WARNING : This site is not for you if you cannot see the otherness of other and sufferings of both sides of the party in the conflict. Security for Israel and Justice for the Palestinians are interdependent, one will not happen without the other. My view focuses on building cohesive societies where no one has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. I hope and pray a sense of justice to prevail. Amen. Website www.IsraelPalestineDialogue.com | Also Check Israel Palestine Confederation a pragmatic solution
When
a brother and a sister fight, you see the brother hitting her, but don't see the
girl pinching him. The following OpEd at LA Times has expressed this well,
" Israel cannot win this war, primarily because it is fighting only the
symptoms of the conflict with the Palestinians — rocket launching — not the
underlying causes, which are the Gaza blockade and the Israeli occupation of
the Palestinian territories."
Those who are biased towards Jews will condemn Israel to no end, and those who are
biased against Muslims love the killing, bombing and annihilation of
Palestinians. Shame on the men and women on both ends of the conflict for cherishing death and destruction. None of us should justify killings of any
kind and no one should rejoice this.We are not animals to lock in our horns or
tear apart each other with our fangs, we are humans blessed with the ability to
talk and find solutions.
I am deeply committed to security for Israelis and Justice for the Palestinians,
one will not happen without the other. I have written and published over 50
pieces on the issue, and have been involved with many peace initiatives
including Middle East Peace Initiative by Rev. Moon’s ministry. I have been to Israel and have traveled most
of the land. I am a board member of the Israeli Palestinian confederation, a
non-profit organization working to find solutions with membership from both
Palestine and Israel and a few non-Palestinians and non-Israelis like me.
Israel can't win this or any future conflicts by bombing Gaza http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-sharqieh-israel-gaza-20140716-story.html
Smoke is seen billowing from the Gaza Strip following an Israeli airstrike. (Jack Guez / AFP/Getty Images)
A popular colloquial definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Israel launched military campaigns in 2008 and 2012, purportedly to eliminate Hamas' rocket-launching capabilities from the Gaza Strip. Obviously, the campaigns failed: Hamas is again unleashing a barrage of rockets and Israel is again bombarding Gaza. Israel cannot win this war, primarily because it is fighting only the symptoms of the conflict with the Palestinians — rocket launching — not the underlying causes, which are the Gaza blockade and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The range of Hamas' rockets was about 50 miles in 2012, reaching cities such as Ashdod. Today, some rockets have traveled nearly 100 miles, targeting Tel Aviv and even Haifa. Hamas launched more than 800 rockets in the first six days — more than it did in 21 days in 2008. Israel has launched more than 1,300 airstrikes on Gaza in those first six days.
Seventeen members of the extended family of Tayseer Batsh, the Hamas police chief, were killed by one such airstrike — the largest number from one family in a single attack in the three conflicts. We don't know how long the current conflict will last, but it could prove more punishing this time.
A popular colloquial definition of insanity is doing the same thing over
and over again and expecting different results. Israel launched military
campaigns in 2008 and 2012, purportedly to eliminate Hamas' rocket-launching
capabilities from the Gaza Strip. Obviously, the campaigns failed: Hamas is
again unleashing a barrage of rockets and Israel is again bombarding Gaza.
Israel cannot win this war, primarily because it is fighting only the symptoms
of the conflict with the Palestinians — rocket launching — not the underlying
causes, which are the Gaza blockade and the Israeli occupation of the
Palestinian territories..
The range of Hamas' rockets was about 50 miles in 2012, reaching cities
such as Ashdod. Today, some rockets have traveled nearly 100 miles, targeting
Tel Aviv and even Haifa. Hamas launched more than 800 rockets in the first six
days — more than it did in 21 days in 2008. Israel has launched more than 1,300
airstrikes on Gaza in those first six days.
Seventeen members of the extended family of Tayseer Batsh, the Hamas
police chief, were killed by one such airstrike — the largest number from one
family in a single attack in the three conflicts. We don't know how long the
current conflict will last, but it could prove more punishing this time.
