Ira Grupper irag@iglou.com
LABOR PAEANS— July-August 2011
Ira Grupper
(published by FORsooth, newspaper of Louisville, Kentucky chapter of F.O.R. [Fellowship of Reconciliation] )
US Left Should Support Palestinian Acknowledgment
Dear CCDS Colleagues:
The newspaper column below, although there was no reason for me to mention it in the column, is also a serious criticism of CCDS’ myopia on this issue.
I.G.
There have been two recent developments around the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Peace in the world affects the U.S. labor movement, so this Labor Paeans will concentrate on it.
The NYTimes reported (May 5): “ (Hamas and the Palestinian Authority) signed a historic reconciliation accord…vowing common cause against Israeli occupation..”
The next day, Hamas leader Khaled Mishal, issued a statement implicitly accepting a Palestinian state, alongside Israel, and demarcated by the 1967 border.
So, we now have every viable organization in the occupied territories all in consensus in accepting the 1967 border as an approach to resolving this conflict. This includes Fatah, Palestinian Peoples Party, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
I have a dear friend, Yossi Khen, who was born and raised in Israel. He was a sergeant in the Israeli army (IDF) in 1973 when he publicly stated his refusal to serve in the Occupied Territories (West Bank and Gaza). He refused to pick up arms against his Semitic cousins, the Palestinians, and spent time in an Israeli military jail as a result.
Yossi left Israel and moved to the United States. We met in the 1980’s, while we were both active in New Jewish Agenda (NJA), an amazing group of 5,000 U.S. and Canadian Jews calling for a state of Palestine, next to the state of Israel, both with secure and recognized boundaries. NJA closed shop in 1993.
Well, Yossi, along with Los Angeses area Jewish peace activists Jeff Warner and Estee Chandler. recently circulated a petition (link: http://www.petitiononline.com/USfor67/petition.html):
“We urge the United States Government to join the international community in recognizing Palestine alongside Israel on the 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem.
“…The peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine have been deadlocked for many years. They have failed to reach any substantial agreements. Meanwhile Israel has expanded its settlements that effectively appropriate 40% of West Bank land slated for a Palestinian state.
“The Palestinian Liberation Organization/Palestinian Authority (PLO/PA) accepted the existence of the state of Israel in 1988, and has stated many times they are ready to accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines (the “Green Line” of the 1949 Armistice agreement brokered by the United States).
“Recognition of Palestine on the 1967 border will jump-start, not negate, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Negotiations will be needed to assure an orderly end of the occupation and to arrange thousands of issues of mutual concern including, but not limited to, land swaps, access to religious sites in the old city of Jerusalem, and water resources.
“We urge the United States to honor the democratic movement that gave rise to the Arab Spring, and support the Palestinian request for statehood in the United Nations.”
How do liberal and left U.S. groups respond to these monumental events? J Street calls itself,
“…the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans. The organization gives political voice to mainstream American Jews and other supporters of Israel who, informed by their Jewish values, believe that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is essential to Israel’s survival.”
J Street seems not yet ready to back this initiative, supporting instead President Obama’s call for beginning negotiations. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s recent speech to the U.S. Congress made it clear that he was closing the door to meaningful negotiating.
The Palestinians are thus left with no alternative but to go to the UN and the world community. J Street needs to reconsider its approach, to take the bold step and welcome the Palestinian initiative.
Then we have Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP),“…the largest US-based grassroots organization dedicated to promoting full equality, democracy and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians.” And U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, “…a diverse coalition working for freedom from occupation and equal rights for all by challenging US policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Both these groups have been longtime and steadfast supporters of a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. Yet neither will support this new Palestinian statement. Respectfully, they need to listen to these Palestinian organizations, and the various NGOs, based in the Occupied Territories, as they now take their campaign to the UN.
Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, seemingly against so many odds, are calling jointly for a Palestinian state. They did not call for Israel to cease to be, so I conclude they are calling for two states. Repeat: two states. And, last time I looked, they held state power.
We might do well to heed Isaiah: “Make the heart of this people calloused/ make their ears dull, and close their eyes./Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Contact Ira Grupper: irag@iglou.com