Realistic Dove has a smart piece on Christian philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr, who he states is Obama's spiritual muse. Realistic says that Niebuhr was a Zionist in 1941 out of a sense of fairness for Hitler's victims even then–Niebuhr's belief being that human beings are sinful and we need a strong "ethic of progressive justice."
demands entailed no `injustice’ to the Arab population… It is absurd to
expect any people to regard the restriction of their sovereignty over a
traditional possession as `just…’ What is required is a policy that
offers a just solution to an intricate problem faced by a whole
civilization.” He hoped that the aspirations and needs of Arabs after
the war could be addressed in a confederation of new and existing Arab
states.
So there was a typical lack of understanding of Palestinian
nationalism and, I infer, probably too much faith in the moral
grounding of Ben Gurion and the other Zionist leaders.
Realistic bashes me and my crowd for not understanding that Zionism fulfilled liberal visions of how to provide a refuge for the Jews. It's true I don't talk about that much, though I think it's a little off point now. Speaking of now, Realistic says what Niebuhr would want is a two-state solution and quickly, to answer the burning injustices. Dan Fleshler (Realistic) was pleased a year ago when I endorsed the two-state solution because I was sick of the storyline and wanted to get this all over with. We were told it was an urgent matter then. And now I hear people saying: Obama's second term. That would seem to be too late. As Avraham Burg says, all the technicalities are a distant second to a spiritual issue, a basic acknowledgement by Israel of its trespasses against the Palestinians. Acknowledgement, deferred 60 years now…
