CONCLUSION I
For Jewish Readers
As we have seen, the root cause of the Palestine-Israel conflict is
clear. During the 1948 war, 750,000 Palestinians fled in terror or were
actively expelled from their ancestral homeland and turned into refugees.
The state of Israel then refused to allow them to return and either destroyed
their villages entirely or expropriated their land, orchards, houses, businesses
and personal possessions for the use of the Jewish population. This was
the birth of the state of Israel.
We know it is hard to accept emotionally, but in this case the Jewish
people are in the wrong.We took most of Palestine by force from the Arabs
and blamed the victims for resisting their dispossession. If you run into
someone's car, for whatever reason, simple justice demands that you repair
it. Our moral obligation to the Palestinian people is no less clear. It
is time for all Jewish people of good conscience to make whatever amends
are possible to the Palestinians in order to live up to the best part of
the Jewish tradition - its ethical and moral basis.
Any criticism of Israel is traditionally seen by American Jews as harmful
to the Jewish people, even if the criticism is true. But "my people,
right or wrong, my people" is no different than "my country,
right or wrong, my country". Once we start down the slippery slope
where the ends justify the means we have left behind any claim to morality.
Along with millions of other American Jews unaffiliated with the major
U.S. Jewish organizations, we are outraged at the Israeli government's
ongoing oppression of the Palestinians and feel that it has been the ruination
of the high moral standing of the Jewish people.
The Israeli government could solve the Palestine/Israel crisis tomorrow.
It actually would be in the best interests of its citizens to do so because
random acts of terrorism against Israelis would cease if Palestinian demands
for a viable, independent state were accepted and compensation for Arab
losses made.
Here in America, we Jews are thoroughly assimilated into the mainstream
of society and hold positions of power and influence in every field of
endeavor. We do not need to be in a defensive mood anymore. We can afford
to change out attitude from "is it good the the Jews?" to "Is
it good?" At the very least, American Jews need to categorically state
that we cannot condone Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land,
and the intentional murder and crippling of Palestinian protestors armed
only with rocks, as documented in reports by the UN Security Council, the
UN Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,
Israeli groups like B'Tselem, etc.
According to a survey commissioned by the five largest American Jewish
organizations, but suppressed by them afterwards, 20% of American Jews
support Palestinian demands and 35% say that Jerusalem should be shared.
This, in the face of a near-total blackout of the Palestinian position
in our press, is very impressive. Join this growing segment of American
Jews by contacting Not In My Name, at www.nimn.org, a group that is spearheading
a coalition of Jewish groups to protest the Israeli occupation.
Israel's long-term interests can best be served by supporting Israeli
peace groups, like Gush Shalom (www.gush.shalom.org), not the Israeli government
and its brutal repression, which just leads to endless violence. Israeli
peace groups rightfully criticize their government and we should too, since
they claim to act in our name. American groups like the Jewish Peace Lobby,
Jewish Voice For Peace and the Middle East Children's Alliance also deserve
your support. Don't compromise yout ethics in blind support of bad politics--work
for a just soultion instead.
Please write for more free copies of this booklet to the address on
the back page and ask your Jewish friends to consider the information presented
here. For everyone's sake. Peace.
Important Note: at the end of the next
section, ConclusionII, there is a list of Jewish organizations in America
and Israel, and links to their websites, which are informative and interesting.
We encourage to explore them with an open mind.