Joe Biden, East Jerusalem and a Religiously Divided Israel

As has been widely reported in the news this week, during Vice President Biden's trip to Israel, the Israeli Interior Ministry announced plans to build 1600 new homes in East Jerusalem. This has been described by some as a slap in the face by the Israeli Government of the Obama Administration's attempt to restart peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, what many commentators have missed is that the row over settlements during Vice President Biden's trip to Israel is not between Israel and the U.S. Rather, it is between different segments in Israeli society and indicative of a deeper problem.

A small, but vocal, segment of Israeli Jews has asserted its view of Judaism - one in which the most important overriding concern is that God gave the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. This group of Israelis asserts its worldview while the majority of Israelis - secular and religious - have remained quiet in recent years. In the case of East Jerusalem, this plays out so that rather than negotiate the status of Jerusalem as part of a peace agreement, these Israelis who seek control over the entirety of the Land of Israel aim to enclose the Old City of Jerusalem by a Jewish buffer zone of Jewish enclaves between and within Palestinian neighborhoods. This will effectively prevent Jerusalem from ever being divided or from ever being claimed as a Palestinian capital.

Over the last few years, these Israeli Jews have manipulated Israeli law to evict Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Sheikh Jarrah with no reparations or alternate living situation provided. The pretense on which the families have been evicted is that these homes were owned and occupied by Jews prior to 1948. Jews were allowed to reclaim property they allegedly owned pre-1948, but Palestinians are not. Imagine the doors these handful of Israeli Jews have opened - now, unless Israeli courts practice blatant discrimination, Palestinians may have the opportunity to reclaim all the property they owned pre-1948 in Israel-proper!

Over the last year, Rabbis for Human Rights, and a few others, have stood with these Palestinian families as they live on the sidewalk across the street from their old homes in order to protect them from attacks by the Jewish Settlers who have moved into their old family homes. I recently returned from Jerusalem where, sadly, I saw this dynamic up close. There is some hope, however. Recently, a movement of young Israelis have taken up the cause of evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah. At a recent rally in Sheikh Jarrah, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians joined together to express their opposition to home evictions in Sheikh Jarrah. We can only hope that this enthusiastic opposition to the philosophy that requires Jewish control over the entirety of the Land of Israel continues.

Rabbis for Human Rights-North America stands for another interpretation of Judaism. In our view, "every human being is created in the image of God" - b'tzelem elohim. This idea is central to Judaism and requires Jews to treat all human beings with the dignity that something created in the image of God deserves. When this concept is coupled with the duty "not to oppress the stranger, orphan or widow," the treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem can no longer be considered in line with Jewish values. It is because of my love and support for a Jewish State of Israel that I hope more Israelis will follow the lead of the young Israelis active in now in Sheikh Jarrah. The majority of Israelis who don't share the worldview of their fellow citizens seeking complete Jewish control of the Land of Israel must speak out. Only then will their political leaders reclaim control over the levers of government and prevent embarrassing and counter-productive announcements like the one during Vice-President Biden's trip.

 

Comments

[rabbishai]

08:28 PM on 03/15/2010

Great article, Steve. Thanks for the history and the commentary.

NTT, how can you possibly call the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza a "land for peace" move. It was meant to marginalize Palestinian leadership and doom any two-state solution. It was a calculated move to fend off a political settlement and continue a war of attrition.

Here is a hopeful video which allows one to see that people can think beyond the conventional.

http://rabbibrant.com/2010/03/12/talking-refugees-in-jaffa

Shai

[tiredofwaiting]

12:57 AM on 03/15/2010

Zionist colonialists have little or next to nothing to do with Judaism which teaches its followers to "love thy neighbor as thyself."

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/402359860/the-land

[wm1066]

04:39 PM on 03/12/2010

If God gave the Jews Jerusalem why didn't Abraham know about it? When he left Ur he became bedouin and roamed that part of the world and he never settled down in Jerusalem, (it was called Salem at that time). And Moses never said it was the Jewish homeland. If you look at Moses and the wandering, I think he enjoyed being bedouin, and he might have seen alot of sin living in cities from the memory of being in Egypt, and didn't want to settle in a city. It was the next generation that actually took a city to live in, and that was Jericho, why isn't Jericho considered their main city?
For the 5,000 years of Judism only about 800 years have the Jews held Jerusalem. Why is that considered their homeland? Because of the Temple? they had a Temple in Alexandria too but they don't want to call that their homeland. They go out of their way to disavow themselves of the Egyptian Jews and their Temple.

[mackdee]

05:59 PM on 03/12/2010

wm1066;

You should get rid of the children school books that brainwash you about lies, and open yourself up to reality
Just for starters checkout:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem

You obviously don't know much about history of invasions and all different conquering armies that invaded Israel and created the Jewish diaspora

btw, Jerusalem is mentioned about 700 times in old testament and none in Koran.
Your spewing Propaganda. None of what you said makes sense.

[pynecastle]

10:33 PM on 03/16/2010

And you coveniently avoid the fact that the Jews invaded and conquered the territory after schlepping around in the desert for forty years.

