Voice piece “ Troubling
Flags Fly on State Street — Not in My Name ” and felt dismayed by the
hostile letters written in reaction. Having served for six years as UN Special
Rapporteur for Human Rights in Occupied Palestine (2008-2014), I can affirm
that Marcy Winograd's treatment of the issues arising from the denial of basic
Palestinian rights corresponds with the tragic realities of the situation.
It is important to keep in mind that when the Zionist
Project was launched internationally by the issuance of the Balfour Declaration
in 1917, the Jewish population of Israel was about 8 percent of the population.
The complex developments over the course of the intervening century justify the
impulse to establish a Jewish homeland and sanctuary, but they in no way
justify the forcible displacement and subsequent repression of the Palestinian
people.
Any fair-minded assessment of the relationship of the two
peoples would notice that ever since the establishment of Israel as a sovereign
state, its territorial and ideological ambitions have unlawfully expanded at
the expense of the Palestinians. This dynamic culminated in the passage of a
Basic Law in 2018 by the Knesset that vested the right of self-determination exclusivelyin the Jewish people, thereby completing the process of Palestinian displacement,
expulsion, and marginalization that has been continuous since 1948.