(Cecilie Surasky is the Communications Director for Jewish Voice
for Peace and a New Voices fellow with the Academy of
Educational Development.)
(plus other recent articles from A JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE)
It is my first morning at the World Social Forum in Mumbai,
India and I am at a workshop on Palestinian women and the
occupation. In the audience is a woman who I first think might
be Israeli. She could easily be one of my friends and I feel an
immediate kinship with her. She tells me she is 34 and has lived
her whole life in Gaza except for college. I ask her if I can
interview her.
She cautiously eyes my card, on which I have purposely
written in thick, visible letters: Jewish Voice for Peace. “I
don’t know, she says. “Do you support the occupation?” It seems
such a surreal question. How could anyone support an occupation?
The very word evokes domination, a kind of cruelty. No, I say,
we want to end the occupation. We want a peace that is just.
I ask about the checkpoints. She describes sitting in her
car. The young Israeli soldiers are in sniper posts. You can’t
see them, but they can see you, she explains.
They signal it’s time to go by shooting their guns. She
waits a long time until the soldiers yell, “OK, now the dogs can
go!” You think, “Do I want to be called a dog, or do I just want
to go?”, she tells me. “I don’t care, so I start my car and they
yell ‘No! Not you, I said dogs!” So she turns her car off, and
sometime later they say, “OK, now humans can go!”. She starts
her car and they look at her and the others and say “No! I said
humans.” And she turns her car off and waits until finally this
category of Palestinian, neither human nor animal, is allowed to
pass.
“This,”she says,”is my only contact with Israelis.” And
this, I think, is my first contact with someone from Gaza.
The WSF and the new anti-Semitism
The World Social Forum (WSF) is the populist answer to the
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Instead of a
gathering of the world’s mostly wealthy, white, and male heads
of state and captains of industry in Davos, the WSF is a
cacophony of anti-globalization/human rights activists from all
over the globe.
The roughly 100,000 participants represent every imaginable
cause –from Indian untouchables and Bhutanese refugees to child
trafficking and sexual minorities. They are visible in the
regular marches that seem to appear out of nowhere down the main
thoroughfare, at the 500 information booths, in more than 1,000
workshops, and on the political posters filling every inch of
available wall space.
I have come because my New Voices human rights fellowship
has decided to send the fellows to the WSF. But I have an
additional reason for being here. The Simon Wiesenthal Center
(SWC) has cited the WSF as one of the centers of what it and
others refer to as the “new anti-Semitism”, and these charges
have been picked up by various journalists as evidence of a
dangerous new trend on the left.
Upon closer reading, most of these accounts make little if
any distinction at all between anti-Semitism and criticism of
Israel, or even anti-Zionism. The SWC description of the
“anti-Jewish” atmosphere at last year’s WSF in Brazil is one of
these accounts.
And yet, their description of the WSF is so disturbing,
even frightening, that I am prepared to encounter at minimum
silent hostility, and possibly even physical attacks from my
fellow attendees. I have come to the WSF to be loudly and
visibly Jewish, to make a presentation that deconstructs the
theory that Jews single-handedly dictate U.S. policy in the
Middle East, and to see for myself this purported new tidal wave
of Jew-hatred from the rest of the global left.
The conference is not what I expected
It is therefore a bit surprising to find that the
Israel-Palestine conflict and the occupation are not more
prominently featured at the conference. Out of hundreds of
ongoing marches, I witness only one small pro-Palestine march,
which includes a prominent Israeli leftist marching in the front
row.
Out of about 500 information stalls, only two represent
Palestinian human rights groups: PENGON, which is working to
tear down the wall Israel is building through Palestinian land,
and Al-Haq, which is launching a campaign identifying collective
punishment as a war crime. Of the thousands of political
posters, I see only one series, Al-Haq’s powerful posters on
collective punishment, related to the issue.
I attend most of the workshops I can find on the
Israel-Palestine issue. What I also do not hear (or see) is
anything I would consider anti-Semitic. In a global conference
of 100,000 people, one expects to hear an enormous range of
political perspectives, including the occasional extreme or
intolerant remark. Given that I am prepared for the worst, I am
shocked that the overwhelming majority of what is said in
workshops is milder than the articles and essays one can read in
Israeli newspapers on any given day.
Two realities, one anti-Semitism industry
After I return home, the Wiesenthal Center publishes an
alarming piece entitled “Networking to Destroy Israel” in the
Jerusalem Post. The article claims that this year’s WSF was
“hijacked by anti-American and anti-Israeli forces” and leads me
to wonder whether we attended the same conference. In this
piece, and for the second year in a row, they strangely declare
themselves the only Jewish NGO to attend the WSF.(I personally
saw participants from Brit Tzedek and Yesh Gvul, to name just a
few, and Jewish Voice for Peace is listed in the official
program.)
