Thoughts re: Netanyahu's Vision

sent 19.June.2009
Dear Friends,

After Prime Minister Netanyahu created a great media spin around his pronounced “vision” for the future of our country in response to President Obama’s prodding, I needed to share my worries with others. I am not a politician, nor do I organize demonstrations. But I know that I need to do something….and sharing my worries with others seems to be the minimum I can do. I know that some of my friends and acquaintances will find dire displeasure with a few of my remarks…….nevertheless………..

While many Israelis praised the words of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s supposed about-face and his readiness to foresee a situation where the State of Israel lives beside a Palestinian State, my own impression was that Netanyahu spoke his best to put a damper on any such possibility. This is coupled to so many of his government’s actions since taking office a few months ago and to the unfortunate path led by most Israeli governments since those six days in 1967.

Among other conditions, Netanyahu preconditioned his grudging acceptance of a Palestinian State with a specific Palestinian assertion of Israel as the Jewish State. Not an “Israeli State which is the homeland of the Jewish People”, but a “Jewish State” – and without a single word about the 20% (and rising) Arab Israeli population (which a goodly part of his government would like at least to disenfranchise and preferably to transfer over to the Palestinian areas). While Palestinian negotiators could swallow the reality of Israel being the “Homeland of the Jewish People”, they can not openly voice a terminology which places Israel as a state solely for the Jewish People……not with a 20% (and growing) Arab population, and a desire for at least a symbolic return of some Palestinians.

Among other conditions, Netanyahu preconditioned his grudging acceptance of a Palestinian State with Palestinian knowledge of an undivided Jerusalem. Eastern Jerusalem with all its Palestinian neighborhoods, all of the Old City and the Temple Mount, and a greatly expanded city boundary so as to reach important outlying Jewish settlements within the conquered West Bank: all this within the Jewish State. This is a vision Netanyahu knows will be unacceptable to the Palestinians and will help drag the “peace process” on and on while energy is diverted to expanding settlements and setting broader boundaries which will make negotiations even more unacceptable to the Palestinian negotiators.

Netanyahu made it clear that his government will not halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. This of course emphasizes that our cardinal sin of expropriating Palestinian land under various guises of legal manipulation or direct illegal land-grabbing will continue with the full support of our government. Netanyahu emphasized this knowing full well that his words (and deeds) are a spade that buries any process towards mutual understanding.

It is difficult to know what to do when faced with the pessimistic prospect of my country eventually crossing the point of no return between a democratic State which is the homeland of the Jewish people, and its metamorphosis into a quasi-authoritarian, quasi-theocratic, neo-colonial State steered by a jingoistic nationalism, led by a pride lacking humility and fed by fear.

Once crossing the point of no return, our future becomes fairly clear. We shall hold on to the West Bank and continue expanding our inhabited real-estate in the area. The Palestinians will continue to live without equal rights (or rights at all) in a territory policed by military rule. Within the Middle East we will remain a pariah whose moral and physical strength will be guided by the sword, a sword that will gradually weaken relative to the military abilities of our neighbors, a sword which will not sit favorably with the nations of the world on any continent. We will have wars. We will not always win. In the future, Jews in the Diaspora will write heroic stories about the rise and fall of the Third Jewish Commonwealth.

Our lust for real-estate in the West Bank will also continue to undermine our trust in the Arab citizens within Israel. We will continue discriminating policies which will ensure the righteousness of our mistrust. We will then at long last face our First Israeli-Arab Intifada. We will kill many while restoring order, thereby ensuring the Second Israeli-Arab Intifada, and the Third………and perhaps this will even happen during one of those wars which needed winning in order to ensure the continued existence of the Third Jewish Commonwealth and our precious God-given real-estate in the West Bank.

My Prime Minister offered all the reasons why all of Greater Israel is ours and ours alone. Under dire pressure he conceded the possibility of a Palestinian state. But, while insisting that negotiations with the Palestinians be with no preconditions or previous understandings, he firmly stated a heavy variety of preconditions for any possibility of a Palestinian State…..conditions making it ludicrous to begin mutual talks, and meant to perpetuate the status quo.

My Prime Minister could have offered an extended hand towards a “Sulcha” with our Palestinian neighbors. My Prime Minister could have conceded that not only the Jewish people have suffered. He could have delivered words of empathy to the suffering of the Palestinians over the last 60 years. He could have even conceded that other peoples had managed to root themselves in our land at various times during our two thousand years of exile. He should have hinted that our national aspirations came into inevitable conflict with other national aspirations which were already also evident at the very beginning of the 20th century. He could have conceded to all of that without giving up an inch of ground from our Jewish-Zionist legacy. He could have conceded to all of that as an introduction to our understanding that the conflict also resulted in a tragic calamity to the Arab people rooted in the ancient land of Israel. He could have conceded to all of that as an introduction to our welcoming the end of the conflict by the creation of a Palestinian State living peacefully side by side an Israeli one.

But he didn’t.

Once more he disregarded the opportunity of taking the initiative in the struggle for peace. For my Prime Minister the struggle for peace is worthwhile only if it involves no risk. It is therefore not worthwhile.

If we are ever “forced” into an era of “peace” by outside pressure, it will probably be a short respite not lacking in a continuation of hate and mistrust, for it will not have the element of “Sulcha” and the affirmation of the other’s legacy – two ingredients we ordinary Israelis refuse to initiate. My prime minister is just an ordinary Israeli. Evidently, nothing more.