The heavy bombardment of Gaza only deepens the Israelis' problem rather
than solving it. Over the last 47 years, Israel has systematically created one
of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world in the Gaza Strip. The more
targets Israel destroys, the more frustration grows among the Gazans. The
surviving relatives, neighbors and friends of those killed, and the rest of
Gazan society, are more exasperated than ever by the Israeli blockade. Increased
frustration within a besieged Gaza is what pushed things to the edge in the
first place.
It is delusional to assume that when the current battle ends, both parties
will return to their communities to resume normal lives. The Israeli-Palestinian
conflict has created two meanings of normality. The 40,000 Israeli reservists
who were called up this time will, for the most part, go back to their jobs and
homes when the fighting ends. But Gazans, 39% of whom are unemployed, will go
back to their "normal" lives under the brutal conditions of the Gaza blockade
and be at the mercy of Israel's rules about what type and quantity of food and
other basics are allowed into Gaza. The Palestinians in the West Bank will go
back to their daily humiliation of roadblocks and expanding Israeli settlements
at the expense of their livelihoods.
In fact, the two sides are more equal under the conditions of war than
those of peace; although the Israelis are much stronger militarily and inflict
more damage, both sides feel the effects of being under attack. But when the
fighting ends, the Palestinians' version of normality gives them every incentive
to defy Israeli roadblocks and blockades. When the choice for Gazans is either
accepting the blockade and life in what some have called the largest open-air
prison in the world or fighting back, no sane person would consider anything
other than the latter option.
To prevent another tragic war in the
future, things must change. Palestinians mainly need two things: dignity and
bread. Israel must end the occupation in general and the Gaza blockade in
particular. The mistake of the 2008 and 2012 mediation efforts was that they
produced cease-fires that allowed the Israelis to go back to business as usual —
but left the Gaza blockade intact and perpetuated untenable conditions, which
led to further and bloodier fighting.Israel cannot win this or any future conflicts by bombing Gaza. Without
addressing the root causes, even crippling Hamas — which was able to impose calm
after 2012 — would not be a victory. Instead, it would merely set the stage for
the next time, against whatever group or groups — perhaps even more radical than
Hamas — that would inevitably emerge to take up its mantle.
Ibrahim Sharqieh is a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings
Institution's Doha Center and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in
Qatar. Twitter: @sharqieh
Solutions are always going to be tough and
painful, but once the parties can endure short term painful transition, there
is always hope for peace.
The
majority on both sides genuinely want peace and move on, a few, however are
messing everything up. It's been painful to see people massacred, and painful
to see the ruthlessness and arrogance.
This
conflict is not good for either Israelis or Palestinians - Israelis are
certainly piling up guilt on their psyche messing up the next generation of
people from living normal life, while Hamas has not been able to channel how to
express their frustrations other than sending the rockets.
The
problem is with leadership, unless the Israelis and Palestinians rise up to
change the leaders who have not delivered normalcy to the people, the problem
will continue. It has to come from within. We can hold dialogues to communicate
that. Neither side have normal leaders.
If
there were to be any guilt, it would be on us the Americans. We have the
ability to bring a closure to this, and bring long term security to Israel and
Justice to the Palestinians through Israel Palestine Dialogue .
Shamefully
we (Americans) are unwilling to do it as we are influenced by our might, and
want to resolve everything by guns and bombs, and a few short sighted people
who buy our congress to make wrong decisions. It would take a grass root
movement like Jews for Peace, J- Street and other organizations who are
gradually gaining momentum.
I am doing my tiny share of work in communicating,
and I
urge every one- to express pain and grief and pray and speak out... but avoid
using the language of pushing each other, and please adopt a re conciliatory
language, and the language of peace. they are going through pain, let's not
burden our frustrations on either of them.
The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is a humanitarian one, and it
would be wrong to label it as Jewish and Muslim or between Judaism and Islam.
We have to guard ourselves from labeling each other as enemies which we are
not, and we shouldn't be. Of course a few among us look to the other as if they
have wronged us. No, none whatsoever. I have not wronged any Jew and neither my
Jewish friends have wronged me, nor our relationships should be marred by the
conflict.