[NTT]

09:17 AM on 03/12/2010

Excellent article. The crucial issue here is all in one sentence:
"[…] the majority of Israelis - secular and religious - have remained quiet in recent years". Why does this happen? That majority, encompassing the Israeli left, center and moderate right, has for years now accepted the concept of a Palestinian state. It has enabled an Israeli government to dismantle & evacuate all settlements in the Gaza Strip & 4 settlements in the West Bank, without much fuss. What has changed?
First, Arafat failed to respond positively to Barak and Clinton's land-for-peace proposals, which included 97% of the West Bank, 100% of Gaza and even territorial concessions in Jerusalem. Arafat not just walked away without even presenting a counterproposal, but turned his "attention" again to the use of violence.
More importantly, Israel's latest land-for-peace initiative (the withdrawal from Gaza) has, from an Israeli perspective, backfired badly. The rise of Hamas and Hezbullah, with their fanaticism, bellicosity and Iranian connections has pulled the rug from under the feet of the land-for-peace ideology. The majority of Israelis remain in principle inclined to territorial concessions; but they now struggle to provide a satisfying answer to the all-important question "what happens if, once Israel withdraws from the West Bank, Hamas takes over and starts shooting rockets at Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv?". The majority's current silence and its support for an intransigent policy towards Gaza have to be understood in the context of that question.

[JacksonJones]

03:15 PM on 03/12/2010

Exactly!

[Macready]

07:58 AM on 03/12/2010

thank you for posting . . you are right about the deeper problem . . . there is a huge schism (sp?) in israeli society and that extends worldwise . . . I tend to think of it as the divide between the rabid zionists and the Jews . . . the problem is that the US congress tends to listen to the right wing zionists and not to J Street . ..

thank you for the information about Rabbis for Human Rights . . .

[HarkaDahl]

11:30 AM on 03/12/2010

The rabid American right and the rabid Israeli right find common ground and mutual comfort in their superiority complexes. There are also huge sums of money to be made by a handful of connected people in each country. Zionists and Neocons are utterly toxic to the well being of the West, of Jews, and of the entire middle east region.

[Macready]

11:23 AM on 03/15/2010

fanned HarkaDahl . . . you are so right

[nkhogan]

03:30 AM on 03/12/2010

Thank you so much for sharing this perspective. It's one that does not get heard enough in the US. I have met the head of RHR in Israel. He's a great guy who does amazing work.

I so respect this organization and what it stands for. I am so glad that young Israelis are beginning to stand up against the religious settler movement and be witness to a different kind of Judaism which respects the human rights of their fellow human beings, the Palestinians.

I hope more and more Israeli Jews will stand up against the injustices that are being done in their name. If Israelis want genuine peace, settlement expansion has to stop.

[Erdgeist]

08:36 PM on 03/11/2010

There is a broad ugly ditch between Israeli Jews who are literalists (and by implication nationalists) and Jews who, like Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, understand how to read and understand Jewish texts; who see Judaism as being wholly spiritual. It is sad to see Judaism so divided--but it is. The richness of Judaism is profound, yet the narrow mindedness of some Israeli Jews is astonishing for negative reasons.

[HappyBalance]

06:57 PM on 03/11/2010

I appreciate this group's work but I think the writing is on the wall. Israel has just kept slowly, kicking out Palestinians and building more homes for settlers. Eventually you will either have a series of Bantustans or the Palestinians will be pushed into Jordan. The only way this will not happen is if the US reduces or cuts off the yearly funding it gives Israel. Short of that its just words and games until Israel finishes off the Palestinians.

[blueyes92000]

08:34 PM on 03/11/2010

Israel doesn't need the 2B for military purchases we are channeling to our defense industry...
they didn't have a real-estate bubble and are doing well...it's kinda sad,but we don't have a fiscal leverage anymore!

[alysheba 3]

02:13 PM on 03/13/2010

Or Israel will be forced by world opinion and sanctions (even sanctions supported by the US) to declare all Palestinians as Israeli citizens. At which point the homeland of the Jewish people ceases to exist due to becoming a minority.

[eileenflemingWAWA]

06:52 PM on 03/11/2010

Rabbis for Human Rights does admirable work, and their Chief Executive, Rabbi Asherman reported, “I see Jerusalem in flames, and know that my words will not succeed in conveying the horror of what I see or the dread in my heart…”

He was referring to Sheikh Jarrah, the most contentious neighborhood in East Jerusalem with 28 properties embroiled in a legal battle between fundamentalist Israeli settlers and the Palestinians who live there.

The neighborhood is a five minute walk from my room at the Ambassador Hotel and around the corner is a newly erected community center with a plaque "Dedicated to the Children of Shimon Hazadik Neighborhood" from a Dr. Rubin Brecher and family of Lawrence, New York.

According to Jewish tradition, Shimon Hazadik (which means 'The righteous') was the High Priest at the time of Alexander the Great. He reminded the people of what's important in the world and he used to say: "On three things the world stands: the Torah, on Service [prayer] and on acts of kindness."

The rest of: Back to occupied east Jerusalem: And it's Burning!
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1575&Itemid=230

[nkhogan]

03:32 AM on 03/12/2010

Thanks for your comments. I need to revisit your website. We have much in common.

I so admire Ari and the work he does. The situation of Shekh Jarrah is heart-breaking.

[w00pecker5]

01:32 PM on 03/11/2010

East Jerusalem belongs to Palestine.

[Amryxx]

01:12 PM on 03/11/2010

Why not let Jerusalem be declared a UN-administered "neutral zone" where no country can claim exclusive right to it? Problem solved

[robbcoffee]

02:46 PM on 03/11/2010

This assumes that the Israelis and Palestinians would see the UN's authority as legitimate.

[alysheba 3]

02:57 PM on 03/11/2010

Israel never recognizes anything to do with the UN unless it a decision that is pro-Israel. How else can you explain ignoring more UN Resolutions than any other country in the world?

[courtb]

06:12 PM on 03/11/2010

They tried that. It lasted a very short time before Jordan invaded and annexed Jerusalem. in 1967, Israel took control of Jerusalem away from Jordan. I think the UN might be hesitant to try again.