FEATURED JOBS
Comments (1)We have raised funds, walked in solidarity, visited whenever possible and prayed for the safety of the Jewish state since its inception.
But surely, if we want what’s best for the Jewish state, we must tell the leadership of our spiritual home the truth. And the truth is, President Obama is right when he says that settlement building must stop.
There are many reasons. The economic drain of the settlements on the Israeli economy is enormous; Israel spends more than $0.5 billion on the settlements annually, with each settler getting thousands of dollars more in benefits than other Israelis.
Furthermore, the Israeli government has signed an international agreement committing itself to a freeze — the 2003 “road map.” Also, since the establishment of a viable Palestinian state depends on territorial contiguity, more construction makes that achievement much more difficult.
Finally, as a rabbi, I expect to concern myself with the moral implications of the settlement project.
But the American Jewish community really needs to focus on only one thing in this battle: Freezing construction will improve Israel’s security. This will not be direct or immediate. But it will serve as the first, vital step in a process that will make Israel a safer place to live.
Look at a map to see what Palestinians see every day: Israeli settlements — and bypass roads, roadblocks and the security fence — have carved the West Bank into ever-shrinking pieces. Palestinians look at the cranes and bulldozers and know what we are loath to admit: Each new stone laid is further reason to distrust the Israeli government’s statements that it wants peace.
A settlement freeze is a requirement to start a true negotiation process. Not only will it allow the Palestinian leadership to sit at the table in good faith, but it also will free the Arab world to act on the promise of normalization. It will serve as Israel’s single clearest statement that it is serious in its intention to see a durable Palestinian state. A sincere negotiating process, difficult and painful as it may prove, is the one thing that can lead Israel to real peace.
In fighting the freeze, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is risking not only this, but the alienation of Israel’s strongest, staunchest ally. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have made it clear that unlike the Bush administration, they mean what they say and they say what they mean. They expect Israel to stand by commitments to freeze settlement construction.
Furthermore, the settlements have proven a burden on Israel’s military for years. Every soldier sent to protect them or to escort settlers on the roads is unavailable to guard Israel’s borders. Each soldier trained to check Palestinian IDs at one of the hundreds of West Bank roadblocks is unavailable for training in modern warfare. The state of Israel’s military preparedness was revealed in the 2006 Second Lebanon War; the Israeli public and Jewish Diaspora saw the cost of going to war unprepared.
A settlement freeze would not immediately halt attacks on Israel, nor free up financial or military resources to build a stronger country, nor guarantee that Israel and the United States will see eye-to-eye in the future.
But it would be an important first step, demonstrating clearly to the Obama administration, the Palestinians and the world at large that Israel is serious in its peaceful intentions. This, will allow peace talks to move forward.
Rabbi John Friedman of Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, N.C., is the chair of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom’s Rabbinic Cabinet.