The conflicts should not tear us apart; instead it should bring us
together to build a cohesive America, and hopefully cohesive societies across
the world where no human has to live in fear of the other.
On the other hand we need to put breaks on the words that
depreciate the efforts of peacemakers among Jews and Muslims in the United
States, who are making all out efforts to find solutions, calling it a Jewish
and Muslims problem amounts to belittling their efforts. Let’s guard
ourselves from such short sightedness.
I must add that I have been to several Mosques during this month
of Ramadan, and was good to hear supplications seeking justice and relief to
the Palestinians, but no hatred for Jews was expressed and that was the right
thing to do, what a relief it was! It is a good thing in a place of
worship, seek help, and seek guidance, but not propagate hate. I will be
visiting a few synagogues and churches in the coming weeks and I hope to hear
no hate for Muslims in their places of worship either. Dear God guide us from keeping the places of worship free of
malice Dear God lift us above pettiness Dear God give us guidance to mitigate conflicts and nurture
goodwill. Dear God remove hatred and bias towards fellow beings. Dear God give us strength to speak up against bias and hatred in
our gatherings. Dear God help us heal our relationships between fellow Americans. Dear God each one of us an instruments of peace and harmony.
The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is a humanitarian one, and it
would be wrong to label it as Jewish and Muslim or between Judaism and Islam.
We have to guard ourselves from labeling each other as enemies which we are
not, and we shouldn't be. Of course a few among us look to the other as if they
have wronged us. No, none whatsoever. I have not wronged any Jew and neither my
Jewish friends have wronged me, nor our relationships should be marred by the
conflict.
The conflicts should not tear us apart; instead it should bring us
together to build a cohesive America, and hopefully cohesive societies across
the world where no human has to live in fear of the other.
On the other hand we need to put breaks on the words that
depreciate the efforts of peacemakers among Jews and Muslims in the United
States, who are making all out efforts to find solutions, calling it a Jewish
and Muslims problem amounts to belittling their efforts. Let’s guard
ourselves from such short sightedness.
I must add that I have been to several Mosques during this month
of Ramadan, and was good to hear supplications seeking justice and relief to
the Palestinians, but no hatred for Jews was expressed and that was the right
thing to do, what a relief it was! It is a good thing in a place of
worship, seek help, and seek guidance, but not propagate hate. I will be
visiting a few synagogues and churches in the coming weeks and I hope to hear
no hate for Muslims in their places of worship either. Dear God guide us from keeping the places of worship free of
malice Dear God lift us above pettiness Dear God give us guidance to mitigate conflicts and nurture
goodwill. Dear God remove hatred and bias towards fellow beings. Dear God give us strength to speak up against bias and hatred in
our gatherings. Dear God help us heal our relationships between fellow Americans. Dear God each one of us an instruments of peace and harmony.
Bold conversations produce bold results and bold solutions, whether they get implemented or not, but they brings clarity to the issue. If you genuinely want to find solutions, lay it out on the table, don't hold it.
A few bold statements by Rabia Chaudry:
We did
not mince words. Occupation, disenfranchisement, colonization, genocide,
apartheid. It was all said and done. But it was said and done between
people who now had grown to respect each other. So the words didn’t fall
on deaf ears. And we also were not deaf to their words.
None of us, including Hartman staff and leadership, knew how this
program would play out. Hartman of course had it’s agenda, and we all
had ours.
This is the cost of trying to work in gray
spaces, I knew it, and I accepted it.
Israel relies on
unconditional US support, which is based greatly on pressure by American
Jewry. But that support is changing, wavering, uncertain. Israelis know it and worry about it internally.
A 700 word blog post, with a title I strongly opposed, cannot
include and cover every single emotion, discussion, and experience of a
year long program.
Well done Rabia
Mike Ghouse committed to building cohesive societies.
