Leonard Shapiro; Rina King; Jessica Sherman
Former President Shimon Peres made a similar appeal last week, saying: “It’s a shame that the only peace initiative was an Arab initiative. Where is the Israeli peace initiative?”
The tit-for-tat about who has killed more people, when and where, referred to in Gary Selikow’s letter in last week’s Jewish Report, is reprehensible. It is unacceptable that anybody dies or is killed, especially civilians.
As we experienced in South Africa, a true negotiation is possible. The consequences are unimaginable if FW de Klerk did not lead his government into negotiations. There was tremendous fear among white people at that time – remember how people stocked up with food?
We are currently seeing the horrors of the consequences of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu not leading his government into negotiations. Instead, he obstructs peace by entrenching the occupation with land grabs, displacing people from their homes, building in occupied Jerusalem territory and not lifting the blockade on Gaza.
Nobody is saying that the situation is not complex. But Israel has the military and economic power to pursue negotiations for a just peace. And they are not exercising their power in that direction.
SA Jewish Voices for a Just Peace
Gary Selikow
Nov 12, 2014 at 4:51 pm
‘How can Israel exercise its power for peace when the Palestinians have shown completely no interest in peace with Israel. They refuse to even recognize Israel’s right to exist They make unreasonable and unfair demands that make a two state solution impossible by demanding that their state should be judenreihn while Israel must under the bizarrely called ‘right of return’ take in millions of descendants of Arabs who lived at one time or another in the British Palestine Mandate-thus meaning the end of Israel.
If the end game of the Palestinians is a one state solution then further talks are totally futile.
Does JVJP even accept a two state solution-their allies in BDS do not!
If the demand for a one state solution (or the right of return) became a reality, Jews would wait, huddled in their ghettos, to be massacred by the Arabs.
YTilley and others who call for Israel’s replacement by a ‘unitary Palestine’ know full well that this would lead to a second Holocaust of Israel’s five million Jews.
How well did the ‘unitary state ‘ work in Lebanon where hundreds of thousands of Christian Lebanese were massacred by the PLO and Syrians and went from being a majority in 1975 to a minority today? How well did the Animist and Christian Nilotic Blacks in Darfur and Southern Sudan fare in Sudan where millions have been massacred, or the Kurds in Iraq where 800 000 were butchered by Saddam Hussein?We all know how minorities fare in Arab countries and what makes anyone think the Jews in your suggested ‘unitary Palestine’ would fare any better, given the amount of hate in Palestinian society for Israel’s Jews.
Why out of a massive landmass under Arab control , and a number of Arab states (today they number 22) it is regarded as such an injustice that a number of Arabs should be a minority in a Jewish State, where they enjoy full civil and political rights.
Jewish statelessness had led to the slaughter of 6 million Jews during the holocaust.
And yes it is right to point out Israeli casualties and murder of Israelis by terrorists as all measures of Israel to defend herself are demonized and we endlessly hear of Palestinian woes.
Even a security fence in response to thousands of Israelis murdered is demonized , as if Jewish lives are not worth saving. Hence JVJP’s event on constitution hill called Breaking Down the Wall
The meaning of Israel is clear. The Jew has experienced too much death, and a portion of the Jewish people decided that they would die quietly no more (especially after Hitler’s Holocaust). So it is: and no argument, no clever political talk, no logic and no parading of right and wrong can change this fact.The Jews returned to Israel because it was their ancient land. From 1810 onwards, Jews in the Land of Israel have been murdered by Arabs. The pious Jews of Safed, who would raise no hand in their defense, were robbed and murdered and burned out again and again by Arabs – as where the Jews in Jerusalem and Tiberias. Bedouin Arabs passed through Land of Israel at will-and robbed and killed Jews for profit. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Arab feudal lords in the Land of Israel organized pogroms precisely as the Tsar had organized pogroms.
In 1920 Jews where massacred by Arabs in Jerusalem, in 1921 in Jaffa and in 1929 in Hebron. Thousands of Jews where murdered in 1936 to 1939 in the Nazi inspired Arab Revolt. Since 1948 Arabs have launched wars against Israel to try to drive Jews into the sea and since Arafat launched the latest war in 2000, after rejecting a peace deal, thousands of Jewish men women and children have died in Israel by bomb, bullet and knife. Jews will never again be put into a position where they can be subjected to another Holocaust (particularly in the ancient Jewish homeland).
‘
Jill
Nov 13, 2014 at 8:41 am
‘To the writers of this article: With respect, are your eyes closed, or just your hearts, or both? Hasn’t Israel bent over backwards to make peace initiatives with the Palestinians? Look at Judea, Samaria and Gaza – all \”land for peace\” initiatives, which, instead of appeasing the Palestinians, have turned into areas for terrorism and hatred against (what is left of) Israel.
By pandering to the abuser, the abuse will continue. Its time to say ,\”No More\”, as well as \”Never Again\”. Israel belongs to the Jews and if the local Palestinians want to live there too, they need to be made to realise that it is by the rules of the Jewish people, otherwise they should kindly go and live elsewhere, and be escorted there if necessary!
As for all the Palestinian refugees who want to invade Israel, there’s another response, its called \”No\”. Stop all this political correctness, its not being truthful.’
Myron Robinson
Nov 14, 2014 at 6:09 am
‘So why do you not impose a reciprocal obligation on Hamas. Or do you hold similar views to Kasrils, Dugard, UNHRW etc. who believe that Israel must exercise restraint whereas Hamas can kill with impunity. If so your members are more ignorant & naïve than I currently suspect. Most Israelis & Jews want peace but on whose terms.’
Myron Robinson
Nov 14, 2014 at 6:17 am
‘My earlier comment refers. Substitute the UN Relief and Works Agency ( UNHRWA) for UNHRW’
david
Nov 17, 2014 at 9:09 am
‘Do they really expect Israel to negotiate with Hamas, who will not accept any rights of Israel to any land whatsoever ?
So what will we negotiate? Please tell us all. Hamas is supported by Iran — they call us dogs and lowlife who do not have the right to exist. ‘