January 2009 was an exciting time for me to be in
Washington, D.C. We had a new President –
an African-American with a silver tongue and a passion to unify. I was in the process of co-founding a new
organization called the “Jewish-Islamic Dialogue Society of Washington” or “JIDS.” And Middle East Peace Groups were sprouting
up, including one I joined – Yes We Can, Middle East Peace, or “YES-MEP” – that
was clearly inspired by the rhetoric of the new President.
Boy, have things changed in seven years, don’t you
think? More precisely, we’ve seen change,
but lost a lot of hope. We have pulled
ourselves out of a Great Recession, but for most of us, economic prospects look
bleak. Our kids leave school awash in
debt, decent housing for them is unaffordable, and our transportation
infrastructure is falling apart. The
rich get richer while every other family either stagnates or deteriorates. What’s more, our climate has changed for the
worse, and we’re running out of time before we can stem the effects of industrialization
on Mother Nature. Famines are likely to
consume millions of lives across the Pond, and even here in the US, big coastal
cities may soon disappear. Our
President has spoken about these problems, but the American public has long
stopped listening to his oratory. He’s
now just another middle-aged guy with gray hair -- another cautionary tale
about how difficult it is to change the culture of Washington, D.C. and enact forward-looking
legislation. Somehow, this well-meaning,
diplomatic, thoughtful man has turned into a widely hated, divisive figure, and
we will soon be engrossed in a nasty unpopularity contest for the next
Custodian-in-Chief.
But look at the bright side.
At least we’re not Israel/Palestine.
People frequently ask me whether I started JIDS in order to
work for peace in the Middle East. In part,
the answer is yes. There didn’t seem to
be much we could do here in DC to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together
directly, but I thought we could at least model reconciliation and enlighten
ourselves about what it means to be first cousins in the family of
Abraham. Just like Obama, JIDS has kept
on trucking; we met as recently as May 15th, and we have a planning
meeting set for June 5th. We
have no plans to give up, but nor do we suspect that the warm feelings we’ve
generated in our interfaith community are replicated in Jerusalem. When I traveled there in 2015, I was struck
by how alienated the two peoples are from one another. As for the peace movement, it seemed dead as
a doornail.
This past fortnight has been another dark one in the Holy
Land. The consummate
politician/survivor, Bibi Netanyahu, jettisoned his center-right Defense
Minister, Moshe Yaalon, and replaced him with Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman has been one of those Israeli pols
who have long attacked Bibi as being too moderate and wishy-washy on the topic
of the Arabs. If Lieberman had his way,
the Palestinians would be sent on a trail of tears to Jordan as if to rid
Israel of a pestilence problem. This guy is the real deal – the id of Israeli
tribalism. Cold, ruthless, ideological,
dangerous. We’ve seen his type come to
power before in many countries, and trouble almost always follows. With Lieberman
at his side, Bibi is now ready to lead the most right-wing government in the
history of the Jewish State.
Here in Washington, D.C., the number of gatherings devoted
to Middle East Peace isn’t anywhere near what it was seven years ago. Yes-MEP, for example, is long gone – a victim
of the ideological divisions that swallowed it up from the inside. Many Palestinians here in the DC area will
no longer tolerate dialogue; they want action – meaning efforts to boycott,
divest from, or sanction Israel (BDS).
Many American-Jewish peace advocates have grown fed up with the Jewish
State and blame it, rather than the Palestinians, for the fact that a two-state
solution has never been reached. These
Jews have generally disowned the term “Zionism,” viewing it as “divisive” if
not downright pernicious. Some explicitly
affirm BDS; others refuse to go that far, but neither do they seem hopeful that
the trend to the right in Israeli politics will ever be reversed. Generally speaking, when it comes to the
Middle East Peace movement, there is doom, gloom, and shame on the part of the
Jews, and the only thing that brightens the hearts of the Palestinians is the
prospect that BDS may bring Israel to its knees. They must know that prospect is a long shot,
but it’s the only hope they have at the moment.
At times like
this, we’re all advised to take a breath and get a little perspective. These trends we’re talking about are just
that – trends. They are signs of the
times. They are not permanent. In fact, if anything, whenever times seem
bleak, that’s usually an indication that the motivation will exist to react
against recent developments and strongly impel us in the opposite
direction.
Look what’s happened in America with the young people
clamoring for a real revolution – not one based on empty slogans and beautiful
oratory, but on concrete proposals to identify a set of rights that are
extended to all Americans. No, Bernie
Sanders won’t win the White House this year, and I dare say he won’t win in
2020 either. (As we say in Brooklyn, “He’s
not getting any younger.”) But nor do I
think he will quickly abandon his movement and fall in line, the way the
Corporatist Wing of the Democratic Party would like him to after the California
primary is over.
For those who are mocking Bernie as not a “true Democrat,”
most of his supporters would respond “Exactly. And that’s why we love him.” Bernie is offering a progressive alternative
to a Democratic Party that has been ruled by fat cats who gorge themselves on
campaign contributions and re-elections.
Perhaps the generation that is “Feeling the Bern” will look for a
different kind of politician – someone who is candid, straightforward, and in
it primarily for the sake of the poor and the working class -- and stop
fighting for sell-outs whose only legitimate rallying cry is that they are less
right-wing than their Republican rivals.
Remember, even if some members
of the Bern generation lose their souls as they become older and more
established, there will be other, younger Americans who emerge from college
with the same amount of idealism. Maybe
that’s the great benefit of coming into a stagnant economy with lots of debt:
you tend to keep your idealism longer. Every cloud has a silver lining.
As for Israel, the good news is that, like America, it is a
democracy. As more people throughout
the world lose respect for the Jewish State, thanks in large part to leaders
like Netanyahu and Lieberman, young Israelis will surely take notice. The strategy of circling the wagons might work
for a while, but my guess is that it will wear thin eventually.
Now I know the common response – that by the time the
majority of Israelis come to their senses and embrace peace, there will be too
many West Bank Settlers to make room for a Palestinian State. “You can’t unscramble an egg,” say the doomsayers. Perhaps not, but you can surely roll back
some settlements if the will of the Israeli majority is to do so. And you can have a two-state solution based
on 1967 borders with land swaps, which can include giving the Palestinians land
that is on the Israeli side of the Green Line.
If the Israelis and Palestinians truly embrace peace, we can yet have a
two-state solution. And since Israel is
a democracy, we only need a majority of Israelis to get on board. (Sadly, when it comes to giving up land, this
may ultimately require a majority of JEWISH Israelis – it may not be enough if
the majority is composed of Palestinian Arabs and Jews -- but that is not out
of reach either.)
The good news is that when it comes to peacemaking, time is
on our side. Eternity is a long
time. Sooner or later, we can find
benign and pragmatic leadership in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramallah and, yes, Gaza
City. Sooner or later, we can find leaders
whose love for peace and reconciliation exceeds their passion for perfect
justice. We have found them before, and we’ll
find them again.
And let’s not forget that even if one enlightened leader is assassinated
by the evil in our midst, another enlightened successor can pop up in her
place. That’s the beauty of building
movements from the grass roots.
Individuals come and go, but principles and values survive – and the
greater they are, the more they manifest themselves.
Thankfully, we are a resilient species. So when it comes to change, never lose your
hope.
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