With sincere wishes for a better tomorrow,
aaron

Mail from People who Disagree

Sent 28.April.2009

Of course, I get mail from people who disagree with me. This is not surprising, being, it seems, most of world Jewery supports whatever our Government in Israel claims is right. I received such an example which perhaps stuffs into one package so much of the disagreement. Here it is:

I appreciate your viewpoint.....and frankly I prefer not to get started on my usual diatribe; however I take the conservative side when it comes to Jews anywhere, since, as a minority they have been slaughtered and plundered in whatever country and era in which they lived. Muslims, because of their culture bow only to strength, as many Muslim radicals are still living in the 14th century. Rightly or wrongly, I believe the Jews should grab, by force if necessary every piece of land they can for now, and maybe down the road use some of it as a bargaining chip. It is naive to think of peace and doing the right thing and morality in Israel when you have Hamas and Hezbollah still talking about Israel's destruction. Even if you get these two terrorist groups to at least temporarily recognize Israel, other hostile nations in the Arab world will rise up to cause trouble. Why do you think no Arab country has come to the plate to take in all the Palestinian refugees that were living in tents??? They were left as a pretext for getting world sympathy and giving Israel trouble. You might note that Syria, perhaps with the help of Iran has delivered scud missiles to Hezbollah, capable now of reaching any Israeli city.


Throughout history its always been the Jews and Israel that had to give up something, whether it was during the Roman empire, in England during the middle ages, in Spain in 1492 during the great expulsion, during the Ottoman empire , in the pogroms, or in Hitler's times. It happened because Jews just wanted to look away and say "this won't happen to us" or we are afraid of the authorities, or we are tired and can't fight against the entrenched authority. I believe in the slogan "never again" in a variety of ways, and if Jews have the upper hand they should use it to whatever advantage they can, including the seizing and occupation of all property gained in the wars brought to them by the Arabs. This includes all of Jerusalem if necessary and damn public opinion, as few people give a damn about Jews, except Jews.


I understand where you are coming from. You see no end to the conflict and see a two state solution as one of the few paths for Israel. What I'm saying must sound like heresy, but Muslims in the Middle East, whether they are Palestinians or Iraqi thugs that plundered my extended family, are basically the same, and Jews "making nice" will not change their stripes, at least not now. Yes some Muslim olive groves will be sacrificed, just like my uncle's bank, date groves, two houses and acres of valuable property in Baghdad. So Jews in Israel must "grab" what they can now, entrench their position, and yes for once thumb their nose to the world. Arafat had a chance for peace during the Clinton administration and disabused the process, after he was given almost everything he supposedly wanted. How can you trust the process???--so my friend I think its time for Arab sacrifice at the edge of the Jewish sword for a change--its time for some Muslim skin in the game at the table of negotiation. What have they contributed to the process???? Have you forgotten what happened in Gaza, when Israel went away and left the Arabs economic opportunities, which the Arabs promptly destroyed(hothouses) By the way, nowhere in any Muslim holy books or text is, Jerusalem mentioned as a capital or holy city, but mentioned over and over in Jewish texts as their biblical capital. Before 1948 there was no such thing as Palestinians, an invented minority to aggravate Jews and sway the U.N.


Finally if the Muslims want that part of Jerusalem housing the Al Aqsa Mosque, I suggest we tell them OK, when they are able to rebuild all the Synagogues destroyed or plundered over the last 80 years in the 15 or so Arab countries. that Jews lived for centuries. Israel has been and will continue to live in a dangerous neighborhood no matter how much they give up, until Arabs give up their old habits. C----

Here was my very partial response:

It is difficult to relate reasonably to an emotional approach placing us as the victims of history and thereby giving us permission “rightly or wrongly” to “grab, by force if necessary every piece of land……”.

It is likewise difficult to convince someone who is so close to the traumatic experience of those “thugs that plundered my extended family”, of anything other than: plunder them back. A more formidable example would also be our Holocaust victims who watched how we in Israel entered into diplomatic, financial and social relationships with our previous exterminator. Many of them, still today, are deeply wounded by Israel’s approach to Germany.

I will nevertheless put to question some of the historical usage in the above non-“usual diatribe”, being history is used so profusely throughout the diatribe.

The use of historical memory to apologize for or excuse present day actions is understandable and important so long as we also accept the limitations of “history” as a tool. History has not always been the best instructor, and regardless of a well researched past, it allows for different people to recognize similar events or processes in totally divergent ways and to grasp from them totally different lessons. History also allows each person to pick and choose that which serves his purpose, while leaving out (or not willing to recognize) portions of history which interfere with his argument. History also allows us all to misuse it by quoting things we think we know, but have not really researched or learned. This can also bring to a mixture of fact and fiction which remain ingrained in personal or national myths.

Unfortunately, the letter you sent me......is not void of such historical omissions and myths. Perhaps a few examples would help elucidate some of the limitations and misuses of history, which in turn cast a shadow on the logic of a letter filled with such omissions and myths.

Our Jewish history has been used to idealize the revolt against the Romans in 70 C.E. and Bar-Kochba’s revolt some 50 years later. Your friend’s letter bemoans that even then it was we who “had to give up something”. And “It happened because Jews just wanted to look away and say "this won't happen to us" or we are afraid of the authorities, or we are tired and can't fight against the entrenched authority”. Look away? Afraid? Tired? Can’t fight? …….history has taught us that evidently we fought quite well, as the extremist factions led the way in the certainty “that God is with us” (something like today?). And though Rabi Akiva thought that Bar-Kochba is the Messiah, the Talmud also called him a false messiah who brought doom on our people. As a matter of fact there is good historical basis to conjecture that if not for these two revolts led by our Jewish extremist factions, we Jews would have continued to be the Israeli nation without going through 1800 years of galut.

The letter continues to mention our fate in England, Spain, the Ottoman Empire and Eastern Europe’s pogroms….and actually has an audacity to blame those Jews, as “it happened because Jews just wanted to look away…..”, etc., etc. I guess it does take a bit of our Jewish Chutzpa to compare our ability as a nation with an army and an armed citizenry deciding our own moves, to those ancestors of ours who were literally at the mercy of others.

( look away? Can’t fight? Allow me one personal interjection here. When my great-uncle and his friends stood on a bridge leading to the Jewish quarter of Kishinev (1905), and held off the murderous ruffians for more than a half hour with wooden poles in their hands, in a pogrom that had full support of all authorities, they would be sorely injured to hear that they looked away and wouldn’t fight. )

In truth we Jews justifiably create our national myths and ethos, and so do the Arabs. At times there may be historical disputes regarding the roots of one or another national icon. But our writer gently implies that Jerusalem was actually not so important in Arab/Moslem history. This is an implication that deviates from historical disputes. It rather illustrates a type of self-interest-amnesia syndrome, for I am sure the writer has known that already a thousand years ago the Moslems fought a 200 year war against Christian Europe about the fate of the Holy Land with Jerusalem as the central issue.

Politics and Politicians create many myths in order to support their cause. We Israelis are no less subordinate to such manipulation than other countries. Sometimes the deceptions carry on. The writer of the non-“usual diatribe” has fully swallowed the myth that “no Arab country has come to the plate to take in all the Palestinian refugees……”. Actually, About 55% of refugees who fled or were evicted ended up in Jordanian territory (most of them in the West Bank which was annexed to Jordan). Jordan gave them full citizenship and was willing to accept into her territory Palestinians who ended up in other Arab countries. Of those in other countries, most did not take up the offer. They wanted back to their homes in Israel not by going to Jordan. It should also be noted that only a minority of Palestinians remained in refugee camps during the first 19 years of their “exile” in any of the Arab countries. After that, for the last 42 years most of the refugee camps have been under Israeli rule. Of course, less was done in 42 years by Israel to abolish the refugee camps than by Jordan (the poorest Arab country in our area) during its 19 years. So much for another misuse of historical data by your writer.

I can account for additional misuses of history in your writers letter, but these examples are enough, for evidently history is not really the crux of his outlook on the alternatives within our Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If I overlook the questionable inclination to depend so heavily on the abuse of historical data, I find the writer simply saying:

We have been victims for so long…..and the Arab world around us will remain our enemy under all circumstances…….therefore:
“It is naive to think of peace and doing the right thing and morality in Israel……Rightly or wrongly….the Jews should grab, by force if necessary every piece of land they can…….If Jews have the upper hand they should use it to whatever advantage they can, including the seizing and occupation of all property gained in the wars…..and damn public opinion.”
I was relieved that the writer admitted “Rightly or wrongly”, that he may be wrong but would still do as he writes. “doing the right thing and morality” just isn’t for us. We need to “grab…seize…and gain” whatever we can. “And damn public opinion”. Actually: and damn what is right and moral.

I am unable to argue with that approach. It belongs to an emotionalism which is non-arguable. Some take that approach out of a desire for vengeance (non-arguable); Some out of a certainty that God is leading us (non-arguable); Some out of the pleasure of having the power. In all instances, it is the road which eventually leads to the destruction of the Third Jewish Commonwealth, as it did to the second and perhaps the first. But most of all it is not the kind of Jewish nation that I would like to see. It is always upsetting for me to see that our own Jewish suffering has taught some of us not to worry about making others suffer; that our need to remain strong and powerful in a hostile world has taught some of us that we too should be hostile towards others. Morality is dead. Hail modern Judaism ??

Myths and Facts - a Quickie

sent 26.Jan.2009

Dear friends,

In an ongoing e-mail chat about the war in Gaza and our Palestinian "problem" in general, a friend wrote me the following comments. My response follows these comments, and once more I thought you may be interested. (By the way, tell me if you're weary of all this and I'll leave you in peace.) So here it is:

Dear Aaron
I do not consider myself a warmonger- I wish for peace as much as anyone, especially considering my grandchildren in Israel. However no one threw the Arabs out of Israel in 1947- their leaders told them to flee. We did not hold them in refugee camps, their fellow Arabs did that. After three or four generations, how can they still be refugees? My grandparents came from Europe after WWI; does that make me a refugee in the United States?......................

My response:

Dear ………..,

I know we are on the same side and I thank you for your response. Nevertheless, I think some of your assertions need to be explored.

There are things our madrichim didn’t know to pass on to us during our years in the Youth Movement. The rebirth of our Nation in Israel is a monumental accomplishment and worth our being proud of. But as often happens with monumental things, it has dragged along with it a number of myths and half-myths. Your categorical belief that “no one threw the Arabs out of Israel in 1947- their leaders told them to flee” is evidently one of the half-myths we grew up with. The facts are evidently somewhat more complicated. For example, many villages fled after the word spread of the slaughter at Dir-Yassin. Of course, we have claimed in the past that either this never really happened or it was a totally isolated incident. So here is a short story:

A couple of months ago I tagged along with one of my sons who was looking for a home in Pardes Chana. He found an old house that had been built some 60 years ago. He invited a local building engineer to check the state of the house. The engineer was about 85 years old and knew how every single house in the area had been built and its condition today. By and by we were talking and he asked me where I live. I told him Gesher Haziv in the Western Galil. He became ecstatic and blurted away…”that’s where I fought throughout the War of Independence..” and continued telling me of his exploits, including “and we kicked out as many Arabs as we could from the area. It’s a shame we didn’t get to kick out more.” This, too, was a totally isolated incident, but evidently there were a few more totally isolated incidents. Israeli historians are learning more and more about totally isolated incidents. Today we tend not to claim absolute purity. Wars are evidently more complicated than that. Even justifiable or unavoidable ones.

