overran its borders in 1948, because the tides of war permitted it to.
The Palestinian and external Arab forces made it into a life or death
struggle. One percent of the entire Jewish population of Palestine was
killed and 2.5% wounded. Still, the Jews were better trained, organized
and motivated to fight. The Arab side was not coordinated and
constistently underestimated the ability of the Jews to fight (probably
due to a racist preconception they had about Jews). Yes, I certainly
agree that Israel would have helped the cause of peace if it had been
willing to retreat to its UN partition lines; but since so much blood
had been shed to obtain the expanded borders, no Israeli government
that did that would likely have survived.
were fair-minded to both sides. That's why I, and my Meretz movement
colleagues, generally approve of energetic international efforts to
bring the sides together, even metaphorically banging heads together
with tough love. Israel should not get away with expanding settlements
in Jerusalem and the West Bank
and the Palestinians should not get away with terrorist attacks on
unarmed civilians. We also hold store in the "Clinton
Parameters" articulated by Pres. Clinton late in 2000: roughly, that
areas and neighborhoods that are Jewish should go to Israel and that
those that are Arab should go to Palestine.
Now here's Steve:
reason, among others, why a right of return doesn't work, is
because this would threaten to turn a democratic Israel into just
another Middle Eastern state. Think of either – Fatah, with its
rampant corruption, or Hamas, with its religious militancy (to say the
least). Or you could think of the progress being made in such wonderful
places as Syria, Saudi Arabia or Egypt (take your pick!). Democracy,
freedom and prosperity would be threatened. And one
significant issue you never address is that Israeli Arabs would likely
oppose both (i) the right of return and/or (ii) their villages
being absorbed into the Palestinian state. There has been some press
on this but you have ignored it, or maybe you are not aware of this.
Israel democracy is not perfect but Israeli Arabs are wise enough
to largely prefer this society to the society of their neighbors. If
you want statistical data to back up these assertions, let me know and
I can supply it.
A few responses to you guys. Seliger is not giving enough responsibility to the Yishuv/Israel for its conduct in '48. It was more than the tides of war. Israel didn't want a slight Jewish majority in its state, it wanted a large one. The Irgun purged Jaffa, which was to be an Arab enclave under the U.N. plan right next to Tel Aviv, the heart of Arab society. So: 70,000 Arabs–poof, into the sea! I don't think only the Arabs had racist ideas. You say the Israeli society was so bloodied by '48 it wouldn't have accepted retreat. This is my problem with American policy. We've been listening to bloodied Israel for 60 years. They're brutalized. My friend in Israel says, "We're going to have war after war after war, because they don't want us here." That is no way for people to imagine their future, and no way for the U.S. to allow the kettle to keep boiling in the Middle East. You say Israel shouldn't get away with expanded settlements. Ralph, what is to stop them? They have been getting away with them for 40 years and thumbing their nose at my country. Henry Siegman wrote a year or so back that if the two sides couldn't agree on a fair solution themselves, then the international community should impose one. That's where I am, sick of this mess. And they can't agree. The Israeli leaders can't even say "Jerusalem."
Steve, I'm sure you're right re some of those Israeli Arab attitudes. Makes sense to me. Higher standard of living. But I don't see where Israel is so democratic. Those Arabs don't have full rights of citizenship, say to buy Jewish property, and they're not required to serve in the armed forces because Israel worries they'd be a fifth column. I think Israel needs to reform, and be more democratic. Plus it's denying basic human rights let alone civil rights to millions of people in the territories. You want to poll Israeli Arabs, fine. But we need to address Palestinian wants. As Israel never has. Or there will be endless strife.
Back to the right of return. To me the grossest sign of injustice here is that Palestinian villagers who were uprooted and lost their lands and livelihood haven't been able to move 40 miles in 60 years but either of you two guys can move 5000 whenever you like and go live in their village. That's just wrong. I don't see how you can justify it.
Ralph is sure to cite the Holocaust and the refuge for Jews, but at this point most Israelis have said they would like another passport and we all know the U.S. is safer than Israel. Europe too. The realities that gave rise to Zionism as a positive ideology are over. That's the problem. The rationale for Zionism is antisemitism in the west, and few Jews worry about that. Certainly in the next generation, zilch.
My challenge to you guys is, Why don't you move to Israel? I think I know the answers. One, you feel safe here; you don't have to move there. Two, you might actually prefer life in a multicultural modern democracy, where we grew up singing R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha. That's my guess. Certainly for your kids. And maybe you feel a little guilty about not making aliyah, as Alan Dershowitz has indicated he does. Three, you do an important job for Israel here. Both of you are part of the Israel lobby, in your way. As Mike Desch states in his book Power and Military Effectiveness: "As Yigal Allon put it, 'Israel has had, has and will have, but one faithful ally: the Jewish people in its diaspora.' This is why Ben-Gurion and other Israeli leaders have looked to Jews within the United States and other countries as reliable lobbies on Israel's behalf. Common religion and ethnicity, the twin pillars of nationalism, rather than common democracy, have been the only sound basis for alliance in the view of most Israeli leaders."
I think you know that's your job, to keep the U.S. on the side of the Jews in Israel. I'm appalled by the effects. As I repeatedly explain to Seliger, and no he is not convinced, rightwing Zionists and even not-so-right-wing ones pushed the Iraq War, to the immense detriment of my country. Too big a price. Part of the reason Ralph denies that the neocons had an Israel agenda, and had any power, is that if he accepted this, it would count as a giant blow against Zionism. Which it is. Zionism, as the anti-Zionists warned us, would involve dual loyalty. It's all thru American Jewish life today. Another big price of the Jewish responsibility for Israel. And finally, Israel's occupation is causing misery in Palestine and is a red flag of injustice to the Arab world. Another huge price of American Jewish loyalty to Israel, which has assured a U.S. policy of indifference toward the occupation. So we get to sing R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha, and the Jews in Israel just D-I-S-S the Arabs, it's completely hypocritical.
I think it would be a great thing for you to give up your Law of Return and help Israel imagine its future in the Middle East as a democratic, multicultural society. Whatever that involves. Give up the ideology of Zionism, which makes careful distinctions between Jew and Arab in just the way Ralph indicated above, ways that seem more oldfashioned by the minute, and try to help Israel imagine itself the way the society you live in not just imagines itself but conducts itself. Help Israel become a true leader in its region. Help it admit the Nakba and try to come up with some just reparation–this society that soared economically in part because the Germans acknowledged the Holocaust and did reparations. Yes I know, Nakba isn't Holocaust. But how long did Jews have to wait for an acknowledgement? Palestinians have been waiting 60 years because of your demographic fears.The only way forward is through spiritual recognition of the other as an equal, whatever that entails.
