Beth- thanks for sharing this thought-provoking and disturbing...
-Ben > Dear Chevra [Friends], > > Many of us have been wanting an independent account of what happened in > Jenin, coming from someone we trust as not only caring about Palestinians but > also caring about and committed to real live Jews and real live Torah and a > real live Jewish society in Israel. > > So I was grateful for and you may be interested in this account from Jenin > by Rabbi Arik Ascherman, received day before yesterday. Arik is a Rabbi, > born in America, who chose to make aliyah precisely because he was and is a > Zionist, committed to creating a Jewish society and culture in the Land of > Israel. He is the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights. He lives > in Israel, is married to a Rabbi (the first Israeli-born woman to become a > Conservative rabbi). They have a child who is just a couple of weeks old. > Arik has a very powerful stake in NOT having bombs set off by terrorists. His > account follows. > > After his account, I apppend some thoughts of my own about what makes sense > for us to do. > > -- Shalom, Arthur Waskow. > > > "Will You Sweep Away The Inocent Aong With The Guilty?" > by Rabbi Arik Ascherman > > Yesterday (Thursday) I made one of the most awful (and frightening) trips > of my life - to Jenin. I had heard from Palestinian friends about the > hatred there - towards Israelis, Americans, Arab countries and Europeans, > and how the only word spoken there (unlike other Palestinian towns) was > "revenge." Like everybody else I had seen the pictures. Nevertheless, it > was something else to be there. > > The destroyed area is not that big, but it is simply incredible. The area > was not merely reduced to rubble - it was reduced to dust. With all that I > saw, two conversations affected me most. I spoke with one elderly women > sitting in the dirt next to the mangled wheelchair of her son. They had just > dug it out and now she was waiting for them to find her son as well. She > explained how she had begged the soldiers to give her handicapped son, who > she had washed, fed and clothed for so many years, a chance to get out. She > says that they didn't listen. A crowd of onlookers stood around the > excavation - the deathwatch. > > The other conversation was with a man lying in a makeshift sukkah (tabernacle) > over what had once been part of his home. He had assumed that his two sons > were dead, but found out the previous day that they were "only" imprisoned. > One he had already managed to speak with or get some concrete information > about. I spoke with HaMoked(Sister human rights organization which is trying > to keep track of prisoners) today to confirm the location of the second and > pass that info back to him. > > Of course, I had to explain to the worker from HaMoked, that I had only been > known yesterday as somebody accompanying the French televison crew who had > wanted to go in with me. It is not a good idea to let anybody know that you > are Israeli if you want to leave in one piece. (Our Palestinian driver was > getting really nervous at some points - such as when one resident was sure > that he had seen me on TV. Everybody was suspicious, sometimes asking our > driver if we were Jews, why we were asking questions, etc.) > > I could write about all the stories of people being used as human shields, > shot at, walking into homes which soldiers had lived in and trashed,etc. > However, most of you will have either already heard these things or don't > want to hear. > > What Happened? I don't pretend to be a military expert. I can't look at a > piece of concrete and tell you how it fell. However, what I was told and > which rings true is that the IDF called on everybody to leave their homes. > Many did so. However, others were afraid of the soldiers (Nobody said this, > but I won't discount the possibility that the fighters holed up didn't let > people leave.) Afterwards, the IDF launched a massive bombardment from the > air, brought in bulldozers,etc. > > This was not a massacre, in the sense that the IDF did not come in and > intentionally target civilians. However, at a certain point, the preservation > of > civillian life was no longer a big concern. Clearly the IDF knew that they were > bringing buildings down on civilians. There was a decision to make - Do you > kill > civillians along with the armed resistance or do you either let them go or > surround the area as was done in Ramallah and Bethlehem or go in from house to > house and risk soldiers? > > Tractate Sanhedrin teaches us that we can not harm innocent people, even in > the name of our own defense. However, how did we get to the point that we > are debating this? What turned fervent Palestinian supporters of the peace > process to supporters of terrorism? > > Sadly, we have been manuvered as a society (with a fair amount of help from > Palestinian extremists) into a situation where we do have real defense needs > (140 Israelis killed in the month of March culminating in the mass murder > which took place on Passover eve) and the question has become "What is moral > when we have no choice to defend ourselves," as opposed to "What can we do > to create a win - win situation?" > > I saw the terrorist infrastructure yesterday - the hatred in the eyes of an > entire people who want to be free from occupation, even as we want to be > free of fear. I was present as a truckload from USAID arrived and was being > downloaded. An hour later I was told that camp residents had come with > missile parts in their hands saying, "This is the real Amercian gift," and > demanded that the aid be returned. > > Clearly, for the people in Jenin camp, we in the human rights community and > the government are two hands of the same body - good cop/bad cop. We come > and wring our hands and send aid afterwards, but did not/were not able to do > anything to stop what happened. We can point fingers at the other side and > comfort oursleves by saying that we must respond to this hatred, as sorry as > we may be. > > However, I hope that we as a society will also have the abillity to ask the > more difficult question of our contribution to creating the hatred. As a > human rights community we must figure out what we do in the impossible > situation when nobody is listening, channels of influence are closed, the > facts aren't clear and some of us ourselves are confused. > > Shabbat is approaching and perhaps I will add something when I translate > this to Hebrew on Sunday. I don't feel that I have even scratched the > surface. I can understand the dilemmas about sending soldiers into booby > trapped houses, the need to protect ourselves from being blown up, etc. > Some of our members had loved ones fighting there who are good, moral > people. > > On the other hand, all attempts to describe, explain, debate fade away > when you are standing in Jenin. It is clear that something happened there > that was terribly wrong. Nobody can stand amidst the destruction and > with any shred of honesty say "This was justified." All that fills one's mind > is, > "WHAT HAVE WE WROUGHT?" > > Shabbat Shalom, > Arik > > Postscript: > Over Shabbat I reflected on how Abraham argued with God on behalf of > Sodom and Gemorrah. Terribly evil people lived there, but Abraham challenged > God - "Will the innocent be destroyed along with the guilty?" (Genesis 18:13) > > We know that God was willing to spare the entire cities if 10 righteous people > were found. When ten were not found, Lot's family was led to safety. The > army apparently did call residents to safety, but was not willing to spare the > civillians who remained (Israelis say seven have been found so far. > Palestinians > say more. It is reasonable to assume that the number will reach 10.) Some > argue that all Palestinians are guilty by association, and therefore civilians > can > not be considered innocent. Others no doubt will argue that the army fulfilled > its obligation after calling on people to leave. > > I believe that the lesson of Genesis, Tractate Sanhedrin, and the IDF's vaunted > "Purity of Arms" is that, even with the price to be paid should terrorists have > been allowed to escape, the moral act would have been not to rain down fire > and brimstone on civillians. > > I wonder, "Where was Abraham when the decision was made?" Was there even > one person along the chain of command who argued, "Will the innocent be > destroyed along with the guilty?" We may never know. If there was, nobody > listened.. > > "Abraham's"are hard to come by these days. > > Rabbis For Human Rights > Tel. 972 2 563-7731 > Fax. 972 2 566-2815 > Mobile 972 50607034 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Website: rhr.israel.net > > ****************************************** > My own comment [Arthur Waskow]: > > It seems very probable, not only from Arik but from many other sources, > that there was no "massacre" in Jenin in the sense of lining civilians up and > shooting them down. But it also seems probable, not only from Arik but from > independent reports like the news stories of the Haaretz reporter Amira Hass, > that "terrible things" were carried out by some Israeli soldiers, sometimes > on their own, sometimes in units, sometimes under orders from above. > > We cannot possibly know for sure what actually happened without an > independent investigation. I understand the Israeli govt's dislike of the United > Nations, but in fact the UN has until the last year been more and more friendly > toward Israel, Kofi Annan has not exhibited hostility to Israel, and the recent > critiicism by him and others at the UN has not targeted Israel as a state or > Zionism as a movement, but particular actions of the Israeli govt. > > So it seems to me the demand for a UN investigatory commission makes sense. > > More basically, there is the question of how to protect human rights BEFORE > such events as the Jenin invasion and the Pesach Seder bombing, rather than > waiting till afterward to find out whether they have been violated. > > For this purpose, an international force to protect BOTH Israelis and > Palestinians from each other seems to me a crucial necessity. Troops could > come from countries friendly to Israel like the US, Canada, Australia, etc, > and from such countries as Jordan and Egypt that are friendly to the > Palestinians and have peace treaties with Israel. > > I think creating such a force ought to go along with creating a Special > International Criminal Court for the Middle East, which could order those > credibly accused of terrorism and of war crimes held for trial, and then try > them. If these two institutions could become effective, the fear and rage > that now possesses both peoples could be cooled. > > The third leg of a peace effort must be convening a regional peace conference > to turn something like the Saudi proposals into reality. For it will take the > practical vision of a decent achievable future to attract both peoples to > turn toward peace. > > All three efforts require US action. And that requires action by American > citizens. > > Shalom, Arthur > > _______________________________ > The decision to forward these comments flows from the work of The Shalom > Center www.shalomctr.com , a North American network committed to draw on > Jewish wisdom, old and new, in order to pursue peace, justice, and the healing > of the earth. It is a division of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, but these > thoughts do not necessarily reflect those of ALEPH as a whole. > > -----------------------------------------~-~> > ShomerNet changes via email: > Switch to digest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Switch to normal: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Stop receiving mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Permanently unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ------------------------------------------_-> > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! 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