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Photo: Reuters
Is Israel doomed to be hated by the Arab world?
Photo: Reuters

Facing conflict without hatred

Op-ed: Israelis would earn respect from their neighbors if they admitted that enmity and conflict should be fought with respect for shared principles.

The recent brouhaha over Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state has rekindled the endless debate on whether Israel has a genuine partner for peace among Palestinians.

 

 

Unfortunately, too many Jews have embraced a Manichean attitude towards this question. The left of the Israeli political spectrum finds solace in its faith in Arab leaders who by not praising the murder of Jews or subsidizing jihadist summer camps automatically become peace partners. The hawkish camp is entrenched in its conviction that Arabs and Muslims are irremediable enemies of Zionism.

 

Personally, I believe the right-wing position is the one better borne out by the events of the last century in the Middle East. Yet it would be foolish to embrace this position out of hatred for Islam or with the worldview that it is Jewish destiny to be always surrounded by enemies. Indeed, the challenge for right-wingers is to employ their sober judgment to embrace a constructive approach towards the Arab adversary in general and the Palestinian one in particular.

 

Israelis of all stripes must realize that the Hebrew word that is most grating to Palestinian ears is "shalom" or peace. Why? Because except for anti-Zionist fringes, no Israeli or Jew is willing to concede what virtually all Arabs consider the basic prerequisite for peace. Namely, the right of the Palestinians displaced in the War of Independence to return to their villages in pre-1967 Israel. This fact means that all the high-minded Israeli rhetoric about peace, reconciliation and the shared heritage of Abraham is to Arab ears nothing but outright hypocrisy and evidence of Jewish fiendishness.

 

Does this mean Israelis ought to concede the right of return to Palestinian refugees? This would be a national suicide. And yet this national suicide is exactly what even dovish Palestinians demand from Israelis. This attitude of moderate Palestinians does not reveal a desire for peace, but is for all intents and purposes the pursuit of warfare by non-violent means.

 

Indeed, all the praise heaped on Mahmoud Abbas for eschewing violence and embracing diplomacy cannot mask the fact that the Palestinian leadership does not view Israel as a prospective neighbor with which it plans to cooperate. If this were the case, the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah would be abuzz with projects for touristic, agricultural and commercial partnerships and joint-ventures with Israel in the wake of statehood. The fact that such planning is virtually non-existent proves the shallowness of the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to peace.

 

Does this mean that Israel is doomed to be hated by the Arab World? Perhaps it is. But the bottom line is that Israelis will not cease to be hated by pontificating about peace or charming Arabs with concessions. Israelis would earn respect from their neighbors if they admitted that there is enmity, that there is a conflict, and that nevertheless this enmity and conflict should be fought with respect for shared principles.

 

Destructive phenomenon

Instead of heaping scorn on Islam by labeling mainstream Muslim movements like Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist, Israel should insist that in the war between Arabs and Israelis both sides honor religious warfare rules sanctifying non-combatants such as women, children, and the elderly. To advance such a demand would earn far more respect from Muslims than preaching to them the merits of peace and liberal democracy.

 

Nevertheless, the former is not a one-sided appeal for cultural and religious sensitivity. It is simply in the interest of healing destructive phenomena found in the Jewish and Arab camp. In the Jewish camp the destructive phenomenon is the delusion that peace is possible if the Palestinians are granted statehood. This is a misconception grounded on the Jewish historical experience, which saw Jews live peacefully both as minorities in the Diaspora and as the majority in Israel. Non-Jewish populations were often viewed by Jews as hostile, but almost never as enemies.

 

Arab Muslims, on the other hand, have almost always viewed non-Muslim populations as enemies to be fought and subjugated. This is particularly true in a land like Palestine that is a Waqf (religious trust) for Muslims and upon which non-Muslim sovereignty is blasphemous.

 

The destructive phenomenon in the Arab camp which needs to be healed is hatred for Jews. Indeed, there is no need for Arabs and Muslims to love Jews as some peace activists would like to render possible. Nevertheless, there is the urgent need for the Arab side to realize that it is more likely to achieve its objectives, including the erasure of Zionism, if it were open to learning from the historical experience and achievements of Jews and Israel.

 

For Arabs to learn from the Jews in order to better challenge them, would spare both sides a great deal of bloodshed. Arabs would realize that to not hate the enemy is the best way to avoid self-inflicted injuries - such as firing rockets from Gaza and Lebanon (and getting forthwith bombed); in due time Arabs would internalize other positive elements of the Jewish spirit which might eventually pave the way for genuine peace in the Middle East.

 

A tough yet honest approach will earn Jews and Israel the credibility and respect in the Arab street which the peace mantras of all Israeli leaders during the last 20 years have only served to erase. This approach will also save Israelis from paying an exorbitant price for a peace agreement – which in this generation will certainly fail to deliver genuine peace.

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.04.14, 23:24
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