I usually love Uri Avnery's articles, but in the latest one titled "
The Sea and the River
" I think his contextualizing Hamas' chief Meshal in his one time visit to Gaza (he was exiled out of Palestine in a deal after Israel's failed attempt to murder him) can make fuzzy a truth that is not said clearly enough by Avnery: we who believe in peace and reconciliation between Israel and Palestine must unequivocally reject not only the murderous actions of Hamas, but also the murderous discourse that it supports as manifested in Meshal's speech that called for armed struggle until Israel is eliminated totally. True enough, Meshal may be largely irrelevant in the Hamas power structure--a visitor from the past who does not control the decisions of Hamas. But his ideas do reflect a tendency within many who have given up hope of ever achieving human rights for Palestine in any way besides armed struggle, a depressive conclusion that was strengthen for some when the U.S. and Israel rejected even the merely symbolic recognition that the General Assembly gave to Palestine Nov. 29th, and when even liberal organizaitons like the Reform movement in Judaism opposed that most minimal statement of respect for the Palestinian people's aspiration for a two state solution as undermining the possibility of negotiations (as though Netanyahu was going to stop expanding settlements if only the UN didn't recognize Palestinian observer status at the UN--a ridiculous and blind perspective).
This kind of talk condemns Israel and Palestine to decades more of murderous behavior. It is immoral, it is disgusting, and we call upon the Palestinian people to reject it publicly just as we call for the Israeli people to reject the murderous talk of endless expansion of Israel into the West Bank and the frequently racist discourse that comes from right-wing politicians and rabbis in Israel and the U.S. No wonder Israelis fall for the right-wing "no alternative but iron fist" rhetoric when the right-wing can quote Hamas political leaders like Meshal. His speech was a disaster for all of us, Jews, Chrstians, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians and peace-lovers around the world, and we should say publicly that that kind of commitment to an endless war against Israel is just as much part of why this struggle continues as anything that Israel does on the ground in expanding into Palestine and trampling on Palestinian human rights (which we abhor also).
And this is why it is so important to not dismiss the Palstinian Authority which rejects Meshal's message, and the majority of Palesitnians who respond to Meshal only to the extent that they see no stop in Israel's expansionism and cruelty toward the Palestinian people. So, as much as we reject Meshal and those in Hamas who really believe in his extremism, we refuse to identify all Palestinian or even most with their extremists just as we refuse to identify all or even most Israelis with their extremists. Much would be changed if Israel were to negotiate an economically and politically viable Palestinian state along the lines I outline in Embracing Israel/Palestine (
www.tikkun.org/EIP
).
On these days of Chanukah and coming Christmas, we Tikkunistas and Spiritual Progressives pray for the return of the light in the midst of the darkness, and the ultimate triumph of nonviolence, love, kindness, generosity, and caring for every human being on the planet equally, recognizing every human being as equally created in the image of God and equally entitled to her or his share of the well-being possible on this planet if we would only share it all in a spirit of generosity and love, and with a desire to preserve rather than exploit the planet earth! -- Rabbi Michael Lerner
P.S. if you happen to live in the Bay Area, you are invited to Beyt Tikkun's 8th night of Chanukah party, candle-lighting, singing, veggie pot-luck (bring a main course dish or $15 check made out to Beyt Tikkun), Achi ben Shalom teaching Israeli folkdancing, and Kabbalah and Hasidism teacher Rabbi Menachem Kallus joining me. 5 p.m.-9 p/.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship Hall at Cedar and Bonita in Berkeley (actually in the building to the south of the main building, and on its second floor). It will be fun! And to all: God's peace be upon us all.
P.P.S. We also salute Roly Matalon, Marcello Bronstein and Felicia Sol at Bnai Jeshurun, and all other rabbis who have publicly welcomed the UN resolution giving Palestine "observer state" status at the U.N. The huge assault on these rabbis reminds us once again (as though physical attacks on my house was not enough to demonstrate this) that the Jewish world in the U.S. remains even more intolerant and repressive of honest debate than the Israeli population. and that it takes a lot of courage to speak out for the humanity of the Palestinian people and their human and national rights!
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