http://indymedia.org.il
Absolutely Agree with Professor KimmerlingFriday 19 Jul 2002
author: D. Bellino (dbellino@ameritech.net)
After spending the last 2 years attempting to "study and understand" the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I cannot but agree with Professor Kimmerling's argument; i.e. it will be extraordinarily counterproductive to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
(personal background...American, 52 years old, Catholic, son of Italian immigrants, a "born" liberal/leftist)
As a Catholic, I have also looked closely at the response to this conflict of the non-evangelical (non-right wing) Christian churches, ie Catholic, Anglican/Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist etc. And there seems to be a uniform concern for the "plight of the Palestinians". I agree with this view.
However, there is another aspect to this Christian concern (and sometimes activism) which I find mystifying, and again, counterproductive. In all the calls for money, for example, (and I receive e-mails almost daily in this regard), it is always for charitable purposes; ie assistance to needy Palestinians. Again, I am not suggesting this is not a worthy moral effort. But to what purpose? What will it achieve? What has happened to all the money the EU gave to the Palestinians? Unless I am mistaken, it now lies in smoking ruins.
And thus my own conclusion...there is TOO LITTLE THINKING on the part of those of us, (whatever our nationality or religious beliefs) who support "peace and justice" for all peoples in Israel and Palestine. By that I mean, who is most likely to resolve this issue, to bring about a just solution? And to that question I find myself answering...it is the Jewish people who are most likely to solve this issue. People like Professor Kimmerling, Professor Reinhart, Gideon Levy, Amira Haas, the Refuseniks, the ones who operate this web site, and more additional names than I can list here.
These are the people who need to be supported, financially, morally, and in any other way. But primarily FINANCIALLY. There is no human endeavor more expensive than war. How can peace be waged without resources? The forces of war in Israel have, via the US government, almost unlimited resources. So why, I keep asking myself, are not the rest of us doing some serious fund raising for those Israelis (and diapora Jews) who are trying to WAGE PEACE. To not do so strikes me as, quite literally, idiocy (not to mention moral failure).
I may be wrong about this, I honestly don't know. I am in the process of appealing to my local Diocese for permission to begin such an effort. But I would be deeply grateful for any thoughts, criticisms, suggestions, or even "drop dead and mind your own business" responses. We (catholics) have the ability (in theory) to raise large sums of money for this purpose.
And lastly, given John Paul II's strong interest in Catholic-Jewish reconciliation, it seems to me an effort of this kind could be seen as an act of lay Catholic atonement (we do not have such a wonderful history vis-a-vis the Jewish people). Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
D. Bellino