OPINION

Democratizing

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES*

Continued from Page 7

present

PLO are now received and
feted by representatives of the
United States government
gaining a credibility never
before achieved. A
government-in-exile has been
announced and recognized,
and Arab rights to Judea-
Samaria proclaimed as
Palestine.
In return, it is faced with an
Israel uncertain of its posi-
tion. It refuses to allow Jews
the unlimited right of settle-
ment in Judea-Samaria as
counter to Arab assertions. It
is an Israel increasingly
isolated, contrasted with an
ascendant Palestinian
nationalism.
The message of the intifada
is that the Zionists (ie. Jews)
must go, regardless of how in-
obtrusive or gentle the
Jewish "occupation?' No mat-
ter how Jews try to ra-
tionalize and alibi, the in-
tifada had to occur given ex-
panding Arab education and
resulting Palestinian identity
• and nationalist feelings.
In addition, while it is true
that "much of the intellectual
backing for the uprising
comes from graduates of .. .
Israeli-established univer-
sities," that does not create a
democratic-oriented
leadership.
The nationalists and in-
tellectuals created by univer-
sities are no less determined,
authoritarian, and blood-
thirsty than the numb and
the dumb. Rejection of Israeli
authority, as Kimelman says,
was a "formative experience?'
To propose that it will submit
to Jewish leadership (a la
American military to
defeated Japan) is nonsense
in the extreme.
The is the nascent na-
tionalism which strives
through insurrection to gain
freedom from foreign (Zionist)
occupation. The intifada,
therefore, is not motivated by
a desire for freedom, and
therefore, cannot be channell-
ed to that end, and certainly
not by Jews.
Indeed, we ought to be very
careful about non-Jewish
liberation movements that
have been hijacked by Jews.
Jews, for example, who led the
Russian Revolution or the
black revolution in America,
in their search for a better
world, have bequeathed us a
bitter legacy of anti-
Semitism. Needless to say,
the most vicious tyrannical
movements have arisen from
national liberation
movements.
Kimelman's concept that
democracy can be imposed,
and on Arabs no less, sug-
gests a return to the defunct
colonial model of the 19th
century. A superior power, in

this case Israel, would allow
Jewish settlement and gover-
nance, with the Arabs as
nobel savage and lackey, in
training for the art of ad-
ministration and democracy.
Kimelman suggests that
this utopia in "Paleo-Judea"
would' create such peace and
security for Israel, that it
could withdraw from such
sites as Hebron, Shehem,
Bethlehem, Jerico, and
maybe even east Jerusalem.
However, if history is any
guide, Britain as colonial
power trained the Indian civil
service in democracy. But
democracy or no, India is no
friend of Israel. Nor is Greece,
t _ he cradle of democracy.
However, if we are to protect
the bet, the question of just
how this democratic Arab
state would be protected
against internal upheaval
and external invasion arises.
For all of Kimelman's en-
thusiasm for a democratic
Arab state being peaceful and
no threat to Israel, 'he notes
that it must be demilitarized.
This exposes the truth that no
Israeli Jew, not even
Kimelman, trusts an Arab,
especially one who identifies
as a "Palestinian" and resides
in the Israeli-heartland of
Judea-Samaria.
And if demilitarized, what
would protect it from its
recalcitrant and unenlighten-
ed Arab neighbors?
Kimelman suggests that its
security would be
"guaranteed by Israel and
possibly Jordan," and
therefore "the need for more
than internal police powers is
obviated."
But the assertion raises a
question. Do we seriously ex-
pect or want Jewish soldiers
to die defending this Arab
demilitarized state, and fur-
ther expect the Arabs there to
remain oblivious and quiet
while Jews kill their Arab
brethren?
Stripped of its diversions
and irrelevancies,
Kimelman's plan is another
attempt to relieve Israel of
the burden of its victory in
the 1967 war. The victory in
that Six-Day/War was an op-
portunity to change the geo-
political and military balance
to Israel's favor. The borders
were expanded to the safe and
secure natural boundaries of
the Suez Canal and the Jor-
dan River.
The Auschwitz Green Line
(1948 Armistice Line) was
obliterated.
How far we have come. We
now have a Jewish plan to
return to , the 1967 borders in
the process of being midwife
to the dream of Yassir Arafat,
that of a "democratic secular
state" in Palestine. Incredible.

ARCHEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY AND
ANCIENT JUDAISM

Jonas Greenfield

The Hebrew University

The Nahal Hever Archive:
New Light on a Jewish
Woman of the Second
Century C.E. (Illustrated)

The Dead Sea Scrolls
Forty Years Later

(Illustrated)

Co-Host: Micrasha College
of Jewish Studies

Sunday, February 5, 1989
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United Hebrew Schools
21550 W. 12 Mile Rd.

Monday, February 6, 1989
3 p.m.
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