Dear Friend,
George Hismeh is a reliable Jordanian, who gives us his assessment of where we stand now (of course, from a Palestinian-Arab standpoint, not represented in the US).
The mid-term (American) election gives pause to Israel and Palestinian activists, looking for more "allies" in their version of "progress".
Ending the Occupation seems a long, long way in the future and will take a cataclysmic breakdown of some sort even to be entertained (think the USSR and Eastern Europe). We're not at that tipping point as far as we can tell. But who really knows? "The Shadow Knows" (from the old-time radio series)!
Meanwhile friends, this is no time to give up "hope". People are building friendships with "enemies" on the other side. This is dangerous to continued conflict. It's hard to keep the conflict going when reconciling relationships continue to be built across fences, walls and barriers. And that is what FPI is all about. Thanks for being part of this building story. JRK
New bag of tricks?George S. Hishmeh
The Jordan Times (Opinion)
October 22, 2010 - 12:00am
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=31163
While all the world was watching, silently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to sabotage the US-sponsored “peace talks” with the Palestinians, led by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
Most governments and many international organisations, particularly the United Nations, seemed handcuffed, but the right-wing Israeli government has still lost significant support at home and abroad for its extremist views and shortsightedness.
This disappointing turnaround coincides with another noteworthy milestone, the 15th anniversary of the assassination by an Israeli extremist of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the first Israeli leader to sign a peace agreement, known as the Oslo Peace Accords, with the Palestine Liberation Organisation. (Rabin, the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat and Israeli president Shimon Perez all received the Nobel Peace Prize for their achievement.)
Whatever led the present Israeli leader to seemingly quash the negotiations, shepherded by the Obama administration, remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the Israeli intransigence must have come as a shock to the White House, which had regrettably tried to cajole the Netanyahu government with military and economic rewards.
The Palestinian leadership has, meanwhile, notified Washington that it will hold off on any action until the end of October, the undeclared understanding being that once the mid-term elections are over, President Barack Obama may feel ready to take stiffer actions against Israeli intransigence.
The uncompromising Israeli tone has clearly been echoed here in the public views of American-born Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren and other Israeli apologists, who all attempted to put the blame on the Palestinians who, like the White House, wanted an extension of the moratorium on colonial expansion in the Israeli-occupied territories.?After all, their reasonable expectation is that Israel will recognise that its settlers on illegally occupied Palestinian territories will have to leave once a settlement i? reached.
Ambassador Oren, born Michael Bornstein in upstate New York, the only Jewish boy in a Catholic neighbourhood in New Jersey, says he experienced anti-Semitism on daily basis.?This may explain his confrontational attitude, as was the case when he told reporters this week in Washington that Israel would not allow anyone to dictate its borders.
“Like Ben-Gurion, Netanyahu will not allow the United Nations, or any other organisation, to dictate our borders. They will be determined through negotiations.”
In an op-ed in The New York Times, Oren argued earlier that?“affirmation of Israel’s Jewishness ... is the very foundation of peace, is DNA”. But he did not explain how a fifth of the Israeli people, who are Palestinian Arabs, can then be assured of equal rights with their Jewish neighbours, something they are denied to this very day.
In turn, Jackson Diehl of The Washington Post maintained, mistakenly, that the “settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas but with President Obama - who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote”. He does not understand that construction in occupied lands is illegal under international law. Moreover, the Arab world has always protested the encroachment of Israeli colonists on the occupied Palestinian territories - ?he West Bank and Gaza Strip - a little over one-fifth of pre-1948 Palestine.
The illegal Israeli expansion has been condemned by the United Nations, several international bodies and many nations. This explains why Obama brought the settlement issue up at the UN General Assembly session last month, much to Diehl’s chagrin who saw it as “misguided rhetoric”.
Netanyahu’s arrogance continues to have no boundaries; last week he approved the construction of 240 new housing units in occupied East Jerusalem - a step the liberal Israeli daily, Haaretz, saw as “an attempt to sabotage the efforts to renew direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians”. Maybe the Israeli leader needs to be reminded that even the United States does not recognise Jerusalem as an integral part of Israel, since it still has its consulate in the Arab sector of the Holy City.
Last but not least, Israel now wants to amend its citizenship law whereby newly naturalised Israeli citizens must pledge allegiance to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state”, a step seen as “unapologetically racist”. Lately, apparently on a second thought, Netanyahu said he wants all citizens to take the oath - a point that has divided the Knesset to the extent that it may not pass in any version.
Interestingly, more than a year ago, the Israeli government rejected a similar proposal. But can we be sure that Netanyahu has no additional tricks in his bag that may kill any chances of resuming the negotiations with the Palestinians?
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Are the Settlers a Problem?
Dear Friend of Palestinians and Israelis,
Many Israelis (as below) are upset with the settlers.
Read on. Starting out as a "secular" experiment, the Zionist movement is now undergirded by a powerful religious zeal (with support from "Christian" Zionists in the US.
The settlers think nothing of "settling" all of the land, no matter how much land the Palestinians has to be confiscated, homes demolished, olive orchards destroyed, and countless other indignities.
Pray that the Obama "team" will keep not only Palestinian feet ot the fire, but Israeli's too. JRK
However wonderful they may be, settlers are an insurmountable obstacle to peace
Avi Issacharoff
Haaretz (Analysis)
October 20, 2010 - 12:00am
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/mess-report/however-wonderful-they-may-be-settlers-...
Last week I was invited to visit the Hayovel neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Eli (erected on the 50th anniversary of Israel's establishment). This neighborhood includes several structures that were likely built on Palestinian land and are slated for demolition, pending a court ruling.
I was treated to a pleasant breakfast and a breathtaking view of the Shilo region, and more importantly, I had the pleasure of meeting wonderful unique people, what we call "salt of the earth," who are driven by a sense of duty. Israel Defense Forces officers of the past and the present, social activists (within the Green Line), and many more fine people.
Though most of them have never set foot in a settlement, the Israeli left, especially in Tel Aviv, tends to lump all settlers together – all rightist, extreme, ignorant and narrow minded. In Eli, like in many other settlements, the residents are actually very intelligent and well educated. They are enthusiastic Zionists, true, but not the kind who rejoice when a Palestinian olive grove goes up in flames. In a way I felt envious of these people – while I chase my next scoop they are making their dream of populating the land of Israel come true.
According to Jewish tradition, the settlement of Eli is situated across from Shilo – the capital of the Kingdom of Israel where the pre-temple Ark of the Covenant was housed for 369 years. In the valley between Shilo and Eli, again according to local lore, the women of Israel danced and gave to the Jews the holiday of Tu B'Av – the holiday of love.
I personally believe that under any future agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, these people need to evacuate their land and relocate to land within the Green Line. But I feel obligated to say one or two positive words about the ones I met.