As Twitter continues it’s meltdown over my Time article
yesterday, which I fully expected, I thought it may be best to address
some of the concerns, criticisms, and rage about the article and the
program itself. So here is a list of ten things that are important to
understand as you think about this program. I ask you to momentarily put
aside your angst and take the time to absorb this:
1) The MLI program was not created by Shalom Hartman. It was envisioned and created by Imam Abdullah Antepli of Duke University
who saw an opportunity to work with an institution that is both
influential in Israel and with American Jews, and provides the space to
discuss the conflict with people we otherwise are never in the same room
with. The program and curriculum was further developed with the
leadership of another Muslim, Dr. Homayra Ziad.
It was designed keeping our concerns and sensibilities in mind,
included meeting with Palestinians, and traveling to the West Bank.
Before accepting, many of the participants consulted with national and
international Muslim leaders who overwhelmingly urged us to be part of
it.
2) Though the cohort was ethnically diverse, it did not include Arabs
or Palestinians. Not because they were not invited but because a number
of them were prevented for personal reasons (taking off for two weeks
at the beginning and end of the year to be in Jerusalem just not
possible for some folks because of work and family), others were not
comfortable being part of the pilot cohort but intend on being part of
it in the future, and of course some outright disagreed with the
program. The 2015 cohort does include Arab Americans. And we have all
been privately supported by Palestinians who support the program, but
cannot risk doing it publicly.
3) None of us, including Hartman staff and leadership, knew how this
program would play out. Hartman of course had it’s agenda, and we all
had ours. As I said in my previous Patheos piece,
we participated for different reasons. But from the time we began until
it was over, there was no clear mission statement for the program
because it was entirely experimental. We were not expected to do
anything in particular with what we experienced. It was left up to us.
Some folks asked if I was expected to write about this. I only started
contributing to Time a few months ago, but beyond that fact let it be
known that I insisted on writing the piece and had to convince others
involved to let me proceed. But at no time have we ever been told what
to do or how to do it.
4) It was also kept under wraps for the most part because it was
risky for all involved. Hartman lost funding, donors, and board members
over this program. One of the organizers, Yossi Klein Halevi, lost
credibility, friends, and supporters when he wrote this piece along with Imam Abdullah. Rabbi Sharon Brous, one of our lecturers, was destroyed in the Israeli media
when she wrote a piece sympathetic to Gazans. Hartman is being accused
of hosting terrorist sympathizers and we are being accused of being
Occupation sympathizers. This is the cost of trying to work in gray
spaces, I knew it, and I accepted it.
5) Not a single one of us was there to speak for Palestinians. We
can’t do that. We also can’t make a direct difference in what’s
happening on the ground there. But we did constantly convey our support
for Palestinians and our disgust and anger at Israeli policies. We did
not mince words. Occupation, disenfranchisement, colonization, genocide,
apartheid. It was all said and done. But it was said and done between
people who now had grown to respect each other. So the words didn’t fall
on deaf ears. And we also were not deaf to their words. We aren’t, as I
said in my piece on Jerusalem previously, arrogant enough to think we
can solve a complex conflict. But if the standard for activism is “if
you can’t fix it, go home”, I’d say not only will nothing ever change,
but other pro-Palestinian activism fails that bar too.
6) Most of us recognize the only real impact we can have, other than
on our hosts themselves, is on discourse in the US between American
Muslims and Jews. This is not insignificant. Israel relies on
unconditional US support, which is based greatly on pressure by American
Jewry. But that support is changing, wavering, uncertain. Israelis know it and worry about it internally. J Street is emerging
as a new American Jewish consciousness, one that can replace AIPAC, and
one that can gain momentum with the support of American Muslims.
7) For those of us who work on interfaith initiatives, being able to
use the language of Zionism to remind Jews of the ethical and moral
callings of their faith is vital. For some Jews being Zionist means
unconditional support for the state of Israel. For others it means a
connection to the biblical land of Israel. Both may identify as
Zionists, but they mean very different things. I can understand this
distinction because while I feel a rightful connection to Mecca and
Madina, I oppose many policies of the Saudi state. When it comes to
Zionism, our best bet is to urge Jews to be critical of Israeli policies
while still allowing them to call themselves Zionists. In the same way
you’ll never get Muslims to relinquish the tenant of jihad
(Islamophobes and counter-terror folks will just have to accept that),
we will not get Zionists to give up that word. But we may be able to help them think about it differently.
