Does Opinion Conflict With Fact or is Economic Development the Future of Peace?

During the summer, I have been keeping up with the world by reading the Electronic Digest of the NY Times. Although it doesn't have the entire paper, it is a good start and works reasonably well on my Android-powered Droid.

First the bad news:

This morning, I saw a brief article about a statement made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (I don't write that too often since those words are in themselves quite depressing).

While holding a joint news conference with Russia's foreign minister in Jerusalem, the Foreign Minister (less depressing to write it that way) said that he can't imagine a Palestinian state by the end of 2012: "I’m an optimistic person, but there is absolutely no chance of reaching a Palestinian state by 2012,” said the minister, Avigdor Lieberman. 'One can dream and imagine, but we are far from reaching understandings and an agreement.'"

On the surface, this is quite depressing but not surprising. Although the Israeli people did not directly elect Netanyahu or his coalition, they knew what they were getting and haven't pressured for a vote-of-no-confidence. It is interesting that this immigrant to Israel from the former Soviet Union whose electoral base are Soviet-born Jews made this statement with his Russian counterpart. To me, this shows the distance between Netanyahu and Lieberman's policies and those of the Obama administration.

Now for the good news:

In his column in the opinion section titled "The Real Palestinian Revolution," Thomas Friedman writes about the growth in the Palestinian economy and the success of the institution and economy-building efforts of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. While I am not a fan of the economic boycott component of his work, I think Fayyad is taking a page from Israel's success--the Yishuv built up political and economic institutions of a state before they were given political authority.

It seems that the Palestinian stock market index is the best performing one in the Arab world. More companies have been added recently and the economy is growing. According to Friedman (and he has a lot more contacts and experience about this than I do), previous Palestinian leaders did not want to build an economy or central institutions for fear of aiding the occupation. I am not sure it is only a result of this policy since apart from the Emirates, most of the Arab world has either wasted its oil wealth (GDP is stagnant or fallen over time, unemployment is very high and they have created unsustainable welfare states) or given the vast majority to the ruling elites.*

Are these conflicting statements? On one hand, they are but Thomas Friedman does not deny the lack of political progress. He just highlights the success of the Palestinian Authority on building the economy and creating a safe environment for business (their US and European-trained security forces are keeping the piece and encouraging business to open (a few Sundays ago there was a feature on Jericho in the NY Times travel section that provides color to Friedman's opinion).

Maybe the buck is supreme and peace will come through the economy. The one problem (which I learned this in an earlier column by Friedman that I can't locate) is that Israel's economy is also improving which decreases their need to make the concessions required for peace.

Hopefully, the political track will catch up to the economic track. If Friedman is right, the new jobs for Palestinians, competent national institutions, and success of the Palestinian Authority will allow Palestinians to believe that they have a real future for an independent state so they stop supporting Hamas. At the same time, the reduction in terrorism and increase in trade will strengthen Israel's center (does it even have a left any more?) and allow Israel's to elect a government that will bring it a secure and lasting peace.

Have a great summer. Keep reading and learning.

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* I only found a few sources to back up these claims. In 2002, only two Arab countries had GDP per capita in the top 20 (above Israel): Qatar and UAE. Malta and Slovenia appear before the next Arab country Saudi Arabia. Additional sources include this piece from WRMEA (probably a pro-Israel think-tank), wiseGeek, and check out these economic fact sheets on Israel and Saudi Arabia as examples.

Peace to Those Near & Far - The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same

For the past week and a half, I have watched the footage, read editorials and emails, and participated in conference calls with Israeli diplomats and Jewish leaders. I just started to write, 'Once again, Israel is at war with its neighbors.' That is not quite true. Once again, the world is noticing that Israel is at war with its neighbors and that the bloodshed--and therefore the news reports--are much higher than before.

During the summer of 2006, I visited Israel during its war with Lebanon. While most of the media focused on the fighting between Hezballah and Israel, the missiles raining down on the North, we also visited Sderot -- the town filled with poor and immigrant Israelis that abuts Gaza. For the last few years, there have been almost constant missile attacks on Southern Israel with limited Israel military response. Until it expired on December 19th, their were many fewer missile attacks. Still, a generation of Israeli children in the South have lived under the threat of constant, deliberate missile attack. I do not believe that Israel is without fault but international law and government responsibility to its citizens demands that it protect its citizens. Hamas' desired aim is to kill civilizians in terrorist attacks, it refuses to negotiate with or even recognize Israel. It takes no responsibility for controlling the arms in its terroritory (other than to take them away from rival Palestinian factions.