I don't meet a lot of settlers. My journalistic beat encompasses Arabs, and when I do come into contact with Jews living in the West Bank, it is usually when they perpetrate violent incidents, especially during the Palestinian olive harvest. Even during my visit to Eli there were several such violent incidents. On the day before my tour of the area, the residents of the neighboring Palestinian village found that hundreds of their olive trees had been poisoned, apparently by settlers. But the people I met in Eli don't support these kinds of actions.
Now the rightists will say that even in writing these things I am displaying Tel Avivian, condescending qualities because it is obvious that not everyone is the same. But, still, it is important to say these things. It is important to understand that it was the State of Israel that sent these people to live where they currently reside, and now it is the same state trying to pressure them and restrict them. Their pain is understandable as the state tries to freeze their vision, but it is also apparent that the settlement enterprise cannot continue if we want to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
An overview of the region reveals that all the hilltops surrounding Eli are in Jewish hands. Some of them legally owned by Jews, and others illegally claimed. Such is the case in the hilly region surrounding Nablus as well: Yitzhar and its outposts, Itamar and its outposts. The Palestinian aspiration to establish a territorially continuous state seems imaginary, almost infantile, in light of the settlers control over every hilltop surrounding Nablus and Ramallah. Even more imaginary – the discussion surrounding the possibility that Israel will evacuate theses settlements one day. This is an impossible mission, at least for now. We're talking about some 100,000 Jews who will be forced to leave their homes, and that's not to mention the 250,000 Jews living in the settlement blocs that will likely remain under Israeli sovereignty.
The big scandal surrounding the Gaza settlement evacuation, when 9,000 Jews were evacuated, seems like a drop in the ocean when compared to the West Bank. Even if we do achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinians, it is unrealistic to expect the IDF and the police to be able to evacuate such a large number of people. It is especially unrealistic in light of the massive transformation that the IDF is undergoing currently - more and more of its officers are religious Zionists who identify with the right and oppose evacuating settlements.
Will the army be able to complete such a task? I don't have a clear answer. I can be sure, however, that despite my appreciation for the residents of Eli, Shilo and other mainstream settlements, the continuation of construction in these settlements will absolutely prevent the possibility of a peace deal with the Palestinians.
So what is the solution? The one I support remains the two-state solution. I may be overly optimistic, knowing what I know about the changes in the army and on the ground, but regardless, when I listened to the people who hosted my visit in Shilo and its surroundings, the sentence that I kept repeating was that for them, there is no solution.
Many Israelis (as below) are upset with the settlers.
Read on. Starting out as a "secular" experiment, the Zionist movement is now undergirded by a powerful religious zeal (with support from "Christian" Zionists in the US.
The settlers think nothing of "settling" all of the land, no matter how much land the Palestinians has to be confiscated, homes demolished, olive orchards destroyed, and countless other indignities.
Pray that the Obama "team" will keep not only Palestinian feet ot the fire, but Israeli's too. JRK
However wonderful they may be, settlers are an insurmountable obstacle to peace
Avi Issacharoff
Haaretz (Analysis)
October 20, 2010 - 12:00am
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/mess-report/however-wonderful-they-may-be-settlers-...
Last week I was invited to visit the Hayovel neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Eli (erected on the 50th anniversary of Israel's establishment). This neighborhood includes several structures that were likely built on Palestinian land and are slated for demolition, pending a court ruling.
I was treated to a pleasant breakfast and a breathtaking view of the Shilo region, and more importantly, I had the pleasure of meeting wonderful unique people, what we call "salt of the earth," who are driven by a sense of duty. Israel Defense Forces officers of the past and the present, social activists (within the Green Line), and many more fine people.
Though most of them have never set foot in a settlement, the Israeli left, especially in Tel Aviv, tends to lump all settlers together – all rightist, extreme, ignorant and narrow minded. In Eli, like in many other settlements, the residents are actually very intelligent and well educated. They are enthusiastic Zionists, true, but not the kind who rejoice when a Palestinian olive grove goes up in flames. In a way I felt envious of these people – while I chase my next scoop they are making their dream of populating the land of Israel come true.
According to Jewish tradition, the settlement of Eli is situated across from Shilo – the capital of the Kingdom of Israel where the pre-temple Ark of the Covenant was housed for 369 years. In the valley between Shilo and Eli, again according to local lore, the women of Israel danced and gave to the Jews the holiday of Tu B'Av – the holiday of love.
I personally believe that under any future agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, these people need to evacuate their land and relocate to land within the Green Line. But I feel obligated to say one or two positive words about the ones I met.
I don't meet a lot of settlers. My journalistic beat encompasses Arabs, and when I do come into contact with Jews living in the West Bank, it is usually when they perpetrate violent incidents, especially during the Palestinian olive harvest. Even during my visit to Eli there were several such violent incidents. On the day before my tour of the area, the residents of the neighboring Palestinian village found that hundreds of their olive trees had been poisoned, apparently by settlers. But the people I met in Eli don't support these kinds of actions.
Now the rightists will say that even in writing these things I am displaying Tel Avivian, condescending qualities because it is obvious that not everyone is the same. But, still, it is important to say these things. It is important to understand that it was the State of Israel that sent these people to live where they currently reside, and now it is the same state trying to pressure them and restrict them. Their pain is understandable as the state tries to freeze their vision, but it is also apparent that the settlement enterprise cannot continue if we want to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
An overview of the region reveals that all the hilltops surrounding Eli are in Jewish hands. Some of them legally owned by Jews, and others illegally claimed. Such is the case in the hilly region surrounding Nablus as well: Yitzhar and its outposts, Itamar and its outposts. The Palestinian aspiration to establish a territorially continuous state seems imaginary, almost infantile, in light of the settlers control over every hilltop surrounding Nablus and Ramallah. Even more imaginary – the discussion surrounding the possibility that Israel will evacuate theses settlements one day. This is an impossible mission, at least for now. We're talking about some 100,000 Jews who will be forced to leave their homes, and that's not to mention the 250,000 Jews living in the settlement blocs that will likely remain under Israeli sovereignty.
The big scandal surrounding the Gaza settlement evacuation, when 9,000 Jews were evacuated, seems like a drop in the ocean when compared to the West Bank. Even if we do achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinians, it is unrealistic to expect the IDF and the police to be able to evacuate such a large number of people. It is especially unrealistic in light of the massive transformation that the IDF is undergoing currently - more and more of its officers are religious Zionists who identify with the right and oppose evacuating settlements.
Will the army be able to complete such a task? I don't have a clear answer. I can be sure, however, that despite my appreciation for the residents of Eli, Shilo and other mainstream settlements, the continuation of construction in these settlements will absolutely prevent the possibility of a peace deal with the Palestinians.
