View From The Left
Former Knesset member criticizes settlements, "occupation," Sharon government.
DON COHEN
Special to the Jewish News
m
,
IN
11/ 7
2003
30
arcia Freedman often
doesn't enjoy what she
does. "It's been my job to
bring bad news to the
Jewish community," said Freedman,
who championed women's issues like
rape, domestic violence, prostitution
and breast cancer as a member of the
Israeli Knesset in the mid-1970s.
"I'm here to bring bad news one more
time," she said as she launched into crit-
icism of the Israel's current government
and the "occupation" of land claimed by
the Palestinians.
Freedman, a New Jersey native who
made aliyah just after the June 1967 war
and became an active member of the
Israeli peace movement, is the national
chairperson of a new organization, Brit
Tzedek V'Shalom-The Jewish Alliance
for Justice and Peace.
She spoke at Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park on Oct. 22 to 50
people at a program sponsored by the
Labor Zionist Alliance (LZA), which is
affiliated with Israel's Labor Party.
Freedman began by sharing concerns
recently expressed by Avram Burg, for-
mer speaker of the Knesset, who said
Israel does not have "a just path nor an
ethical leadership." She warned, "The
end of the Zionist enterprise is on our
doorstep."
For Freedman and Burg, this is a
result of the Israeli settlements, the con-
tinued occupation of Palestinian-con-
trolled land and the policies of the
Sharon government.
"The [Sharon] government supports
hegemony and sovereignty in the West
Bank," said Freedman.
She argued it supports the "Greater
Land of Israel Movement, from the
[Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean]
Sea."
Noting that Israel maintains 150 set-
tlements and 230,000 settlers, mostly in
the West Bank, she said if Israel contin-
ues the occupation, it will not be able to
remain both Jewish and democratic.
"The time has long since passed when
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and
Gaza could be justified on the ground
that they strengthen Israeli security,"
said Jeremy Salinger, president of the
local Labor Zionist Alliance.
"I support Brit Tzedek's position that
Israel should spend its resources on
bringing the settlers back into Israel
proper rather than on economic incen-
tives to move to the settlements and to
defend those that already exist," he said.
"We need a broader set of points of
view to be brought to our community.
Freedman's is a view that needs to be
heard."
Freedman gave considerable attention
to the difficulties Israelis face with the
favor of a two-state solution, based on
the 1967 borders and evacuation of the
settlements, but there is a government
and the Knesset that does not support
their position.
"The government of Israel, the
Sharon government, is the most extrem-
ist right-wing government that Israel has
ever, ever known. If anyone wants to
give me another definition of an irra-
tional voting population, I think that is
it.
"No [Israeli prime minister] has ever
Marcia Freedman, former member of Knesset, is introduced by Jeremy Salinger, local
Labor Zionist Alliance president.
current Palestinian uprising, punctuated
as it is by suicide bombings.
"My neighborhood has been triangu-
lated by the main sites of suicide
attacks,"Freedman said.
Her home in the Rehavia section of
Jerusalem was between the market, the
stores of Ben-Yehuda Street and the
cafes.
She movingly shared that Israelis live
with a constant threat of attack. "We
live in a reality of abject fear and terror,"
she explained. "You don't know what is
going to happen. You make decisions
[on leaving your home] with your heart
in your mouth. You know the law of
averages are with you," but "it has made
Israel into a very irrational place."
"There is a disconnect," between
Israeli attitudes and votes, said
Freedman, who divides her time
between California and Jerusalem.
"The majority, 60-70 percent, are in
been elected on a platform of increasing
settlements," Freedman said. "Sharon
was elected on a platform of peace and
security and he still hasn't brought peace
or security," noting 800 Israelis have
been killed during the past three years
and the economy is in shambles.
"The economic life of Israel has suf-
fered very much during the past three
years because of the occupation and the
settlements," said Freedman.
She cited high-unemployment, pover-
ty rates and cuts in education, social
services and health care. "Israel is
becoming a very poor country."
Poverty Breeds Terrorism
The Palestinians also are suffering from
poverty and, as Freedman said, "a total
breakdown in civil society and absolute
lawlessness in the streets."
Additionally, Palestinian medical serv-
ices and schools are located in the cities,
but those living in the villages can't get
there. "Closures and checkpoints are
making life almost impossible," she said.
Freedman is certain that such condi-
tions are responsible for the terrorism
Israel faces, saying, "Terrorism is a tool
of the weak who do not have other
means."
"It is not at all surprising the number
of young suicide bombers is growing all
the time," she said. "The existence of
women suicide bombers shows just how
desperate they are. Their daily life is just
an ordeal and holds no future whatsoev-
er.
As evidence, she claimed that from
1996-2000, during the most promising
period of the Oslo peace process, there
was not a single terrorist attack.
Now, extremists control both sides,
she said, noting that the Palestinian
political structure has broken down and
"the power is in the hands of Hamas,
Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,
who refuse to recognize the State of
Israel."
"If things get a little too quiet, a sui-
cide bomber will take care of that. If
not, a targeted assassination will take
care of that. This dance, this terrible
dance of violence, serves them both. It
feeds into one another, and there is no
sign from either side that it will end by
itself Without international engage-
ment, it won't change.
'American foreign policy is key to the
future; we have the power to influence
our government," she told the group.
"We need to organize ourselves as an
American Jewish voice for a two-state
solution."
She was encouraged when President
Bush said his role is "to ride herd on
both sides" with regard to the road map,
but she is dismayed he hasn't done so.
"If we care, it is our role to do every-
thing we can to bring pressure on our
elected officials to move forward force-
fully to intervene and support a settle-
ment of the conflict," said Freedman,
who finds hope in the recently unveiled
"Geneva Accord" negotiated by non-
governmental Israelis and Palestinians.
"[The Accord] is satisfactory for mod-
erate Israelis and moderate Palestinians.
For the Israeli peace camp and
American Jews, it is a very, very impor-