We learned, as you wrote, that “their leaders told them to flee.”, and with that statement we thrust the entire blame for the Arab exit on everyone else but us. Aside from today’s knowledge that we also had some affect on the fleeing (some shared blame? See above), we overlook another aspect to the above statement: their leaders warned all noncombatants (men, women and children) to get out of the combat zone (until they finish driving out the Jews). How awful of them to clear the field of non-combatants !! Then again…while thinking of our latest “victory” in Gaza, I sorely wish we too had found some way to get the noncombatants out of the combat zone. Our conscience and our reputation would be less tarnished. (We had the ability to do so, but that would have taken some social planning and not only military planning.) Too late. No, don’t get me wrong. I’m not absolving the Arab leadership. Most of all, ever since 1948 they’ve been using the Palestinian refugees, and the Palestinian “problem” as political tools, without allowing any real integration into the countries of their new residence. I’m only commenting that we may be fairly pure, but not altogether pure. Neither then nor now. Life is evidently not as simple as we’d like it to be.

And lastly (for now, anyways), I must comment on a most questionable assertion of yours: “We did not hold them in refugee camps, their fellow Arabs did that.” For the first 19 years after the war of Independence that assertion had some substance. But for the last 41 years the refugee camps in the occupied territories have been completely under our Israeli rule. After 41 years they are still wholly recognizable as refugee camps. You ask “After three or four generations, how can they still be refugees?”. Well, let’s put it this way: had we been left to remain in the various refugee camps we were herded into after the Second World War (e.g. Cyprus, Greece) with a bureaucracy of permits and a tight reign of Military control over our camps, we too would still today be refugees.

There is more, but I'm trying to be brief. It may seem that I’ve become a voice for the Palestinian “side”. Not at all so. I remain a full-fledged Zionist who is still hopeful for “Ki meTziyon Tetze Torah” and “Or Lagoyim”. But I have learned that in order to get there we need to be somewhat more aware of our own flaws and also a lot more understanding of what we see as our adversary’s flaws.

My warm wishes, knowing that we are still essentially on the same team,

Aaron

Troubled Friends in the Galilee

Sent 24.Jan.2009

To my friends and any who are still reading about reactions to our war in Gaza,

This past week I was involved with organizing a meeting of Jews and Arabs in our part of the western Galil. We are a group of unrelated Jews in our area of the western Galil with an Arab artists group based in the town of Kfar Yasif, 20 minute drive from Gesher Haziv. We are attempting to initiate programs which reach out to larger sectors of our communities in the hope of creating greater understanding between Arabs and Jews in the Galil.

Our previous meeting had been over a month ago. Meanwhile, 1200 bodies were being buried in Gaza. Last week’s gathering had to be called off because most of the Arab participants said they would not come as a result of the war. Instead we called for a small gathering of our steering group. We met in the community center of Kfar Yasif, 8 of us, Arabs and Jews, to discuss how we can overcome the events of the moment and continue our efforts. One of the Arab participants was a young artist who came to the meeting in order to represent many who were against coming. When he was born his father was hoping for peace and serenity with his relatively new Jewish neighbors in the Galil and therefore named him Saalem.

Saalem spoke at this meeting, and I am trying here to bring you a transcription of what he said. True, I and others weren’t ready to accept all his conclusions, and we had things to say to him as well. But it is also so important for us to hear him out and understand its implications. The results of Gaza are not only in our ability to earn a period of no rockets in the south, and not only about the repercussions in the world media. The results also affect our neighbors who are Arab Israeli citizens.

Here is my attempt at transcribing what Saalem said:

“At this moment in time I have no desire to meet with you and your Jewish friends. Your people have just killed so many men, women and children who are my Palestinian Arab brethren. I and my friends are still licking our wounds and our anger and our despair. I have come here this evening unwillingly, only to tell you these things so that you are not left with the illusion that there is now still an ability for joint communication and dialogue between us.

You Jews come here for dialogue in order to create a semblance of co-existence between us. I’m not looking to make friends. I’m looking for equality. I’m looking for you to know that this land is my land, my father’s and my grandfather’s and his grandfather’s. You have made me a low-class citizen in my land, the land you took from me.

Though I know I cannot roll-back history, I am angered at your not recognizing my history. In school and on my own I’ve studied your history and your suffering over the centuries. I visited the remains of the concentration camps in Europe. I’ve studied your Bible and your literature. But you….you turn your faces away and remain unaware of our Nakba, our disaster, as our land was torn away from us. You live in towns and villages that sit upon the ruins of our villages, and are unaware. Your schools don’t teach our history. You resent any mention of what we have lost. You resent any mention of our rights to our land.

In your eyes we are sub-human. 13 Israeli Arabs were shot and killed by the police during the demonstrations of October 2000. True, the demonstrations were not quiet ones. They were a result of pent-up anger and frustration at our treatment as sub-citizens in our own land. Violent demonstrations by criminal settlers in the West-Bank have never been treated by killing of Jews. But when we demonstrated, you shot and killed 13 of us. It is with that same regard to our sub-status that you saw no wrong in killing so many hundreds of innocent men, women and children in the war against the Hamas in Gaza. You would not have done the same if there were Jews living in the homes which you bombed and destroyed.

I am an artist, and together with other artists in our group I’ll continue having joint art exhibits here in our town with other Jewish artists. But I and most of my friends in this group cannot supply your need to show how we can co-exist while we moan for the loss of so many lives and continue to be a sub-status in our own land.”

