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Pursuing Peace, Justice, and Jewish Values
author: kenny freeman
AMR, you have brought us back to the ‘basic issues.’ What are Jews supposed to do, given a religion that not only is very specific about how to act, but that also anticipates our being surrounded by enemies, continually. The Holocaust is beyond understanding, yet we must anticipate and prevent the next one. Our existence as a people has been demonstrated to be something we have to take responsibility for.
And on top of all that inner turmoil and confusion that is the legacy of post-Holocaust Jewishness, comes Israel’s precarious status, from beginning till now. And a ‘history’ with the Palestinians that is unfortunate. And a present in which they’re strapping on bombs and boarding buses.
And Jewish values are the only way to end this conflict.
As you point out, it is the Judaism that matters, not being born into the race. Converts who achieved great spiritual heights, from Ruth through Rabbi Akiva, etc., prove this.
But when it comes to the ‘relentless search for Justice,’ this is not part of the ‘Jewish inclination.’ This is a Commandment.
The ‘main reason for the others hatred to Jews’ is that we are Different. And despite the passage of thousands of years, a lot of dispersions, intermarriages, and false-gods, we insist on remaining ‘different.’ “For all the earth is Mine; And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6) So people hate us because we aspire to ‘holiness.’
And you point out that both Arabs and Jews have justified, and conflicting claims to the “Promised Land.” From Ishmael to ‘Abu Ammar.’ (forgive me, I still can’t write his name…). And if both claims are valid, than the need for Justice is exquisite.
Is dividing the land in two a path to Justice? And ‘divide it by fair parts,’ I believe is ‘overruled’ by the words attributed to G-d, not to Moses, in Leviticus 19:34 : “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens, you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
And you know that the Palestinian State you propose is cut in two; the West Bank has no access to the Sea, to the beach, has no airport, no railroad, one road from Jenin to Nablus, nothing but stones, goats, olive trees. And Gaza: just desert, and people.
And Israel has the Sea, the Emek, Haifa, the Galilee, the Kinneret. All the resources, all the development. And Haifa, Akko, Yafo, etc., were built on top of pre-existing Arab cities.
It is injustice. Anyone can see it. You don’t need politics, statistics, religion, or history. All you need are eyes. Look at Israel, look at Judea and Sammaria. After Peace, tourists would come to visit Palestine, but they’d sleep in Israel. How much rocks and goats does anyone need…?
And their slogan is “No justice, No peace.”
It is obvious that we must consider ‘Jewish security.’ Since the Europeans tried to exterminate us, and the rest of the world was willing to let it happen. And it is probable that Palestinians are equally hated, and destructible, and in need of protection for a long time, as the ‘Arab World’ evolves.
You call for ‘total separation from the Palestinians.’ But what about economic? postage? telephones? water, ports, friends, relatives, medical problems, universities? If settlers stay behind and become Palestinian citizens, they’re going to want access to Israel, and then the other Palestinian citizens will want equal access…
You say Israeli settlers should return for ‘the same amount of Palestinian settlers.’ My closest friend in Nazareth, Elias Joubran, was born in Acre, and then in 1948 his family was forced to leave, and settled in Nazareth. Is he a ‘settler?’ Who is?
And you say the Palestinian State should be ‘Muslim.’ But only Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad want that. The PLO, and now the ‘PNA’ have always been for a Secular State, because part of their people are Christian. The last thing Israel wants is a Muslim State, esp. if the ‘settlers’ have become Palestinian citizens. (‘do not do to the other…’).
If there is peace, however it comes, there will be an outpouring of resources from all over the world, esp. investment capital, which will do so much for both starving economies that there will be no need for ‘planning for breaches.’ The positive incentive will be so strong that fear of jeopardizing it will be sufficient ‘control’ over extremists. Mao said they have to have a ‘sea to swim in,’ i.e. community support for revolutionaries, and there will be no such sea. Not on either side.
The most obvious practical response to the Holocaust is that any solution has to have the Right of Return (for Jews; and for Palestinians…) underlying it, be it partition, unification, Bi-nationalism, etc. And for the foreseeable future, military super-power status. I find that concept repulsive, and yet what is the choice if the world hates Jews, then, now, and tomorrow? But any of the solutions, including unification and Bi-nationalism, could include both Right to Return and military security.
To avoid the ‘second genocide of the Jewish nation,’ is the absolute obligation of us all. Not just the nation, Israel, is threatened, the survival of the whole Jewish people is at risk.
So we will ‘seek peace,’ and ‘pursue Justice,’ and see where this exchange can take us. So far, it’s only ‘us’ talking among ourselves, and at this point, that’s appropriate. If we exchange ideas, come to understandings, reach out to others, perhaps we can give the next generation a better situation than the one we inherited,
G-d willing.
p.s.:“Each man kills the thing he loves;
the brave man does it with a sword,
the coward with a word.”
Oscar Wilde, “Ballad of Reading Gaol”