They go on to cite a litany of statements, including mine,
as proof that the WSF is a place where people who want to
destroy Israel meet to plot and recruit. Employing a form of
twisted logic that would make Donald Rumsfeld proud, they
essentially claim that absence of any blatant anti-Semitism is
not proof that there was none, but merely an indication of a
more sophisticated kind of anti-Zionism in which sympathetic
Jews such as Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) play a starring roll.
The account is so riddled with errors — I am misquoted,
JVP is described as “campus-based”, all of my colleagues are
given the wrong attributions, and quoted either inaccurately or
out of context — that it is pointless to list them all. It
contains bits of truth but strings together isolated statements
to make them sound like a tidal wave of hatred at worst, part of
what they call an “orchestrated” campaign to destroy Israel.
All this begs the question of why a group such as the SWC
would want to fuel hysteria about anti-Semitism in general,
especially in regard to the left. The SWC has an important
history of hunting down former Nazis, exposing the activities of
neo-fascists and other right-wing hate groups, and fighting
genuine anti-Semitism.
But the SWC is like many other mainstream Jewish
organizations in the United States that have expanded their
mission from fighting the oppression of Jews by others to
attempting to silence critics — including other Jews — of
Israel’s human rights record. These organizations’ new role as
arbiters of acceptable opinion –effectively protecting some
Jews from the criticisms of other Jews and non-Jews — is a far
cry from their proud past.
In the strange parallel reality reflected by these
organizations and in the SWC op-ed, the mere mention of the
heartbreaking reality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians
is proof of an insidious plan supported by other Jews to wipe
Israel off the face of the earth. In their world, it is evidence
of bias simply to point out causality — that groups like JVP or
Al-Haq exist not because we are anti-Jewish or anti-Israel, but
to end the injustices of Israel ‘s occupation and treatment of
Arabs.
To even the most casual observer, this is shocking for a
community with a long tradition of protecting free speech, and
an even longer tradition of embracing debate. It is also
confounding given the now commonly held opinion in Israel and
the U.S. that the occupation and militarization of Israeli
culture is bad not just for Palestinians, but also for Israelis.
More insidious, by fueling the fires of fear through
hyperbolic statements, (an easy thing to do with a people with
our history of suffering and persecution) these groups who say
they represent all Jews play a critical role in giving the
current Israeli government permission to violate virtually every
moral and ethical standard central to the Jewish tradition in
its effort to put down the Palestinians.
They make peace ever more distant by perpetuating the myth
that Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, have nothing to
say to each other and are incapable of recognizing each other as
full human beings with similar wants and needs. They get under
our skin and make Jews believe that indeed, the world is out to
get us and we can trust no one.
Acts of Lovingkindness at the WSF, the untold story
In my own experience as a very out Jew at the conference, I
felt no hate. Instead, I met a number of Palestinians and Arabs
who, on some fundamental level, expressed the pain of
separation. “I am Muslim, and we were raised to respect the
Jewish tradition, ” a Palestinian woman living in Jordan told
me. “We used to live next door to Jews, and we were friends.”
After I spoke at a session about suspending military aid to
Israel until it ends its occupation, and identified myself as a
member of Jewish Voice for Peace, a Palestinian woman thanked me
and a distinguished Lebanese man from Jordan came up and gave me
a huge hug and a kiss.
Two of the Arabs that the SWC op-ed quoted most prominently
in their description of what they called a campaign to destroy
Israel were environmental scientist Rania Masri and activist
journalist Ahmed Shawki.
Thirty minutes after meeting me for the first time at the
Forum, Ahmed Shawki offered to loan me the new digital camera
given to him by his wife. He knew I was eager to take pictures
and the airline had misplaced my luggage. Knowing nothing of my
politics, only that I was from a Jewish peace group, he gave me
his digital camera.
The next day, the bag containing my passport, credit cards,
and his camera was stolen. Our mutual friend and colleague from
Lebanon, Rania Masri, handed me a hundred dollars from her
wallet and absolutely insisted I take her ATM card and PIN
number so I would have money for the rest of the trip. And
Ahmed? To this day, Ahmed refuses to accept payment for the
camera that was stolen.
This is the real story of Jews, Arabs, and the World Social
Forum that needs to be told; that is, the ways in which we so
quickly and easily recognize each other’s fundamental humanity.
