Independent Jewish Voices

Please do post your thoughts on the book, or on the presentation by some of the authors:

Some thoughts on the event 8th March stimulated by hearing Miri and Uri:
January 2009: A Palestinian man in his 60s is driving his two teenage sons back to Khan Younis in southern Gaza when they are fired upon by Israeli soldiers. They are ordered out of their car. One son is shot and dies immediately. The other is shot in the leg. The father begs the soldiers, who are visible and within speaking distance, for an ambulance. For 11 hours, they refuse his request. He has a mobile phone and calls humanitarian agencies, the emergency medical services, the media and another son in Canada but by the time the soldiers allow the ambulance through, his son has bled to death.

To critics of Israel, the soldiers' behaviour is incomprehensible, a sign of Israel's moral depravity and inhuman treatment of civilians. To supporters, the soldiers were just protecting themselves from enemy combatants hiding among the civilian population.

I heard this story in London on the 8th March at the launch of A Time To Speak Out: Independent Jewish Voices on Israel, Zionism and Jewish Identity, a book of essays by British and Israeli Jews published by Verso Books, 2008. It was one of the examples of medical violations of human rights in Gaza given by Miri Weingarten, Director of Palestinian Occupied Territories of the Physicians for Human Rights Israel. As well as impeding the evacuation of the wounded to hospitals within Gaza and to Israel, she gave details of attacks on medical personnel and the destruction and damage done to health facilities by the Israeli military. When asked how many of the more than 1300 dead Gazans were civilians, she shrugged and said that was a matter for debate. Most people agree that women and children are civilians but what about the men attending a police graduation ceremony? She told us about the hardening of attitudes among the Israel public fueled by the intense propaganda campaign in the Israeli media. The lack of information and the stifling of dissent ensured that Israeli Jews knew very little about events in Gaza. For the duration of the attack, Israeli Jewish peace activitists were placed under house arrest and interrogated, a new phenomenon in Israeli society (not so new for Israeli Arabs who were also rounded up and detained).

By the time Miri finished her measured, evidence-based presentation, I was in tears. I felt a heavy sorrow for all the victims of this stupid unwinnable war - for the Palestinians (more than 1300 dead, more than 5300 injured, more than 100,000 displaced and homeless, the infrastructure destroyed, the loss of hope, Hamas stronger and more militant than before) and for the Israelis whose psyches are twisted with revenge, hysteria and hopelessness and who are more extremist than before.

It was Uri Avnery, the keynote speaker, who described Operation Cast Lead as stupid and the Israeli government as fascists. Now 85, Avnery is Israel's leading peace dissident. He fought for the Irgun in 1948, met Arafat during the siege of Beirut in 1982, was one of the founders of Gush Shalom in 1993 and was a member of the Knesset.

For more than 60 years he has advocated a two-state solution. In his view, it is the only solution possible. To explain why, he took us back to the end of the 19th century when the Zionist movement grew out of the belief that there was no place for Jews in the emerging nationalist identities of Europe, that our salvation lay in a Jewish state. The Nazi Holocaust confirmed this belief. He said Israeli Jews would never give up their belief in a Jewish state, a need based on a deep mistrust of non-Jews and a fear of being in a minority. A one-state solution is unthinkable, he said, because Jews would be a minority in ten or 15 years time. He was adamant in his belief that people of different national identities cannot live together in one state and that indeed, there is no place in the world where they do.

Despite Avnery's insistence that Israel is unique and cannot be compared to any other conflicts throughout the world, what I heard from him was an eloquent and passionate defence of ethno-nationalist ideology, no different than that expressed by the British National Party and most other ethno-nationalist movements around the world.

It's not an ideology I agree with and I wonder how many Jewish citizens of Britain or of any country outside Israel truly believe in this ideology of despair. Our history, like those of Israeli Jews, includes centuries of European anti-semitism and the Nazi Holocaust. Yet, we do not draw the lesson from our shared past that we must continue to fear and mistrust our non-Jewish neighbours. In Britain, we are a tiny minority among a cosmopolitan mix of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities with a white, English, nominally Christian majority. I can't be the only Jew who appreciates and enjoys this diversity. My experience, my lived reality, is one of freedom and security. Here, I can be open about my Jewishness; I can belong to a synagogue and practise Judaism as and when I choose; I can live and travel anywhere in the country; I can apply for any job and not be discriminated against because of my Jewishness; I can vote and run for political office even though I'm Jewish. My partner's Quaker identity, my involvement with Radio Salaam Shalom, my friendships with non-Jews, my work with parents from across the ethnic spectrum – all these enrich my life.

