By IRNA,
Tehran : Keeping in mind that symbol of Israel’s 60th anniversary is a Jewish Israeli child hoisting the white and blue flag of Israel, with the Hebrew sentence (whose meaning is “Israel, Today and Tomorrow”) and David’s star on its top, it is easy to figure out that these celebrations, too, are manifestation of continuation of Israel’s discriminatory policies against that regime’s Arab citizens.
Israel urges its citizens to sing its national anthem in May, 2008 celebrations under such conditions that in that anthem, called “Hatico” (meaning “hope”), there is no single word in whose deepest layers you could trace the slightest sign of the aboriginal identity of the lost Arab identity after the 1948 occupation.
According to the Tel Aviv based daily, Ha Aretz, Israel’s establishment celebrations have been turned into an absolutely Jewish phenomena, while the Arabs that are the offsprings of this land, deserve that their history, their culture and their identity would be properly respected.
Ha Aretz furthermore reiterates that the current Israeli national anthem is merely composed for the Jews, while some 20% of Israel’s population that are Arab Israelis are left totally ignored in the national anthem of their (forged) country.
The Israeli daily adds, “Even if a single member of the Israeli parliament (the Knest) would refrain from singing along Israel’s national anthem during the course of the 60th anniversary celebrations it would necessitate a revision in its contents, since the main objective of composing any country’s national anthem is strengthening the feeling of unity and solidarity among every single member of a nation.
This daily proposes that the Israeli government should have on the verge of the 60th anniversary of Israel’s establishment changed the anthem that was approved at the Zionism Congress in 1933, and in order to reflect the world Jews’ ideal of liberty and nationalism, at least end the discrimination observed against the Israeli Arab’s identity during the course of the past 60 years.
It should furthermore be reiterated that the celebrations marking the establishment of Israel are not meant to be merely reminders of manifestation of Zionists’ dreams, as they are also reminder of the families whose relationship bonds were broken due to Israel’s establishment, the lost lives, the stolen wealth, and all in all, the events that led the Arabs to refer to that day as “Yaum ul-Nikba” (The Wretched Day).
It is probably due to all those reasons that Ha Aretz insists that it is the Arab Israelis’ absolute right to participate actively and wholeheartedly in celebrations marking the establishment of the Jewish government and that at least a small part of the anniversary should be allocated to narration of their history, their culture, and their national identity.
(www.haaretz.com/hasen/bjects/pages/rintArticleEnjhtml? item No=850285)