So what is the solution? The one I support remains the two-state solution. I may be overly optimistic, knowing what I know about the changes in the army and on the ground, but regardless, when I listened to the people who hosted my visit in Shilo and its surroundings, the sentence that I kept repeating was that for them, there is no solution.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Israelis Academics Weigh In on "Loyalty Oath"
Dear Friend,
Tonight, the "Forum" at Hope Church, 7:00 p.m. following up on the Arendshorst presentation.
Here is what many academics think of the "Resolution" passed by the Netanyahu cabinet yesterday:
"We will not be citizens of a fascist state purporting to be Israel"
Press Release October 10, 2010
"We will not be citizens of a fascist state purporting to be Israel" say hundreds of Israeli academics and public figures.
A protest rally against the government's "Loyalty Oath Bill" was held outside the Tel Aviv house. There Ben-Gurion read the 1948 the Declaration of Independence. There, today, the "Declaration of Independence from Fascism" was signed.
"We are citizens of the Israel which was depicted in the Declaration of Independence, a peace-seeking country based on the principles of equality and civil liberties. We do not intend to be the citizens of a state purporting to be Israel which stops being democratic and enbarks on becoming a fascist state," proclaimed intellectuals, public figures, and Israel Prize laureates who gathered this afternoon for a protest rally against the "Loyalty Oath Bill" approved by the government. A protest rally was held on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, in front of the museum building where David Ben Gurion had read the Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Beneath the statue of Meir Dizengoff, first mayor of Tel Aviv, actress Hanna Meron read out from that Declaration of Independence: "The State of Israel will be based on based on Liberty, Justice and Peace, as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations". She noted that, sixty-two years later, the reality of Israel is very different than what the country's Declaration of Independence envisaged. At the end of the rally, a "Declaration of Independence from Fascism" was signed (see full text below).
Among participants in the initiative were Shulamit Aloni, Uri Avnery, Alex Ansky, Shery Ansky, Menachem Brinker, Ran Cohen, Ruth Cohen, Yaron Ezrachi, Galia Golan, Haim Guri, Sna'it Gisis, Yoram Kaniuk, Dani Karavan, Yehoshua Knaz, Elia Leibowitz, Alex Libak, Hanna Meron, Sammy Michael, Merav Michaeli, Sefi Rachlevsky, Gabi Solomon, David Tartakower, Micha Ullman, and many others.
Following is the full text of the Declaration of Independence from Fascism:
A state which forcibly invades the hallowed realm of the individual citizen's conscience, and which imposes punishment on those whose opinions and beliefs do not fit the authorities' opinions and the prescribed "character" of the state, stops being a democracy and embarks on becoming a fascist state.
Behind these stairs where we stand, the state of Israel was proclaimed. The state which increasingly takes Israel's place – a state which fills the country with a variety of racist legislation, promoted by the Knesset and the cabinet – is excluding itself from the family of democratic nations. Therefore we, citizens of the Israel envisaged in the Declaration of Independence, hereby declare that will not be citizens of a country purporting to be Israel and which violates its basic commitment to the principles of equality, civil liberty and sincere aspiration for peace – principles upon which the State of Israel was founded.
Contact: Sefi Rachlevsky 052-7078075
Tonight, the "Forum" at Hope Church, 7:00 p.m. following up on the Arendshorst presentation.
Here is what many academics think of the "Resolution" passed by the Netanyahu cabinet yesterday:
"We will not be citizens of a fascist state purporting to be Israel"
Press Release October 10, 2010
"We will not be citizens of a fascist state purporting to be Israel" say hundreds of Israeli academics and public figures.
A protest rally against the government's "Loyalty Oath Bill" was held outside the Tel Aviv house. There Ben-Gurion read the 1948 the Declaration of Independence. There, today, the "Declaration of Independence from Fascism" was signed.
"We are citizens of the Israel which was depicted in the Declaration of Independence, a peace-seeking country based on the principles of equality and civil liberties. We do not intend to be the citizens of a state purporting to be Israel which stops being democratic and enbarks on becoming a fascist state," proclaimed intellectuals, public figures, and Israel Prize laureates who gathered this afternoon for a protest rally against the "Loyalty Oath Bill" approved by the government. A protest rally was held on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, in front of the museum building where David Ben Gurion had read the Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Beneath the statue of Meir Dizengoff, first mayor of Tel Aviv, actress Hanna Meron read out from that Declaration of Independence: "The State of Israel will be based on based on Liberty, Justice and Peace, as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations". She noted that, sixty-two years later, the reality of Israel is very different than what the country's Declaration of Independence envisaged. At the end of the rally, a "Declaration of Independence from Fascism" was signed (see full text below).
Among participants in the initiative were Shulamit Aloni, Uri Avnery, Alex Ansky, Shery Ansky, Menachem Brinker, Ran Cohen, Ruth Cohen, Yaron Ezrachi, Galia Golan, Haim Guri, Sna'it Gisis, Yoram Kaniuk, Dani Karavan, Yehoshua Knaz, Elia Leibowitz, Alex Libak, Hanna Meron, Sammy Michael, Merav Michaeli, Sefi Rachlevsky, Gabi Solomon, David Tartakower, Micha Ullman, and many others.
Following is the full text of the Declaration of Independence from Fascism:
A state which forcibly invades the hallowed realm of the individual citizen's conscience, and which imposes punishment on those whose opinions and beliefs do not fit the authorities' opinions and the prescribed "character" of the state, stops being a democracy and embarks on becoming a fascist state.
Behind these stairs where we stand, the state of Israel was proclaimed. The state which increasingly takes Israel's place – a state which fills the country with a variety of racist legislation, promoted by the Knesset and the cabinet – is excluding itself from the family of democratic nations. Therefore we, citizens of the Israel envisaged in the Declaration of Independence, hereby declare that will not be citizens of a country purporting to be Israel and which violates its basic commitment to the principles of equality, civil liberty and sincere aspiration for peace – principles upon which the State of Israel was founded.
Contact: Sefi Rachlevsky 052-7078075
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Fight Fire with Water, not More Fire!
Dear Friend,
It would be news if Muslims torched a Synogogue. Outrage in the Western press would overflow.
But when Settlers torch a Mosque, where is the outrage?
Here is the news story from the Christian Science Monitor; and attached, is a particularly pointed and accurate anecdote to how it should be dealt with. Peace, Justice, Love, JRK
Tel Aviv, Israel – Israel is worried that Jewish militants torched a West Bank mosque overnight Monday in a bid to undermine peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
A mosque in the Palestinian village of Beit Fajar, just south of Bethlehem, became the fourth in the last two years to be the target of an arson attempt, according to human rights workers. The attack is believed to be part of a campaign by vigilante settlers to ignite violence by attacking Muslim holy sites.
