WHAT CAN AMERICAN JEWS DO TO HELP SOLVE ISRAEL’S DILEMMA?

Israel has a dilemma, and what can I do as an individual American Jew to help? First of all, let’s look at some history to put things into perspective. Although traditional Zionism has existed for 2,000 years since the destruction of the Kingdom of Judea by Rome, Modern Zionism began in the 1880s with the leadership of Theodore Herzl. The purpose of Herzlian Zionism was to find a national home (not necessarily the Land of Israel/Palestine) for the Jewish people in the face of anti-semitism in Europe (even in the “enlightened” Western Europe). However for the Religious Zionists, who were a minority among the early Zionists, only Eretz Yisroel would do. Anyway there was no other country standing with open arms ready to share some land, even the ones with large sparcely settled areas. So why not the ancestral home of the Jewish people? Where else was there? Then came the Holocaust which created displaced Jewish survivors. Again the open arms were limited, certainly not in Europe. Then came the wars between the Jews and the Arabs. There were a number of wars, but the two most significant were the 1948 war when the Arab League (surrounding Arab countries, not Palestinians) invaded and 1967 when the surrounding Arab countries again invaded. The result of 1948 was the independence of the State of Israel with a Jewish majority. The result of 1967 was bringing the West Bank and Gaza (and temporarily Sinai) under Israeli control. The winner in 1948 was Israel because it resulted in an independent Israel with defined borders. Who won 1967? At the time it appeared to be Israel, but was it really? Actually Jordan and Egypt got rid of headaches in Gaza and the West Bank, and Israel inherited them. The Palestinians lost in 1948 because most of them were displaced when they moved out to make way for the invading Arab armies and then could not go back in. Those who remained became Israeli citizens and now make up 20% of the population of Israel. Jordanian and Egyptian rule was replace by Israeli rule for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank in 1967.

Israel’s dilemma today is that Israel is stuck with an occupation of the West Bank and a containment of a hostile sort of independent Gaza strip on its border. In the 1990s things were looking up. Peace was made with Egypt ending Israeli occupation of Sinai. The Palestinian Authority under Arafat came into existence giving the Palestinians autonomy. Some Palestinian Arabs became kindly disposed toward Israel (how many?) and were looking forward to eventual complete independence. Most Israelis had a similar view. Unfortunately hatred for Israel persisted for many Arabs, both Palestinian and in the surrounding Arab countries, and elsewhere in the Moslem world. Arafat would speak peace in English and hatred in Arabic internally. Also there was a fringe group of radical Jewish zealots (both in Israel and the Diaspora) who wanted ever growing settlements with the purpose of eventually becoming the majority in the occupied lands.

When Ehud Barak offered Arafat the Clinton Barak Plan which would have given the Palestinians an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and part of Jerusalem, Arafat rejected it without any further negotiation, and then commenced an Intifada with suicide bombers against Israel. Apparently some (or most?) of Arafat’s people still could not reconcile accepting the reality of Israel’s existence, and he was too chicken to go against them (or maybe he himself could not accept it?). Some time later Barak again tried to separate Israel from Palestine by forcing the closure of settlements in the Gaza Strip and withdrawing the Israeli army. The idea was to test separation unilaterally in the part of Palestine that is farther from Israel’s population center. The Palestinians in Gaza then elected a Hamas government that did not accept the reality of Israel and proceeded to attack Israel with rockets and commando raids. As a result, enough of the Israeli public became disillusioned with the two state solution to elect a right wing government and adopt a “who cares” attitude toward the settlements. This in turn has hardened the Palestinian Arabs to a greater extent against Israel and has further provided excuses for anti-Jewish hatred in the Moslem world (and elsewhere). To further stir the soup centuries old internal hatreds among Moslems between Sunnis and Shiites, between Iran and the Arab countries, between secularists and fundamentalists, not to mention the most extreme Moslem terrorists in Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, and many other copy-cat groups and individuals who glorify murder in the name of religion. Interestingly, in the middle of all this, a kind of under the table alliance has arisen between Israel and the surrounding Arab countries (the same ones that invaded Israel/Palestine in 1948 and then 1967). It is an alliance based on common enemies, particularly Iran. However it is an alliance with governments, not with the Arab people, and who knows how long those Arab governments will last and how long they can be trusted?

So, Israel exists, Jews in Israel/Palestine exist, Arabs in Israel/Palestine exist, and most are not going anywhere else. Most have no other place to go and don’t want to go to that other place that does not exist. Somehow the parties have to come to some kind of stable peaceful arrangement or there will be continuous war. That was not Herzl’s dream. The Moslems must come to terms with the fact that a nation exists in their midst with a majority Jewish population that over the last 59 years has progressed economically, scientifically, and culturally into a first world democracy while they have stagnated during that time. On the other hand, the Jews of Israel (and the Diaspora) have to accept the fact that 130+ years ago when we started modern Zionism and chose our ancestral home after 2,000 years as the place for a new Jewish country, we bought the place including the Palestinian Arabs, and therefore we Jews share some responsibility towards them as well as ourselves.

So where do we (Jews, Moslems, Christians, Israelis, Palestinians) go from here? Most of the Israeli people want, need, and deserve security, real peace, freedom from rockets and terrorists in their own land in which they have lived now for generations. There are religious fundamentalist Jewish zealots who push for further settlement expansion because they think all of Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel/Palestine) belongs to the Jews because they claim it says so in the Bible. They are a minority in Israel (growing but still a minority).

