Hagai El-Ad: Seeing Israel as it Is from Afar, but Not Keeping a Distance
There is a price for the alienation between what many Jews regard as Jewish values and the various steps recently taken by the government of Israel. For many of us, Jewish identity in the 21st century is anchored less in orthodox religious traditions and more in the values of equality and justice for all those created in God's image. It then becomes excruciatingly difficult to reconcile such a Jewish identity with an Israel that is an occupying power, inegalitarian, extremist, and indifferent to the world.
There are those who respond to this crisis with a wish to silence dissenting voices, as though if only Israeli and international human rights organizations were to stop their activities and reports, the image of the state of Israel might miraculously be rehabilitated and the underlying problems would disappear. Sadly, many Israelis share this attitude, including probably our current Foreign Minister. This approach, however, fails to recognize the world we all live in, and is deeply counterproductive.
Those who genuinely care about the State of Israel should let issues of image rest for a while and turn to matters of essence. If a country operates in a democratic, egalitarian, and just way, its image will follow suit and take care of itself. The solution does not lie in PR campaigns in Israel or overseas. There are no shortcuts: The solution lies in an essential change in the set of values guiding Israel's leadership. Indeed, an Israel that is more democratic, egalitarian, and just will not only have a better international image and be a place that more people identify with, but, even more importantly, it will be a better place for all of its own citizens - Jewish and non-Jewish - to live in.
He will bring us all down (Haaretz - Israel News)
- It is we who didn't realize the sun had set over the occupation. Even our best friends, who for years saved us from UN Security Council vetoes, believe that Israel must quit the territories and withdraw to the western side of the separation fence - a secure and widely recognized border - with or without an agreement. This is the conclusion one reaches with a fair reading of Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, the Bill Clinton parameters and the letters exchanged between George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon.
Netanyahu must get the message that Menachem Begin, Sharon and Ehud Olmert - his predecessors on the right - all came to understand, that the scenery looks entirely different once you're in power. Then he will understand that only the radical Palestinians and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad don't want to divide the land. It's good for them that Israel is turning into an updated version of an apartheid state. Israel haters everywhere understand well that the community of nations won't allow the rebirth of the Afrikaners' South Africa, one forcing on the world a single state between the river and the sea. This would be a single democratic state in which everyone has a vote, and when the ballots open, Ahmed Tibi will be elected prime minister.
This is a scary prospect, more than Qassam rockets and far more than a second "Hamastan." It would be the end of a Jewish democratic Israel. Netanyahu can jolt the steering wheel at the last second and change the end of this film - to return to the vision of Theodor Herzl and create a Jewish national home in recognized, defensible borders. He will not only receive a Nobel Peace Prize, but enter history as a second David Ben-Gurion.
What must he do? Create a third Netanyahu government, distance himself from the ideas of Tzipi Hotovely and other lawmakers in her camp, and join up with Tzipi Livni. Livni could be given half the steering wheel, with a joint Livni-Netanyahu government set up to divide the land and end the occupation. Half and half in the cabinet, fifty-fifty in government - the new administration would be one-quarter bigger than the current one. Lieberman would be released to do as he wishes and Yishai simply released.
And what about Barak? Let him remain defense minister. It's good for Israel and good for ending the occupation. Barak is, after all, experienced in unilateral withdrawals. He did a great job in Lebanon and would do the same in the West Bank.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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