"Whoever did this is a terrorist in every sense of the word, and intended to hurt the chances for peace and dialogue with the Palestinians,'' said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a statement. "This was a shameful act that besmirched the State of Israel and its value."
Perpetrators of previous attacks against mosques have left behind in Hebrew graffiti the words "price tag," referring to a policy of using violence against Palestinians and Israeli security forces in retaliation for outpost evacuations and militant attacks on settlers.
The price tag campaign is seen by experts as an attempt by militant settlers to deter Israel from making concessions to Palestinians, either by evacuating illegal settler outposts or by temporarily halting settlement expansion in the West Bank. Militant settlers have rioted in Palestinian villages and uprooted crops belonging to Palestinian farmers.
Now Friends, here is a comment to the CSM story by "Bobi", may she be blessed eternally [JRK]
Who did it? We know who did it. This damage to a house of worship was done by fundamentalist radicals. Does it make any difference which flavor? No it doesn't make any difference at all. What makes a difference is if the fundamentalist radicals damage the peace efforts. The buildings can be repaired and the books replaced. What can't be repaired or replaced are the lives of the innocent people in all the countries in the region who's lives are being destroyed. That would be the vast majority in all the countries in the Middle East.
The best ancedote for this kind of fundamentalist radical behavior is for the moslems to repair and replace damage done to synagoges and the jewish people to repair and replace damage done to mosques. This is what actually happens most of the time and is the really important news.
Reporters need to focus more on the good news and take away the forum from the fundamentalist radical extremist terrorists on both sides. When you trump terrorist activities with good works, then terrorism loses its power over all of us.
Israel, replace the burned books with better than they lost, send in faithful Muslims from Israel to repair the building, send in the materials for the repair of the building, and take control back over your own country. Muslims do the same. You both have to fight fire with water. Water is the source of life, cool and refreshing, fire is not (Bobi, on comments to the main story).
It would be news if Muslims torched a Synogogue. Outrage in the Western press would overflow.
But when Settlers torch a Mosque, where is the outrage?
Here is the news story from the Christian Science Monitor; and attached, is a particularly pointed and accurate anecdote to how it should be dealt with. Peace, Justice, Love, JRK
Tel Aviv, Israel – Israel is worried that Jewish militants torched a West Bank mosque overnight Monday in a bid to undermine peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
A mosque in the Palestinian village of Beit Fajar, just south of Bethlehem, became the fourth in the last two years to be the target of an arson attempt, according to human rights workers. The attack is believed to be part of a campaign by vigilante settlers to ignite violence by attacking Muslim holy sites.
"Whoever did this is a terrorist in every sense of the word, and intended to hurt the chances for peace and dialogue with the Palestinians,'' said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a statement. "This was a shameful act that besmirched the State of Israel and its value."
Perpetrators of previous attacks against mosques have left behind in Hebrew graffiti the words "price tag," referring to a policy of using violence against Palestinians and Israeli security forces in retaliation for outpost evacuations and militant attacks on settlers.
The price tag campaign is seen by experts as an attempt by militant settlers to deter Israel from making concessions to Palestinians, either by evacuating illegal settler outposts or by temporarily halting settlement expansion in the West Bank. Militant settlers have rioted in Palestinian villages and uprooted crops belonging to Palestinian farmers.
Now Friends, here is a comment to the CSM story by "Bobi", may she be blessed eternally [JRK]
Who did it? We know who did it. This damage to a house of worship was done by fundamentalist radicals. Does it make any difference which flavor? No it doesn't make any difference at all. What makes a difference is if the fundamentalist radicals damage the peace efforts. The buildings can be repaired and the books replaced. What can't be repaired or replaced are the lives of the innocent people in all the countries in the region who's lives are being destroyed. That would be the vast majority in all the countries in the Middle East.
The best ancedote for this kind of fundamentalist radical behavior is for the moslems to repair and replace damage done to synagoges and the jewish people to repair and replace damage done to mosques. This is what actually happens most of the time and is the really important news.
Reporters need to focus more on the good news and take away the forum from the fundamentalist radical extremist terrorists on both sides. When you trump terrorist activities with good works, then terrorism loses its power over all of us.
Israel, replace the burned books with better than they lost, send in faithful Muslims from Israel to repair the building, send in the materials for the repair of the building, and take control back over your own country. Muslims do the same. You both have to fight fire with water. Water is the source of life, cool and refreshing, fire is not (Bobi, on comments to the main story).
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Push for the Right to Vote
Dear Friend,
Robert Wright has an idea: Palestinians demonstating to vote in "democratic" Israel. They are living on the land more and more totally occupied by Israel. Why not work to be considered true citizens of the country?
It is, unfortunately, idealistic to think the Palestinians can forget about giving up the "right to their land". Israel is no more likely to give them "a vote" as it is to end their "occupation" of Palestinian land. It will take US initiative in withholding support for Israeli occupation for anything significant to "happen", IMHO. JRK
A One-to-Two-State SolutionRobert Wright
The New York Times (Blog)
September 28, 2010 - 12:00am
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/a-one-to-two-state-solution/?ref...
This week’s bad news from the West Bank — the resumption of settlement construction after a 10-month moratorium, just as a new round of peace talks had gotten underway — didn’t much dampen optimism among seasoned Middle East watchers.
That’s because there wasn’t much optimism to dampen. For the past few years, more and more people who follow these things have been saying that the perennial goal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks — a two-state solution — will never be reached in any event.
These experts fall into two camps.
The more upbeat, while pessimistic about a two-state solution, hold out hope for a “one-state solution”: Israel gains uncontested possession of the West Bank and Gaza but gives Palestinians who live there the vote, and Israel evolves from a Jewish state into a stable and peaceful secular state.
People in the other camp — the pure, 100-percent pessimists — say that even if such a thing could work, even if a democracy with about as many Arabs as Jews could function, it isn’t going to happen; most Israelis would never admit a large and growing Arab population to the electorate.
But there’s a third possibility that nobody ever talks about. Pursuing a one-state solution could actually lead to a two-state solution. Instead of following the current road map to a Palestinian state, maybe we can get there by detour.
One key to working up enthusiasm for this detour is to get clear on the nature of the roadblock.
It’s common to say that Israel’s intransigence on the settlements issue reflects the growing strength of the right, especially the religious fundamentalists who do much of the settling. But at least as big a problem as the zeal of the radicals is the apathy of the moderates.
A recent Time magazine cover story — “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace” — explained why many Israelis just don’t think a peace deal is all that important: they’ve already got peace. Ever since Israel built its security wall, they’ve been safe from suicide bombers, and homemade rockets from Gaza can’t reach them. They’re prosperous to boot. What’s not to like?
So long as this attitude prevails, the far right will have veto power over policy in the occupied territory. For a peace deal to happen, Israel’s centrists need to get jarred out of their indifference. Someone needs to scare these people.
There’s a way for Palestinians to do that — and not the usual way, with bombs and rockets. Quite the opposite.
If Palestinians want to strike fear into the hearts of Israelis they should (a) give up on violence as a tool of persuasion; (b) give up on the current round of negotiations; and (c) start holding demonstrations in which they ask for only one thing: the right to vote. Their argument would be simple: They live under Israeli rule, and Israel is a democracy, so why aren’t they part of it?
A truly peaceful movement with such elemental aspirations — think of Martin Luther King or Gandhi — would gain immediate international support. In Europe and the United States, leftists would agitate in growing numbers for economic and political pressure on Israel.
In 2002, some Harvard students urged the university to purge investments in Israel from its portfolio, and the president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, suggested that the disinvestment movement was anti-Semitic. This time there would be a lot more students, and no university president would call them anti-Semitic. All they’d be saying is that if Israel isn’t going to give up the occupied territories — and, let’s face it, the current government isn’t exactly in headlong pursuit of that goal — it should give Arabs living there the same rights it gives Jews living there.
As momentum grew — more Palestinians marching, more international support for them, thus more Palestinians marching, and so on — the complacent Israeli center would get way less complacent. Suddenly facing a choice between a one-state solution and international ostracism, reasonable Israelis would develop a burning attraction to a two-state solution — and a sudden intolerance for religious zealots who stood in the way of it. Before long Israel would be pondering two-state deals more generous than anything that’s been seriously discussed to date.
Obviously, neutralizing Israeli extremists wouldn’t get rid of all obstacles to peace. For one thing, there are the Palestinian extremists. They could sabotage peaceful progress with attention-grabbing violence, and Hamas, in particular, has shown as much. But that problem, which looms large on the current road to peace, would loom smaller on the detour.
For starters, if a peaceful suffrage movement gave Palestinians the vigorous international support they’ve long sought, it would be hard for Hamas to conspicuously oppose it.
Besides, given the Arab birth rate, for Arabs to get the vote would theoretically put them on the path toward effective control of Israel, which is exactly what Hamas says it wants. It would be kind of awkward for Hamas to stand in the way of that.
Of course, once Israel started talking seriously about a two-state deal, Hamas could revert to fierce opposition. But if indeed the deal being discussed was more generous than those discussed in the past, the success of the Palestinian peace movement would be undeniable. Hamas might persist in its obstructionism, but it would have less support than it has now. That’s progress.
Given the ongoing damage done to America’s national security by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it’s in America’s interest for Israelis to feel intensely eager for a two-state deal. And some do.
As for the others: if they really grasped their predicament, they’d be intensely eager as well. The menu of futures for Israel features only three items: (1) two-state solution; (2) one-state solution; (3) something really, really horrible. There’s just no way that the situation will simmer indefinitely without boiling over, whether via nuclear bomb (purchased by terrorists from cash-hungry North Korea, say), or via a tit-for-tat exchange with Hamas or Hezbollah that spins out of control, bringing a devastating regional war, or via some other path to catastrophe.
Sooner or later, something will alert Israel’s unfortunately silent majority to the high price of leaving the Palestinian issue unresolved. The only question is whether by then the price will have already been paid.
Robert Wright has an idea: Palestinians demonstating to vote in "democratic" Israel. They are living on the land more and more totally occupied by Israel. Why not work to be considered true citizens of the country?
It is, unfortunately, idealistic to think the Palestinians can forget about giving up the "right to their land". Israel is no more likely to give them "a vote" as it is to end their "occupation" of Palestinian land. It will take US initiative in withholding support for Israeli occupation for anything significant to "happen", IMHO. JRK
A One-to-Two-State SolutionRobert Wright
The New York Times (Blog)
September 28, 2010 - 12:00am
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/a-one-to-two-state-solution/?ref...
This week’s bad news from the West Bank — the resumption of settlement construction after a 10-month moratorium, just as a new round of peace talks had gotten underway — didn’t much dampen optimism among seasoned Middle East watchers.
That’s because there wasn’t much optimism to dampen. For the past few years, more and more people who follow these things have been saying that the perennial goal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks — a two-state solution — will never be reached in any event.
These experts fall into two camps.
The more upbeat, while pessimistic about a two-state solution, hold out hope for a “one-state solution”: Israel gains uncontested possession of the West Bank and Gaza but gives Palestinians who live there the vote, and Israel evolves from a Jewish state into a stable and peaceful secular state.
People in the other camp — the pure, 100-percent pessimists — say that even if such a thing could work, even if a democracy with about as many Arabs as Jews could function, it isn’t going to happen; most Israelis would never admit a large and growing Arab population to the electorate.
But there’s a third possibility that nobody ever talks about. Pursuing a one-state solution could actually lead to a two-state solution. Instead of following the current road map to a Palestinian state, maybe we can get there by detour.
One key to working up enthusiasm for this detour is to get clear on the nature of the roadblock.
It’s common to say that Israel’s intransigence on the settlements issue reflects the growing strength of the right, especially the religious fundamentalists who do much of the settling. But at least as big a problem as the zeal of the radicals is the apathy of the moderates.
A recent Time magazine cover story — “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace” — explained why many Israelis just don’t think a peace deal is all that important: they’ve already got peace. Ever since Israel built its security wall, they’ve been safe from suicide bombers, and homemade rockets from Gaza can’t reach them. They’re prosperous to boot. What’s not to like?
So long as this attitude prevails, the far right will have veto power over policy in the occupied territory. For a peace deal to happen, Israel’s centrists need to get jarred out of their indifference. Someone needs to scare these people.
There’s a way for Palestinians to do that — and not the usual way, with bombs and rockets. Quite the opposite.
If Palestinians want to strike fear into the hearts of Israelis they should (a) give up on violence as a tool of persuasion; (b) give up on the current round of negotiations; and (c) start holding demonstrations in which they ask for only one thing: the right to vote. Their argument would be simple: They live under Israeli rule, and Israel is a democracy, so why aren’t they part of it?
A truly peaceful movement with such elemental aspirations — think of Martin Luther King or Gandhi — would gain immediate international support. In Europe and the United States, leftists would agitate in growing numbers for economic and political pressure on Israel.
In 2002, some Harvard students urged the university to purge investments in Israel from its portfolio, and the president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, suggested that the disinvestment movement was anti-Semitic. This time there would be a lot more students, and no university president would call them anti-Semitic. All they’d be saying is that if Israel isn’t going to give up the occupied territories — and, let’s face it, the current government isn’t exactly in headlong pursuit of that goal — it should give Arabs living there the same rights it gives Jews living there.
