EDITORIAL Conflict rages over size of Israeli crumb
It is sadly ironic that one of the holiest places on earth is also
one of the most violent in history. The Holy Land in general and Jerusalem in
particular reek with old hatreds and new tensions. To say the impasse got worse
since Benjamin Netanyahu became Israel's prime minister last year is to put it
mildly.
This is a crucial time for the simmering Middle East, where time
is running out. Voices of reason all over the world need to be heard. The
voices, however, are all too often subdued, in part because of the enormous
historical and moral baggage that Middle East issues come trailing.
The Holocaust was in several ways a turning point in modern
history. One consequence of the Holocaust was the universal resolve that such a
calamity should never happen again. Another was an almost worldwide mixture of
sorrow, sympathy and guilt that converged to make amends for the wrongs done.
Such sentiments were a large part of the engine driving the political forces
that culminated in the state of Israel.
The short history of that state has been a succession of peaks and
valleys, like that of most states, except that in Israel history flexes its
muscles to intensify everything. The state was forged amid the kind of
freedom-fighting or terrorism -- the terminology usually depends on who is
using it -- that is still the stuff of Israeli existence. Whether Israeli or
Palestinian, yesterday's terrorist tends to become today's hero, or at least
politician, from David Ben-Gurion to Yasir Arafat.
The day is happily fading when those who accuse the state of
Israel of injustice or oppression against Palestinians run the risk of being
branded anti-Semitic. A more sophisticated generation has grown used to
distinguishing between Jews and Israelis. Citizens of Israel likewise hold a
wide range of views about how their state should be run, and right now many of
them oppose the in-your-face tactics of Netanyahu. And while Jews worldwide
have a greater loyalty to their homeland than any other diaspora on earth, time
and again American Jews in particular have spoken out in disapproval or
condemnation of unjust policies or unfair practices in Israel.
Now is a good time to speak out.
Netanyahu and Arafat glare at each other across those dusty
patches of disputed land, each about as hard to love as the other, the two
horns of the Middle East dilemma. But they're not equally responsible, equally
guilty, equally anything. Netanyahu holds all the cards. In that ongoing
skirmish, Israel is Goliath -- which is why the young Palestinian Davids with
their slingshots pack such potent symbolism.
It is time to speak out and say that Netanyahu, a smart man with a
knack for demagoguery, climbed to unsteady, irresponsible power on the backs of
a fanatical right-wing Israeli beast that he now dare not dismount. If
Netanyahu carries the flag for extremists, it is time to speak out. Noted
Newsweek recently: "From practically the moment he took office last
June, he has been rubbing Palestinians' noses in their own impotence."
The word peace gets kicked around the Holy Land these many
years. Many young men and innocent women and children have died in the name of
that elusive peace. Heroes have died in its name, most recently the courageous
Itzhak Rabin. The jaded modern world is tired of phony talk of peace.
Americans, who annually send huge sums of money in aid to Israel, will get
tired of funding a country that talks of peace while inflicting wrenching
injustice on Palestinians.
The immense goodwill and reservoir of sympathy that Jews have won
worldwide, not only in the wake of the horrors of the Holocaust but through
their enormous contributions to three millenniums of human endeavor, could be
squandered by repeated repression, in what most Jews everywhere see as their
homeland, of today's outcasts. Yes, the Palestinians. It is time to speak
out.
In early April a coalition of U.S. Christian groups spoke out,
demanding that the U.S. government practice "tough love" vis-a-vis Israel.
Called Christians for Middle East Peace, they urged the media, perennially
timid in matters dealing with Israel, to question Israeli actions it said
threaten peace. The group focused especially on the now notorious Har Homa
settlement being built in East Jerusalem. Said the group's spokesperson: "The
president needs to make clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu ... that Israel's
actions are incompatible with the peace process and will not be supported by
the United States."
It is time to say: This isn't about equal justice, equal
conditions, equal access to houses, water, other necessities or amenities of
the area. It's not about an egalitarian solution. It's about whether
Palestinians will get anything at all beyond their current stateless status,
beyond their refugee status, beyond the camps, the poverty. The conflict is
about the size of the crumb, if any, that Israel will give away.
And that makes it also about the soul of Israel and its stature
among the nations.
National Catholic Reporter, April 18,
1997
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