Speech
to the LZA National Executive Convention by Mazkir Tnua, Jamie Levin.
Yom Ha’atzmaut has passed but there isn’t much to celebrate. There is no security for Israelis, no Palestinian State and few prospects for peace with Ariel Sharon in office. In fact, the gulf between the Zionist and Palestinian narratives has never been further. This explains the desertion of the Israeli peace camp, they cannot explain why Arafat rejected Barak’s generous offers at Camp David and so, in their minds, the whole hypothesis of land for peace negotiations has been crushed.
Over Pesach I spoke at length with my Zaida, a fervent Labor Zionist, about Israel and the current conflict. He was not optimistic. I noted a pattern in our two viewpoints. He fought in World War Two while his family was slaughtered in the holocaust. Nevertheless he saw Israel rise like a phoenix in 1948. When my Zaida speaks of Israel he speaks of an unimaginable miracle that was created during the turbulent and despicable times through which he lived. Israel triumphed over the next decades in the face of multiple enemies in defensive war after defensive war. My Zaida’s Israel is a miracle with compound interest.
My generation doesn’t know this Israel. To be sure, we desperately love the Jewish state. As a madrich I can vouch for the inherent love our chanichim feel for Israel laying eyes on its soil for the first time. Nevertheless, good people can do bad things, so too can good states do bad things. My generation has grown up with images of the Lebanon War, Israel’s Vietnam, and the first Intifadah. The only existential threat Israel has faced in my lifetime was the Gulf War in which Israel didn’t even feel compelled to strike out against its enemies.
Sadly, the images today are of a second Intifadah. The Israel that we love has responded to this far from existential threat with collective punishment of the Palestinian people. This has included home demolitions, curfews, closures and the destruction of agriculture, which only has the effect of inflaming Palestinian frustration, and leads to desperate acts.
Perhaps it is the different viewpoint between Zaida and myself that accounts for why I want to read the Palestinian narrative as well as my own. While hindsight is 20/20 you will have to rely on my word that I did not have high hopes for the Camp David negotiations this past summer. To get this feeling one didn’t have to look much further than the Green Line. The Oslo process that promised so much and delivered so little had eternally frustrated the Palestinian Populace. Why?
It is no wonder that the average Palestinian simply doesn’t see the changes promised by the peace process. Yet Israelis had blinders on: the economy was growing at an unprecedented rate and terrorist attacks waned. The feeling of having a good working process quelled any desire to ask what was going on with their partners.
The frustration of the Palestinian masses had made Arafat’s control tenuous at best. The PLO had serious schisms as well. The exiles, or the Tunis crowd, as they are known, who returned to make up the ranks of the P.N.A. after Oslo were widely recognized as corrupt. Those that fought during the first Intifadah who feel like they paved the way for Madrid, and hence Oslo, have been relegated to secondary positions.
The combination of popular frustration and the political ambitions of the local “Intifadah” crowd was incendiary. Under these conditions Arafat could not yield anything during Camp David. Look in old newspapers; Arafat warned the United States and Israel beforehand that the involved parties weren’t ready for final status talks. With his famous arrogance Barak forced the negotiations anyways. There is a lot of disinformation about what was actually offered and how the parties negotiated but it doesn’t really matter--the negotiations were doomed by Arafat’s precarious position. When the talks fell apart Arafat directed the frustration of his people towards Israel rather than his own administration.
Though there is little hope today and neither the Palestinian nor the Israeli leadership are talking on the same level there are political solutions for this mess and it is what we progressives have always believed:
· Dismantle provocative settlements and end settlement expansion.
· End collective punishment.
· Set the conditions for a 2 state solution perhaps through unilateral action.
Today, the Palestinians aren’t ready to make concessions and Israel is insecure, as noted by the overwhelming election of Ariel Sharon. Certainly Israeli security isn’t being served by holding on to the Occupied Territories through a costly war of attrition. Israel’s security has continued to decline through this Intifadah, and military actions have the potential ill effect of destabilizing the entire region. Land might be ceded unilaterally on the grounds of reconciliation so the Palestinians can set up a homeland in the areas they already control. Two equal partners can negotiate peace in the future for envious jewels like East Jerusalem. I believe that political solutions are Israel’s only option.
I don’t talk about the pitiful actions of the corrupt Palestinian Authority because I am a Zionist not a Palestinian Nationalist. I believe in building a Jewish state that is an “or la goyim.” I believe it disingenuous to compare Israel’s actions to those of the P.A. Israel should be acting from a position of morality as well as security. Instead, the actions of the Israeli leadership follow no logic. Neither Sharon nor Arafat are pursuing real policies, they are acting like children with tit for tat retribution. This idiocy is legitimized by the Labor parties presence in the coalition. Israeli opposition has been co-opted and silenced in an affront to the tradition of democracy that has been slowly fostered in Israel. Labor should have taken its crushing defeat and reexamined their flawed policies. They could have mustered their voice of opposition to Sharon’s policies in the Knesset as they did during the elections. Instead, power hungry elements prevailed and the party has lost its relevance and credibility with Israelis; they are now just a Likud corollary.
These are difficult times; I can barely remember what it was like when I started my tenure as Mazkir Tnua this past September. The time for optimism is over, it is now time for our movements to take stock and prepare for a prolonged political battle. The Labor Party has a few choices: they can abandon the coalition, and this ugly chapter in their history will be forgotten; the party can be dismantled and be relegated to the history books as proof of their irrelevance in Israeli society; or they can remain in the coalition impotent deserters of the peace camp. The chaverim of Habonim Dror have made up their minds, we will not quit the peace camp.
Habonim Dror experienced notable growth over the Oslo time frame. Our progressive message was once again relevant to a young generation. We opened two new machanot and added another Israel program to our list of tochniot. The start of the second Intifadah has spelled unprecedented renewed interest of our Ma’apilim. Registration for MBI is the highest of any Israel program in the world. Workshop is in its 51st year and our network of batim on university campuses has expanded immensely. We believe that our message is desperately sought after. We will continue to educate our love of Israel while expressing criticism of the current administration.
Of course, our Ma’apilim are your future but they will not join your ranks unless given a reason. Our members must be rigorously pursued. We are producing the best leadership ever but it is hard enough for us to retain them. Our chaverim have more opportunities open to them than ever before. If you want our members to join the LZA you must offer a message that speaks to a younger generation. When I received the latest LZA mailing concerning the Habonim Dror JNF forest my worries were confirmed. As per Veida resolution Habonim Dror doesn’t actively do anything with the JNF anymore. The implications of their actions on the peace process, specifically building over the Green Line, make the JNF an unpalatable option. We have instead proposed the New Israel Fund as a vehicle for our tzedakah. At the last NEC, Habonim Dror delegates spoke out against, and abstained in the vote concerning the forest.
The LZA is our biggest champion: providing funding, building our fundraising arm, the Habonim Dror foundation, and vigorously marketing our machanot. But the biggest help that your movement can provide is a channel for our alumni. Over the past three years the LZA and Habonim Dror have moved closer together with the help of Stephane. I hope that our partnership endures.