8) People are very upset that we traveled to Israel and were hosted
by an Israeli institute. Let’s be clear. We were not hosted by the
Israeli government, the IDF, or any other governmental organization.
Hartman is an educational institute. We don’t agree with everything it
stands for, and internally they don’t all agree with each other.
Regardless, it’s true that it is based in a country that emerged out of
the Nakba, and a country that continues to devastate Palestinians on a
daily basis. It is just as true as the fact that I was born in, and
continue to visit, Pakistan, a country that oppresses and allows the
persecution of minorities and women. And equally as true that I was
raised in, live in, and raise my daughters in the US, a country that was
built on two genocides, the only nation to ever have used nuclear
weapons on civilians, and the greatest military aggressor in the world.*
Its all true. Nation states are often awful entities. But in every
nation state are people who work to make it better.
9) Which brings me to BDS
– a movement working hard to change conditions for Palestinians. How
can I support BDS while studying at an Israeli institute? Divestment and
boycott by institutions and internationally known personalities can and
will have an impact, not the boycott of one unknown Rabia Chaudry. The
only influence and impact I could possibly have on this issue is
building relationships that humanize Muslims and Palestinians for
Israeli supporters. Being part of this program, understanding their
narrative and internal debates, helps me do that. And BDS is does not
have one face, it can be exercised in many ways. The recent divestment by the Presbyterian church
is based on selling it’s stock in three companies whose products are
used in the occupied territories, but still supports interfaith
cooperation, Israel’s “right to exist”**, and does not ban travel to
Israel. In the same way I can both respect Muslim activists who boycott
working with federal agencies and Muslim activists who work closely with
federal agencies because I know they both want the same final outcome, I
respect and understand both BDS activists and those who continue to
dialogue. Because we all want the same final outcome.
10) A 700 word blog post, with a title I strongly opposed, cannot
include and cover every single emotion, discussion, and experience of a
year long program. The Time piece was meant to focus on how building a
relationship allowed us (us as in specifically the people involved in
the program, not all Jews and all Muslims as some idiot out there will
jump to fight about) to hear the other side for the first time. For
those who are pointing out every injustice against Palestinians I failed
to include, a couple of things: the piece was heavily edited by Time,
which is normal but it still included the following crimes: the nakba,
an ethnic cleansing, a brutal occupation, militarized neighborhoods,
checkpoints, political prisoners, daily humiliation, blockades,
collective punishment, stolen resources. I pointed to Palestinians being
full of rightful rage (and yeah Israelis should be afraid of millions
of their victims, which is the point I was trying to make) as a “young,
unemployed, restricted, dislocated population which carries with it the
pain of generations”. I mentioned the restricted access to Aqsa that we
witnessed. In many ways the piece was heavily critical of Israel. But
instead of focusing on the fact that Time would publish such a critical
piece of Israel, something to applaud them about, critics are focused on
the fact that I learned a new version of Zionism I had not previously
heard about. As if suddenly we all walked away honorary Israelis, no
longer concerned about justice for Palestine. Missing the forest for
the trees is something we seemed to have mastered.
The Time piece was a beginning, and I plan to write other pieces on
different issues. What I learned from the Palestinians we met, what I
learned about internal Israeli conversations, how I experienced the
religious sites, etc. There is more, there is much more to say.
Including much to say about the current collective punishment being delivered upon Khalil, and the ongoing devastation and crimes against Gaza.
But despite the bullying, the anger, the concerns and criticisms by
both Muslims and Jews, I stand by this program. I deeply respect the
sentiments of activists who oppose the program, and I understand why
they strongly disagree with this methodology. But I hope, at least, that
they’ll accept our intentions are the same as theirs.