That's it. His words were much more compelling than I could transcribe from memory, but I thought you may be interested in reading this. Our dialogue with Saalem was much longer and I think we still have common ground for joint work with Saalem and his friends, but both we and he have an uphill struggle which has now been made more difficult and complicated.

With a deep (but troubled) hope for the future,

aaron

Mutual Myopia

sent 19.Jan.2009

In response to an important article in Haaretz by Amira Hass asserting that the Qassam rockets coming from Gaza are one of the results of a long chain of historical traumas suffered by the Palestinians from before and since the creation of Israel, a friend of mine reacted with a totally netgative declaration: MYOPIA !!

I commented on that declaration:

Dear -----,

I believe that "myopia" is (aside from its medical meaning) a lack of foresight or discernment, a narrow view of something. It is definitely a term appropriate to the present situation and indeed to the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Most Palestinians suffer from acute myopia as well as most of us Jews and Israelis.

I think we'll never be able to close the myopia gap between us without making a good deal of effort to understand the other side. We don’t need to completely agree with the other side, but a certain sense of understanding is essential. I think we would be surprised how a sense of understanding helps close the gap (compromise?) even when there is still no real agreement as to facts and causes.

Myopia needs to be treated on both sides of a fence. Probably treatment on one side is also contagious to the other side in some small way. At any rate, we have the privilege of trying to treat our own biased Jewish and Israeli myopia (though we have a right to be biased). Hopefully it may even have some kind of contagious effect on our neighbors. In any case, it would influence the things we do and say.

Best wishes

aaron

Our Attack of Gaza

Sent 17.Jan.2009

The beginning of 2009 saw us engaged in an all out attack on Gaza as a response to years of continued shelling of Israeli towns, and a continuation of those same rockets after clearing Gaza of both Jewish settlements and army occupation.

An activist involved with the Palestinian plight wrote to me the following words:

"I think that Israel pushed Hamas into pushing Israel into attacking Gaza (siege,targeted assassinations of political as well as military leaders, firing on civilians....)...I agree it is very sad. "

THIS WAS MY RESPONSE:

Hello------

I need to question your seemingly one-sided support of the Hamas predicament in the unfortunate fighting that is taking too many lives this month. I assume that all of what I write here is known to you, yet perhaps our interpretations are somewhat different. Then again, my comments may be too lengthy, repetitive and boring. I send them anyways, out of a truly great respect for your opinion and for what I know about your past involvement.

First let me qualify my own credentials. In the local parlance of political directions I am neither a rightist nor a centrist in the Israeli scene. I am probably considered by my Israeli friends as somewhat left of the leftists. This is (among other things which I will not itemize) because I have also spent many days during each of the last few years going into the West-Bank in order to help protect local farmers near Shchem from the criminal harassment of Jewish settlers. Unfortunately, very few Israeli “leftists” are there to join me (as you probably also well know from your own past experiences).

I must also qualify my starting point in any evaluation today of our Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have always contended that our original sin as a nation has been to allow Jewish settlers the “invasion” of occupied territories after our defense in the War of ‘67. This is an important qualification being that others around the world consider our original sin to be the creation of the State of Israel. There is much to be said about this anti-Zionist contention, and it has a great relevance in any discussion of our legitimate or illegitimate right to defend our safety in Israel. But I leave that discussion aside, and will for now comment on the present situation via my left of leftist Zionist viewpoint – one that rejoices in our ability to recreate our Statehood, while bemoaning our mistakes and crying at our behavior towards “others”.

It may well be (as I so think) that we share a good amount of responsibility for the rise of militant Moslem fundamentalism (e.g. Hamas) in the occupied territories. I write only “share” because the tsunami of militant Moslem fundamentalism is rooted and spread by much wider causes than us. I also have little doubt that the local situation would be vastly different had we not allowed the Jewish settlement of the West-Bank and Gaza (and eastern Jerusalem as well); or had we long ago pulled our settlers out, as we did much too late in Gaza; or had we not purposely worked to destroy the PLO government under Arafat; or a whole lot of other “or”s that we could have done or not done but did or didn’t. But my inclination is to support what I think we can and should do (or not do) today – at this juncture of history, which already incorporates all that happened till now and poses the present situation. Unfortunately, what could or should have been done yesterday is not always viable today.

This brings us to the year 2005, to the point at which even a goodly part of a right-wing government arrived at a (sadly temporary) conclusion that a two-state solution is the only viable solution, and that we will need to leave Gaza and slowly leave almost all of the West-bank along with a goodly amount of our Jewish settlers. The political right-wing split. A generally right-wing government took us out of Gaza and stated openly to our Israeli public that the next steps will be in the West-Bank. The Israeli public (mostly moderate right wing), tired of terrorist attacks and internal arguments, was “sort of” willing to try out this leftist approach to the Palestinians. This did not happen easily. But the process actually began (to my infinite dismay).

Unfortunately (for both us and the Palestinians) the Hamas kept us from reaching the point of no return. Seemingly, this was done deliberately, as the Hamas has been consistent in its militant opposition to a two-state solution. The Hamas is entirely honest publicly, perhaps to their credit, in still insisting on driving me and my family into the sea, and that the way to do it is by discouraging any progress towards a two-state solution.

As we left Gaza, there was no Israeli siege of the area. As soon as the Hamas gained full control of Gaza our towns began to feel a greater brunt of rockets than had been prior to our departure, with the open support and direction of the local government – Hamas.

(We live close to the Lebanese border and know full well the meaning of living for long periods (starting from 1969 and meanwhile still in 2006) under the threat of rockets. Shrapnel flew inches above our children’s heads as they slept in their bedroom. That was long ago. In 2006 my grandchildren learned the same threats. Friends of ours in the south have been learning about it for a number of years now.)

