Beyond Platitudes
Ben Lazarus’ articulate blog, “My Message to My Arab Neighbours”, seems to capture the mood of the moment, one of cautious optimism that a page has now been turned. I strongly agree with these sentiments. But they are not enough.
There is huge national relief in Israel as the war finally seems to be over and the hostages are heading home, BeH. There appears to be international commitment that “Gaza will be a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours”, a commitment which will no doubt be strongly tested in practice. We pray fervently to the Almighty for success. There is also anger, albeit muted, at the prospective release of 250 Palestinian security prisoners, terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands.
In my own community, across the political spectrum, the atmosphere on Shabbat Chol Hamoed Sukkot has been little short of euphoric. We recited psalms for the hostages, G-d willing for the last time, alongside those for the valiant heroes that defend Israel and the Jewish people, at home and abroad.
Among the religious sector, there is particular meaning in the date of the hostages’ likely release, G-d willing. Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah is the date in the Jewish calendar when the October 7th massacre took place. It is the time in the Jewish year when we most fervently pray for, and celebrate, unity and peace.
Ben in his blog fully echoes my feelings when he says:
“What I truly want is peace – real peace – where we can live side by side with dignity and mutual respect, not as step 1 to ‘From the River to the Sea’.”
And when he says:
“I am not naïve. Peace will not come easily. I do not support a two-state solution under current conditions – but I believe conditions can change. And we have the power to change them.”
And when he says:
“I support a ceasefire. I want the hostages home. I want quiet. I want peace. But unless we address the root causes, nothing will truly change.”
Ben is saying the right things, but leaving the key questions unanswered.
What is ‘real peace’? What are the ‘conditions’ that we have the power to change? What are the ‘root causes’?
Let me try to make a start by saying this.
The root causes are:
- The rejection of the Jewish people as a people of this Land with the legitimacy as a nation to live and self-determine here, across this entire Land.
- The rejection of the Palestinian people as a nation with the right to live and self-determine here, across this entire Land.
- The 100-year insistence of the international community to repeat the colonisers’ mistakes of old by drawing another artificial line on the map, splitting this Holy Land in two, as if to stick their finger in the eye of King Solomon, wisest of men.
- The ingrained but utterly false perspective this has created – among Jews and Palestinians, let alone the international community – that Jews and Palestinians cannot live and self-determine across the same Land, based on different sources of legitimacy.
- That Judaism or, to the best I understand it, Islam stands in opposition to a peaceful future in which both Jew and Palestinian lives across and self-determines in this Land.
The changes we need follow directly from this: for Palestinians and the Arab world to recognise the legitimacy of Jewish residence and self-determination across this entire Land, and for Jews to recognise the same of Palestinians; and to scrap the inauthentic, foreign, imposed two-state solution parameters and negotiate a better framework that does not deny and cut off our People from so much of our rightful heritage.
Without these changes, I strongly fear that, to paraphrase Santayana, “unless we learn from history, we’ll be doomed to repeat it”, G-d forbid.
May we all, the Peoples of this region, be blessed with peace, prosperity and a better future for the sake of our children.