*If you live in the US and are critical of people who visit
Israel, I’d ask you to at least be consistent in your principles. Move
from the US. Or don’t accept invitations from US government entities. Or
refuse to pay taxes. Or destroy your American passport. Or never travel
to any nation state that has a terrible human rights record. You get
the point.
**The “right to exist” language is beyond problematic. But that discussion can’t be done in a footnote. Future post inshaAllah.
Prof. Alon Bne-Meir and I write similar pieces and his pieces are always enlightening. - Here is a moderate Jew like this moderate Muslim who speaks up.
Mike Ghouse # # # Jul 9, 2014
I have been writing about your conflict for more than three decades. Invariably, I find myself delving into the same themes time and again. The nature of the conflict remains the same. You coexist, and short of self-inflicted catastrophe, you are destined to coexist until the end of time. You must now choose to live in harmony and peace, or in self-consuming enmity and hate.
No Israeli or Palestinian child should ever die for a cause that defies reality and reason. Taking teens hostage and horrifically killing them in cold blood, or abducting a child and grisly burning him alive defies your religious beliefs and the basic tenets of your humanity.
Like beasts, the militant madmen among you creep in the shadows for their prey, to satisfy their lust for revenge and retribution. They disgrace you as a people and a nation, while poisoning the next generations with hostility and disdain, robbing them of their future and destroying the little hope left to live in harmony and peace.
A majority of you Israelis and Palestinians are crying out for peace, yearning still for that elusive day when you can retire to bed without fear and face tomorrow excited about what lies ahead. Every day that exacts blood and torments so many is a day when your graves are dug ever deeper, burying innocent children and any hope for a better future.
The gap between you grows ever wider, feeding the vicious cycle of death and destruction. Instead of reaching out compassionately, you obliterate the last traces of empathy toward one another, knowing that there is no place to go but together.
You, the so-called leaders, are the culprits behind this miserable state of being. Immersed in blind ideology or misguided religious dogmas and possessed by a messianic mission, you incite your people and fan the flames of acrimony and violence.
Shame on you Naftali Bennett, you are a zealous madman. You want to annex much of the West Bank and openly preach the invasion of Gaza. You proclaim that war with Hamas is inevitable and “It’s preferable that we’re [the Israelis] the ones who initiate it.”
You are a menace to the people of Israel whom you presumably wish to protect. It is alright that hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians die as long as you continue to amass fortunes and enjoy the opulence that life can offer.
And what about you, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ misguided leader, you are a fanatic fool who refuses to see the light. You extolled the kidnapping of the three Israeli youth, you call for another Intifada and encourage “the escalation of the resistance,” only to watch thousands of Palestinians die as sacrificial lambs to satisfy your twisted ego and hollow religious convictions.
And Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, you have long since lost your moral bearings; unabashedly you advocate collective punishment of the Palestinians, proudly announcing: “If terrorists find refuge among Palestinians, then Palestinians will pay the price.”
Khaled Meshal, Hamas’ brazen political leader, you encourage more abduction of Israelis and with venom you “congratulate” the abductors as if this is the recipe to be “[free] from the prisons of the occupation.” You invite more misery on so many innocent Palestinians, who simply want to live a normal life devoid of constant anguish and pain.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, you cannot hide behind your tempered reaction to the abduction of the three Israeli teenagers and your expressions of sympathy to the family of the young Palestinian boy who was beaten and set on fire. You are now reaping the fruits of your relentless expansionism and blind ideological bent.
You have created this untenable situation between you and the Palestinians and largely contributed to the impasse and the hopelessness of ever reaching a peace agreement.
This is your plight, Israelis and Palestinians alike; you are led by inept, self-centered leaders with no vision and no courage. Have you ever paused and asked the simple question: where do we go from here? None of you – Bennett, Haniyeh, Netanyahu, Meshal, and Abbas –know what will be the fate of Israel and Palestine in five or ten years should you continue to pursue your bankrupt policy.
You, Israelis and Palestinian leaders and people, must come to terms with the harsh reality you refuse to face. You are stuck; there is no escape and no future without the other.