Since 2005, having torn settlers out of Gaza, having pulled out all army out of Gaza, having opened mediocre but regular passageways between Gaza and the West-Bank…..rockets have continued to land on Israeli towns and yishuvim. This had two major results:

1. The Israeli public decided that leaving any of the occupied territories bodes more harm than expected. It was no doubt the major cause for putting the process towards a two-state solution on a definite hold. On that issue the Hamas won hands down. We shall need another significant breakthrough from within (doubtful) or from without in order to once again prod our Israeli public to wean itself of the West-Bank and begin a process for a two-state solution.

2. Israel tried to convince the Hamas government to cease and desist by a variety of attempts: a siege by closing the passageways out of Gaza to Israel and the West-bank; pinpoint assassinations of militant leaders; sporadic short-term stoppage of basic needs via the passageways (such as fuel). Perhaps these are the attempts which led to the Hamas agreeing to halt rockets for a half year period, during which time sporadic rockets continued to be launched (while weapons continued to be stockpiled). The half year ended with a mighty daily barrage of rockets along with Hamas declarations that such days will continue.

True, some of us (including myself ) thought it would be good to parlay directly with the leadership of the Hamas in an attempt to reach a mutual modus vivendi eliminating the threat of rockets and Israeli retaliation. But even many local lefties (like me) knew that this was a very dangerous gamble. It had the great likelihood of undermining the much more moderate West-Bank Palestinian leadership who were willing to negotiate for a two-state solution, an anathema to the Gaza Hamas.

In 2008 it became evident to all that (other than parlaying with Hamas, a gamble that may bring the Hamas to power in the West-Bank) the only options were to continue living under constant Hamas rockets or some more drastic solution that would stop the rockets.

The international community could have aided us with a number of possible options. It did not. (example: the international regulators at the Rafiach passagepoint left as soon as they were told to by the Hamas.) Nor did the international community and the international aid movements see anything weird with demanding that we continue supplying needed electricity and fuel and banking services and such to the same governing body that inflicts the threat of rockets on our communities and openly declares its plans for our demise.

It has also been disappointing to hear many in the international aid associations tell us to respect the Hamas as the legitimately elected leaders of the Palestinians, while also telling us that the people of Gaza should not suffer for our conflict with Hamas. Unfortunately, We all suffer the mistakes of our leadership. If we recognize their mistakes, and if the leadership is really a legitimately elected one, than we are also able to change it. Otherwise, the leadership is either illegitimate or its actions are fully supported by the people.

Our own leadership decided that enough is enough and decided to tell the Hamas that we will no longer endure their militant provocations. We gave a full blown military response as a result of smaller military responses not bearing any results, knowing full well that this military response is a last resort within such a dense population wherein the Hamas stores its prowess. And war is war is war.

Here is where my doubts begin and where I begin feeling unsure of myself and insecure about our future.

Every new war of ours has resulted in fewer and fewer positive results as far as obtaining political objectives and safeguarding our future. This is not because of weakening military might. It seems to be because the nature of war has changed and the complexities of our situation are such that military might can also aggravate affairs more than before. If so, there would be no sense in lives lost in order to end up as before or possibly worse. In this case, Gaza, lives lost means also the hundreds of civilians who may or may not be active supporters of Hamas, but are certainly not at all involved in militant acts towards us.

In December of 2008 I asked myself what type of action I would support to counter the daily rockets. Small military actions have been useless. Closing passages has not stopped the rockets. Peace talks?? With whom?? Directives are coming from Syria, munitions from Iran. Trying to talk with Hamas in Gaza, while they still insist on our demise would only greatly weaken those Palestinians in the West-Bank who are still willing to talk with us. But full scale WAR??!! I could think of no recipe as an alternative to this right of self-defense.

I am greatly disturbed by some of our Israeli reactions during this military action, already applauding our “victory” with a great smile and happiness: “we really showed them, didn’t we?”. Our Talmud relates that while we Israelites rejoiced at seeing Pharaoh’s charioteers drown between two walls of sea, God moaned and rebuked “my creations are drowning at sea and you choose to rejoice?!” It is difficult to rejoice over a “win” that kills so many civilian men, women, and children in Gaza. Hopefully the price paid in lives will bring us closer to quieter times. This, though, is far from certain. Evidently some things need to be done simply for lack of more viable alternatives. (I don’t think I would have written that last sentence a few years ago.)

I fully understand Louie’s dilemma. Reality is seldom lacking in grey areas of uncertainty. But reality also demands answers to situations, and so many answers in our present world are not foolproof and perfect. But they are our starting point for getting from today to tomorrow.

My best to you. I still think we will find ourselves on the same side of many, many lines.

Aaron

Comments on "Letter To Obama" and My Response

Sent 26.Nov.2008

Having read my letter to Obama, a good friend sent me some comments, to which I also responded.

THE LETTER AND COMMENTS FROM MY FRIEND:

"..........I agree with you and others that the only solution is a two-state solution. But stating this solution is easy. Knowing what the solution is, is not difficult! The difficulty is in establishing the trust on both sides to enable each side to gamble on the vey many steps that must be taken by each to approach and achieve the two-state solution. Despite your own laudable individual activities to bring about better understanding with the people of a small town in the West Bank and even taken together with similar activities of other like minded persons, your and their activities are just that; activities taken by individuals. I imagine you feel that if only the peoples could act, as opposed to the governments acting, we would be closer to a solution. But the reality, through my eyes, is that agreements between national entities are made by governments, not by individuals. There is nothing that I know of (I am open to being enlightened) which suggests to me that the PLA is interested in a two state solution. I think that it has yet to unequivocally and publicly repudiate its stated goal of destroying Israel. I think they have yet to do much to curtail terrorist attacks against Israel. I think that through the tunnels connecting Gaza and Egypt, Hamas, the democratically elected government of the Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank are preparing to inflict great damage on Israel, not to mention the recently resumed rocket fire. I believe that if they had the power, the West Bank and Gazan Arabs would slaughter the Jews of Israel. I believe the only thing not allowing this is the power of Israel and the presence pf the IDF in the West Bank and around Gaza.

