Israeli-Palestinian Collision

by Aaron Ahuvia

[This article is reprinted from ISRAEL HORIZONS magazine, the quarterly periodical of Meretz USA. See the entire summer 2008 magazine. The article was also distributed by Brit Tzedek v'Shalom. See below the essay for more information on the author and on Brit Tzedek.]

How can advocates for a two-state solution win the debate within the American Jewish community? To a large extent, we already have. In February 2008, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella agency representing 14 national Jewish groups and 125 local Jewish community relations councils, voted that "the organized American Jewish community should affirm its support for two independent, democratic and economically viable states -- the Jewish state of Israel and a state of Palestine -- living side-by-side in peace and security."

Mahmoud Darwish, known as the great national poet of Palestine, died on August 10, 2008. Great outpourings of people came to bury him in Ramallah, Palestine, and in the Israeli region of Galilee, where many Israelis of Palestinian culture live. This memorial essay was written by Uri Avnery, one of the most persistent of Israeli peace activists, one of the wisest and most revered, a former Member of Knesset, editor and publisher for many years of the newsweekly Ha'Olam Hazeh, now leader of Gush Shalom.

The Anger, the Longing, the Hope

[See the end of this essay for a few poems by Darwish and then a comment by Rabbi Arthur Waskow.]

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

The day before Israelis celebrate the 60th anniversary of independence, they will pause for "Yom HaZikaron” (Day of Remembrance) to mourn those Israelis killed in various wars with the various Arab states and the Palestinian people over the last two generations.

In 2008, especially as we observe this 60th anniversary, we may need to rethink whom we should mourn –- especially since recently, there has been a concerted effort to persuade American Jews to publicly mourn the deaths of Israeli civilians killed in attacks by Palestinians. That effort intensified with the deaths of eight students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in March, 2008.

February 19, 2008
From Claire E. Gorfinkel

Dear Rev. Ateek and Friends of Sabeel,
[ED. NOTE: Sabeel is a Palestinian Christian organization that advocates the use of nonviolent resistance to oppose the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Its supporters have held a number of conferences in American cities, often to the consternation of and strong opposition from some Jewish organlzations.]

I write as a Jew who is committed to the practice of my religion, and a social change activist [who focuses on the war against Iraq and the Israel-Palestine conflict] in Los Angeles. Like Rev. Naim Ateek and my many teachers, both Christian and Jewish, I believe that my faith requires me to act for justice and peace, and the inherent preciousness of every human being informs my activism. I am ‘on record’ as supporting the prerogative of All Saints Church to host the Sabeel Conference this past weekend, even knowing that their decision evoked great anxiety, anger and fear among my fellow congregants.

by Dr. Robert D. Crane

[Dr. Crane has since 1994 headed his own research center, the Center for Policy Research. He was a foreign policy adviser to Richard Nixon, 1962-1967. In the early '80s he became a convert to islam and has since written and taught extensively on Muslim theology and its application to world politics. Since the concept of Hudna, usually translated "truce" or "cease-fire," has become important in debates over Israeli-Palestinian relations in Gaza, The Shalom Center is making his theopolitical analysis available. ]

Hudna is a classical Islamic solution for intractable conflicts. In English it is usually translated simply as “truce.” Unfortunately, the word “truce” usually means merely a mutually agreed interlude of a false peace in the course of a protracted conflict. During the Aqsa or Second Intifada, inaugurated by Sharon’s invasion of the Temple Mount in September, 2000, the Islamic liberation movement known as Hamas (Movement of Islamic Resistance, Harakat al Muqawama al Islamiya), has revived the ancient Islamic concept of hudna as a strategy to pursue permanent peace.