The upshot of last week’s UN
Security Council vote condemning Israeli settlements has caused a great deal of
insecurity in the American Jewish community. Too often, hurried statements from
Jewish organizations (fueled by the Israeli government) increase the heat when
what we need is light.
FB posts and tweets in
response to events seem reckless, especially in comparison to the hour-long
oration by Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday.
Listening to the entire speech
on Wednesday, I found Kerry’s rebuttal to the claims made by Israeli Prime
Minister Netanyahu and his followers in the US comprehensive and thoughtful.
Giving the background to the vote, as well as an historical perspective on the
all the previous Security Council resolutions and the US continued condemnation
of settlements, Kerry’s words were balanced, honest, and based in both Israeli
and American values. One headline in Haaretz today even called his
remarks “superbly Zionist.”
It’s time for the leadership of the
American Jewish community to pay attention to the power imbalance, the economic disparities, and the
inequitable systems of justice applied to Palestinians on the West Bank. It’s
time for American Jews to meet Palestinians, to visit their villages, and to
see, in contrast, how well-developed bedroom communities for Israeli settlers
are choking off Palestinian life and establishing what currently looks like a
one-state solution.
This assessment does not
ignore the challenges from the Palestinian leadership. The Palestinian
Authority is considered corrupt by the average Palestinian. The PA has not
succeeded in stemming terror attacks on settlers. The peace process has stalled
for lack of leadership—on both sides.
Yet, short of signing a peace
accord, the government of Israel could relieve much suffering. Instead, they
have stifled the Palestinian economy, limiting Palestinian control over their
own land, their own towns, and their own destinies. While Israelis build on
land that they do not legally own, and are protected by the Israeli army, Palestinians
are refused permits to build and their homes are demolished on a regular basis.
Israeli powers prevent Palestinian entrepreneurs from establishing businesses
that will create jobs. Roads that connect Israel and the West Bank, extending
well into Palestinian-controlled areas, ease travel in and out for Israelis
while Palestinians are stymied from traveling daily from home to work or school
(often in their own neighborhoods) by closures and checkpoints.
While respecting the concerns
of Israeli citizens and settlers for their safety, I find the current blind
responses extreme and short-sighted. Thankfully, groups that support the voices
of opposition within Israel, including Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now
and JStreet have given American
Jews a different way of looking at the situation, a middle way that supports
the long-standing commitment to a 2-state solution while decrying tactics like
boycott, divestment, and sanctions.
My personal position is most
aligned with T’ruah, whose statement
reflected what Kerry subsequently stated. The full text is also included below.
I offer a few other links to
thoughtful posts to help us all move past the rhetoric and come to a deeper
understanding of the Obama Administration’s decision to allow the Security
Council resolution to pass 14-0. These posts probe both sides of the argument
and raise interesting questions for us all to consider.
David Remnick in The New Yorker, "The Obama Administration's Final Warning on the Middle East Peace Process"
T'ruah Statement on UNSC Resolution
תניא, רבי אומר: איזו היא דרך ישרה שיבור לו
האדם - יאהב את התוכחות, שכל זמן שתוכחות בעולם - נחת רוח באה לעולם, טובה וברכה
באין לעולם,ורעה מסתלקת מן העולם
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said, “What is the correct
path that a person should choose? Love tokhecha (rebuke/correction), for
as long as there is rebuke in the world, comfort comes to the world, good and
blessing come to the world, and evil departs from the world.”—Talmud Tamid
28a
Over the past few days, we have heard
significant pain and anger from the Jewish community and from the State of
Israel regarding the recent UN Security Council Resolution and the decision by
the United States to abstain, thus permitting it to move forward. It is true
that the UN has a history of paying disproportionate attention to Israel. In
the past, T’ruah has spoken up against problematic resolutions, including the
UNESCO resolution this fall that ignored the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem
and to our holiest sites there.
In this case, however,
the tokhecha contained within this resolution simply reflects decades of
U.S. and international policy that affirms the goal of “two
democratic States, Israel and Palestine, liv[ing] side by side in peace within
secure and recognized borders,” and decries settlements as an obstacle to
achieving this vision. We encourage those concerned about this resolution to
read it in full before responding.
T’ruah has long advocated for an end to
occupation, which violates the human rights of Palestinians while threatening
the safety and security of Israelis. The expansion of settlements involves land
theft, as well as the blocking of access to land and of freedom of movement for
Palestinians. Within Area C of the West Bank, where the settlements sit,
Palestinians and Israeli citizens living side-by-side are governed by two
different systems of law, in contradiction of international law and of the
biblical principle, “You shall have one law for citizens and strangers alike.”