I am dismayed that you, like so many others, call on (Barack to call on) Israel alone to do this or do that or to stop this and stop that with no mention of any actions that the PLA should take. A lot of Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists and other riminals have been freed from Israeli jails; for what? How about asking for some gestures of good will from them. Why don't you also call on President Obama to call on the PLA to free Gilad Shalit instead of their using his as a pawn to blackmail Israel; to stop its indiscriminate rocketing of Sderot, Ashkelon (The separation of Gaza and the West Bank works very well for Abu Mazen, don't you think?); to allow the IDF to leave the West Bank by fulfilling their responsibility to curtail terrorists and the terrorist infrastructure. I know, it's Israel's fault that they aren't able to do this. What other government has ever given arms to a hostile government to build its internal security forces, even when that hostile government has a stated goal of its destruction; to clearly, unequivocally, and publicly in English, Arabic, and Hebrew repudiate the stated goals of the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Arab State in all of Palestine; to re-write the public educational texts and change the everyday television programs which villify Israel (That's no way to prepare a people for a two-state solution, is it?); to change the Friday afternoon sermons of hate into messages of reconciliation and cooperation. Couldn't you have asked Barack for even one of these?

I do hope that President Obama pressures Israel to stop settlement expansion in the West Bank, but I hope this is done in a context which also requires steps by the PLA, some of which, I have mentioned above......."

MY REPLY TO THE LETTER:

..............I’ll spend the rest of this letter commenting on the “political” portion of your letter.This may be overly long-winded, but please bear with me. I fully respect your objections to my letter to Obama and feel that they deserve total attention and an attempt at a response. Being your letter is packed with statements (I think you know how to shorten things better than I) I’ve tried here to comment on those that seemed most provocative to me. So here goes:

You wrote“I imagine you feel that if only the peoples could act, as opposed to the governments acting, we would be closer to a solution. But the reality, through my eyes, is that agreements between national entities are made by governments, not by individuals.”Let’s not mix up between two things: what an individual can and should do vis-à-vis what a government should do. For example: Minimizing “poverty” within a country can only be done by government goals, policies and budgets. Volunteer work at a soup-kitchen will not solve the problem of poverty. That’s not a reason not to volunteer or support the help given by the soup-kitchen. (certainly so in an atmosphere where government policies only widen the gap between poor and rich.) of course soup kitchens at their best will never replace the work needed to be done by a government.

How well I know that my own (and a few others) involvement – very low keyed and sparse – with the farmers in the West Bank will leave hardly an imprint on the policies of our governments. Here and there we are a thorn in the system (a very slight pain in the ass), but non-consequential policy-wise.

My involvement is a result of two situations. One: the tremendous de-facto policy support given by all of our governments over the past three decades (and more) to the expansion and legalization of settlements on conquered lands. Second: the support (mainly by silence and turning away heads) given by our army and government to the daily illegal and immoral acts of our “legalized” settlers and settlements upon their Palestinian neighbors.

You write: “I am dismayed that you, like so many others, call on (Barack to call on) Israel alone to do this or do that or to stop this and stop that…”Wrong. I call on Barack to help in one thing alone……..convincing us of the urgent need to stop expansion of settlements in the west bank and getting our settlers out of land which is not ours. Without this there is no way that any call to the Palestinians “to do this or do that or to stop this and stop that…” can have any avail. To date, each time we promise to at least “freeze” the settlements, we have allowed unperturbed expansion. So long as “freeze” equals “expansion” we are doing nothing to lessen the “The difficulty….in establishing the trust on both sides to enable each side to gamble on the very many steps that must be taken”.

“There is nothing that I know of (I am open to being enlightened) which suggests to me that the PLA is interested in a two state solution. I think that it has yet to unequivocally and publicly repudiate its stated goal of destroying Israel.”This month marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of a two state solution by the PLO and the public repudiation of the stated goal of destroying Israel……..which also led to the Oslo agreements. Ever since then even the Likud Governments and other right-wing parties have stopped asking for public repudiation (as you ask for in your letter). The public repudiation is now being asked of the Hamas in Gaza, not of the leadership in the West Bank. (I leave aside for now the varying levels of trust in public pronouncements.)

It is instructional and proper that all of your direct references to “that hostile government” which has a stated goal of the destruction of Israel, refer to actions by the Hamas government of Gaza (tunnels connecting Gaza and Egypt, rockets on Sderot and Ashkelon, Gilad Shalit). Yet you try not to differentiate between the situation in the west bank and that in Gaza as far as having some type of leadership willing to talk with us on the basis of a two state solution. Of course just as in Gaza we aided in the destruction of those willing to talk with us, we are on the road to doing something similar in the West Bank by constantly promising to remove the most criminal of the illegal settlements, while doing hardly anything of the sort.

"(The separation of Gaza and the West Bank works very well for Abu Mazen, don't you think?)"

Yes, I do think so. It can also work very well for us. But as we did our best to undermine his infrastructure in Gaza, we are on the road to do so in the west bank as well. If we thus succeed, we can be sure to see a Hamas win in the west bank as well, and there probably is not much time left.