You radical Palestinians who seek the destruction of Israel will do so at your peril. Israel is here to stay and will never die alone. And you Israeli zealots who conspire to thwart the Palestinians’ aspiration for a state of their own will irreparably erode Israel as a Jewish state. Israel will become a garrison state, isolated and loathed by the community of nations.
Paradoxically, Netanyahu and Abbas, you can still change the current perilous path. If you truly desire to achieve peace based on a two-state solution, then prove it by rising to the call of the hour and reverse the tragedies of recent days into a triumph over the evil of extremism.
This is the time when you must stand tall together and proclaim your unshakable commitment to realize peace now, in our time. You have the moral responsibility to make the sacrifice of innocent Israeli and Palestinian children whose lives were cut short the catalyst for peace and not the cause of more violence and death.
Netanyahu, you can no longer use the potential fall of your coalition government as an excuse for making gratuitous concessions to the Palestinians. Do not listen to the hawks and invade Gaza time and again.
Once the calm is restored, you must muster the courage, dissolve your government and form a new coalition dedicated to the path of peace.
In spite of your past mistakes, you still possess the leadership qualities needed now to prevent the looming disaster. This could be your long career’s finest hour, or the hour of infamy and shame for failing to rise above the fray.
Abbas, you too must make the hard choice. Whereas your unity government is preferred for peace negotiations, you must demand that Hamas adhere to the rules of engagement and no longer permit Hamas to have it both ways.
You must insist that Hamas’s leaders forsake violence once and for all, or dump them to wallow in their own morass. They will pay dearly for betraying their fellow Palestinians in Gaza, who are despairing for a taste of freedom and a glimmer of hope.
You, Israelis and Palestinians of conscience, must now raise your voices and be heard loud and clear: enough is enough, no more bloodshed, no more waste of precious lives, no more tears and heartbroken mothers and fathers.
The time has come for you to strive for peace as the continuation of conflict will never yield a winner but mutual death and destruction. There is no glory, no heroism, no dignity and no martyrdom in death, when peace is within your grasp.
Rabia Chaudry's experience is similar to mine, indeed, it took me an hour to read her article as I was imagining and relating with her experience. I particularly like this statement, "The Muslim fellows understood Jewish fear and the Jews’ deep desire for a homeland after thousands of years of being a mistrusted minority. And Israeli Jews affirmed to us the daily devastation of the occupation and the shattering of Palestinians through which Israel was born. These exchanges between Zionists and pro-Palestinians were monumental."
The interfaith work is still in shallow waters, no one has the guts to talk about the issues openly. Both the Jewish and Muslim friends are way too eager to be offended and shut the conversation down . God willing I will include this experience in my book about Jewish Muslim relations.
Rabia is 100% right on this, "In the U.S., interfaith work means talking about everything except Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It shows the deep flaws in current interfaith models when the most burning issue remains unspoken."
Indeed, the word Zionism is misunderstood even by Jews, just as the word Jihad is misunderstood even by Muslims. The problem is not with Zionism but the extremists among the Zionists, just as the problem is not with Islam, but with the extremists among Muslims. We cannot stereotype either group.
When I undertook to commemorate Holocaust and Genocides in 2006 and every year since then, some of the right wing* Muslim friends unleashed propaganda against me, one of them said, "You are not a Muslim if you don't talk about the Palestinians" and the right wing Jewish friends were not any less, some of them even harassed me and pushed me to the end, so I can say "you people" and they can nail me as anti-Semite. Both sides failed, as I do not have a bone of bias in me against a single soul. I continue to work with people understanding their fears and deficiencies.
Neither of the right wingers* were willing to listen, as if they don't want good things to happen. They did not even want to know about the program but were rendering judgments. | I hope some day, I could be a billionth of a catalyst in bringing security to the Israelis and justice to the Palestinians, neither will happen without the other.
* right wingers broadly means, those who are set in their ways, and unwilling to see another point of view.
I am deeply committed to building cohesive societies where no human has to live in apprehension or fear of the other, all my work is indexed at www.MikeGhouse.net
# # #
What a Muslim American Learned from Zionists Courtesy of Time Magazine - http://time.com/2917600/muslim-american-zionists/
Rabia Chaudry During a visit to an institute in Israel, I gained a new perspective on a belief that I once saw as toxic.
How probable is it to get ardent Zionists and pro-Palestinians to not just talk to one another, but love and respect one another? Not likely. That’s why the Shalom Hartman Institute launched a controversial but groundbreaking program to bring American Muslim thought and civic leaders to Jerusalem for a year-long fellowship. For many, the program was a hard sell given sensitivities and loyalties on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I hesitated joining because Hartman is an unapologetically Zionist institution and, like all the participants, I have been committed to the Palestinian cause throughout my life. Other than posing an ethical dilemma, it also required putting our credibility with the Muslim community on the line and opening dialogue with Zionists, a thought once an anathema to our sensibilities.
Zionism is a toxic word in the pro-Palestinian community; it stands for an opportunistic land-grab in the wake of the Holocaust from people who had nothing to do with that tragedy. To us, it stands for the nakba, a catastrophe, for the Palestinian people. It stands for an ethnic cleansing, a brutal occupation, militarized neighborhoods, checkpoints, political prisoners, daily humiliation, blockades, collective punishment, stolen resources. I have always been proudly anti-Zionist.
Through the fellowship I learned that Zionism means something very different for Jews. The Jewish people’s longing of thousands of years for a homeland, a return from exile, a sanctuary from being a hated minority in the diaspora, an opportunity to establish Jewish values and honor God, a Biblical promise, a chance for redemption. As someone with years of interfaith experience I should have known all this, but I didn’t. For this, I blame both the exhaustive use (and some Israelis say abuse) of the Holocaust narrative from Zionists to win over Western populations, and also because in the U.S., interfaith work means talking about everything except Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It shows the deep flaws in current interfaith models when the most burning issue remains unspoken.
But it did not remain unspoken in our program. As we learned and gained appreciation for the Biblical connection of the Holy Land to the Israeli people, the Palestinians remained at the forefront of our consciousness. In every session, dozens of times daily, we have pushed on the Palestinian issue. While we were challenged on our understanding of Zionism and the history of Jews and Israel, we challenged our professors from legal, historic, faith, human rights and national security perspectives to justify the treatment of Palestinians.
It was a frustrating cycle in which the conversation often ended at a version of one thought: “Most Israelis want to end the occupation but are afraid to.” Initially, this perpetual fear seemed like either an excuse or a deep collective pathology divorced from reality. It wasn’t until I met numerous Palestinians that I realized the fear many Israeli Jews have is not a figment of the imagination.
The despair and anger of a burgeoning population of young, unemployed, restricted, dislocated population which carries with it the pain of generations and assumes an apocalyptic end is real. We personally witnessed hundreds of Muslim men denied access to the Al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers, and their quiet rage, and even tears, at the young Israeli security personnel who blocked the entrances and themselves seemed scared and unsure. This pressure cooker cannot hold indefinitely.
Despite living on the front lives of this conflict, many Jewish friends at Hartman said it took the relationships built through the program for our Jewish friends to fully absorb the Palestinian narrative.
After a year we built the trust necessary for a needed exchange of admissions. The Muslim fellows understood Jewish fear and the Jews’ deep desire for a homeland after thousands of years of being a mistrusted minority. And Israeli Jews affirmed to us the daily devastation of the occupation and the shattering of Palestinians through which Israel was born. These exchanges between Zionists and pro-Palestinians were monumental.
They are also an affirmation that there is still hope for dialogue and relationships that can actually make a difference. Until now, both parties have been speaking inside their own bubbles, safe in dialogue with people that agree with them. The walls have been built so high that breaching them to reach out to the other side is tantamount to treason. Hartman and the participants both took huge risks in being part of this program with hopes to forge a new way forward. This fellowship proves that building relationships between people who fundamentally disagree can uncover empathy and mutual recognition that despite differences, everyone deserves dignity, security, prosperity and self-determination.
Rabia Chaudry is a fellow of the Truman National Security Project and the New America Foundation.