The Palestinians need and deserve respect, hope, a reasonable level of self-determination, and the possibility of economic advancement. The Israelis need and deserve peace (security), the ability to go about their lives without fearing that terrorists will send rockets over the border, set off bombs, or dig tunnels under the border to kill people.

We American Jews can donate money to causes that promote efforts that will further peace. These efforts are occurring already, but need to be nurtured. A great example is Hand in Hand, an organization that creates schools in Israel that teach Jewish and Arab children together. Starting to know each other early in life is key to making an inclusive strong Israel. Another cause that I favor is Ben Gurion University of the Negev. The Negev desert is the largest land mass in Israel and the key to Israel’s future. There are many other worthy causes that support Israeli modernism and the inclusion of modern thinking Israeli Arabs as well as Palestinians. There is hope. We Jews in America can and should support that hope.

 

RECIPROCITY

We Diaspora Jews have a reciprocal relation with the Jews in Israel. Israel provides a place for a Jew who has nowhere else to go. Even if I myself am happy and secure in my home country (for me actually more than in Israel), nonetheless it is still in my interest for such a place to exist. In return, we in the Diaspora support Israel with financial support and with moral support. We give Israelis the feeling that they are not alone. We in the Diaspora have the right to criticize the actions of the Israeli government when it is indicated just as we voice support for Israel against unwarranted attacks. Israelis also have the right to criticize us in the Diaspora when it is warranted.

There is also a reciprocal relationship between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Israeli Arabs enjoy Israeli citizenship which brings the ability to vote and equality before the law. They live in a country which is stable, basically democratic, economically advanced, and in many ways offers them more opportunity than elsewhere in the Middle East. The downside for Israeli Arabs is that many Jewish Israelis (certainly not all) look down on them, treat them as outsiders (just as Jews were treated in most of Europe) and do not trust them. The challenge for Israelis is to make their country more inclusive and integrated, particularly for the Israeli Arabs who make up 20% of the population. It will require better education of all Israeli citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish, to recognize their common interests. But it will maximize Israel’s strength and security. As for Jews having a special right to return, when Israeli Arabs have equal opportunity in every respect (private as well as public) and benefit fully and equally from Israel’s prosperity, then I think the right of return for only Jews will be a small trade off for the Israeli Arabs.   

Progress in the relationship between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs will hopefully lead to progress in the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. I believe the problems between Israel and Palestine will eventually be resolved from the bottom up. Conferences and treaties at the government level will work after the ordinary people on the ground learn to interact with each other in a respectful and peaceful manner enjoying a prosperity in which all the people share in the fruits of that prosperity. The major role of governments will be to foster the relationship between Jews and Arabs by encouraging interactions in education, work, and other endeavors.

The Battle for the Soul of Jews in Israel and America

I recently attended a debate in Ventura, California by 2 journalists (JJ Goldberg from the Forward on the Left and Jonathan Tobin from Commentary on the Right) called "The Battle for Israel's Soul." Perhaps I looked at it through my own lense which is generally left of center and in keeping with Goldberg’s views which are very pro-Israel but nonetheless willing to see Israel’s mistakes. Tobin is less willing to accept Israel’s mistakes and takes the view of the Right that all the fault is with the Palestinians. Although Tobin recognizes the unpredictability and other flaws of Trump, he paints Obama as being unfriendly to Israel which I believe is not true. On the contrary, I believe being a friend of Israel does not require slavishly agreeing with everything that falls out of Netanyahu’s mouth.

Tobin voiced the view that every time Israel has extended its hand to the Palestinians, it has been rebuffed and answered with terrorism. He also said that opposition to Israel in the world community is due to anti-semitism and not to any action taken by Israel. Goldberg pointed out that the world community (including the UN) was favorable to Israel at the time of its founding in 1948 and this favorability ended after the 1967 War with the beginning of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. My view is that both are correct. Efforts by Israel to give the Palestinians sovereignty have been rebuffed, often violently (Gaza withdrawal, Clinton-Barak Plan). Many or perhaps most schools in Palestine and the Moslem world teach hatred of Israel and Jews. However, there are reasonable people out there in Palestine and Moslem countries who do not hate Jews and who see Israel as a window to progress. If Israel is to ever attain peace, those people must be cultivated. It won’t happen overnight or in one flashy conference. But the alternative is a pessimistic eternal conflict keeping Israel a mega-ghetto. The road to peace will be difficult but not impossible, and there is no reasonable alternative.

Finally I observed that all the people attending the debate were old like me or at least late middle aged. Where were the young people? I am sure they exist in Ventura County. Are they not interested in Israel? I fear that the drag to the Right in the government of Israel and a minority of right wing American Jews, and the embrace of Donald Trump by that Right have turned off many young Jewish Americans. Most American Jews and especially young ones tend toward progressive liberalism (which actually is not a new phenomenon). It is the Right that has strayed off the path. It is the resistance to Trumpism that has captured the imagination of young American Jews. We Jews in the USA, Israel, and the rest of the world must encourage a progressive Zionism which discusses freely and looks at itself honestly and critically. In that way, we might maintain our future.