Talking points for Secretary Kerry Re: New Jerusalem

This post is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.

My last day indulging myself in updated Biblical themes. Promise.

Yesterday it was Isaiah’s vision – swords into ploughshares. Today it’s every prophet’s New Jerusalem. Bear with me.

This time I’m writing with a purpose. I’m preparing to brief Secretary of State John Kerry. I know he’s reading my thoughts with interest.

Here’s how it started. A few days ago in Jordan, Secretary Kerry promised an economic jump-start for the West Bank as the last piece to the Israel/Palestine puzzle. The sheer lunacy of his proposal set me off.

I told Kerry to get real. I knew he’d receive my criticism as I intended it and want to hear more from me.

My idea is simple: the only way to end the endless wrangling in Israel/Palestine is through an American military intervention.

Yes, American boots in Jerusalem. Since American footprints are already there and everywhere else in the region, why not make it official and do the right thing? Anyway, it isn’t just Jewish to imagine a New Jerusalem.

As you’ll see, my New Jerusalem is rather ordinary. Come to think of it, that would be extraordinary.

So below are my talking points for Kerry on post-intervention thinking/planning. I hope to expand his view and help shape his message. Remember, talking points have to be short and succinct. I can’t cover everything. Anyway, it’s a taste for the Secretary. He may want more form me in the future.

In my scenario, American troops are on the ground. Cooler heads have prevailed. The reunification of Jerusalem has begun.

Talking Points for Secretary Kerry
Re: New Jerusalem

1. Jerusalem is the middle of Israel and Palestine, an ancient city on the verge of its latest evolution. Those living within its confines will now determine its destiny.
2. Outsiders are damned or welcomed, depending on whether they recognize the city as one with its inhabitants.
3. Jerusalem isn’t an international city, as if “international” is a living being. Jerusalem is a particular city that has a universal outreach. Those who want the universal to be realized in Jerusalem, that’s fine, join the local residents. Control is now with Jews and Palestinians, one community, one city.
4. Diversity within unity – that’s the theme of the New Jerusalem. Jews who want to do their thing – welcome. Palestinians who want to do their thing – welcome. Jews and Palestinians who want to cross ethnic and religious boundaries – welcome. The boundary crossers are creating the most interesting buzz. The future is integration not segregation.
5. Needed now: an overall governing structure for the New Jerusalem that includes Jews and Palestinians as equal citizens of the city. From garbage collection to schools to government, every part of the city equal, shared, jointly invested in, jointly responsible for.
6. This includes the police and for the larger polity, the army. A world without borders is an ultimate aim but in Israel/Palestine’s new configuration, borders are important. Some players in the region and beyond still see Israel, Jerusalem and Palestine as symbols to be won and lost. Jews and Palestinians need to guard their mutual investment in peace and reconciliation.
7. With the forward movement in Jerusalem, thoughts of moving back in time are a waste of energy. Moving backwards is a mirage. It leads to tyranny. Jews and Palestinians in the New Jerusalem are embracing a future. There is room for everyone to come, return, leave and then come and return again.
8. The Jewish and Palestinian Diasporas are on board. Diasporas largely stay in place even when they’re offered a one-way ticket home. Diasporas are often wonderful places to live. They’re free from the authority, clannishness and elites that abound in the homeland.
9. Israel/Palestine isn’t afraid of being inundated by diaspora returnees. Besides, there’s too much to do. When people return home they realize home has changed, they have changed and the land is less than what romanticized images in exile would have it be. Still, if the New Jerusalem becomes a magnet – terrific. The more the merrier.
10. The New Jerusalem welcomes the experiences of mutuality and solidarity in the Jewish and Palestinian Diasporas over the last decades. Jews and Palestinians of Conscience have made a mark in history and, despite the various dust-ups, the knowledge gained through their interactions outside the land is historic.
11. There’s been a lot of junk and grandstanding, especially on the Jewish side. Jews of Conscience had to work through a colonial sensibility filtered through our historic subjugation. I salute them. Once the situation was finally understood, it was a process of letting go. Rather than history’s failures, though, point toward the future. As Jews and Palestinians invest in a future in a shared Israel/Palestine, the implements of self-protection, including the vestiges of colonial thinking, will take a leap forward.
12. The New Jerusalem is the broken middle of Israel and Palestine. We are already witnessing what forward movement means to individuals and communities that have suffered in history. Our Jewish brothers and sisters, our Palestinian brothers and sisters, deserve an opportunity for healing their wounds. Jerusalem made whole is a fantastic place to begin.
13. On a personal note, since I opposed the Vietnam War, I know military interventions are difficult and have many angles. Boots on the ground are the last thing any of us want. But, as we have all seen, decades of wrangling haven’t brought us closer to a resolution. Israel is our friend and ally – we won’t ever abandon Israel – but as a friend and ally – the United States had to do something to save Israel from itself.
14. Our intentions are good; we foresee our exit soon. The placement of an international peace force under UN auspices is being readied now. Our hope is that all the players of the region will participate in this international force.
15. Everyone involved in unifying Israel/Palestine has to pledge to respect and protect its territorial integrity. The New Jerusalem is the centerpiece and all religions will be respected there. An interfaith task force is being assembled now and soon there will be a religious council made up of all faiths and denominations to set the ground rules for the religious dimensions of the New Jerusalem.