What an Israeli Wishes Palestinians Could Understand
In Letters to a Palestinian Neighbor, Yossi Klein Halevi, an American-born Israeli who now spends much of his time fostering Jewish-Muslim dialogue, makes the case for Israel to the Palestinian people. He has even made an Arabic translation of his book available for free online. In an interview with Adam Rubenstein, he explains why peace has so far proved impossible:'BDS efforts harm the Palestinians'
The conflict [with Israel] is at the heart of Palestinian identity in a way that’s not true for [Israel’s] other neighbors. The Palestinian national movement, in all its factions, tends to see compromise [with the Jewish state] as a betrayal of justice. What we’ve just seen on the Gaza border in these last weeks is an expression of what’s wrong with Palestinian national identity. Why are Palestinians who live in Palestine demanding the “right of return” to a country that is no longer Palestine? Return to where from where? Leave Gaza—Palestine—and go to Israel? Why, for that matter, are there refugee camps in Gaza—in Palestine? Aren’t they already home? Or does the Palestinian right of return only play out literally, to the actual ancestral homes that were lost in war 70 years ago? Those homes are never going to be retrieved; in most cases they no longer even exist. No Israeli government will agree to national suicide by allowing the descendants of refugees to move to the Jewish state.
The Palestinian demand for right of return to the state of Israel is an expression of the rejection of Israel’s right to exist. . . . I believe that that rejection is the source of the conflict. If there was an indication that even part of the Palestinian people was publicly challenging the official narrative about Israel and the Jewish people—namely, that we are thieves and colonialists and liars who have invented our own history—if there was only some indication on the other side that this is now being debated in Palestinian society, that would be a moment when many of us in Israel would say, “well, maybe we really do have a partner.” In the absence of any debate within Palestinian society over Israel’s legitimacy, it’s hard to argue with the Israeli consensus that there is no partner for peace among the Palestinian leadership.
Like the authors of the study, Diker is all too familiar with the main obstacle to coexistence – violence. Dajani Daoudi's car was rigged with explosives in 2014 after he took his students to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. Aloush refuses to have her photo featured here for fear of retaliation, and Basherat was questioned by Palestinian intelligence after participating in a conference promoting coexistence that was sponsored by the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.
The study, which has already been published in English, will soon be published in Hebrew, but releasing it in Arabic is a highly sensitive matter and Diker, as the editor, is careful when he addresses the issue. "The Arab world for 'normalization' can also be used to mean 'collaboration,' and that has a very negative connotation of helping Israel," he explained. "This is why we opted for 'shared perspectives on a new path to peace.'" Sensitivities aside, the paper will soon be issued in Arabic, as well.
JCPA President Dore Gold explained that the study is directed at the international community but also at the Arab and Jewish sectors. "We must bring about a change in awareness, not only among the Palestinian public but also in the international community, which must understand that any progress towards a solution between us and the Palestinians has to be based on cooperation and not on the approach promoted by the BDS movement.
"That's something that has to be said and it's one of the goals of our publications. Moreover, there are those in the Jewish community abroad who think that BDS is what we need now. We have to say – loud and clear – that this is the wrong approach and that the right path is cooperation. If we don't say that, we will lose the battle and that is why it is so important," he concluded.