None of this means I do not care of the loss of Palestinian lives. But a few questions need to be asked: Israel has spent billions building shelters to protect its citizens. Why are Palestinian women in children dying and the Hamas leaders surviving? It is because the only shelters to have been built are for Hamas. I know it is a poor area under economic sanctions by much of the world. But Palestinian aid has disappeared to the tune of billions. What is a responsible government supposed to do when a declared enemy launches missiles at civilians populations, from dense populated areas?

Professor Alan Dershowitz--one of the foremost civil libertarians in the US wrote an editorial about the issues of proportionality and international law in the Wall Street Journal. I leave these issues to the experts but note that until the ground war, Egypt and Saudi Arabia joined many local, national, and international leaders in supporting Israel against Hamas.

One final note about Israel sovreign neighbors. While Israel has peace agreements with Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian authority, there are many inbalances in the long history of Arab-Israeli conflicts. Most of the residents of Sderot were expelled from the Arab lands they lived in for hundreds of years. They have been full citizens of Israel since arriving, were resettled, given homes, educations, job training, etc. Why haven't the Palestinians been treated the same by the Arab countries that have housed them since 1948 and 1967? Egypt has only half-heartedly stopped smuggling of weapons into Gaza from Sinai. Israel has destroyed more than fifty tunnels--including large, sophisticated tunnels reaching far into Egyptian territory. While they are quite happy keeping Palestians out of Egypt, can't they keep large, military missiles out a neighboring country? Now, Egypt is working with the EU, the US, and the UN to achieve a cease-fire. Where were they when bombs were falling for years?

I pray for a peaceful resolution to this conflict. I spent my first year after college studying in Jerusalem. It was 1993-1994, the year Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo Accords. It saddens me that far from being better, the conditions for Palestinians and Israelis is worse than before. I still hope that I will see a democratic, Palestinian state living peacefully with Israel but despair that it won't be until my young children study in Israel in ten or more years!

Shalom, shalom to those near and far,
Rabbi Bruce

Here are some resources that will provide a variety of viewpoints. I have previously blogged about organizations that I support personally.
I suggest the excellent Israeli papers: Ha-Aretz (the New York Times of Israel--politically moderate) and Jeruslaem Post (an Engish daily that is more Conservative). The Israel on Campus Coalition represents a broad coalition of organizations that represent Israel on campus, and (since they are not part of ICC, groups such as Rabbis for Human Rights or Peace Now.

A New Voice for Isael

Recently, J Street and JStreetPAC opened for business. They offer a Pro-Peace and Pro-Security alternative to the monolithic pro-Israel voices heard up to now in America.

Only recently did I realize that the American Jewish community is ten years or more behind the Israeli community when it comes to Middle East politics.

This winter, the JCPA (the policy coalition of the American Jewish community) voted in favor of a two-state solution. Israel came to that realization in 1993 & 1994 when it committed itself to the Oslo Accords! Even then, the main Orthodox organizations involved in JCPA voted against a two-state solution--the acknowledged policy of the Israeli government.

It is time for the voices for a strong Israel in safe & secure borders to speak up.

Sign up for J Street. Support Peace & Security.

Historic Visit to Promote Peace

This morning (Israel time), the Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Jordan landed in Israel to formally offer Israel a peace plan on behalf of the Arab League.
Both Egypt and Jordan have signed Peace Agreements with Israel (more of a cold peace than a warm peace), but the Arab League as an organization has been hostile until recently.

According to the NY Times website:

'We are extending a hand of peace on behalf of the whole region to you, and we hope that we will be able to create the momentum needed to resume fruitful and productive negotiations'' between Israel and the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world, Jordan's foreign minister, Abdul-Ilah Khatib, said at a news conference with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the visit was historic.

''This is the first time that a delegation is coming here under the auspices of the Arab League,'' he said. ''In the past, the Arab League has opposed dialogue, normalization and any contact with Israel and this is the first time the Arab League has authorized a delegation to visit Israel.''

Now, they are offering a peace plan. Israel will not accept a plan that includes full withdrawal from East Jerusalem (which includes the Old City and large numbers of Jewish neighborhoods but also contains the bulk of the Arab population of the city) and the population centers of the West Bank. Still, Israel will be forced to respond and hopefully a real negotiation can resume.

I am hopeful that peace is one step closer than before. May it come speedily in our day!
Rabbi Bruce

Coming Together During Our Sacred Times

Over the past few days there has been a lot of criticism of His Holiness Pope BENEDICT XVI who seemingly attacked Islam in a talk with representative of science. Taken out of context, his quotation surely is an attack on Islam. But, my reading of the text makes it clear that the Pope does not agree with this statement. He introduces it twice--once historically and once critically. His historic quotation mention that both Christianity and Islam contain truth: " I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both." His critical introduction adds his feelings about the types of ciriticisms of Islam that were part of his talk: "Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded, on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general." (Boldness appears in Vatican Text edition).