As momentum grew — more Palestinians marching, more international support for them, thus more Palestinians marching, and so on — the complacent Israeli center would get way less complacent. Suddenly facing a choice between a one-state solution and international ostracism, reasonable Israelis would develop a burning attraction to a two-state solution — and a sudden intolerance for religious zealots who stood in the way of it. Before long Israel would be pondering two-state deals more generous than anything that’s been seriously discussed to date.
Obviously, neutralizing Israeli extremists wouldn’t get rid of all obstacles to peace. For one thing, there are the Palestinian extremists. They could sabotage peaceful progress with attention-grabbing violence, and Hamas, in particular, has shown as much. But that problem, which looms large on the current road to peace, would loom smaller on the detour.
For starters, if a peaceful suffrage movement gave Palestinians the vigorous international support they’ve long sought, it would be hard for Hamas to conspicuously oppose it.
Besides, given the Arab birth rate, for Arabs to get the vote would theoretically put them on the path toward effective control of Israel, which is exactly what Hamas says it wants. It would be kind of awkward for Hamas to stand in the way of that.
Of course, once Israel started talking seriously about a two-state deal, Hamas could revert to fierce opposition. But if indeed the deal being discussed was more generous than those discussed in the past, the success of the Palestinian peace movement would be undeniable. Hamas might persist in its obstructionism, but it would have less support than it has now. That’s progress.
Given the ongoing damage done to America’s national security by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it’s in America’s interest for Israelis to feel intensely eager for a two-state deal. And some do.
As for the others: if they really grasped their predicament, they’d be intensely eager as well. The menu of futures for Israel features only three items: (1) two-state solution; (2) one-state solution; (3) something really, really horrible. There’s just no way that the situation will simmer indefinitely without boiling over, whether via nuclear bomb (purchased by terrorists from cash-hungry North Korea, say), or via a tit-for-tat exchange with Hamas or Hezbollah that spins out of control, bringing a devastating regional war, or via some other path to catastrophe.
Sooner or later, something will alert Israel’s unfortunately silent majority to the high price of leaving the Palestinian issue unresolved. The only question is whether by then the price will have already been paid.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Affirm this Letter!
Dear Friend,
Read the enclosed text of the letter sent to our President by the CMEP (Churches for ME Peace). It deserves to be disseminated and supported by you and others.
Written on August 30, it still expresses the hope that the parties will act in the best interests of each other.
It isn't just what they "say" (about settlements, e.g.). It is that the Israelis are actually refraining from adding to the settlements, perhaps even after the September 26 deadline passes (despite what is being reported in the press today).
Israel has been reluctant to add to the settlements ever since the Obama "team" made such a Big Deal out of it this spring; AND because Clinton, Mitchell and Obama are continuing to MAKE a BIG DEAL out of continuing the "freeze" RIGHT NOW.
This letter is gaining support, even among "evangelicals", (Jim Wallis, Lynne Hybels (Willow Creek Church), Gradye Parsons (PC-USA), Wes Granberg-Michaelson (RCA) and Tony Campolo.
There are so many ways for this current series of "negotiations" to "FAIL". We need not enumerate them.
But here is what is needed now: Right thinking. Courage. Moderation. Persistence in the face of serious distractions. Considering what is best for "the other"; not being deterred by the violence and counter violence even now taking place, in Gaza, e.g.
If Abbas can get this "done", it will be a blow to the rejectionists (HAMAS); and Netanyahu will be able to restrain the extremists in his Likud base (the settlers).
There are still many "ifs" that need definition and action. There is risk for our President as well, and a challenge he must face: The Israeli lobby.
We have been quick to criticize Palestinians "violence" and withhold support; we must also be ready to keep criticizing Israeli settlement resumption, and be ready to withhold support for it--something it will be hard for Obama to do politically as well. Yet with our support, he will be able to stand up for what is "right".
President Obama has correctly "framed" the issues: 1) Security for Israel (peace); and 2) Sovereignty for Palestinians (justice). Each demands the other.
There is no peace without justice; there is no justice without "concern for what is best for the other". Persistence in making the right choices, again and again, until we get it right. These times test the character of the American, Israeli and Palestinians soul. We need to grow up. All of us.
Pray and work as if your life depends on it; Pray and hope as if all depends on "God". And you'll get it right. JRK
August 30, 2010
Dear Mr. President,
As leaders of American Christian faith communities deeply concerned with the need to end the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, we are pleased with the success of your diplomacy in bringing the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of the Palestinian Authority together in Washington September 1-2 to restart direct negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement on final status issues within the coming year. We fully support your goal of ending the occupation that began in 1967 and achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace with a viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security.
At the same time we have no illusions about the difficulty of the task ahead. Both sides hold deep convictions contrary to those held by the other. Although many issues have been clarified in past negotiations, major compromises by both sides will be needed at considerable political risk and cost. Without your help it seems unlikely that an agreement can be reached. Time is short. If an agreement is not reached within the coming year, it may not be reachable at all.
For that reason we call on you and your negotiating team to continue your vigilant efforts to help the parties find acceptable solutions. We are heartened by the statement of Senator George Mitchell that he will remain closely involved in the negotiations. The U.S. will need to empower both sides to take risks for peace and when necessary to make proposals to bridge remaining differences. The United States must be clear that actions or words by either side in the coming year that undermine confidence in the negotiations, incite disrespect or prejudge the outcome of final status issues will not be tolerated.
In support of this effort, we pledge to maintain and expand our dialogue on this issue with American Jewish and Palestinian communities and to assure them of our steadfast support for achieving the aspirations of both Israel and the Palestinian people for peace and security.
Mr. President, we are praying for you as you seek to bring God's justice and peace to a place torn by walls and weapons. We are convinced that with your vigilant support this dream can be fulfilled, and the lives of Palestinians and Israelis, as well as U.S. national security interests, can be transformed for the better.
Sincerely,
Read the enclosed text of the letter sent to our President by the CMEP (Churches for ME Peace). It deserves to be disseminated and supported by you and others.
Written on August 30, it still expresses the hope that the parties will act in the best interests of each other.
It isn't just what they "say" (about settlements, e.g.). It is that the Israelis are actually refraining from adding to the settlements, perhaps even after the September 26 deadline passes (despite what is being reported in the press today).
Israel has been reluctant to add to the settlements ever since the Obama "team" made such a Big Deal out of it this spring; AND because Clinton, Mitchell and Obama are continuing to MAKE a BIG DEAL out of continuing the "freeze" RIGHT NOW.
This letter is gaining support, even among "evangelicals", (Jim Wallis, Lynne Hybels (Willow Creek Church), Gradye Parsons (PC-USA), Wes Granberg-Michaelson (RCA) and Tony Campolo.
There are so many ways for this current series of "negotiations" to "FAIL". We need not enumerate them.
