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Sep
22
Someone sent me this article earlier today and I thought, yes! That’s what I saw – this is what must happen:
Zionism needs to do more to integrate Israeli Arabs in the Jewish state, Arnold Eisen, the chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan, has told The Jerusalem Post.
“The time has come for Israel to imagine a role in the Jewish state not only for Jews, but for non-Jews as well,” Eisen said in a telephone interview from New York.
“I want a Zionism that does not depend on negation of the Diaspora, that is not messianic, that imagines a place for non-Jews in the Jewish state.
“Zionist theoreticians spoke mainly about Jews and I think that it is time to go beyond that in the name of a Jewish state, and create a role for minorities in the Jewish state,” he said.
Eisen spoke a day after the JTS, the flagship educational institutional organization of the Conservative Movement, hosted a conference titled, “Why Israeli Arab issues are so important to Israel’s future as a Jewish state.”
I felt so in sync for once with a leader of the movement to which my synagogue belongs.
And then, less than an hour ago, I saw a tweet from someone I know through the Haveil Havalim Jewish Blogging carnival that said something about being thankful her husband was okay. I thought this might by the reason why:
An Arab resident of east Jerusalem rammed his vehicle into a group of soldiers at a central Jerusalem thoroughfare late Monday night, wounding fifteen people, before being shot dead by an off-duty IDF officer, police and rescue officials said.
It was the third such attack in the city in as many months.
The attack took place at the city’s Kikar Tzahal near Jaffa Gate. Two of the casualties were in moderate condition, the rest were lightly hurt.
The assailant, who was driving a BMW, crashed into a group of off-duty soldiers on the sidewalk, where his car came to a grinding halt.
Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco said that the attacker was shot dead “within seconds” by an off-duty IDF officer who was touring the city with his unit.
He added that there was no intelligence information ahead of the attack, but noted that Jerusalem was under heavy security alert due to Ramadan.
The status of East Jerusalem Arabs vis of vis being Israeli or under the Palestinian Authority is complicated, to say the least. While I believe that they are Israeli Arabs, it’s not clear to me that the JTS official meant East Jerusalem – though it doesn’t indicate that he doesn’t either.
So it is in the Middle East.
NB: Here’s a view toward the Jaffa Gate at about midnight on August 9, Tisha B’av. If you were to go to the right down the street in the photo, just in front of the people, you could walk to several roads that lead into East Jerusalem. Also, if you followed that road around to the left, further down, you would also be going into East Jerusalem, with most of it to your right.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:03 pm September 22nd, 2008 in Foreign Affairs, Israel, Jewish, Politics
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7 Responses to “Israel: Two steps forward, one attack back”
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When you refer to Arab, does that include those who consider themselves Palestinian? If not, what about them? Not being contentious, just curious to know.
I don’t consider that contentious = thanks.
You would have to ask the people who are Arab who have Israeli citizenship if they consider themselves Palestinian – but my understanding, based on the Israeli Arabs I met and what I’ve read, is that they see themselves as Israeli. Surveys show that very high percentages of Israeli Arabs prefer to remain under Israeli governance.
See more here.
Is there something else you were asking?
This is a great article. Something folks might want to do today is support H. Res 1369 in support of Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers. For more information, click here: http://www.helpthepeacemakers.org.
Eisen said Jews in the Diaspora were able to view the relations in Israel between Jews and Arabs in a more objective way.
It is easy to wax rhapsodic when you aren’t in danger. I don’t disagree that it would be great to do more to integrate more Israeli Arabs, but it is just one element of the situation.
Too many people fall for inaccurate cries of genocide. Too many people cry about Gaza while ignoring the daily rockets that are fired from Gaza into Sderot.
It is a very tough situation.
Jack, I know you are right about the waxing rhapsodic. That sentence slipped by me and I disagree with it – I think Jews in the Diaspora, certainly in the US, if anything, tend to be more hawkish, but this too is complicated because of 1) generational differences in attachment to Judaism v. Israel (I’m sure you’ve seen the surveys from either earlier this year or last year) and 2) the fearmongering that goes on as a part of politics and military ambition (at least, that’s how I see it).
To be there definitely makes a difference. During my trip in August, which of course was only two more or less sheltered weeks, we did meet with a psychologist who lives and works in Sderot and we spent a few hours at Ramon AFB. Between those two visits, yes – we heard about exactly what I think you’re referring to re: the daily rockets. We had a lot of political discussions with the guy that led us who lives in Efrat and we talked about and heard a lot about the feelings, “why don’t we just bomb Gaza” versus, “we do not get orders to just bomb Gaza” and the knowledge that there will likely never be such orders to just bomb Gaza.
I had Shabbos dinner last week at the home of a friend and one of the guests was from Israel. He made aliyah in 1990 and has three children and a wife – lives somewhere near Tel Aviv. And, just as we all said while we were there, he too said – it’s a hard life.
I don’t know if that’s more common w/olim than sabras, but I feel pretty confident that few people who’ve never traveled outside the states, let alone to Israel, realize just how hard a place it is to live – and yet why so many of us would choose to live there anyway.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
no…thanks…moving towards and getting to the point where all of the people within the boundries of Israel can live and work…shoulder-to-shoulder and peacefully would result in so much more than people realize.
Hi Jill,
It is very complicated. I have watched my beliefs go from the left to the hard right back towards the middle. Although it is probably safer to say that I swing further to the right on Israel.
I do not believe that violence will be the thing that solves the conflict, diplomacy will have to be involved.
But I think that it is going to require a combination of the two. It truly makes me sad to say it, but I think that a serious military operation is going to be needed in Gaza.
The rocket fire is not going to disappear with anything less than a strong kick in the ass. I don’t mean to sound cavalier either.
I can’t imagine having to live with that each day. And I don’t believe for a moment that most citizens in the US would either.