JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

05/05/09 08:38 AM

Five things Biden SHOULD say:

1. The US is committed to securing a safe, creative and welcome place for Israel in the community of nations by achieving a comprehensive peace treaty and fully peaceful relations among Israel, a new, viable, and peace-committed Palestinian state, all the Arab states, and Iran.  This achievement of peace and security for Israel is what the great founders of Israel yearned for and worked for, and achieving it is in the vital—not the peripheral—interest of the United States and the world community at this historic moment.

2. We are convinced that majorities of both the people of Israel and the Palestinian people will welcome a serious effort to achieve such a peace, and to that end the US is calling a Conference on Peace in the Broader Middle East . We expect and intend that all the major parties in the region will take part, and we will exert our strongest diplomatic efforts to make sure the conference is a success. 

3.  The US will take vigorous steps to bring about a Palestinian government of national unity, including all the major strands of Palestinian political life, and to make sure that all elected members of the Palestinian parliament are free to convene and choose such a government. that can take a fruitful peace-seeking role in the Middle East peace conference.

4. The US views the continuation of blocs of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, and the embargo on civilian goods entering Gaza as inimical to such a peace settlement, and we will take steps to make sure that assistance from the US is not used to support those settlements, demolitions, or embargoes, and instead is used to fund and facilitate the resettlement of Israeli settlers inside Israel proper.

5.  The US will strongly support, financially and politically, the return of any Palestinians from around the world who wish to live in the new Palestinian state, and will not support or encourage their resettlement inside Israel.

Shalom, salaam, peace --
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The Shalom Center
http://www.shalomctr.org

05/05/09 08:55 AM

Rabbi Waskow has said it far better than I could possibly. It would be a miracle if Biden actually said any of those.

05/05/09 09:58 AM

It would be really nice Rabbi if that were true and the Palestinian did want to exist in its own state outside of the boundaries of Israel.  Too Bad it isn’t.  Palestinians want the land of Israel just because the Israelis are there.  It’s like a dog wanting a chew toy another dog has just because the other dog has it.  I pray for peaceful resolution but I prepare for war.

05/05/09 02:19 PM

3 1/2 out of 5 ain’t bad, so Waskow gets a “C”.

Waskow could not be more hopelessly wrong about item 4 (settlements, East Jerusalem and Gaza) and partly right about item 5.

Of course, these ersatz refugees should be absorbed by the new Arab Palestinian state, not Israel, but why should the US pay for their relocation? As it is, the US has been the major funder of UNWRA whose mandate was supposed to be for one year only. It is UNWRA and the “Palestinians” Arab brethren who’ve institutionalized their squalor in the “refugee camps” and their bogus refugee status. Let the Arabs with their petro-dollars contribute something or do something positive for a change.

05/05/09 02:59 PM

Reb Arthur’s Top Five List is essentially correct. The lack of any credible commentary by Medearis and Edwards is quite sad, really, and their knees must be in constant pain from those jerking actions. Rabbi Waskow gives serious commentary for consideration. You do not have to agree with him. You do have to provide something more than ill-thought, borderline racism.

05/05/09 03:33 PM

I respect the fact that Rabbi Waskow does want peace in the Middle East and I am sure he is well-intentioned.  However, the detractors’ comments ("borderline racism” aside) need to be addressed.

Issue 1, the “comprehensive” peace agreement, would be desirable if certain factors didn’t work against it.  Such an agreement has to address Israel’s concerns, not just the Arabs’ concerns, which is all I seem to be hearing about.  There is no doubt that Israel would welcome a peace among its neighbors, but it must be peace in the real sense of the term, and it must be based on Israel being recognized as a Jewish state (the national homeland of the Jewish people).  The Palestinians want to have Palestine recognized as their homeland, but the reluctance to extend the same recognition to the Jews may make this comprehensive peace impossible.

Issue 2, the comprehensive peace conference, has been tried before.  I think it was called the “Madrid conference,” and unless things change from that time, this type of conference is also doomed.

Issue 3, the unified Palestinian government, is essentially impossible unless Hamas gives up its desire to eliminate the state of Israel.  Even if there is such a unity government, Fatah still has the same sentiments, even though it takes a moderate line for Western listeners.  No encouraging prospects there.

Issue 4, the “settlements,” is not really the issue.  Maybe the U.S. government takes this stand because it does not want to alienate the Arabs.  But taking this position (note the reference to “Israel proper") essentially means going back to the situation pre-1967, which is a nonstarter.  Especially with respect to Jerusalem, we already know what happened for nineteen years, and we don’t want to go back to those days.  Instead, the Arabs should acknowledge that we will not be going back to the 1967 borders and make peace with an Israel which will take in some of the settlement blocs and keep a united Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital.  Unfortunately, the Palestinians seem to care more for continuing the conflict than for reaching a settlement that would actually require them to make a sacrifice for peace.

Issue 5, resettlement of Palestinians in their own state, may be the only one that I completely agree with Waskow with (outside of using U.S. money).  If the Palestinians want to settle inside Israel, they will have to accept that they will be a minority within Israel (although their civil rights, while not ideal, are more than they would have in any Arab country).  If they really want to be recognized as Arabs/Palestinians, they would have to settle in the Palestinian state or other Arab countries.  Either way, Israel should not have to change the nature of their state to accommodate them.