A reader writes:
If I am in fact correct in assuming that you are not anti-semitic, then I have a question for you. What do you do as a state, when the party you are negotiating with has only one outcome in mind...Namely, your total destruction, and with a bit of luck, how ever many Jews can go along with the prize. Please research Arafat closely before you throw any more vile stones at the "properly elected" Israeli government. Israelis do not have the luxury of sweeping the above mentioned vicious reality under the carpet. From a "concerned citizen of the USA".
The editor replies:
You write as though you believe that neither I nor the readership of the Jackson Progressive know any history.
When you terrorize a population, run them out of their homes (which you expropriate for yourselves), confine them to a continually shrinking, bifurcated parcel of land and in general treat them as prisoners and sub-humans, it's a bit unrealistic to complain when they get pissed off. And yes, I used the term "terrorize" purposely, because the Lohamei Herut Israel and the Irgun Tsvai-Leumi were terrorist organizations. Menachim Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, the present prime minister, are alumni. The PLO never held a candle to those organizations in terms of sheer ferocity.
This publication is no admirer of Arafat, but we always figured that he made the perfect leader from the Israeli viewpoint--someone the Israeli government could point to and say "See--this is what happens when we give the Palestinians a little self-government."
The reason you don't have the "luxury of sweeping the above mentioned vicious reality under the carpet" is because the leadership of the State of Israel, aided and abetted by the United States, created that vicious reality. Blaming the Palestinians for that reality is a lot like we Southerners blaming African-Americans for our civil rights problems. Further, simply because the Israeli government is fairly elected does not mean that it is acting intelligently in the long-term interest of the Israeli people. Democracies and republics frequently commit vicious and idiotic acts.
Your return email address would indicate that you are of Jewish extraction. My first admonition is that you read your own sacred book. In particular, you should look at Exodus 22:21; Exodus 23:9; Lev. 19:10, Deut. 23:7; Deut. 24:17; Jer. 7:6; and Lev. 29:33-34, quoted below:
When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
It seems to me that Israel is presented with the following alternatives:
First, it can continue in its present course of building settlements in the occupied territories and oppressing the Palestinians. This is not sustainable. Sooner or later, Israel will be faced with the alternatives of either perpetrating a holocaust on the Palestinians, expelling them from the occupied territories, or assimilating them. Probably none of these three alternatives is acceptable. The first two would create a revulsion throughout the world, and especially the US, that would jeopardize the US support that Israel requires to exist. The third would threaten the Jewish identity of Israel.
Second, Israel can allow a sovereign Palestinian state to come into existence. There would be problems, of course. Israel would want to continue to siphon off most of the water supply of the new state. The right of return is such an indelible part of Palestinian consciousness that it will have to be dealt with. Israel would have to make peace with its neighbors so it would not require such a powerful military establishment supported by U.S. taxpayers. All in all, a separate Palestinian state would be difficult, but attainable, provided that Israel really desires a just peace.
Third, Israel could annex the occupied territories and make all the inhabitants Israeli citizens. This is the "One Israel" alternative. It may very well be the ultimate outcome if alternative two is rejected.
Creative thoughts as to other alternatives are welcome. A solution, however, will not only require the willingness of the Palestinians to recognize Israel, but will require a commitment on the part of Israel to a just peace. Israel, holding virtually all the cards, will have to give up some of them. At the moment, it is hard to believe that the leadership of Israel is willing to settle for anything other than a "Greater Israel" with no place for the Palestinians, which is, of course, no settlement at all.
As a graduate student selling Encyclopaedia Britannica to help see my way through, I chanced to make a sales call on an Arabian student. Unable to sell him a set of encyclopedias, I remained most of the evening in his apartment drinking tea and listening to him discuss Israel and Palestine. What struck me the most was his patience. He calmly pointed out that the Crusaders came to the Holy Land, established kingdoms, and then lost it all. In less than 200 years, there was little left to show. He likened the State of Israel to the Crusaders. "Eventually," he said, "they will be gone also."