As one young Arab-Israeli woman — who will never be quoted in
an article about the rising tide of anti-Semitism — said so
eloquently and passionately the last night of the conference,
“Yes, I experience discrimination in Israel. But my friendship
with Jewish Israelis is proof that it is a lie when both sides
tell us we can’t live together. We can live together. You must
not believe the lie.”
Separation Wall Hearings, Academic Freedom
The Senate had scheduled hearings on the Israeli
“separation wall”, and the only speakers were to be from the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a distinctly
pro-Israel think-tank. After receiving many calls, e-mails and
faxes in protest, in response to a call from the US Campaign to
End the Occupation, JVP has learned that the Senate plans to
schedule a second hearing, with a wider variety of speakers.
The Senate will soon be considering a bill which has
already passed the House, HR 3077, which would set up a
governmental advisory board to monitor Middle Eastern Studies in
universities, and would tie Title VI funding to the
recommendations of this board. Please contact your
representatives and oppose this major threat to academic
freedom.
Join Jewish Voice for Peace
Jewish Voice for Peace now has a global e-network of over 7,500
Jews and allies working for a just peace in the Middle East.
Become an official member of Jewish Voice for Peace and help
create a U.S. foreign policy that promotes peace, democracy,
human rights and respect for international law.
State Department Representative Condemns Settlements
In a keynote address at a State Department-sponsored
conference on the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, U.S. deputy assistant
secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield
issued one of the administration’s harshest statements to date
on Israel’s settlements.
“The fact is that settlements continue to grow today,
encouraged by specific ongoing government policies and at
enormous expense to Israel’s economy. And this persists even as
it becomes clearer and clearer that the logic of settlements and
the reality of demographics could threaten the future of Israel
itself as a Jewish democratic state,” Satterfield
said.”Settlement activity must stop, because it ultimately
undermines Israeli as well as Palestinian interests.”
“As Israeli settlements expand, those settlements that
began immediately after June 10th, 1967 and their populations
increase, it becomes ever more difficult to see how two peoples
can be separated into two states.”
All People Are Chosen
Alan Senauke
Alan Senauke is a Zen Buddhist priest and teacher in the
tradition of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Alan serves as head of
practice at Berkeley Zen Center in California, where he lives
with his wife, Laurie, and their two children, Silvie and
Alexander. Since 1991 Alan has been a leader of the Buddhist
Peace Fellowship, where he continues to work on national and
international issues of peace, human rights, structural
violence, and the development of a Socially Engaged Buddhism. In
another realm, Alan has been a student and performer of American
traditional music for forty years.
All people are chosen. All lands are holy. In the middle of
the journey of life I have come to this unreasonably naive
position. My naivete may be the fruit of twenty years of Zen
Buddhist practice. It may be a late blooming genetic trait,
seeds planted deeply by grandparents and teachers: Eastern
European Jews who fled pogroms and Japanese priests came here
after a World War II to work in the fresh soil of America. They
all struggled in this barely friendly country and found a way to
thrive.
All people are chosen. I believe it in my bones. This
began as a meditation on Israelis and Palestinians, but it is
just as true for Americans and Iraqis, Sinhalese and Tamils,
Burman and Karen. It goes beyond all religious, cultural, or
tribal teachings. Because all people are chosen, there are no
Chosen. Jews, Christians, and Muslims see the image of God in
our human form. The Buddha spoke of unique opportunity of human
birth. Because we have a body and mind, because we all taste
suffering, we can also free ourselves from suffering, and help
others.
From earliest memory I was told that Jews (like me) were
chosen. Chosen for gifts of intelligence and creativity; chosen
for unwanted gifts of hatred and discrimination. My parents and
grandparents were careful to distinguish between things Jewish
and things gentile. Then Lenny Bruce came along in the 60s and
deconstructed the whole deal. I heard his Jewish/Goyish
monologue when I was a kid. At one point he says, “All Italians
are Jewish.” This puzzled me until I went to Italy. Lenny Bruce
was exactly right. Since then, having traveled and encountered
various cultures, I would add Tibetans, Armenians, Lebanese,
Indians, and Cajuns are Jewish. The list goes on and on,
drifting into meaninglessness.
For several years I’ve been involved in a local
Jewish-Palestinian dialogue group. Members come from a variety
of backgrounds. We have vast differences in personal history.
But our urgent words, worry for the future, and passion for
peace, transcend all difference.
All lands are holy. Two Zen sayings come to mind. The
first is: “There is no place in the world to spit.” If we are
aware that every place and every being is as precious as we are
to ourselves, there is no room for thoughtless action dividing
us from each other. We take equal care of every place.
