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5763: Articles posted from September 2002-September 2003
Get the real situation in Israel every day.
From Ami Isserof
November 13, 2002
The brief and poignant letter below is from Melisse Boskowitz of Peace Child Israel,
and is a good gauge of the state of the Israeli peace movement.
Melisse has hit on essentials. We cannot apologize for that which is unacceptable
and we cannot let our selves be put in that position. We need new way to
send the message, and we need at least to allow that message to be
grounded in religious values - because those are important values in our societies.
In Israel and in Palestine,
national values are at least as important as religious values. Unless we can get convince both
sides that peace is an urgent NATIONAL priority it will not happen. This is the message of
"support Israel and Palestine" and it is also the message of Sari Nusseibeh. It cannot
coexist with vague ideas of internationalism because neither population are interested in those
and it certainly cannot coexist with anti-Zionism or those who deny the right of Palestinains
to a state.
The response to the populations must be: The future is in your hands. If you let others
decide your destiny, and they are insane, then your future will be insane. We are each
responsible for our own rulers and what they do. We cannot disown them and we cannot
make excuses about national unity. We cannot afford to led these bad leaders to ruin
the future for us, and we cannot let gangs of settlers and Fatah El-Aqsa dictate our national
priorities.
It is time to stop pointing the finger at the other side. Each side has their own work to do at
home.
Rabin was murdered, and instead of organizing we mourned. Then the Intifada came and we mourned
some more. Where is the indomitable spirit of Rabin that said, "No to violence, yes to peace?"
Where is determination that said "The settlers can spin about like propellors. ... It will not help
them. We will change the national priorities."
This will to build a better future despite the most insurmountable objects is the rock on
which our state was founded and it has been the engine that made possible the miracle of Israel.
Now it must make possible the miracle of peace, for there will be no Israel without peace.
There is an election before us, in which "our side" has the grimmest prospects imaginable.
We know this from the polls. There is no candidate who represents what we want, but there are
parties and candidates
who might bring peace, and who are can bring back the hopes we had in 1994.
There is an enormous amount of work to do - "don't mourn, organize!"
Equally, the Palestinians have a short time to reform their society - not so that it is a more
efficient and democratic machine for carrying out the Intifada, but so that it is a state that
can control the gangs that compete with each other in committing murder and make peace.
That is the real patriotism and the real work that must be done by those who want peace
for Palestine and Israel.
Shalom/Salamat,
Ami Isserof
*** FROM MELISSE *********
Dear all,
It's been awhile since I've had the inclination to share anything specific, but this week something
made me wonder if all of us trudging along in this commitment to finding a "better way" or a "just
solution" or a "reverse of the solution" may be experiencing similar syndromes.
Is anyone else finding it harder to make excuses for continuing on what seems a naive path? Or
making excuses for still having trust in the other side whatsoever? Or coming up with ANY credible
response to our relevant populations in light of the insanity being played out on both sides?
Finding credibility - for the total non-believers - or the outright violent perpetrators - may be a
pipedream. But the day has come, it seems to me, to find a new message that will make sense to
those rational souls among us who are NOT violent, and NOT vengeful, but who believe that we, the
believers, are simply naive babes-in-arms. The strategy of choice reflects no strategy at all if it
makes no sense to the majority. And that is our present state of affairs.
There MUST be a message that can resonate for other than the marginal number of sympathizers, that
is credible and does not reflect a fall-back position. My instinct tells me that - despite our
basically secular membership in this "club" - the message will have to reflect the religious values
that support a just and fair coexistence. We need not have to make excuses for curfews or
cold-blooded murder.
Is anyone prepared for going the extra mile and developing that message? Right now, I believe we
might as well be mute, because the present message is falling on deafened ears.
Melisse
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