UPZ: 10,000 postcards saying we can't wait
On Wednesday, 20 campuses involved with the Union of Progressive Zionists will sign 10,000 of the above postcards (see the back) and deliver them to the White House. Harvard Progressive Jewish Alliance president Paul Katz on Haaretz:
President-elect Obama has the power to transform the Arab-Israeli peace process, but if he is to succeed he will need to begin immediately. We – America, Israel, and the entire Jewish people – don’t have another four years to spare.
Meanwhile, Brit Tzedek publishes a letter with 700 rabbis calling on Obama for negotiations now, J Street counts its victories and has Jeremy Ben-Ami in the Forward 50, and the blogoshere erupts in speculation over Rahm Emmanuel’s pro/anti-peace politics. (Apprently, he’s also funny.)
A truly progressive Xionism that genuinely seeks peace would demand 100% PEACE. That means freedom for ALL peoples to live in the holy land and pray on the Temple Mount. That means NO more people driven out of their homes– Jew or Arab.
Any “Peace” deserving of the name would at least resemble, say, France and Germany, and Alsace-Lorraine. Where children are taught their whole histories, warts and all. Where ANYone can live ANYwhere.
And it’s arrogant– and dangerous– to think that Obama can bring peace. Why is that any different than Bush thinking he could bring democracy to Iraq? It MAY NOT BE within Barack Obama’s power to improve the situation here. Israel’s leadership is corrupt and unrealistic, especially Olmert and Peres. Yet indeed peace may not be within Israel’s power either, with Hamas winning elections and ruling Gaza, and even Fatah led by a Holocaust-denier. Let’s stop accepting compromises and demand real peace. And accept that it can’t be imposed; it must grow from within.
You ask for Obama to get involved. How? Put pressure on who? What obligations does America take on? Be careful what you wish for.
One always hears “things are so complicated” or “both sides are right”.
No, things are simple : accept the 2002 Arab summit peace proposals, respect the legal right to return or offer damages as an alternative.
No, both sides are not right : you stole the country, you killed the people, you continue to kill everyday, you starve 1,5 million Palestinians in Gaza, you have put more than 10 000 in jail; what do you expect ? That we agree with you ? That we respect you ? That we accept you ?
Aren’t you tired of dying and of killing ?
We can say the same thing to you.
Your leadership rejected deals in 1947 and in 2000/2001 that would have let us live in our tiny country, and the Palestinians could have had their own country as well.
You killed people. You continue to kill everyday (and you celebrate those killings.)
You have lunched thousands of attacks in our cities and towns, even though such attacks would inevitably kill children.
You have started five wars since 1949.
You act as if the 2002 plan is some revolutionary agreement. Why didn’t the Arab League put that out in ’67, instead of the three No’s? How many lives would have been spared?
You haven’t given us a moment of quiet since 1948, while the Arab leaders around the Middle East have let refugees from that first war sit in concentration camps.
What do you expect, that we agree with you? that we accept you? that we let you kill us?
Aren’t you tired of dying and killing?
Jonathan you have been fed lies forever. Read the new historians and you will get a very different picture. Israel has never wanted peace because it would mean they have to stop grabbing land.
“You act as if the 2002 plan is some revolutionary agreement. Why didn’t the Arab League put that out in ‘67, instead of the three No’s? How many lives would have been spared?” OK, they put it out in 2002. Seize the opportunity.
And have you given the region a moment of quiet since 1948 or well before when you started your ethnic cleansing ? Shall I remind you that you killed far more Arabs than Arabs killed yours?
The hutzpah, you are the invader, the equivalent of WW2 Germans, and we have to welcome you ? We cannot try to get rid of you ?
Rest assured, Israel, the biggest mistake the young UN made after the war, is going to self destruct. The racist Zionist (pleonasm) regime is not viable. Look at what happend in South Africa or with the 1000 year Reich.
So Annie, first you tell us that things are simple and both sides are not right–it’s all our fault.
When I offered (perhaps ineloquently) some examples of how the Palestinians/Arab world might also be responsible for this century-long-tragedy, your response is that I’ve been fed lies forever? Come on, can’t you think of something better than that? None of what I offered above is contradicted by the New Historians (ok, maybe a question of who accepted what in 1947). And, if it is incorrect, why don’t you tell us where I am mistaken?
I’ve never exactly understood the argument that because far more Arabs than Jews have been killed all of the responsibility is only ours. How do you measure the worth of a human life? Is it simply a matter of each life being worth an equal amount, and by that calculus the side that kills more is X amount more wrong? 20 times more Germans than Americans died in WWII. By your math, Nazi Germany was 20 times better than the U.S.
Maybe we’ll just go on with our unadulterated land-grabbing.
Like when we left every last centimeter of the Sinai.
Or, when we left south Lebabon.
Or, when we pulled every Jew out of Gaza.
Kol HaKavod to Kung Fu Jew, who is trying to do something positive in this world, as opposed to those who might prefer rejoicing in their righteous sorrow, instead of looking for practical solutions to our problems.