| Topics in this digest: The Roadmap
The following op-ed piece I wrote was published in this week's Jewish
Western Bulletin (the Vancouver Jewish newspaper)
BL
Response to "Not a Miss
Congeniality"
Naomi Ragen
is a great author. I recommend her book Sotah to my conversion
students because it provides a balanced picture of both traditionally
observant Jews and secular Jews.
I am less
impressed with Ms. Ragen as a political analyst. The problem is
not any lack of congeniality--she came across as a caring person.
Rather, the problem is that if there is any proposal less likely to be
succesful than the "road map," it is the one she put forward in her
speech at Schara Tzedek on May 20.
As outlined
in the Jewish Western Bulletin article of last week, her roadmap calls
for "an immediate roundup of all weapons, and trials and deportation for
those Palestinians still holding arms past a certain date. She also
calls for an education system which would instil "love of freedom, life
and justice" to offset all the years of organized incitement to hate."
She was not
explicit, but it would appear that she is calling for a continuation of
the status quo--Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, no
Palestinian state--except we should also take over the Palestinian
education system and teach Palestinian kids to have a "love of freedom,
life and justice." Then, someday, in the distant future, when a
new generation has grown up on idealized education system, we will have
someone we can make peace with.
You've got
to be kidding. Maintaining the peace in Israel through a continued
heavy military presence in the West Bank and Gaza is going to lead to
Palestinians learning to love freedom and justice? The education
system we put in place won't be more than counteracted by the education
that terrorists will give the kids in how to blow themselves up?
As a rabbi,
I generally shy away from taking sides politically. My expertise
is Torah, not global politics. However, I lived in Israel for a
year at the start of the current Intifada and believe there are a few
facts which the Israelis need to accept, and a few facts that the
Palestinians need to accept. Ultimately any settlement will have
these elements taken into account:
Israel
needs to accept:
1) It is in
Israel's best interests for there to be a Palestinian state. The
status quo, which amounts to an apartheid type of situation with
Palestinians under Israeli control, but not Israeli citizens, is not an
acceptable long term solution to either the Palestinians or world
opinion. We do not want to truly annex the West Bank and Gaza
because we certainly don't want another 2 million Arabs voting in
Israel. We can't give the territory back to Jordan and Egypt, they
don't want the Palestinians either. If ethics don't stop us, world
opinion will prevent us from forcibly removing the Palestinians from the
territories. The best solution is a Palestinian state.
2)
Jerusalem is already a divided city. Not many Jews today would
feel comfortable enough to go for a jog on the Mount of Olives.
It's almost considered daring to go to the American Colony Hotel on the
border with the eastern sector of Jerusalem.
3) Isolated
settlements are not military defensible and will have to go.
Exactly which settlements will go and which stay will be the subject
of intense negotiation, but a lot of them will have to go.
The
Palestinians need to accept:
1) The
right of return is not going to happen in any form except tokenism.
No one in Israel, not even the far left, supports giving the
Palestinians the right of return. It would be the end of the
Jewish state, and it's not going to happen.
2) Lands on
the "other side" of the Green Line that have been substantially
developed by the Jews, like Gilo, Maale Adumim, and Alfei Menashe are
going to be part of Israel.
3) They are
not going to be given exclusive unlimited control over the Temple Mount.
Bill
Clinton and Ehud Barak were not far off in the plan they proposed.
There were problems in the details, and problems in the Palestinian
leadership reining in the radicals. Ariel Sharon's "surprising"
turnaround and acceptance of the road map is indication that he is
coming to realize these facts--or more likely, he knew them a long time
ago, and just felt it is appropriate to acknowledge them at this point
in time.
I believe
the vast majority of both Jews and Palestinians would agree with the
principles outlined above. Not everyone likes it, but those are
bottom lines on both sides. Those above statements were true
almost three years ago when this round of violence all started, and they
are still true today. The loss of over 2,000 lives has not changed
a thing.
Instead of
each side trying to convince the other, the Israeli leadership should
work to build consensus in Israel surrounding the things Israel needs to
accept, and the Palestinian leadership should work to build consensus
among their polity on the things they need to accept. As soon as that
happens, the real work of hammering out the details can begin in
earnest.
Pray for
peace.
Barry Leff
Top of page |