(Host) As an educator, writer and former state legislator, commentator Bill Mares is always on the lookout for
the ever-elusive middle ground solution to the Israel-Palestine
conflict. Last week at a Burlington synagogue, he heard one plausible
attempt.
(Mares)
Recently, Temple Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington was packed to hear
Mr. Jeremy Ben-Ami bring a message of tough love for Israel and
American Jews.
Ben Ami heads a group called J Street which
advocates a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. He says
that the current path of ever more Jewish settlements in the west bank
is simply not sustainable.
Ben Ami has impeccable credentials
for his "Pro Peace Pro Israel" platform. His grandparents were pioneers
to Palestine in the 19th Century. His father was a member of the
paramilitary group Irgun before Israeli Independence. Born and educated
in the U.S. Ben Ami has been President Bill Clinton’s Deputy Domestic
Policy Adviser, and later Policy Director on Howard Dean’s presidential
campaign.
In four years J Street has grown to a staff of 50 with
chapters on 44 campuses. It is now seen as a serious alternative voice
to the dominant pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Political
Action Committee, known as AIPAC.
Ben-Ami says "We’ve got to
change the rules of conversation about Israel in the United States.
Criticism of some Israel policies does not mean criticism of Israel’s
right to exist." It is NOT anti-Semitic to ask Israel to abide by
Judaism’s best values.
Ben-Ami agrees that Israel lives in a
"terrible neighborhood." But, the old narrative of David and Goliath
doesn’t apply any more.
In Ben-Ami’s view Israel faces a
TRI-lemma: The Jewish state must chose among the following: the land it
has occupied since 1967, its Jewish majority, and its democracy. It can
only have two of the three. If it chooses to hold on to the land, and
remain a democracy, then very soon the majority of the population will
be non-Jewish and will eventually, democratically, displace Israel’s
Jewish character. If it hangs onto the land and chooses to remain Jewish
in character, it will have to limit the democratic rights of the
non-Jewish majority.
Only by giving up land on which a
Palestinian state can be built, can Israel remain both Jewish and
democratic. Good fences make good neighbors, he says. Israel and
Palestine are in a bad marriage. They can’t sort it out alone. "When is
the last time you put an angry husband and wife together and they sorted
it out without help?" Ben-Ami ask. "They need the outside brokers of
the United States and American Jews."
I think Ben Ami has done
an impressive job of balancing emotional devotion and intellectual
honesty on one of the world’s most intractable problems. But trying for
the middle ground makes him an inviting target for extremes on both
sides. On the right, he’s criticized for being a self-hating Jew. On the
left he’s attacked for not supporting cuts in US military aid to
Israel.
Ben Ami acknowledges that to implement this solution would be a big challenge.
While
public opinion polls show that nearly 70% of both Israelis and
Palestinians believe the only agreement possible is a two-state
solution, 80% don’t believe it will happen.