topic by
real watcher
5/9/2002 (10:33) |
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A note from Rabbi Lerner after Suicide Murders in Rishon LeTziyon:
I am once again sickened by these horrible acts of murder. They
are not justified by anything Israel does or could do. These innocent
Israeli civilians deserve to live in peace.
And so do the Palestinian people. Hamas claims credit, not
hiding its desire to destroy the Palestinian Authority by inciting
Ariel Sharon to more attacks on Palestinian civilians. Sharon
happily complies: because he too desires to rid the West Bank of
those in the Palestinian camp who talk of peace, knowing as he
does that they are an obstacle to his plan for permanent Israeli
control of the West Bank. If Hamas would take over, all the pressure
on him to end the Occupation would quickly dissipate. So the
terrorists and Sharon have a comfortable alliance--both determined
to destroy Arafat and the P.A.
What could Arafat do? He does not have the power to stop the
Hamas killers. But he is not powerless. There is only one weapon
he has that he has never tried: make a 180 degree turn, renounce
all forms of violent struggle, disarm, and follow the strategy of
Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. If he did that, though
no one would believe this man with blood on his hands at first, if
the Palestinian movement began to organize massive non-violent
civil disobedience, responded to Israeli violence with non-violent
discipline, allowed tens of thousands of people to be arrested, and
even jailed those who refused this non-violent discipline, then within
seven years the Palestinian people would completely win their
struggle.
Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon's claim that he had dismantled the
infrastructure of terror has been belied by the Rishon Le-Tziyon
attack. We at the TIKKUN COMMUNITY have been saying that
the brutalization of the Palestinian people, far from creating more
safety for Israel, only creates new generations of people so angry
they are willing to give their lives to protest the Occupation.
The Occupation brings insecurity and death to Israelis--but they
are 'too tough' to show that they get the lesson, so they continue
to respond with yet more brutalization of the Palestinian people,
which in turn will lead to more terror. Just as the Palestinians
could stop this pattern by enforcing non-violence, the Israelis
could stop it by ending the Occupation and providing reparations
for the Palestinian refugees.
Yet neither side is capable of breaking the destructive pattern.
The only hope is that the international community will forcibly
intervene and stop this cycle of violence. But they can't as
long as the U.S. is heading in another direction. The U.S.
has made clear that its goal is to use the so-called war on
terrorism to overthrow the Iraqi regime. The Israel/Palestinian
issue has become a pesky distraction. Arab elites need to be
able to tell their masses that they have not sold out their Arab
brothers in Palestine, but neither do they want to use their oil
resources as an instrument to push for a change in US policy.
So, they have concocted with Bush another stalling device--an
international conference which, according to the White House,
will have less authority than the Madrid conference 10 years ago.
But that Madrid conference also failed, and for the same reason
that any similarly conceived conference would now: as long
as Israel gets to say 'no,' it will never agree to leaving the settlements
in the West Bank and Gaza. So, Israel will just stay and talk and talik
and talk--as long as the Occupation continues, they can talk for the
next twenty years and nothing will change. Meanwhile, the US and
the Arab states will play this charade by 'demanding' that Arafat or
the Palestinian Authority be allowed to participate--as if that was
somehow a major breakthrough. The Palestinian people will see
through all of this and, unfortunately, continue their campaign
through acts of terror. And Israel will use that terrro as proof that it
has given too much just by agreeing to be part of this kind of
conference.
There is an alternative. The US should help create an
international force to intervene and militarily separate and
protect both sides from each other. If Palestinians feel safe from
Israeli attacks, they will be more easily convinced to follow the
non-violent path which we support. The US should offer Israel a
mutual defense pact promising direct US military involvement should
Israel ever be attacked by the airplanes and tanks of a hostile state,
and it should offer the same to the Palestinians once they get a state.
Finally, the UN should convene an international conference totally
different from the charade being proposed by Bush--namely, one
which IMPOSES a settlement on both sides, including an end to
the Occupation, leaving the settlements (and helping resettle the
settlers inside pre-67 borders of Israel), reparations for the
Palestinian refugees (and also for Jews who fled from Arab lands),
recognition of Israel by all Arab states, and an end to terror (enforced
not only by Israel but by a Palestinian state).
This change in US policy can only happen if the power of
AIPAC, the Jewish Federations (which use money given for otherwise
decent social service causes and use it to fund Jewish newspapers,
propaganda-dominated 'missions to Israel,' and local Community
Relations Councils which distribute one-sided information), and the
Conference of Presidents is successfully challenged. That's why
it is so important for YOU to help us build The Tikkun Community
as an alternative voice. A first step is to actually JOIN--the
membership is $120 ($40 for low income and students), and it
includes a one year sub to TIKKUN. But beyond joining, we need
your activism. We are going to bring two thousand people like you
to meet with their elected officials in Congress next April (2003).
Will you be there andhelp bring others? To do that, you might
benefit from coming to our teach-in on Israel in SF May 27 from
1-6:30 at the Unitarian Church. Or to our training for activists at
Omega Institute in Rhinebeck New York August 12-16.
And there are other ways to help:
*Work with our Rapid Response Team to combat
media distortions.
* Help us create Tikkun's National Conference of Students
and Faculty--NYC October 11-14.
* Join our Education Team--to bring a new perspective
to local opinion shapers, clergy, media, and elected officials.
* Bring people to our massive education effort for people in
Congress--at the end of April, 2003.
* Go to Israel this summer to be part of the International
Solidarity Movement.
* Volunteer at our officein San Francisco
* If you want to develop organizing skills, or have more
information, come to our Teach-In in SF May 27 from 1-7 p.m..
at the First Unitarian Church. Or sign up for our training at the
Omega Institute, August 12-16th in Rhinebeck, NY. If you
want to play a larger role as a leader of the TIKKUN COMMUNITY,
call Liat at 415 575 1200.
* Create a local affiliate of The Tikkun Community.
Send tax-deductible contributions to TIKKUN, 2107 Van Ness
Ave, Suite 302, S.F., Ca. 94109. Email: community@tikkun.org
Blessings to all who seek peace, justice, open-heartedness,
generosity, a connection to Spiirt, a world of love.
Rabbi Michael Lerner
P.S. Please keep in touch. Go at least weekly to the website
at www.tikkun.org. Check out new items, sign up for the
directory, send me items for local Tikkun Community events
so I can place them in the calendar (community@tikkun.org),
check the calendar, check the forums, check the info about
media, check the current projects, etc. Stay connected.
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