But here is what is needed now: Right thinking. Courage. Moderation. Persistence in the face of serious distractions. Considering what is best for "the other"; not being deterred by the violence and counter violence even now taking place, in Gaza, e.g.
If Abbas can get this "done", it will be a blow to the rejectionists (HAMAS); and Netanyahu will be able to restrain the extremists in his Likud base (the settlers).
There are still many "ifs" that need definition and action. There is risk for our President as well, and a challenge he must face: The Israeli lobby.
We have been quick to criticize Palestinians "violence" and withhold support; we must also be ready to keep criticizing Israeli settlement resumption, and be ready to withhold support for it--something it will be hard for Obama to do politically as well. Yet with our support, he will be able to stand up for what is "right".
President Obama has correctly "framed" the issues: 1) Security for Israel (peace); and 2) Sovereignty for Palestinians (justice). Each demands the other.
There is no peace without justice; there is no justice without "concern for what is best for the other". Persistence in making the right choices, again and again, until we get it right. These times test the character of the American, Israeli and Palestinians soul. We need to grow up. All of us.
Pray and work as if your life depends on it; Pray and hope as if all depends on "God". And you'll get it right. JRK
August 30, 2010
Dear Mr. President,
As leaders of American Christian faith communities deeply concerned with the need to end the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, we are pleased with the success of your diplomacy in bringing the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of the Palestinian Authority together in Washington September 1-2 to restart direct negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement on final status issues within the coming year. We fully support your goal of ending the occupation that began in 1967 and achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace with a viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security.
At the same time we have no illusions about the difficulty of the task ahead. Both sides hold deep convictions contrary to those held by the other. Although many issues have been clarified in past negotiations, major compromises by both sides will be needed at considerable political risk and cost. Without your help it seems unlikely that an agreement can be reached. Time is short. If an agreement is not reached within the coming year, it may not be reachable at all.
For that reason we call on you and your negotiating team to continue your vigilant efforts to help the parties find acceptable solutions. We are heartened by the statement of Senator George Mitchell that he will remain closely involved in the negotiations. The U.S. will need to empower both sides to take risks for peace and when necessary to make proposals to bridge remaining differences. The United States must be clear that actions or words by either side in the coming year that undermine confidence in the negotiations, incite disrespect or prejudge the outcome of final status issues will not be tolerated.
In support of this effort, we pledge to maintain and expand our dialogue on this issue with American Jewish and Palestinian communities and to assure them of our steadfast support for achieving the aspirations of both Israel and the Palestinian people for peace and security.
Mr. President, we are praying for you as you seek to bring God's justice and peace to a place torn by walls and weapons. We are convinced that with your vigilant support this dream can be fulfilled, and the lives of Palestinians and Israelis, as well as U.S. national security interests, can be transformed for the better.
Sincerely,
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A Hopeful View of the Negotiations
Dear Friend,
Well-known leaders like Gershon Baskin cast the right vision. Will "leaders", the current P.M. and President and their entourage "make it happen" and carry their constituents along with them?
The situation is NOT insoluble. Israeli "security" and Palestinian "sovereignty" are not mutually exclusive. But it will take "work", making room for "the Other". Pray that we may all make room for "the Others" in our midst.
Palestinians are making headway with "infrastructure" and economic viability, inspite of the oppressive atmosphere. What if the creative energies of both peoples could be even more greatly unleashed? Side by side, in cooperation instead of conflict? For this we must fervently hope (and work)! Faithfully yours, JRK
Gershon Baskin
The Jerusalem Post (Opinion)
September 14, 2010 - 12:00am
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=188020
TWO RIGHTS DON'T MAKE IT WRONG
Yes, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is right – why should Israel continue the settlement freeze; after all, everyone knows Gilo will never be Palestinian. Ramot Eshkol will not be part of the Palestinian capital of al-Kuds, nor will Pisgat Ze’ev? Palestinians should understand that there are certain facts that will not be undone. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City and the Western Wall will remain under Israeli sovereignty in any peace agreement; without this, there can be no peace and certainly the Palestinians should realize this by now.
Yes, but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is also right – why should the Palestinians enter new negotiations while Israel continues to build settlements on land which will become part of the Palestinian state? Haven’t too many Israeli facts already been created on the ground? The last time Netanyahu was prime minister, Har Homa didn’t exist, but now look at it – another Israeli city built on Palestinian land. The whole need to find land to swap comes from the facts that Israel has created, illegally by international law.
YES, BOTH sides are right. Palestinians and Palestinian-supporters will argue that there is no moral equivalent in the above claims. Israel has acted illegally and settlements were explicitly built by some former (and current) politicians to prevent the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.
There are two defining elements of Palestinian identity – the nakba (catastrophe) and dispersal of 1948 and settlements. For 43 years, Palestinians have watched their land get swallowed up as their dream of liberation, freedom and independence has withered with each new home built in the West Bank.
The settlement presence has meant land expropriation, bypass roads, usurping of water reserves, confiscation of natural resources such as stone quarries, and the entire system of controls – fences, roadblocks, barriers, walls and lots of IDF soldiers.
There is no way for any Palestinian to have any sympathy for settlers or settlements.
Their very presence is a daily reminder of their lack of freedom in their own land.
It is equally impossible for settlers, I imagine, to feel any sympathy for the Palestinians. Almost no settler will understand that Palestinians believe they made their most painful compromise already when they accepted the two-state solution within the 1967 borders. Settlers cannot see that when the Palestinian national movement officially accepted the idea of two states in November 1988 it was giving up 78 percent of what it believed to be its birthright – all of the land that was the State of Israel prior to June 5, 1967.
Palestinians sincerely believe that all of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean legitimately belongs to them (as many Israelis believe that the entire land from the river to the sea belongs to them), and that the creation of the State of Israel was an historic injustice to them as they had nothing to do with the Holocaust. The Palestinians cannot see and accept what I do – that the birth of Israel was a moral imperative and that the Jewish people had the same right as all other peoples to a state of their own in their historic land.
And yes, so do the Palestinians. The creation of a Palestinian state today is a moral imperative for both Jews and Palestinians, and the Jewish people should be the most vocal advocates of the rights of the Palestinian people.
THE CLASH of the rights of these two peoples is the greatest wrong to both of them. The lingering bloody and tragic conflict must come to an end. Those leaders who cling to excuses to foil the chance of finding a way out of this mess are criminally negligent and dangerous.
Those Israeli and Palestinian citizens who encourage their leaders to provoke an early death to the new negotiations are nothing less than traitors to their own people.
There is a way out of this conflict. We are not destined to live by the sword forever. There are solutions to the issues. Israel can be secure and recognized; Jerusalem can be our eternal capital, recognized by all the nations of the world. Israel can be the magnet, the just and model society that will attract more Jews to come here to live. Israel can continue to shine in the field of hi-tech communications, biotech, agrotech and more.