The second saying is: “If you create an understanding of
holiness, you will succumb to all errors.” Just as all lands are
holy, we can see that elevating one place, one people, or one
practice as holy, splits the world in two. Holiness plants
poisonous seeds of us and them. From such seeds war and hatred
grow. In the name of what is holy, the soil of the Holy Land has
endlessly absorbed the blood of crusaders, defenders, martyrs,
and countless ordinary people.
Holiness becomes a cover for hatred and hunger for power.
It causes people to do strange things: some people drive others
from their homes and fields; some strap explosives around their
body and turn themselves into bombs; others create a wall
scarring the earth for hundreds of miles in an foolish effort
for security that echoes the imaginings of Franz Kafka. From his
own experience. Martin Luther King Jr. understood this mechanism
of hate and delusion all too well.
…hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate
and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit
you back and you hit me back …that goes on ad infinitum. It
just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense,
and that’s the strong person. The strong person is the person
who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And that
is the tragedy of hate, it only intensifies the existence of
hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion
enough and morality enough to cut it off, and inject within the
very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element
of love.
The Buddha said “I teach about suffering and the end of
suffering.” He also taught that we co-create reality. Prophets
of the Bible and Koran taught about justice and generosity. As
we consider the history of Jews and Arabs in the Middle East, we
can see this. If we meditate deeper on a history based on my
tribe and your tribe, my religion and your religion, and so on,
we see this is a terribly dangerous delusion spiraling into
hatred and killing. But as King said, “Somewhere somebody must
have a little sense, and that’s the strong person.”
My one visit to Israel was brief, just a few months after
the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada. It was impossible to ignore
the tensions, but I loved the ethnic stew of Jerusalem of Jews,
Eastern European, Middle Eastern, African, American. I soaked up
the street energy in the narrow streets and crowded souks. I
walked quietly through Mea-arim, and imagined myself in my
hometown. Our group of peace activists was warmly welcomed in
the homes of Jews and Arabs. We sat in a weekly circle of
peace-activist Jews, Muslims, Christians, and on a small plaza
overlooking the Western Wall and the great mosques. Mostly I
walked and talked with people. Despite the tensions, the
presence of heavily armed Israeli military everywhere, I felt
connected to the weathered rocks and to the people living and
working among them.
It’s naive I know, but Jews and Arabs don’t seem all that
different to me. Both people are chosen. They love their
families above everything, work hard, and tend to wear their
passions on their sleeves. Warm of heart and quick to anger.
More related than either wants to admit. This seemed so clear.
But can they live together? There must be a path of justice to
end killing and violence that is both open and hidden. Justice
involves renunciation–letting go of holiness…and letting go
of privilege, of power over others. If all people are chosen one
must treat each person as no different than oneself. Despite
precepts, commandments, and wars, the basic fact is that human
identity goes deeper than tribal or national identity. And that
identity as yet remains out of reach for Israelis, Palestinians,
for Americans, and several billion other beings. This is just
where we should dig in and do the difficult work of peace.
Take Action!
Protect Academic Freedom
The Senate is considering a frightening bill, already passed by
the House, that threatens to put academic freedom in danger.
The bill would create an unprecedented seven-person
International Education Advisory Board, appointed by members of
Congress, which would have oversight over the content of course
materials and even the hiring of faculty in international area
studies and foreign language programs. The purpose of the board
is to stifle and censor legitimate criticism of US foreign
policy in America’s universities.
Go here to tell your representatives to say NO to this new form
of academic McCarthyism.
Following are links to highlights from Jewish Peace News, the
free news service offered by Jewish Voice for Peace. Get
pre-selected stories from global news sources sent to your email
box regularly, with incisive explications prefacing each
article. Go to your personal subscriptions page to sign up now.
Hamas calls for wave of suicide attacks after 15 Palestinians
die(UK Guardian) Hamas Vows Retaliation After Gaza Attack
(http://ga3.org/ct/r1aVtZK1lBtP/)
Analysis: What was the purpose of the IDF’s operation?(Ha’aretz)
Ze’ev Schiff On Why Israel Chose to Attack Gaza Now
(http://ga3.org/ct/qpaVtZK1TB5M/)
The Myth of the New Anti-Semitism (The Nation) A Jewish
Deconstruction of Collapsing Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
(http://ga3.org/ct/a1aVtZK1TB5N/)
Send questions, comments or concerns to the JVP staff at
info@jewishvoiceforpeace.org
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