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Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
We demand an honest Israeli commitment to peace
We demand an honest Israeli commitment to peace,
Diaspora Jews must pay heed and speak out
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this year coincide, alas, with a deepening crisis in the Middle East, which bodes ill for Israel’s long-term peace and security.
Avraham Burg, Chairman of the Knesset from 1999 to 2003, wrote last month:
'The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice... What is needed is a new vision of a just society and the political will to implement it.' And he warned: 'Diaspora Jews ... must pay heed and speak out.'
No new vision will come from the Sharon government. That government is betraying its own people by undermining any hope of peace on which the future security of Israelis and Palestinians depends. It is hard to interpret its policies over recent months as anything other than an attempt to destroy the Road Map while paying lip-service to it. Its policy of ‘targeted killings’ of Hamas leaders made the collapse of the recent ceasefire, which had brought new hope to ordinary Israelis and Palestinians , all but inevitable. Its much heralded dismantling of a few settlement outposts has been accompanied by erection of more outposts and expansion of existing settlements. Checkpoint harassment continues unabated.
The construction of the ‘separation wall’ proceeds apace, a land-grabbing operation deep into the West Bank. When the proposed eastern wall is completed Palestinians will be left with no more than 42% of the West Bank, in a ghetto created by Israel. Meanwhile Palestinian villages are separated from their lands, communities divided, olive groves destroyed and expropriated -– and resentment fueled.
Sharon recently claimed to represent all Jews. He does not. We say NOT IN OUR NAME. Nor in the name of Israelis whose courage we salute as they continue their brave struggle for another way: the Refuseniks, who pay a heavy price for following their consciences by refusing to serve in an army of occupation; and those working for civil rights and social justice in Bat Shalom, B’tselem, Gush Shalom, Israeli Campaign against House Demolitions, MachsomWatch, Peace Now’s Settlement Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, Rabbis for Human Rights, Ta’ayush and other organisations.
We appeal to all Jews to join us in supporting the shared demands of the Israeli and Palestinian peace camps: for the dismantling of the ‘separation wall’, an end to the occupation and withdrawal from the settlements; and an acknowledgement of Israel’s share of responsibility for the Palestinian refugee problem.
This statement has been organised by European Jews for a Just Peace (EJJP) a network of 18 Jewish groups in 9 countries, to be published this week across Europe. To contact EJJP: e-mail contact@ejjp.org or write to EAJG, Postbus 59506, 1040 LA Amsterdam. Website: www.ejjp.org
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