New Meretz MK Calls for Boycotting Settlements

MK Tamar Zandberg

An article on a new young Meretz Member of Knesset, Tamar Zandberg, was brought to our attention by board member Carolyn Oppenheim. Carolyn remarked that the “interview below lifted my spirit and engaged me.” Carolyn also noticed the connection between Zandberg’s stand and the new pronouncement by the European Union to negatively sanction the settlements; not to mention, of course, that Partners has advocated a boycott of the West Bank settlements for about two years now.

The article is an interview by Maariv’s chief political analyst Mazal Mualem, translated and published in Al Monitor on July 2. This was before the current flurry of news that a new round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority may actually be in the offing, a prospect that she was not optimistic about at the time (and a process that she’s probably still skeptical of because of her doubts about Netanyahu’s intentions). Here’s a selection:

Knesset member Tamar Zandberg of the left-wing Meretz party was born eight years after the Six-Day War, so like her entire generation she has never experienced the territorial reality that preceded it. Her political identity as a secularist, a feminist, and a member of the social left is the direct outcome of well- formulated and lucid worldview regarding what she calls “the injustice of the occupation.” The 37-year-old resident of Tel Aviv is part of that group of young people who made their way into the Knesset in the last elections by riding the wave of the social protests. . . .

Although just five months have passed since the elections, it is already obvious that Zandberg is a rising star on the left, which seemed to have aged rather ungracefully over the past few years. She is eloquent, and she pours all her strength into raising the banner of the diplomatic process, but at the same time she has also managed to forge some “strange” alliances with the right and the ultra-Orthodox parties to advance social legislation. One example of such an ally is Knesset member Moshe Feiglin, a settler and member of the “Jewish leadership,” the most extreme faction of the Likud party. She has been working with him to advance legislation concerning medical marijuana (which would authorize any medical specialist to provide a prescription for cannabis to his patients). Obviously, this particular collaboration does not prevent her from declaring that she does not use goods produced in the settlements, and that she tries not to visit the settlements for ideological reasons.

Skipping to the final question:

Are you more involved with the diplomatic process than with social issues? “In my opinion, the diplomatic process and social issues share the exact same banner. The two issues are intrinsically connected. They are part of the same agenda, starting with the slogan, ‘Money for the neighborhoods and not the settlements.’ The same policy that builds in the territory also gives handouts to millionaires and billionaires. Any attempt to say that it is possible to represent the right in the Knesset while also being concerned about social issues is disingenuous. Can social justice be limited to Jews? Can it stop along the Green Line?”

Read the entire article here: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/07/meretz-boycot-settl ement-goods.html#ixzz2ZPJ0DRXC