How Occupation Changes Israeli Society

Israel controls the Palestinian Westbank since 1967. In Israeli society the public debate about the occupation has shifted from a view that Israel's army was forced into occupation to a more recent view, expressed also by government ministers,  of the occupation being legitimate due to historical and political reasons.  Talk of annexing large parts of the Westbank, which was judged immoral at the beginning of the occupation, has now become a central demand of Israel’s Premier Benjamin Netanyahu. How does this moral shift affect Israeli democracy? And what can be done to focus Israeli public opinion on the impact of occupation on Israel’s society and return to a political process of ending occupation rather than deepening it?

The Israeli journalist Gideon Levy joined the Israeli daily Haaretz 1982. He has extensively covered the Palestinian territories alerting Israeli society to the injustice Israel is inflicting on the civilian population there. Levy was awarded the Olof-Palme-Prize for his fight against occupation and violence in 2016.

 Tessa Szyszkowitz, UK correspondent for PROFIL, Falter, Cicero and author of Echte Engländer, Picus Verlag, September 2018