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To David Suissa: imagine not simply peace-seeking Arab moderates, but an end to funding of intransigence by the US, EU & Japan

November 6th, 2009 2 comments

The Ha`aretz newspaper kindly sent by email a piece, “We Need ‘A Street,’ Not J Street“, by David Suissa, that is apparently his weekly column for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.  In his personal blog (under “The Banality of J-Street“), Suissa provides the following skinny on his column:

In my Jewish Journal column this
week, I talk about how a Jewish organization called J Street has become
an overnight sensation by spewing out cliches about how much they want
peace, and how it is so very important that we finally resolve the
Israel-Palestinian conflict. No kidding. Who doesn’t want that? Of
course, there’s one nagging detail they seem to have overlooked: the
other side doesn’t really want to play ball. My pipe dream? An
organization called A Street.

Suissa thinks he`s on to something that could be “transformational”:

If you ask me, what the Middle East needs more than anything today is not a J Street but an A Street. This would be an Arab organization that would do what no Jewish organization — left, right or center — can do: rally peace-seeking Arab moderates to the cause of peaceful coexistence with a Jewish state. If the Jews can rally their own for peace, why can’t the Arabs? Why should Jews have an exclusive on self-criticism and internal pressure?

Can you
imagine how transformational it would be if a high profile, “pro-Arab,
pro-peace” organization pressured Palestinian leaders to dismantle the
teaching of Jew-hatred in Palestinian society — a hatred that has made
a mockery of all moves toward peace?

While I admire Sussa`s imagination, it seems to me that he not only (1) forgets how Israeli`s own behavior (from the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin 14 years ago, to the bombing and ongoing strangling of Gaza) has frustrated Palestinian moves toward peace, but, more importantly, (2) ignores an even larger dynamic.  As I noted in an email to him:

as a libertarian and taxpayer, it seems to me that what we really need
is for the US government, and EU & Japanese governments, to stop
spending billions each year subsidizing intransigence on both sides.

Just imagine how transformational THAT would be!

A pipe dream, of course; while the people want peace, leaders everywhere cement their power by grandstanding, and through hard-line positions.

Categories: David Suissa, Israel, Palestine, Rabin Tags: