I
have been getting a lot of messages and questions from friends and
family about Israel, and especially about attitudes toward Israel in the
Democratic Party. I hope that readers of this blog will forgive me poaching from other writing by way of addressing the issue here. A student sent me a link to a recent New York Times Op/Ed column by
Matti Friedman, in which Friedman argued that "There is No
Israel-Palestinian Conflict". The student asked me what I thought. I answered him, posted my answer to Facebook and now offer it below:
Hey there. Glad to hear from you in the new year.
I read Friedman's piece (as usual, on the treadmill at the gym). On the one hand I can appreciate his giving richer context to the issue- a historian can never really fault someone for demanding more context. But on the level of basic logic I find his approach rather sophistic. You could make this argument about any social issue at any place and time in human history. "There was no racial conflict between whites and blacks in the US of the 1960's, because that must be viewed in the context of the Cold War, the threat of the Soviet Union, Vietnam, etc." "There was no conflict between Turks and Armenians in the early 20th century, because that has to be viewed in the context of great power diplomacy, WWI, the Balkans, etc."
Yes, no binary conflict happens in a vacuum, and yes, many factors exacerbate each conflict and complicate the search for a resolution. But nothing detracts from the onus on the parties involved to seek a just peace. Nothing Friedman said in his article changes these facts: 1)The West Bank remains occupied, and its residents denied the right of enfranchisement in a sovereign government. The people occupying them and denying them that right are the Israelis. 2)If you made all of the people living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem citizens, Israel would no longer have a Jewish majority, and thus would no longer be a "Jewish state" in Herzlian terms; 3)The only just peace that preserves Israel as a Jewish state is a two-state solution; 4)The main impediment to a two-state solution is the presence of 300,000 Jewish settlers on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, many of whom are ready to (and already have, as in the case of Yitzhak Rabin) murder anyone trying to effect a two-state solution.
So that is my response to Friedman, which probably induces a sense of deja vu for you, since it is basically a reiteration of views that I'm sure I've shared with you before. Basically, I think Friedman's argument is of a species that appears very often from moderate-right Israeli intellectuals, which I will call the "it's complicated" argument. "Those people pushing us to resolve this issue don't understand- it's complicated." This kind of argument gets a lot of traction, in part because it has some merit, in part because most American Jews really don't know all the facts, and so it is very easy to impress them with how complicated the situation is.
All of that is fair, but my sense is that this kind of argument is going to come up against a very steep margin of diminishing returns in years to come. The occupation has gone on for almost 51 years now- with each passing year people around the world will have less and less patience with the proposition that the problem "requiring" the occupation was too complicated to be resolved in the time available to do so. Movements like BDS are not going away, they are only going to get stronger. You can see the effects now, with the election of people like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib as Democrats to Congress. The pro-Palestinian movement within the Democratic Party here in the US is going to grow in strength. This is going to put liberal Zionists like myself in a bad position- I am facing the prospect of having to choose between my sympathies for Israel and my support of the larger Democratic policy agenda. As you might be able to tell, arguments like Friedman's notwithstanding, my inclination is increasingly in the latter direction, and will remain so until I see evidence of some kind of good faith effort on the part of the Israeli government to institute a two-state solution.
I don't know how useful or cogent you find my musings. In any case I hope this message finds you well, with 2019 opening up good paths for you. Come look for me if you are on campus in the spring.
Hey there. Glad to hear from you in the new year.
I read Friedman's piece (as usual, on the treadmill at the gym). On the one hand I can appreciate his giving richer context to the issue- a historian can never really fault someone for demanding more context. But on the level of basic logic I find his approach rather sophistic. You could make this argument about any social issue at any place and time in human history. "There was no racial conflict between whites and blacks in the US of the 1960's, because that must be viewed in the context of the Cold War, the threat of the Soviet Union, Vietnam, etc." "There was no conflict between Turks and Armenians in the early 20th century, because that has to be viewed in the context of great power diplomacy, WWI, the Balkans, etc."
Yes, no binary conflict happens in a vacuum, and yes, many factors exacerbate each conflict and complicate the search for a resolution. But nothing detracts from the onus on the parties involved to seek a just peace. Nothing Friedman said in his article changes these facts: 1)The West Bank remains occupied, and its residents denied the right of enfranchisement in a sovereign government. The people occupying them and denying them that right are the Israelis. 2)If you made all of the people living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem citizens, Israel would no longer have a Jewish majority, and thus would no longer be a "Jewish state" in Herzlian terms; 3)The only just peace that preserves Israel as a Jewish state is a two-state solution; 4)The main impediment to a two-state solution is the presence of 300,000 Jewish settlers on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, many of whom are ready to (and already have, as in the case of Yitzhak Rabin) murder anyone trying to effect a two-state solution.
So that is my response to Friedman, which probably induces a sense of deja vu for you, since it is basically a reiteration of views that I'm sure I've shared with you before. Basically, I think Friedman's argument is of a species that appears very often from moderate-right Israeli intellectuals, which I will call the "it's complicated" argument. "Those people pushing us to resolve this issue don't understand- it's complicated." This kind of argument gets a lot of traction, in part because it has some merit, in part because most American Jews really don't know all the facts, and so it is very easy to impress them with how complicated the situation is.
All of that is fair, but my sense is that this kind of argument is going to come up against a very steep margin of diminishing returns in years to come. The occupation has gone on for almost 51 years now- with each passing year people around the world will have less and less patience with the proposition that the problem "requiring" the occupation was too complicated to be resolved in the time available to do so. Movements like BDS are not going away, they are only going to get stronger. You can see the effects now, with the election of people like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib as Democrats to Congress. The pro-Palestinian movement within the Democratic Party here in the US is going to grow in strength. This is going to put liberal Zionists like myself in a bad position- I am facing the prospect of having to choose between my sympathies for Israel and my support of the larger Democratic policy agenda. As you might be able to tell, arguments like Friedman's notwithstanding, my inclination is increasingly in the latter direction, and will remain so until I see evidence of some kind of good faith effort on the part of the Israeli government to institute a two-state solution.
I don't know how useful or cogent you find my musings. In any case I hope this message finds you well, with 2019 opening up good paths for you. Come look for me if you are on campus in the spring.
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