"Each side manages to convince me that the other side is right. When I talk to Israeli rightists, I feel like a total leftist. When I listen to Muslim religious leaders - I'm sure the rightists are right," said a frustrated Rabbi David Bigman during a recent phone conversation.
Rabbi Bigman put into words the agonizing frustration of many in the "moderate peace camp" in Israel. The current situation is far too complex to present as black and white, good and bad.
I think life must be much more straightforward for people on one or other of the extremes.
If you are dedicated to the eternal unity of the Biblical Land of Israel, to Jewish control of holy sites such as the Cave of the Patriarchs, and to Jewish settlement throughout the Promised Land; if, for you, the war over the Land of Israel is eternal and the People of Israel are fated to live by the sword forever, the people around us are malevolent and are waiting for the right moment to destroy us, and the present struggle is simply one of many in a long drawn-out war going back to the days of the Patriarch Abraham; if you believe that giving our enemies an inch will just cause them to demand a mile - then obviously we cannot give up one single iota of land. We must set down roots within the lines that were established when we won a just war in 1967 and not yield to the intense international pressure to withdraw. We must weaken our potential enemies as much as possible, and not let them develop national institutions, symbols of sovereignty or armed forces.
On the other hand, if you are convinced that ruling over another people gradually eats away at the soul of Israel like a cancer, eroding our morality and our standing in the community of nations; if you believe we cannot maintain long term control over another people; if you hear the warning bells of danger if Israel continues in its current direction; if, for you, concepts such as "Palestinian State" that once were whispered in secret and considered evidence of a lack of patriotism, are today the need of the hour; if you believe that six million Jews in Israel cannot live forever in a state of armed readiness, surrounded by hundreds of millions of enemies while slowly losing the Jewish majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea - then obviously we must withdraw from the occupied territories and stop governing another people, as soon as we can find someone willing to take them off our hands.
In December 1987 I was a tank platoon commander in the vicinity of Ramallah, where we were supposed to spend a week in ongoing security activities. But we ended up staying there for three months as part of the First Intifada. During this challenging period I was exposed to the injustices of Israel's occupation. Ever since then I have been convinced that our rule over millions of Palestinians is not moral, cannot continue long term, and damages the character, image, and future of the Jewish population of Israel.
Those who point out that the occupied territories were acquired in a justified defensive war are correct. It is also indisputable that many other countries around the world, including those we consider advanced and enlightened, have occupied and oppressed other people and yet no-one demanded that they give back land. But we were born Jews, for better or for worse. The occupation is bad, and it is damaging us.
So if the occupation is bad for both us and the Palestinians, then the solution would seem to be simple. Give it back. Withdraw. Two states for two people.
There might very well be a majority in Israel who would support such a solution, difficult and painful though it would be. But here we come to a major stumbling block. As the saying goes, "Just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean they're not after you." I am not at all convinced that the other side intends to live next to us in peace, or is willing to let go of its grandiose dreams of kicking out all the Jews (if not throwing them into the sea). I fear a situation in which we will be dependent on the good will, morality, and justice of them and not of ourselves.
There are many reasons for this fear. Here are three major ones:
One: The Palestinian leadership that is currently seeking recognition in the UN institutions does not represent all the Palestinian people. Hamas, which controls Gaza, is unequivocal in its opposition to the two-state solution, and calls openly and consistently for Israel's destruction. Signing a peace agreement with the PA today would be like shaking hands with an enemy that is trying to stab you with the other hand.
Two: The Palestinians do not recognize Israel's right to be a Jewish country. If they do not consider Israel to have the right to exist as a Jewish country, even within a smaller footprint (the pre-1967 lines with adjustments) - then where on Earth does Israel have that right?
Three: Arab citizens of Israel, who constitute about 18% of the country's citizenry, are beginning to identify themselves more and more with their Palestinian brethren, and to define themselves as "part of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation" (from the foreword to "Future Vision for Palestinian Arabs in Israel", a document that was written in 2006 by the National Committee of Heads of Arab Local Authorities in Israel). The fear that the next stage of Palestinian demands for land and indepen
dence will concentrate on the Galilee - which has been part of Israel since the founding of the country - is not entirely unfounded.
So the challenge is to convince the centrists in Israel of the trustworthiness of our Palestinian neighbors. The Israeli public requires unambiguous proofs from the Palestinians - not a one-time statement, but many concrete deeds over the course of time - that demonstrate they truly are preparing themselves to live in peace with Israel. Israeli peace activists make comments such as, "They can't say something like that out loud because they fear the extremists in their midst" or "The frustration and rage of 44 years of occupation is too great and so it's too hard for them." Maybe those things are true. But that is not enough to convince those of us who believe that the occupation must end, yet at the same time fear for the fate of the Jewish State of Israel.
The Israeli peace camp and its Palestinian friends have, up until now, invested most of their efforts in convincing the Israeli side of the conflict that we must reach a two-state solution. The time has come to invest more effort in the Palestinian side. If the Palestinians are really serious about living alongside us in peace, they must rise to the challenge and invest in a thorough, comprehensive program of convincing actions. Convincing us. The Palestinian people must prove to their Jewish neighbors that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel is not an act of national suicide on Israel's part.
October 2011
