Recently I attended a meeting with a high level Israeli diplomat--a pleasant, intelligent, and genial fellow. During the course of his peroration about Israel's policies, I counted the number of times that he used the words "peace process." In roughly fifteen minutes he mentioned the words eleven times, even as he went on to demonstrate how the Arabs continue to violate every relevant paragraph of the so called "peace accords." He delivered a terse appraisal of the situation: the Arabs have not abandoned their hopes for the destruction of Israel; Arab media is nothing but anti-Semitic propaganda; Arab broadcasts continue to fulminate against Israel; Arab schoolbooks are full of anti-Semitic libels; etc. etc. etc. And, after every single well-documented charge, he insisted that this was not in keeping with the
There is no peace, and there surely is a process meant to destroy the Jewish State.
What is the meaning of the words "peace process"? There is no peace, and there surely is a process meant to destroy the Jewish State. The words have become part of a spurious lexicon.
In the Middle East, many words have lost their legitimate meaning. Palestine used to be the name of pre-1948 Israel. Jewish newspapers, institutions, orchestras and residents were called Palestinian. Now, it has become synonymous with Arab. Take the word "refugee." In a century where millions upon millions of people have been dislocated and repatriated, only Arabs maintain four generations of "refugee" camps. No one ever refers to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Asians who sought refuge in America as "refugees." Only Arabs are instigated to perpetuate the murderous grudges of their so-called "refugee" status. The greatest irony is that there were more Jewish refugees from Arab nations--over 800,000--than Arab refugees from Israel. Another coopted word is "Diaspora."
The media, talking heads, journalists, and professors speak of the Arab "Diaspora"--now an accepted code word for Arab dispersion, which naturally lays groundwork for an Arab "return" to Israel. Intransigence is another word now used pejoratively with respect to Israel. Intransigence in self-defense is proper. Intransigence with respect to a national right is commendable. Intransigence in confronting the murderous claims of one's enemies is necessary. However, the word is now used to bludgeon Israel.
Earlier this year, the Forward carried a front page headline which speaks volumes about the crisis in Jewish leadership: "Leadership is Eyeing 'Creative Solution' to Issue of Jerusalem." It appears that a draft resolution of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs recognizes that "Palestinians have connections to Jerusalem and the parties should be encouraged to search for creative solutions."
The article goes on to state that this resolution is being prepared as part of a "Draft Proposition on Israel and Other International Concerns" being drafted for the organization's upcoming "plenum" in Washington, which will host the 122 local community relations councils and the 13 national Jewish organizations which are members. (For the record, AFSI is not and has never been part of the umbrella group.) This "plenum" apparently gives members a chance to debate issues in what the Forward describes as a "relatively" democratic fashion.
Some participants apparently have strong objections to the ambiguity about Jerusalem--long considered a "gut" issue. Others, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress, "welcome the proposal." No real surprise there. What is shocking is the rapid unraveling of support for Israel which was always the raison d'etre of Jewish philanthropic and social institutions. When they formed umbrella groups, it was in order to speak in a unified voice and to exert greater clout in defense of Israel and Jewish causes. During the years when their agenda was simply to support Israel, their effort was generally admirable and they were considered a mighty force.
Their virtuosity in fundraising for political parties further elevated their status. The opportunities for photos, elbow rubbing, and first-name exchanges with legislators and cabinet officials dazzled Jewish leaders into the notion that they were diplomats and statesmen. They began to dabble in pacifist and trendy, leftwing causes. The rest is pretty much history.
The "plenum" now includes a proposition on "Israel and other International Concerns." What international concerns? Perhaps the world's statesmen are chewing their nails in anticipation of how the plenum-potentiaries will rule on the simmering dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay on access to the Atlantic Ocean
(Continued on p.11)
Outpost - 10 - March 1999