In their insistence on being in the majority, it seems to me that Israeli Jews have less sense of security and greater fear than we do living as a minority in Britain.

Lisa Saffron, Author of Checkpoint, the novel about relations between Israeli and diaspora Jews. www.listeningindialogue.wordpress.com

Unfortunately I only managed to attend the last session of the day, to hear Uri Avnery, and even then couldn't stay to hear all of the audience feedback at the end so I don't know whether my point was taken up by anyone but personally I was a bit disturbed by the speaker's apparent definition of 'post-Zionism' as meaning what's happened has happened and it is all water under the bridge now, Israel exists, the Palestinians have been dispossessed and there is nothing we can do about it. This implies that today's ongoing theft of Palestinian land and resources will also ultimately be (very reluctantly) accepted by the Israel Left as unfortunate 'facts on the ground' in more or less the same terms as GW Bush's famous letter to Sharon. So why have we been struggling all these years if in the end we are going to throw in the towel and say to Israel: we are post-Zionists so everything that you have stolen is now your's to keep?

Re IJV Alternative book event -March 8th. This was my first experience of a 'live' IJV event and I came away really inspired by the level of debate-although I couldnt stay to hear Uri Avnery. I was particularly inspired by Jacqueline Rose and the way in which she sensitively raised difficult issues. I would very much like to see regular meetings /debates led by the IJV forum ,because I felt it was a refreshing change to hear people express their views openly and honestly in a jewish forum .Having read the book 'A Time to Speak Out' -Im wondering if it would be an idea to have regular discussion forums on a Sunday,during the day , at an accessible place in central London. Perhaps 3 or 4 a year ? ......... and please think of all of us jews who live south of the river for whom meetings in Hampstead ,in the evening would involve a real shlap!.

....just a thought

I was extremely moved to hear Uri Avnery speak again. I was one of the small group of organisers of the meeting he addressed in London in 1983 with the late Issam Sartawi (olevesholem), that he referred to at the beginning of his speech. I spoke to him briefly the break before he addressed the final session last week and reminded him of the conversation the night before that meeting when it hadn't been decided who should speak first. Sartawi said to Avnery "You were a terrorist before I was a terrorist, therefore you should speak first!" - which is what happened. But what was really impressive and unforgettable was the bond of complete respect and solidarity and love between these two individuals representing the Israeli peace camp and the PLO.

I liked Avnery's speech last week and the positive case he made for two states. I am agnostic on the one-state/two-state issue - the content of the states (secualar, democratic, egalitarian, open borders) seems to be mroe important than the number of state. But this is obviously a bone of contention in circles seeking true justice for the Palestinians. Some have always favoured one state, others have begun to give up on two states. What is clear from Avenry's political practice is that he does not allow disagreement on ultimate solutions prevent him from his broadly based day to day work and alliances on confronting the occupation and Israel's war policies.

He was very explicit about referring to the fascist element in Israeli politics,and given his background as a child emigrant from Nazi Germany that is not a word he bandies around lightly. It was a description also used by professor Avi Shlaim at a JFJFP meeting I went to recently - who referred to undercurrents of genuine fascism in Israeli society.

I wonder if this is something that IJV should pay attention to and try to spell out in more detail in the hope of drawing in some elements in the Jewish community who may not have yet been convinced by views expressed by IJV about Israel but are longstanding and genuine anti-fascists.

On other aspects of last weekend, I was very impressed too my Miri Weingarten - and if she is here for a while she should certainly be encouraged to take part in further public events.

Obviously getting people over from Israel requires a lot of organisation and resources but is so valuable in terms of people being able to convey perspectives from the inside of Israeli society. Perhaps in the future IJV might consider flying in Amira Hass or Adam Keller. There are also excellent Palestinian speakers in Britain and elsewhere in Europe and in Israel/Palestine (providing they can get permission to fly out), who maybe could be booked for future big events.