On May 11, as the world waited for Israel to invade the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the latest Palestinian terrorist attack, tens of thousands of Israelis rallied against the occupation, against military incursions, and for a return to negotiations. Much has been made of the Israeli public's rightward drift in the face of the intifada, and opinion polls have recently shown a resurgence of support for hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Still, police estimated that 60,000 Israelis -- fully 1 percent of the population -- turned out for the event. Organizers say more than twice that many showed up and that it was the largest peace rally since Ariel Sharon's last major military offensive, 20 years ago in Lebanon.
What, you never heard of this momentous event? That's no surprise, as the American media rarely mention that Israel has a vibrant, organized, active peace camp committed to speaking out against the occupation, against military incursions, and against the current government's policies. This may be because there is no similarly vocal movement here in the United States, where most public discussion pits those in favor of Israel against those supportive of the Palestinians -- as if there were not a broad, fertile, reasonable middle ground.
Those of us in the United States who do inhabit that middle ground, who speak in one voice with the activists in Israel and with the tiny minority of Palestinians who urge moderation, seemingly have nowhere to turn. Conservatives support Israeli military action and leftists, almost impulsively, support the Palestinian movement. When Bill Clinton was pulling every string for peace, progressives, for the most part, stood with him. But now, with George W. Bush in the White House and a foreign policy significantly more weighted toward Israel, much of the left has framed its opposition by embracing the Palestinian cause.
In doing so, American progressives are alienating supporters and missing a real opportunity to stand for a fair compromise and a just peace, recognizing the rights and responsibilities accruing on both sides. This is a time when the American left should be standing with the Israeli left and with voices for peace and justice throughout the world. Instead, too many have wholly embraced the Palestinian movement and its allegiances with the anti-American fringe, driving American Jews into an uncomfortable coalition with the radical right.
Many of us in the Jewish community face a delicate balancing act between two competing values: on the one hand, standing in solidarity with Israel during a time of trouble; and on the other, voicing our concern for human rights and the long-term goal of a two-state solution. At the same time, we are also stuck in a political limbo: stranded between the organized Jewish community's vocal militarism and the venomous anti-Semitism that pervade rallies and marches in support of the Palestinians.
The swastikas, placards equating Zionism with racism, and defaced flags -- Israeli and American -- at the pro-Palestinian rally in Washington during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank protests last month were evidence of a pervasive extremism in the Palestinian movement. Certainly less hateful but still off-putting is the "We told you so" position adopted by many prominent Jewish organizations that have long been skeptical of the peace process.
In the past, these organizations have been counterbalanced within the Jewish community by a number of others standing strongly behind Israel's peace negotiations. Although the risks were great at times, such groups -- including Americans for Peace Now, Meretz USA, Habonim Dror, and the Reform Jewish movement -- have stood steadfast in advocating the tough choices necessary to create two viable, independent states between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Now, however, many of those groups have fallen silent. Those of us who are simultaneously Zionists and supporters of a Palestinian state are without a movement, without infrastructure, and without connections to one another.
This was nowhere more in evidence than at the Israel solidarity rally outside the Capitol last month -- one of the largest gatherings ever held in support of Israel. At the event, the most popular signs read "I Stand with Israel for Peace." However, the message of peace and reconciliation seemed to play little if any role in the program. In fact, for the most part, only right-wing sentiments emanated from the stage. Natan Sharansky, the famous Soviet refusnik who as secretary of housing in the Sharon government now oversees the purposely provocative policy of promulgating settlements in the occupied territories, defended the military operations in the West Bank. Benjamin Natanyahu, the former prime minister who is bluntly challenging Sharon for leadership of the Israeli right, was even more stridently hawkish.
And it wasn't just Israeli politicians playing to the crowd. Never before have leaders of the American religious right received such a warm reception from a largely Jewish audience. Janet Parshall of the Family Research Council, former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett, and even House Majority Leader Dick Armey all received sustained applause for their attacks on the peace process and their denunciations of Yasir Arafat. Unexpectedly, the most reasonable words of the day came from Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who received jeers and scattered boos for showing a modicum of compassion for Palestinians as well as Israelis.
At the end of the day, not a single speaker at the Israel rally had addressed the fundamental question: How do we move forward from here? Branding Arafat a terrorist may garner applause (and even votes), but doing so gets us no closer to ending the terror or solving the massive problems facing the Israelis and the Palestinians who abandoned the negotiating table a year and a half ago. (Similarly, decrying Ariel Sharon as a war criminal, regardless of veracity, does nothing to advance the cause of peace or to speed the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities and towns.)
The rally highlighted the absence of a functional American Jewish peace lobby. Working for peace is not disloyal to Israel or the cause of Zionism. A resurgent Israeli left proves that. So why is it that the American Jewish community, always eager to voice its opinions and often fractious about them, has only a timid, tremulous voice for peace? Why, more importantly, are the hard-liners getting away with representing themselves as mainstream? Why are there not voices of protest, in both the Jewish community and larger progressive community, defining the middle ground as a place of shared interests and forward thinking?
Addressing the crowd outside the Capitol, Natan Sharansky said perhaps more than he realized. "Real peace, dear friends, real peace depends on us. If the Jewish people in Israel and the diaspora are united, if we let the leaders of the free world know that we insist on a peace that is not compromised with evil and terror, we will succeed," he promised. If he is right, the tens of thousands of Israelis who bravely rallied for peace must be wondering why their counterparts in the rest of the world -- and especially in the American left -- have responded with a deafening silence.
