Who Bombed the Pizza Shop in Jerusalem? by Rabbi Michael Lerner There is no excuse or justification for the terrorist act that took the lives of 18 Israelis at a pizza parlor in Jerualem. Acts of terror are morally wrong. No matter how legitimate the struggle for liberation, no matter that 90% of the Israeli public just indicated in a recent poll support for assassinations of Palestinians suspected of being in favor of violence, no matter that Israel has killed five times as many Palestinians as Palestinians have killed Israelis in the past 11 months--no act of terror is legitimate. Innocent people who have nothing to do with the struggle, and may even be opposed to Sharon's policies, get murdered. This is a crime against humanity. So, too, it is politically self-destructive and crazy. The Palestinian people can never expect to gain anything from acts of terror except a deeper solidarity of Israelis around policies of repression and massive retaliation. Those on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side who oppose any settlement and wish to see the struggle go on for many more generations have everything to gain from acts of terror and the reprisals they generate. Yet, who did the bombing in Jerusalem? The entire Palestinian people? The people who have been under curfew in Hebron for the past nine days? The people who have been refused entry to work? The people who get turned away at roadblocks from visiting their hospital or health clinic? No. The bombing was done by a tiny group called Islamic Jihad. Yet the punishment will be given to Palestinians who equally had nothing to do with the terror. Israel will not call its responses "terror," but they are that and have been that for the past eleven months. Because they are perpetrated by a state with huge resources to pour into "public relations," Israel's acts of terror can be sold as something the were "forced into reluctantly." In fact, acts of massive retaliation by Israel that are the predictable consequence of terrorist bombings-- because they sour Palestinians on policies of restraint advocated by Yassir Arafat, and instead incline Palestinians to the leadership of Islamic fundamentalists--make the terrorist acts "worthwhile" from the standpoint of the extremists. When Ariel Sharon announces that there will be no resumption of any form of peace negotiation until Palestinians stop all acts of violence, not only does he give them a veto over negotiations they oppose, he also gives them a massive incentive to continue acts of violence. The disgusting act by Islamic Jihad is rightly condemned--but so too should the right-wingers in Israel be condemned for creating the circumstances in which this would seem like the only alternative to so many people. "So what should we do," Israelis justifiably ask, "sit here and be killed and not inflict any punishment?" And the same question is asked by Palestinians who yesterday had their homes demolished, their children slaughtered, their bones broken, and thousands of their community wounded and given permanent handicaps: "What do you expect us to do--turn the other cheek while Israel continues to expand its control over the West Bank and escalates its assassinations of our leaders? And if we show Sharon that we will accept his violence with no counter-violence, won't that just give him more incentive to kill off our leadership with assassinations day after day? Or did you forget that it was only a few days ago that 2 children and 8 others were slaughtered by Israeli gunfire aimed at Hamas leaders?" Both sides have their points, and both sides are wrong. There is nothing to be gained by the current war of attrition. All that can end this is when one side or the other is willing to take a massive change in approach. The Palestinian people could gain everything they seek within five years were they to publicly and unequivocally (not only in English but in Arabic) embrace non-violence and the path of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohatma Gandhi. No matter how powerful the occupation, a consistent non-violence, coupled with acts of punishment against any Palestinians who engaged in violence, would change the political dynamics and would move the world in ways that violent struggle never will. Or Israel could change everything by taking the following unilateral steps: end the Occupation, bring the settlers back to within the borders of 1967 Israel (with slight emendations to allow for Gush Etziyon and for the Jewish and Armenian quarters of Jerusalem, French Hill and Har Hatzofim, take the lead in creating a massive international fund to provide reparations for Palestinian refugees, and announce a yearly quota of 25,000 refugees a year to be allowed to return (large enough to be significant, small enough to not endanger the Jewish character of the State). So there is something that each side could do--and the fatalism and sense of powerlessness are based on stubbornness and ego-illusions, not on a careful analysis of what it would take to break through to change the dynamics on the other side of the struggle. Lets not kid ourselves that lesser measures are going to have any impact. American or international "observers" will be as powerless in Palestine as they were in Bosnia. Only a massive international military intervention that forcibly separated the two sides and imposed non-violence on the Palestinians and an End to the settlements and the Occupation on Israel would make any dent toward jump-starting a peace process that could last. Until that happens, the rest of us can only pray for peace--and a qualitative leap in the consciousness of one side or the other. And grieve with the many victims on both sides. MAY GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES OF ALL THE BEREAVED IN BOTH ISRAEL AND PALESTINE, AND SEND LOVE AND NEW CONSCIOUSNESS TO ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE MIDDLE EAST, AND TO ALL PEOPLES OF OUR PLANET. --Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of TIKKUN: A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture and Society, editor of Best Contemporary Jewish Writing (forthcoming: September, 2001 from Wiley Publishing), author of Spirit Matters: Global Healing and the Wisdom of the Soul, and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in San Francisco. [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to TIKKUN: $29 to Tikkun, 2107 Van Ness Ave, Suite 302, San Francisco, Ca. 94109. www.tikkun.org Or spend High Holidays with us: information at www.beyttikkun.org Spread the word to your friends. And feel free to copy and distribute this everywhere. ==================== Subscribe or Unsubscribe to any of our lists at: <A HREF="http://www.al-bushra.org/subscribe.htm";>subscribe/ unsub/ http://www.al-bushra.org/subscribe.htm</A> Tell your friends about: <A HREF="http://www.al-bushra.org/";>Al-Bushra </A>. Visit <A HREF="http://members.xoom.com/nonviolence/";>Non-violence</A>: Website of Fr. Raed Abu Sahlia * * "When you start knocking down buildings with bulldozers, don't expect people not to respond to this kind of activity. When you start announcing more settlement activity, this does not create conditions that would cause the other be less responsive or less violent." Collin Powell, July 15, 2001 * * Palestinians want peace with ISRAEL as a STATE and not with ISRAEL as an OCCUPATION. * * "We have only to go to Lebanon ...to witness firsthand the intense hatred among many people for the United States, because we bombed and shelled and unmercifully killed totally innocent villagers, women and children and farmers and housewives, in those villages around Beirut...as a result, we have become a kind of Satan in the minds of those who are deeply resentful. That is what precipitated the taking of hostages and that is what has precipitated some terrorist attacks" Jimmy Carter, N Y Times, 3/26/1989 * * "Jimmy Carter took Bush to task for not pressuring Israel to withdraw from Gaza Strip, not opposing settlement activity" Assted Press 25 July 01 * *"Thus says the Lord God of Israel: You shed blood, yet you would keep possession on the land? You rely on your sword, you do abominable things...yet you would keep possession of the land?... Prophet EZEKIEL 33:25-28 * * "And Jesus said: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you ... Luke 6:27-38) * * The Patriarchs of Jerusalem have affirmed that “it is the right and the duty of an occupied people to struggle against injustice in order to gain their freedom.” At the same time, they also asserted that “nonviolent means remain stronger and more efficient.” (Patriarchs, Nov. 2000).