You ask that I “call on President Obama to call on the PLA….. to allow the IDF to leave the West Bank by fulfilling their responsibility to curtail terrorists and the terrorist infrastructure”.As mentioned earlier I didn’t call on Obama to influence the IDF to leave the West Bank. We can leave the West bank only when we have a fairly viable agreement for a two state solution. The occupation, in and of itself, is not an obstruction to an agreement. Phasing out the military occupation is the carrot we have to offer in any negotiation. And by the way…..yes, there is a lot of joint work done by the Palestinian police and the IDF in locating terrorists. At least this is what we’ve been shown on Israeli TV. Of course, if getting to an agreement turns out to be a dead-end street, tables will be turned, Hamas will take over the streets, and the third intifada will have begun. So far, our settlement policy is assuring a dead-end street. Ergo, my call regarding settlements.

“Why don't you also call on President Obama to call on the PLA ………to re-write the public educational texts and change the everyday television programs which villify Israel (That's no way to prepare a people for a two-state solution, is it?); to change the Friday afternoon sermons of hate into messages of reconciliation and cooperation. Couldn't you have asked Barack for even one of these?”, etc…..

I sense that out of your objection to what I did ask the President-elect you have over-reacted regarding things which were not included in my letter. Please understand, we have been asking for all those things constantly, and justifiably so, during every American mediation effort that has come our way, though we full well know that these will not change much until a successful mediation. My call to the President-elect was to add to our mediation wish-list also the one item which our government does not ask of the mediation: help us to help ourselves in getting our settlers out of land not theirs, because we are evidently unable (or unwilling) to do this on our own.

“I believe that if they had the power, the West Bank and Gazan Arabs would slaughter the Jews of Israel. I believe the only thing not allowing this is the power of Israel and the presence of the IDF in the West Bank and around Gaza.”

I agree with you so, so much. For that reason I thought it wrong of Sharon to vacate Tzahal from Gaza (along with so many other things Sharon was wrong on throughout his public life). Nor can we pull Tzahal out of the West Bank. My letter to Obama made no mention of anything of the sort.(read again perhaps). I have always seen the conquered territories as our hostages, with our ransom demand being a non-belligerent relationship with our Arab neighbors fortified by a variety of guarantees. I repeat - my call to the president-elect was to add to our mediation wish-list the one item which our government does not ask of the mediation: help us to help ourselves in getting our settlers out of land not theirs, because we are evidently unable (or unwilling) to do this on our own.

Please understand the damaging results of our settlement policy:

1. we are stealing lands belonging to private arab owners.

2. we have made our soldiers the guardians of people who have stolen lands, brutally harassed the original owners, and see their theft and the entire conquered lands as a permanent extension of the State of Israel.

3. With so much of our army deployed to protect our settlers, we have turned much of our training into that of a police force rather than training for the probable eventuality of some terrible wars that are still ahead of us. (Our Second Lebanon War was a good example of police training needing to cope with bringing a war into enemy territory. What a military disaster!)

4. Our soldiers are returning home having learned that you can shoot children throwing stones if they are Arab, but look away when settlers they are guarding have their children throw stones, or if settlers attack Arab farmers trying to work their fields. These are moral lessons brought back home after the army tour is over. They are wrong moral lessons, and they have spread and grown.

5. protecting our settlers, building them roads and other infrastructure, grants and favorable deals for moving to the conquered areas – all these have drained enormous funds from infrastructure, education, welfare and more within the State of Israel. (I can expand on the nose-dive each of these has taken, but some other time.)

6. So long as we have settlers and expanding settlements in the conquered lands, there is no way of holding these lands as ransom for better days when we can reach some kind of modus Vivendi for a two state solution living non-belligerently next to each other. The settlements are a constant living physical proof to the Palestinians that we have absolutely no intention of giving up the occupied lands in lieu of some type of agreement.

7. the continued expansion and natural growth of settlements in the West Bank will eventually be so heavy in population numbers so as to make it impossible to exit our settlers (many say that we have already passed the point of no return.) At that stage a two-state solution will no longer be an option. The only democratic option that will be left is to incorporate the West Bank into the State of Israel (the talk is already there – among arabs!). We will then hold the Palestinians in guarded enclaves or make them Israeli citizens (as we did on the Golan and in Eastern Jerusalem). With the second option, We can say goodby to a “Jewish State”. Being a Zionist, I prefer our country unilaterally pulling out our Jewish settlers from all occupied lands – now, before its too late.

I was always disturbed by stories coming out of the occupied lands regarding the behavior of our Jewish settlers towards the local Palestinians and the lax attitude of our army towards the actions of the settlers they are guarding. I assumed that part of the hype was also manufactured as some political tactic. I was wrong. These past few years I’ve taken the time to be among the olive groves of towns near Shchem. I’ve walked the streets and hills of Hevron and I’ve visited the sparse landscape of the cave dwellers south of Hevron. Being there and seeing convinced me that your justified request of the Palestinians “to change the Friday afternoon sermons of hate into messages of reconciliation and cooperation” must also be requested of the community of Jewish settlers that encourage their children to hate and harass their Arab neighbors while they themselves either commit or turn a blind eye to criminal acts committed towards their Arab neighbors. And don’t turn to me saying “yes, but that’s how the Arabs would act towards our Jews (and much worse) if we gave them the chance”. I yearn for our moral code to be different and so much higher and better than that which you may think is theirs.

I realize these words don’t answer all your objections, nor will I attempt to comment line by line, but please realize that my concern for the plight of the Palestinians is perhaps secondary. My main concern is what our settlement policy is doing to us as a people and where I fear it brings us to in the future.