That people would take the Pope's citation of an anti-Muslem text as an attack, even when he distances himself from it using strong language shows how fragile the relations are between Christians and Muslims. This relationship, weak as it is, is stronger than the relationship between Jews and Muslims. The strained relationship between Jews and Muslims is evident in popular media and in the media of both communities. Over the past week, I rebuked rabbinic colleagues for being overly critical of Islam. Instead of focusing on the positive and trying to build a better world, I had read a number of critiques of Islam in the mode of "my religion is better than yours."

This weekend starts the Holy Month of Rammadan and the Yamim Noraim--our Days of Awe. As the Shalem Center has been encouraging us for almost a year, we need to use this time to come together and not drift further apart. A holy teacher should be allowed to mention a text that he describes as different from his point of view. Even if he meant to use that text to portray Islam as he saw it, he should be allowed to make the comment (even if its use would break up a dialgoue). Staying true to one's faith is a prerequisite of any dialogue.

In this spirit, I offer my rebuke to my readers (It might not make perfect sense since the discussions are restricted to Rabbinical Assembly Members. Accordingly, I am sharing what I wrote and not what anybody else wrote):
"Today a group of Israelis, Palestinian, and Jordanian students came to talk at Smith. They are all current or former students at the Arava Insittute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura.
Arava is now an approved study abroad option for Smith students and they are traveling to campuses to promote their program.

The program started with a listing of the co-sponsoring departments and organizations at Smith College: Environmental Science and Policy Program, Jewish Studies Program, Department of Government, Hillel, the Offices of the Jewish and Muslim Chaplains, Al-Iman and Hillel at Smith, the Middle East Committee, and the Office of International Study. Talking to an overflow crowd, each of the students told their personal stories of how they came to Arava and what it has taught them about the environment, coexistence, and peace.

More importantly, they spoke about how they have learned about the other and developed first wary relationships and finally friendships with people who are just like them but come from the other side of a political/ethnic divide.

They also addressed the past summer's renewed conflict and how it impacts them individually and collectively. Muhammed--a graduate who is now doing a PhD in Kansas on political science--explained that this summer his families' house in Gaza was destroyed by aircraft. His mother is a UN employee, he is a peace activist, and other family members work for NGO's that deal with food and poverty. No member of his family is part of Hamas or any other group. He said it is justifiable and understandable for him to react out of his anger and for Israelis to react out of their anger, but in the end that only brings people farther apart. It feeds a cycle of hate. Instead, he focuses on the future by building relationships and working for peace one step at a time.

I don't want to deny that there are hateful Moslems. I have heard more than enough hateful Jews (sometimes even on Ravnet) to know that bad apples exist in all communities. And it is true that our community tends to push hatemongers to the fringe more than we have seen from Islamic leaders. But the Muslim leaders I work with day-to-day and the students I share meals with in Smith's kosher and hallal dining (where I will eat in a few minutes) do not promote hate. In fact, I have probably heard more Jews and Christians say hateful things on campuses than Muslims.

In this period of Elul, let's focus on how we can build a better world one step at a time. Colleagues justifiably argue that is not worth the time to reply to the Agudah bash of Conservative Judaism. I say do the same here. Find a Muslim and talk. Find a Palestinian and listen. Tell them your story and listen to theirs. Then focus on the future. If you can't find the right Muslims to talk to in your community, I am sure my colleague Al Hajjah Khalilah Karim-Rushdan (Chaplain to the College and Advisor to the Muslim Community) would be happy to be invited to your shul. She could also help me connect you with like-minded people in your community.

I just think there is too much work to be done to argue about how hateful Islam is and what one group of misguided students did on one campus.

Bruce (JTS '00)

Shanah Tova and (soon) Ramadan Mubarakh

Can An Archbishop & Two Chief Rabbis Start Middle East Peace in London

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has negotiated an historic accord with Judaism and Israel after an unprecedented meeting with the two chief rabbis of Israel at Lambeth Palace, London.

The announcement occurred during the 350th celebration of Jews resettlement in England after an earlier expulsion. It is rare for the two Chief Rabbis of Israel--Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger and Shlomo Amar, who heads Israel’s Sephardi community--to travel together and to enter into international politics.

Some have argued that this is really a PR move to satisfy England's Jewish community after the Synod of the Church of England voted for divestment from Israel.

In the depressing world in which we live, I have to grab onto any glimmers of hope.

The text of the accord demonstrates that it is not merely a reconciliation of the leaders of two estranged religious groups, but also a framework to work towards peace.

כן יהי רצון

Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce