-Caveat Lector- From
}}}>Begin Home | Newswire | About Us | Donate | Sign-Up Tuesday, March 12, 2002 Featured Views Share This Article With Your Friends Published on Saturday, March 9, 2002 by Common Dreams Israeli Policies Could Tear Jews Apart by Ira Chernus Many Jews will tell you that Israel’s violence against the Palestinians is unfortunately necessary to safeguard the existence of the Jewish state. But the real threat to the Jewish people, in Israel and around the world, may come not from Palestinian bombs, but from Israel’s own policies. A backlash is brewing that could tear Jewish society apart. For months now, left-wing Israeli commentators have been warning that their nation faces its own Vietnam syndrome. Many Israeli Jews will soon reach their limit, both as victims and as perpetrators of violence. These commentators point back to Israel’s war against Lebanon in 1982, which gave birth to the first Israeli peace movement. Eventually, public disenchantment forced Israel’s government to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon. There are signs that the same disenchantment may be setting in against the Sharon government’s hard-line policies in the West Bank and Gaza. After more than a year of tiny peace demonstrations, huge crowds have now gathered in Tel Aviv to say “no to occupation” and “yes to peace.” Several hundred officers and soldiers have publicly pledged not to serve in the army of occupation. For some proponents of peace, the issue is moral. They know that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories violates international law; they feel that it violates the basic norms of justice. For many more who are now joining the peace camp, though, the issue is much more practical. Israel’s reliance on military force, now as in Lebanon, appears to be a no- win policy. That nation’s outstanding military historian, Martin Van Creveld, recently warned that the immense power of the Israeli army is simply useless against an indigenous uprising determined to throw out the occupiers. The parallel with the U.S. experience in Vietnam is striking. While the loudest antiwar voices decried the immorality of the war, the real energy of the opposition came from the millions who saw American boys dying for no good reason. It is that fear of pointless deaths on “our side” that will propel the Israeli peace movement, too. Israeli Jewish society could eventually be torn into opposing camps, as was U.S. society in the late ‘60s. The repercussions would echo throughout the Jewish world, especially here in the U.S., the world’s largest and most influential Jewish community. Right now, some U.S. Jews view Israel’s policies as wrong or self-defeating. Many more are confused and uncertain about the best course. Most of these potential dissenters remain silent, however. They are afraid of splitting the community and intimidated by the strident right-wing voices shouting at them to “support Israel.” The sight of Israeli Jews split down the middle would encourage the silent critics and the confused here to take a strong public stand in support of peace. Right-wing U.S. Jews would become even more strident, and the battle lines would harden. This began to happen when the former Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, first set out to make peace with the Palestinians. The intra-Jewish debate was bitter and quite public. That debate, which ended with Rabin’s assassination, could easily break out again, far more intensely. Behind this specter lies another, with even greater potential for division. In the late ‘90s, when peace seemed to be on the way, an intense struggle began to erupt between Conservative and Reform Jews, seeking to establish a foothold in Israel, and Orthodox Jews who wanted to maintain their monopoly on Israeli religious life. The Orthodox rebuff angered many U.S. Jews, most of whom (if they are affiliated at all) are Conservative or Reform. There was even talk of U.S. Jewry pulling back on its official support for Israel. The renewal of Palestinian rebellion provided a common enemy that healed that rift, but only temporarily. If large numbers of U.S. Jews stop seeing the Palestinians as the enemy, the internal religious dissension would break out once again. A U.S. Jewish peace movement would consist mainly of Conservative and Reform Jews. Suppose Orthodox resistance to Conservative and Reform religious rights gets linked with Orthodox resistance to peace and Palestinian rights. The battle of the Orthodox against the Conservative and Reform would become even more heated. That could swing more U.S. Jews into the peace camp. If Israeli policies continue to be militant, a majority of U.S. Jews could begin to question the centrality of Israel in Jewish life (a process that has already begun). That would split the community down the middle -- and undermine support in Congress for U.S. aid to Israel. Of course, some non-Orthodox Jews would join the hard-line camp. Jewish groups and institutions throughout the world would be split into opposing factions. The inner divisions would be as complex as fault lines during an earthquake -- and just as unstable. The potential for internal weakening of the Jewish community is frightening to contemplate. None of this is certain to happen. But all of it could easily happen. Jewish people, and all who care about the Jewish community, should think long and hard whether this risk is worth taking, simply in order to suppress Palestinians demands for genuine and full independence throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Ira Chernus is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ### Share This Article With Your Friends FAIR USE NOTICE This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/ uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Common Dreams NewsCenter A non-profit news service providing breaking news & views for the progressive community. Home | Newswire | About Us | Donate | Sign-Up © Copyrighted 1997-2001 www.commondreams.org A 'Cookie-Free' Website End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
