Rocky Iran, Israel ceasefire continues to hold
conflict world 22 minutes ago
Middle East correspondent Perry Wilton spoke to Lisa Owen about US efforts to seal a ceasefire betwen Iran and Israel, which have seen a rocky start. However, the ceasefire appears to be holding, with both Iran and Israel claiming victory after 12 days of strikes.
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Scoop
6 hours ago
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Palestine Israel: Implementing A One-State Solution
It's time that the nations of the world (or at least the influential western nations) accept the reality that all the lands that constituted 1920-1948 Mandatory Palestine should be formally recognised as a single nation-state; ideally called Palestine Israel or Israel-Palestine, but more realistically called Israel. In other words, the never-viable notion of a two-nation-state division of 'Israel' ( should be dropped as a viable solution in favour of the promotion of a liberal bicultural (or multicultural) nation-state. The role model for change could be South Africa. Jewish and Non-Jewish intellectuals (such as Hans Kohn, Shlomo Sand and Yanis Varoufakis) – on the political left – have been arguing for this 'one-state-solution' for over 100 years. It's just that their voices have always been deamplified by those on the political centre and the political right. (On the centre, we think of people like Joe Biden, Keir Starmer, and their predecessors. On the right, we may consider former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a leader in the 1940s of the openly fascist Lehi, yet a moderate by today's Israeli political standards.) Shlomo Sand outlines the history of the arguments for a single 'binational' state in his 2024 book Israel-Palestine: Federation or Apartheid? His vision, which is not quite what I favour, emphasises binationalism ( and looks towards these successful liberal examples of bi- or multi- nationalism: Canada, Belgium, Switzerland. The better framing of this approach, I believe, is biculturalism; though even that is not problem-free, because it is an exclusive concept. What I think would work best for Palestine Israel is also the same as what would work best for Aotearoa New Zealand: multiculturalism with a bicultural (treaty) emphasis. (Ireland could have become something similar, as in Irish rugby; but it went down a failed two-state path, and experienced two substantial civil wars last century.) The ideal is for Palestine Israel to become a liberal democracy in which all people born within its borders become citizens with equal citizenship rights; a nation state which commits to both the domestic and international norms of liberal democracy. (In a bicultural nation-state, the principal divider is religion; normally people's religious loyalties are discrete, meaning that being, say, a Muslim or Jew or Christian is mutually exclusive. The word 'national' is increasingly used in the 21st century as it was in the 19th century; to refer to a 'people' or a 'race' rather than to relate to a territory defined by its borders and its sovereign institutions. Ethnicity – the better word is 'ancestry – is not a discrete concept such as 'religion'; individual people have multiple ancestries, and should not be required to identify as one over another.) How can this be achieved? First, we should note that the status quo in Eretz Israel is at least as unacceptable as Apartheid South Africa was to our world of mostly 'internationally-civilised' nation-states. (An internationally civilised state is one that accepts agreed norms in the ways that it relates to other nation states, meaning that it does not indulge in offensive hard-power geopolitics – such as 'gunboat diplomacy'; and it practises cultural equality. Terrorism is understood as criminality. Such a state does not have to be a 'democracy' in the Westminster or American sense; but it should meet open liberal standards in the ways it treats its resident denizens – non-citizens – and it should subscribe to international treaties on matters such as climate sustainability and nuclear energy and election authenticity.) Second, this desired outcome will not come about by force. The community of liberal nations should simply recognise Eretz Israel as a nation state, based ideally on the prior borders of Mandatory Palestine. While there should be no demands, such a new nation-state would be risking discriminatory sanctions if it abuses liberal norms; in particular if it implements laws (including civil-marriage laws) that discriminate on the basis of sex, religion, or ancestry. Again, the obvious model is Apartheid South Africa, and the ways that South Africa was excluded from international sport so long as it implemented laws which discriminated on the basis of ethnicity. (Palestinians and many Israelis have Levantine ethnicity. Many Israelis have European, African or Asian co-ethnicity; that non-indigeneity should never be held against them. Nor should the indigeneity of the Palestinians.) In recognising Eretz Israel as Israel-Palestine (or even just under the name 'Israel'), a Levantine nation state, Israel's nuclear status should be addressed and normalised. (Likewise, India and Pakistan should be pressured to join the 'nuclear club'. One of the most problematic regional asymmetries at present is the advanced nuclear-status of Israel versus the embryonic nuclear status of Iran; Israel at present hides behind its non-membership of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to make it seem that Iran is a bigger nuclear threat to the world than Israel is.) Recognition of Eretz Israel as a sovereign nation state, under any name, should come with overt expectations of democracy, amnesty, truth, reconciliation, and press freedom. There should be no formal or informal mechanism of 'settling scores', no matter how reprehensible anyone's past or present behaviour has been. Truth trumps vengeance cloaked as 