(Leviticus 24:22)
The settlements and the entrenched occupation
also threaten the well-being of Israelis, including those soldiers who risk
their lives to defend an ill-fated policy; the Israelis who see their tax
dollars diverted from needed health, education, and welfare programs in order
to allocate disproportionate funding to those living in settlements; and
Israelis and Jews around the world who face increasing isolation as a result of
the policy of occupation. No less a figure than Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled that
the return of territory may be permitted--or even obligatory—for the sake of pikuach
nefesh—saving life.
Despite accusations that
the resolution is one-sided, we welcome the call to the Palestinian Authority
for “confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantling terrorist
capabilities, including the confiscation of illegal weapons” and the
condemnation of “all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of
terror, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement, and destruction.”
T’ruah has always condemned terrorism and rejected any claims that political
aims justify violence against civilians.
The capture of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day
War restored Jewish sovereignty over our holiest sites for the first time in
modern history. We pray and work for a two-state solution that will preserve
Jewish access to these sacred sites. However, the continued policy of
demolition of Palestinian homes; the lack of permits for Palestinians to
build in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods where they live; the expansion of
settlements in these neighborhoods, often by shady legal tactics; and the
failure to provide basic city services to East Jerusalem Palestinians living on
the wrong side of the wall that cuts through the “eternal undivided capital of
the Jewish people” simultaneously violate human rights, fly in the face of
Jewish law and values, provoke anger among the Palestinian population, and make
the goal of peace harder to achieve.
The rhetoric on the part of the Israeli
government and some segments of the Jewish community that caricatures the UNSC
resolution as an erasure of Jewish history or as a rejection of our connection
to Jerusalem only blurs the distinction between Israel and the occupied
territories, and reinforces the perception that standing up for Israel requires
defending occupation. In fact, we should celebrate the resolution’s distinction
between Israel within the Green Line and the occupied territories, and
its rejection of the one-state solution increasingly called for by many in the
BDS movement. Standing up for the future of Israel and for the safety of
Israelis and Jews around the world requires distinguishing between our
commitment to Israel and the current policy of occupation, and working toward a
two-state solution.
We affirm the call by
the UNSC resolution for “all parties to continue, in the interest of the
promotion of peace and security, to exert collective efforts to launch credible
negotiations on all final status issues.” The expansion of settlements,
including so-called “natural growth” changes the facts on the ground before
territory can be negotiated. Even the areas that, according to most maps, will
end up in Israel must be negotiated as part of a final status agreement. We
also affirm the call to Palestinians to end the terrorism and incitement that
frightens Israelis from taking bold steps toward peace, as well as rejecting
“Price Tag” attacks and other violence and incitement on the part of Jews.
Much of the Israeli and
Jewish communal response to the UNSC resolution, as well as to all tokhecha regarding
settlement growth, has emphasized the failure of Palestinians to accept past
agreements, or focused on terror as the primary obstacle to peace. While there
is certainly reason to find fault with both sides—as the UNSC resolution
does—Zionism, ultimately, is about taking our future in our own hands, rather
than waiting for someone else to determine our future. This means both
accepting responsibility for the misguided and dangerous policy of settlement
expansion, and taking it upon ourselves to do what is necessary to bring about
peace.
In permitting the hotly
contested peace agreement with Egypt, including relinquishing land captured in
war, Rabbi Chaim David Halevy wrote:
We have great doubts regarding this peace agreement. That is
to say—it’s possible that it will be temporary until the Arab world gathers the
strength necessary for another round.
But
it’s also necessary to remember that it’s possible that it will continue for a
long time. . .Therefore, it is incumbent on us, without considering their
ultimate intentions, to cultivate this peace, and to do whatever is in our
power that it should develop and set down roots, out of hope and faith that
time will heal all wounds, and that a new generation will rise that has not
personally suffered the defeat of war and the humiliation that follows. (Aseh
L’kha Rav 4:1)
The obligation to pursue peace weighs especially heavily as we approach the momentous fiftieth anniversary of the Six Day War. Just as the biblical yovel year—the fiftieth year of the agricultural cycle—brought liberation and a fresh start, we commit to using this moment to move forward toward peace, a two-state solution, an end to occupation, and a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
