This week, my older daughter heads to Israel, where
she will be a leader of a Birthright group.
I will be heading to California, where I will be reading a
recently-published book that a friend wrote about Israel. You all remember Israel, right? It’s in the Middle East. It’s not controlled by Isis. Nor is anyone counting on it to wage war
against Isis. That means that it’s off
of the American radar screen these days.
In fact, with all the attention that’s given to
Islamic extremism these days, Israel is off of a lot of people’s radar screens
internationally. My guess is that the
same Europeans who were leading the calls to boycott, divest from, and sanction
the Jewish State a year or two ago have turned their attention to other
topics. You might say that when it comes
to the outside world, things are “All Quiet on the Israeli Front.” The violence within its borders continues,
but it’s barely getting reported outside of Israel or Palestine. Somehow, Israel is becoming just another tiny
place on the globe.
This has got to be welcome news on the streets of
Haifa and Tel Aviv. Whenever I speak to
Israelis, I am moved by the extent to which they’d just like to be left alone
to live normal lives. They don’t seem
to be especially hopeful about making peace with the Palestinians. In
fact, they take it as a given that the status quo – mutual alienation with frequent,
albeit limited, acts of violence – is as good as Israel’s ever going to
get. Israelis want to be able to go to beaches,
nightclubs, or museums without worrying about ethnic tensions. They choose to get on with their lives with
as little fear as possible and, for the most part, with clear consciences. Their goal isn’t to be freedom fighters or
justice seekers. They just want to be
left alone.
I doubt, however, that the same perspective is
shared in Hebron or Ramallah. From the Palestinian
perspective, the “Occupation” (as the Israeli status quo is known) is a
monstrosity that has to stop, and their job is actively to resist it. My Palestinian friends seem to take it on
faith that they will win their struggle, for the international community will
not tolerate Israeli injustices much longer.
Palestinians can agree to disagree about whether the result will be two
states, one state, or some creative binational arrangement – or whether acts of
violence against Israelis are acceptable means of furthering a just
outcome. But to a person, they refuse to
believe that the Occupation will continue and refuse to allow the Israelis to
live their hoped-for “normal” lives until justice is served. In
short, they contend that the world must treat Israel as a pariah state, and
Israelis must be scared or shamed into doing the right thing.
So there you have it -- two peoples with altogether
different aspirations and perspectives living on the same tiny piece of
land. Internationally, we used to call
it the Holy Land. Then it became known
as a war zone. And now it’s just a place
that most people would just as soon not think about – it’s neither threatening nor
depressing enough to compel our interest.
In 2015, everyone in my nuclear family will have
travelled in Israel – some for extended periods of time. I can’t tell you how proud I am that one of
my daughters is leading a group of American Jews on their first trip ever to
their ancestral homeland. Is Israel a
perfect place? Do its leaders treat their
Palestinian population with respect and dignity they deserve? Or pursue all appropriate paths to reconciliation? Sadly,
I am forced to answer “no” to each of those questions.
But damned if I am going to stop supporting the
Jewish State. And damned if I am going
to hold the Israelis to higher moral standards than other peoples are expected
to attain. If the Palestinians want
peace, they too must do their part. They’re
going to have to treat Israeli aspirations with respect. They’re going to have to recognize that the
Israelis have their own historical claim to “the Land,” and that this claim
didn’t start in the 1940s … or for that matter, the 1890s. Finally, they’re going to have to live with
the fact that as long as Palestinians support only a strategy of “resistance” rather
than compromise and reconciliation, the Israelis will just go about their lives
paying the bare minimum of attention to the prospects for peace.
The Israelis have the power, so they’re the ones
with the clearest opportunity to make peace.
But it’s precisely because they have the power that they can’t be
expected to seize that opportunity unless and until the Palestinians make it worth
their while. So far, because neither
side wants to go out of its way to reconcile with the other, we have a
seemingly intractable status quo marked by a self-delusion on both sides. The Palestinians narcotize themselves with
their senses of victimization and hope in a “just” future, and the Israelis
pretend that everything is peaceful and secure (meaning that the only
alternatives they can imagine are even less so).
As for the American Jews, we can continue to visit
the State of Israel, all the while basking in her historical landmarks, her
natural beauty, and her incredible economic and military accomplishments. But as a pilgrimage, it’s not quite what it
used to be when I first traveled to Israel in 1981. That was just a few years after the Camp
David Accords were signed. There was
reason for optimism. If Israel could make
peace with Egypt, why not the Palestinians?
I still can’t answer that question. Maybe my friend’s book will explain to me
that peace with the Palestinians is not possible (that perspective is all the
rage these days), but I’m hoping he’s going to take a different approach. I’m going to continue to pray for peace,
whether it’s possible or not. In other
words, I’m going to continue to pray for reconciliation and compromise. You see, I don’t see Israel as “just another
country” where people fearlessly swim in the sea and hike in the hills. I see Israel – and Palestine -- as the home of
several of the world’s great religions. It’s
not enough to aspire for such a place to be “normal.” We must aspire for it to be a land of righteousness. And that begins with at least some measure
of justice for all its inhabitants. Then,
and only then, can we live secure lives at peace with ourselves and our
neighbors.
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