Friday, March 20, 2015

Israel after Bibi's 2015 Win

The winds are again blowing in the wrong direction and need to change. For me, March 2015 made me shiver, as some music of hope died. 

The March, 2015 election in Israel may have a significant, long-lasting effect on the country's relationships with the rest of the world. It certainly has, for now, stalled any effort to move towards a negotiated settlement with Palestine. The people in Israel know this and the people in Palestine know this.

Because of Benjamin Netanyahu's Election Day statements, there is currently no outlook for reconciliation or a settlement of the Israel-Palestine issues. How can there be? The citizenss of the extreme right followed Bibi's path and voted to stay in their shell of fear and distrust.

Bibi led the way in clearly defining the enemies and evil in the world. He really believes in what he says when he predicts that any concession to Arabs will only lead to Israel's destruction. But what does he believe will happen if Israel continually maintains or hardens its position? Does he believe that over time the Palestinians will eventually cave in - realize that they cannot win, and agree to peace on Israel's terms? Or does he believe that the status quo, the state of conflict that Israel currently lives in, can last indefinitely? If he believes either one, then Mr. Netnayahu is, at best, naive.

The reality is - Palestinian Nationalism, like Zionism, will not go away. Hamas and Hezbollah will not vanish. Iran is also here to stay, and may become a larger threat. Israel cannot "win" militarily.

So if we keep the status quo, the moderate voices in the Palestinian and Arab world will grow fainter and the voices of militarism will only get stronger.

One sad thing is for sure. We will not hear any proposals for a win-win solution for Palestinians and Israelis coming from Benjamin Netanyahu. I believe he was never interested in a solution. Yes, he claims conditions have changed since 2009 that prevent this, but that just means that he has fallen victim to events rather than controll them. Instead of making serious proposals, he has, since coming to office, blamed the other side for being the obstacle. He is unable to see just how he, too, is an obstacle simply because he continually backs away from any serious effort at conflict resolution. Of course, this is due to his worldview that sees the black and white of good Israel, bad Palestine, and evil Iran that was given to him by his father.

Bibi also believes that he has been better for security than his predecessors because there have been no recent terrorist attacks. Really? Is it better for Israel now to "merely" withstand the rocket attacks from Gaza - as well as the potential of the same coming from South Lebanon? Is Israel really better off today on the Iran threat than it was in 2009? Who is fooling whom here?

So at the moment no one on either the Israeli or Palestinian side is making proposals of reconciliation. I applaud President Obama and others in the world for trying, but it is difficult to deal with the intransigence of both sides.

And the blame game for the lack of peace will continue to be played. Indeed Mr. Yousef Mannayer, in his NY Times article "Israel's Vote is good for Palestine"  concludes that Israeli society is okay with the "status quo" and voted for Netanyahu to keep everything as it is - despite the fact that Palestinians are living under terrible conditions with lack of hope.

In my opinion, this lack of hope may drive the Palestinians to more desperate measures.

It should be noted, however, that I have some major differences with Mr. Mannayer. In blaming Israelis for the lack of peace he ignores the fact that his people, too, have allowed extremists to control policy. The election of 2005 followed by the Hamas takeover of Gaza  is one example, and while we continually hear of complaints against Israeli oppression, we do not hear constructive win-win solutions from Palestinian leaders to resolve their issues with Israel.

I could go on, but it's time to state where I want things to go. It is critical at this time that the moderate voices of all nationalities and faiths rise up and begin to control the message that we have a better solution than the militarism of Bibi, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran (as well as the passivity of Abbas, which is as bad in leadership as militarism). The message of the extremists is fear. But everyone knows that there is an alternate path of reconciliation. Israelis and Palestinians need not love one another, but they can find a way to live together in 2 states, just as the rest of us in the world have agreed to live in peace with our neighbors.

There must first be solutions proposed that are win-win that all sides can agree upon. I know that can be hard. But let me give you an example of where I come from. To me, the state of Israel is the Jewish state where we are free from oppression. From 1948 to 1967 Israel existed just fine without East Jerusalem, and I believe it can continue to exist without it tomorrow. Now I am not conceding East Jerusalem or any piece of land - I am just using it as an example to define the most important goal for the Jewish people (a peaceful, prosperous, independent Jewish state) and a thought process as to how we can get there. What do we really need? - what can we live with? - what are the tradeoffs? These are questions we need to ask.

Once the solutions by both sides (the Palestinians must first ask themselves similar questions) are proposed, any one that works for both needs to be promoted in the media and in the advertising every minute of every day, until it is firmly implanted into the mind, heart and soul of everyone in the region. We will need grass roots support as well as support from large donors.

(For me, while I Jewish American and am willing to participate in Jewish peace organizations - I would rather like to see all peaceful organizations from all nationalities and faiths merge to a common message - a message that promotes tolerance, respect, and coexistence - praising the good deeds of the people of peace as well as condemning the wrongful deeds of the extremists)

Promotion of these messages will change the mindset away from fear and towards reconciliation. I really do believe it is possible. Yes, today the music has stopped, but if we believe in the words of the great song "Turn, Turn. Turn" there will be "a time" and "it's not too late". But to get there we have a lot of work to do.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I tried, before the election was held, to state my views to Israelis through their media. I got this letter to the editor in the Jerusalem Post published (2nd letter on the page). It got edited quite a bit, some of which I wasn't thrilled about but the basic message was left intact. Unfortunately it didn't change the outcome, but I believe those of us who care for the future still need to speak out.