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An Unsettling Situation
Posted by Jason Boxt in Israel, Musings, Tribal Concerns
J Street – the liberal, two-state pro-Israel group – is in the process of wrapping up a rather large and successful event here in DC. The feedback from the left and the right on the organization and its event has been a microcosm of what I’ve always pictured as a contentious Seder table with in-laws on either side…there’s love for the bride and groom, but differing opinions on what could really make them happy.
And so at the Seder table I’m imagining in my head, with J Street on one side and AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has been the most prominent pro-Israel organization in Washington) on the other, there’s a feisty conversation (probably somewhere between the second and third cups of wine) going on about whose tactics and whose goals and whose vision is truly “pro-Israel.” And what, do you ask, is the hunk of maror – the bitter herb – sitting there in the middle of our Seder plate? Why, it’s the settlements, of course.
[DISCLAIMER: I was the National Deputy Political Director for AIPAC several years ago]
Even many of those on the right (see Bibi today on the settlements) are beginning to acknowledge the fact that regardless of the merit of the settlements, the reality on the ground is that they may be the tipping point for any kind of political solution in the Israel-Palestine debate. To be sure, there will be those who ardently cling to the notion of a Judea and Samaria that is divinely ordained to be a part of the Jewish homeland, just as there are those on the left who believe the West Bank is nothing more than a modern-day equivalent of the de Klerk regime (I share neither view). But for those who have half an eye open, it is becoming clear (and in quite rapid fashion) that the “status quo” in the region is an untenable reality. Imagine if you lived on a city block, and four houses immediately left and right of yours were to suddenly catch on fire. Would you look around and debate the arrangement of the furniture in your living room?
It is a bit of an amazement that while the Middle East burns, and American Jews fret over issues of conversion and existentialism, Israelis are enjoying an economic boom if not a political malaise. But the clock is ticking, and the flickering curls of flame emanating from Israel’s neighbors are moving perilously close to her borders. It can only be a matter of time before the elements that comprise this newfound spirit of revolution in the Arab world blossom in the hearts of every Palestinian on either side of Jerusalem.
The settlements – whether they are right or wrong – are simply gas on the flame in a political reality that could engulf the State of Israel. Disenfranchised Palestinians have some of the highest penetrations of online access in the Arab world, and have surely seen what their brothers and sisters in far more oppressive regimes have accomplished in the last six weeks. We Americans can bicker all we want about J Street and AIPAC and how scared or angry or fearful we are about the future of Israel; if Israelis don’t take notice and make some real, courageous decisions about the settlements and the future of an Israel living side by side – in peace – with her Palestinian neighbors, my fear is that they’ll need a lot more than four cups of wine at the next Seder-table debate between J Street and AIPAC.
Photo: REUTERS
Jason Boxt is a New Yorker by birth, but found himself confronted at a young age by a Moon Pie, a bottle of RC Cola, and a USC Gamecock t-shirt, and never looked back. After nearly ten years in politics (including a stint at AIPAC), Jason has taken refuge in a public affairs firm in DC – close enough to the fire to feel the heat, without singing his eyebrows. He is married to an incredible (his words) Cantor, has two small daughters, two cats, seven fish, and lives OUTSIDE the Beltway (ahem ahem).
Firstly, a very fine posting. I think you’re quite right to be focused on the happenings surrounding Israel to be used as a barometer for what is imminently around the corner for Palestinians and the settlements.
I have always felt that it’s mildy ‘chutzpadik’ for American Jewry to sit around and decide the fate of Israeli policy, simply because they send the biggest check for the Afikomen (to continue your Passover analogy). When I was a student in Jerusalem, my wise teachers were quick to remind me that spending a year for study is not ‘living in Israel’ and that those who chose to make their lives there are the only ones who have the right to determine her political and social destiny. I was taught that America is kind of like a parent that gives an allowance. The parent has zero guarantees that the child will spend the money wisely, or with restraint, but the child none-the-less has the freedom to go out and do what they feel is right. Sure, the parent can cut off the child from future funding, but then the parent risks being cut out of a necessary conversation and a mutual respect that is vital to growth and sharing.
I’m not suggesting that AIPAC or JStreet stop advising Israel of what America thinks is right for Israel. I think it’s important to express what we in America would like to see happen. I just don’t feel comfortable making moral and ethical lines in the sand, when I don’t live anywhere near that line- and I don’t really live by the same morality or ethics. As ‘Jewish’ as Israel needs to be, for various reasons- I fear she is more and more becoming ‘Middle Eastern’ and will ultimately need to live by those rules. The surrounding countries would not think twice about what they are ‘entitled’ to, if they were to one day sweep in and simply take over the place. They would not care what sixty years of infrastructure, advancement in agriculture, medicine and westernized business looks like. They would simply treat it like the IDF border towns in Gaza, turned over in 2005- strip them down to the pipes and sell them for scrap, and choose to live in sand.
Facts are facts. Israel won those lands in a fight. They were attacked, they were victorious in saving themselves and they maintained those areas of contention as their own. They built upon some of this land, and dug in the tent pegs a little deeper in some lands that were once inhabited by arabs who fled the fighting. Now that it’s lush with vegetation, with electricity, water, roads and other things that we take for granted in America, the Palestinians are planning a Right of Return march on the settlements? You bet your bippy they are.
The sad reality is that American Jews won’t be focused on Israel in a few weeks. They will be trying to figure out why it costs over $55 on the average for a fill up at the pump. They will try to understand why food and other groceries are higher, too. America is headed into another crisis of its own, and all the peace in the Middle East couldn’t get us out of our jam. Not to mention- the cost of food for the seder!
Jason,
This is a very pragmatic and well-reasoned POV. At the risk of fanning some of those flames (and note: my opinions are NOT knee-jerk right or left, although I hang around with people whose knees are very sore these days): I wonder if you could continue your post with a discussion of *why* the settlements are <> or how the settlements themselves (rather than – or in addition to, perhaps – Hamas’ refusal to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist or Abbas’ refusal to acknowledge the Jewish nature of Israel) impact <>.
Penny – thank you.
My sense is that the settlements are something that really tend to get in the way of initiating a dialogue between the two sides. I don’t know in the end what role Hamas will play, but by allowing the settlements to remain an issue, Israel keeps Hamas in play, so to speak. Ultimately, the more rational and reasonable the conversation becomes, the more they will be marginalized as an unreasonable entity – and I mean by the Palestinians.
There’s obviously nothing simple about this debate, but one has to wonder if God would want his people to be in a perpetual state of war because of a lack of commitment to compromise (and that is NOT to say the Israelis haven’t compromised, b/c they’re the only ones doing it at all). Is the “land” of Israel so sacred that Jews must keep dying in order to maintain control over it? ALL of it? It just doesn’t make any sense to me, but what DOES make sense, as a political observation, is that allowing the settlements to continue will prevent the creation of an environment of dialogue and sacrifice. And if we can’t compromise from a position of strength, how can we possibly expect to be able to do so from a position of weakness?