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TITLE: Privileges, World Opinion, Steps Towards Peace |
AUTHOR: Dan Burnstein |
DATE: January 4, 2001 |
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I wonder if the ambivalence in the Israeli Peace Movement stems from the issue of giving up their privileges? If they live in a home previously occupied by Palestinians and subject to repatriation if there were a full Right of Return, they might be afraid of losing their nice home. In South Africa the whites were reluctant to give up the Apartheid form of government until they were pushed by the world community. Will that need to happen here in Israel for Israelis to give up privileges such as water for lawns and pools when the Palestinians have much less water for more basic needs? Perhaps this moral choice is perhaps too difficult to be made by those enjoying the fruits of others land and homes? I wonder about finding justice for the stranger in our midst - and just who is the stranger where Jews and Cannanites go back hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of years. In theory we can see the call for justice, but implementation may be difficult if it means giving up something. Insisting on having a Jewish State that relegates others to second class status is difficult to maintain in the Middle East if that amounts to a view of the world based on race - and it assumes the other inhabitants are inferior and not worthy of full human rights. Steps towards peace It is my hope that we can look forward and not backwards, we can find ways to maximize our value to each other and build up each others housing, education, commerce, tourism on an equal basis. Dan Burnstein, Visions of Peace with Justice in Israel/Palestine, 44 Cypress St. Brookline, MA 02445 Tel: 617-984-0532 END |