The opposition we really need
Daniel Gordis is spot-on with this article about the type of opposition Israel really needs. A couple of weeks ago, I sent a friend in the States a link to an article by Prof. Benny Morris entitled “Bleak House,” which argues that the prospects for peace have rarely been grimmer. It’s really a distillation of Morris’ book, One State, Two States, in which he claims that the Palestinians are no closer to accepting a division of the land than they were in 1948. Therefore, Morris claims, the two-state solution is essentially dead. I sent her the link because she’s a respected leader of American Jewish life, associated with the “get out of the territories and make peace” camp. I wanted to see if Morris’ article might enable her to at least understand those who espouse very different positions from hers.Read it all.
“This is the most dismal and depressing analysis I have seen in a while,” she replied. “I’m not convinced that Morris is right... but assuming for the moment that he is, what are we left with? What are we to do? I know you think a lowlevel conflict can simmer for the next 100 years, but I don’t think Israel’s soul can sustain that... [I]f he’s right, how can we not despair?"
Despite her gentle dig at me, I was thrilled by her response. Because I do think that Benny Morris is right, when I find myself listening to the standard “end the occupation” mantra of the American Jewish opposition, I feel like I’m watching kids squeezing their eyes tightly shut, hoping against hope that this night, the tooth fairy really will come after all.
Our presence on the West Bank may be necessary, or it may be foolhardy; about that, reasonable minds can and do differ. But the notion that our presence on the West Bank is the prime impediment to peace is sheer myopia.
That is why it is so important that the peace camp, despairing of a country that it believes no longer cares about peace, reads Morris carefully. Because once it does, as my friend’s reply demonstrates, it can start asking the questions that truly matter, and it can become the kind of opposition that Israel desperately needs.
For those who are wondering, the Benny Morris article to which Gordis refers is here, and I discussed it (indirectly) here.
Labels: Benny Morris, Palestinian state, two-state solution
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:49 AM
1 Comments:
For the Israeli Left to become relevant again, it would have to return to Zionism and stop seeing its own country as the fount of all evil. I don't think Israel will have the opposition it really needs as long as the opposition remains in denial about the reality of the conflict with the Palestinians and the fact peace is not likely to come about in the Middle East in our lifetime.
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