Palestine too can prosper and shine. Palestine can be the first truly democratic Arab state, with the most advanced education system in the Arab region, the highest use of renewable energy, modern technology in industry and agriculture, a new and prospering hi-tech sector rapidly developing in cooperation with Israeli companies. The entrepreneurial spirit which has enabled the Palestinians to survive from one disaster to another can be the fertile ground on which a new economy of Internet-age Palestinians can be built.
We need to let loose the energies in both societies that are locked up by the continued conflict. This is much truer about Palestine than Israel, but in Israel as well, too much energy is improperly invested in the survival mode necessary to sustain us in conflict rather than in the creative mode which is sparked by security and liberation. We must let that energy loose. We can all be so much more than we are today.
This is not romantic kumbaya. Make no mistake, our spirit and our belief in our own abilities is the essence of our life, hope is the fire of our souls and the realization of our most noble dreams is the goal that we must achieve. There are those of us, maybe the majority, who cry woe about the horrible fate that has been bestowed on us. There are those of us who see that real peace is a real possibility and that the enormous amount of energy and money that has gone into fostering conflict can now be diverted to education, health care, science, discovery, the environment, the arts, and not just the fact of our existence.
The rights of both peoples do not have to be mutually negating; they can be mutually sustaining and fulfilling. The only way for that to happen is for us to end the blood feud, recognize each others’ rights to this land and make real peace.
Well-known leaders like Gershon Baskin cast the right vision. Will "leaders", the current P.M. and President and their entourage "make it happen" and carry their constituents along with them?
The situation is NOT insoluble. Israeli "security" and Palestinian "sovereignty" are not mutually exclusive. But it will take "work", making room for "the Other". Pray that we may all make room for "the Others" in our midst.
Palestinians are making headway with "infrastructure" and economic viability, inspite of the oppressive atmosphere. What if the creative energies of both peoples could be even more greatly unleashed? Side by side, in cooperation instead of conflict? For this we must fervently hope (and work)! Faithfully yours, JRK
Gershon Baskin
The Jerusalem Post (Opinion)
September 14, 2010 - 12:00am
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=188020
TWO RIGHTS DON'T MAKE IT WRONG
Yes, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is right – why should Israel continue the settlement freeze; after all, everyone knows Gilo will never be Palestinian. Ramot Eshkol will not be part of the Palestinian capital of al-Kuds, nor will Pisgat Ze’ev? Palestinians should understand that there are certain facts that will not be undone. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City and the Western Wall will remain under Israeli sovereignty in any peace agreement; without this, there can be no peace and certainly the Palestinians should realize this by now.
Yes, but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is also right – why should the Palestinians enter new negotiations while Israel continues to build settlements on land which will become part of the Palestinian state? Haven’t too many Israeli facts already been created on the ground? The last time Netanyahu was prime minister, Har Homa didn’t exist, but now look at it – another Israeli city built on Palestinian land. The whole need to find land to swap comes from the facts that Israel has created, illegally by international law.
YES, BOTH sides are right. Palestinians and Palestinian-supporters will argue that there is no moral equivalent in the above claims. Israel has acted illegally and settlements were explicitly built by some former (and current) politicians to prevent the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.
There are two defining elements of Palestinian identity – the nakba (catastrophe) and dispersal of 1948 and settlements. For 43 years, Palestinians have watched their land get swallowed up as their dream of liberation, freedom and independence has withered with each new home built in the West Bank.
The settlement presence has meant land expropriation, bypass roads, usurping of water reserves, confiscation of natural resources such as stone quarries, and the entire system of controls – fences, roadblocks, barriers, walls and lots of IDF soldiers.
There is no way for any Palestinian to have any sympathy for settlers or settlements.
Their very presence is a daily reminder of their lack of freedom in their own land.
It is equally impossible for settlers, I imagine, to feel any sympathy for the Palestinians. Almost no settler will understand that Palestinians believe they made their most painful compromise already when they accepted the two-state solution within the 1967 borders. Settlers cannot see that when the Palestinian national movement officially accepted the idea of two states in November 1988 it was giving up 78 percent of what it believed to be its birthright – all of the land that was the State of Israel prior to June 5, 1967.
Palestinians sincerely believe that all of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean legitimately belongs to them (as many Israelis believe that the entire land from the river to the sea belongs to them), and that the creation of the State of Israel was an historic injustice to them as they had nothing to do with the Holocaust. The Palestinians cannot see and accept what I do – that the birth of Israel was a moral imperative and that the Jewish people had the same right as all other peoples to a state of their own in their historic land.
And yes, so do the Palestinians. The creation of a Palestinian state today is a moral imperative for both Jews and Palestinians, and the Jewish people should be the most vocal advocates of the rights of the Palestinian people.
THE CLASH of the rights of these two peoples is the greatest wrong to both of them. The lingering bloody and tragic conflict must come to an end. Those leaders who cling to excuses to foil the chance of finding a way out of this mess are criminally negligent and dangerous.
Those Israeli and Palestinian citizens who encourage their leaders to provoke an early death to the new negotiations are nothing less than traitors to their own people.
There is a way out of this conflict. We are not destined to live by the sword forever. There are solutions to the issues. Israel can be secure and recognized; Jerusalem can be our eternal capital, recognized by all the nations of the world. Israel can be the magnet, the just and model society that will attract more Jews to come here to live. Israel can continue to shine in the field of hi-tech communications, biotech, agrotech and more.
Palestine too can prosper and shine. Palestine can be the first truly democratic Arab state, with the most advanced education system in the Arab region, the highest use of renewable energy, modern technology in industry and agriculture, a new and prospering hi-tech sector rapidly developing in cooperation with Israeli companies. The entrepreneurial spirit which has enabled the Palestinians to survive from one disaster to another can be the fertile ground on which a new economy of Internet-age Palestinians can be built.
We need to let loose the energies in both societies that are locked up by the continued conflict. This is much truer about Palestine than Israel, but in Israel as well, too much energy is improperly invested in the survival mode necessary to sustain us in conflict rather than in the creative mode which is sparked by security and liberation. We must let that energy loose. We can all be so much more than we are today.
This is not romantic kumbaya. Make no mistake, our spirit and our belief in our own abilities is the essence of our life, hope is the fire of our souls and the realization of our most noble dreams is the goal that we must achieve. There are those of us, maybe the majority, who cry woe about the horrible fate that has been bestowed on us. There are those of us who see that real peace is a real possibility and that the enormous amount of energy and money that has gone into fostering conflict can now be diverted to education, health care, science, discovery, the environment, the arts, and not just the fact of our existence.
The rights of both peoples do not have to be mutually negating; they can be mutually sustaining and fulfilling. The only way for that to happen is for us to end the blood feud, recognize each others’ rights to this land and make real peace.
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