'accountability'. Lebanon was an initially successful, but now largely failed, version of a similar attempt at creating a tolerant multicultural nation state in the Levant. Lebanon's main problem was its belligerent southern neighbour. Israel-Palestine would not have Israel as a neighbour. Abandon the naïve two-state solution There is no way a Palestinian nation-state can be viable. At the very best it could become like a mini-Pakistan or mini-Bangladesh; and even that would take decades. (And the last Israeli prime minister to formalise a two-state future – Yitzhak Rabin – was assassinated in 1995, having achieved a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.) The two-state-solution agenda seems to be more about deescalating sufficiently for the Palestine issue to disappear from its media prominence; and not at all about ending a forever war which began in 1948. The present forever war – now in its hottest phase – followed a brutal war for Israeli-Jewish independence and non-Jewish expulsion waged by fascist and non-fascist 'non-state actors' from 1939 to 1948 against the British 'protectors'. That, in turn, followed a prior Palestinian insurrection against the British and the settlers from 1936-1939 (though overshadowed in the international media by the Spanish Civil War), which in its turn followed the 1929 Palestine riots. That's 96 years of escalating forever violence. In Summary Recognise a new expanded state, with or without a new name, but with certain (unenforceable, but well-publicised) expectations. This expectation should be a multi-cultural Levantine sovereign state, embracing adherents of the three Abrahamic faiths (as well as people of other religions, or no religion, as citizens; people born in Israel or Palestine, and documented immigrants): Levantine Jews, Levantine Muslims, Levantine Christians, plus others. All Israelis. And all Palestinians. Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Keith Rankin Political Economist, Scoop Columnist Keith Rankin taught economics at Unitec in Mt Albert since 1999. An economic historian by training, his research has included an analysis of labour supply in the Great Depression of the 1930s, and has included estimates of New Zealand's GNP going back to the 1850s. Keith believes that many of the economic issues that beguile us cannot be understood by relying on the orthodox interpretations of our social science disciplines. Keith favours a critical approach that emphasises new perspectives rather than simply opposing those practices and policies that we don't like. Keith retired in 2020 and lives with his family in Glen Eden, Auckland.
RNZ News
6 hours ago
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New Zealanders in Israel not taking assistance to leave
RNZAF C-130J Hercules Aircraft departs RNZAF Auckland Base for the Middle East. Photo: NZDF/Jalesa Normani New Zealanders in Israel are not taking up the opportunity to leave, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). The message to New Zealanders in Iran and Israel has been to do everything they can to leave, if they can find a safe route. But a MFAT spokesperson said the ministry was not receiving requests from New Zealanders in Israel seeking to depart. "We arranged a land evacuation option for New Zealanders in Israel yesterday, however, no New Zealanders took up that option," they said. A New Zealand Defence Force C130-J is enroute to the Middle East to assist New Zealanders stranded in Iran and Israel. Where the plane will be based is not being disclosed for security reasons, but it is expected to arrive by Friday local time. The plane is a contingency for when airspace in the region reopens. The number of New Zealanders registered on SafeTravel as being in Iran is 139, while 110 are registered in Israel. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said there were "more coming out of the woodwork in Iran". "But then [in] Israel, we're seeing a lack of desire to move, so we maybe should be focused far more on Iran's circumstances," Peters said. Peters said New Zealanders in Israel wanted to "stay in situ" but noted their circumstances had changed. Defence Minister Judith Collins reiterated the message for people to leave if they could. "If people don't want to leave, they have to understand that we can't go in and get them out," she said. Acting Prime Minister David Seymour said it was currently "very challenging" to get people out of Iran. There were also ongoing disruption to phone and internet connectivity, although MFAT would continue to attempt to contact people registered with SafeTravel by phone, email, and WhatsApp. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
6 hours ago
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Iran executes three men for spying for Israel
Photo: 123RF Iran said that it executed three men accused of spying for Israel, the day after a truce between the two countries came into effect. "Idris Ali, Azad Shojai and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, who attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations, were arrested and tried for... cooperation favouring the Zionist regime," the judiciary said, referring to Israel. "The sentence was carried out this morning... and they were hanged." The executions took place in Urmia, a northwestern city near the border with Turkey on Wednesay [local time] the judiciary said, sharing photos of the three men in blue prison uniforms. Tehran regularly announces the arrest and execution of agents suspected of working for foreign intelligence services, including its arch-foe Israel. After the Iran-Israel war erupted on 13 June, Tehran vowed swift trials for people arrested on suspicion of collaborating with its arch-foe. It carried out executions of men accused of being Mossad agents on both Sunday and Monday. Iran is the world's second-most prolific executioner after China, according to human rights groups, including Amnesty International. - AFP
