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When Arafat's Away
Dry Bones
ME DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN TODAY'S
NEO-NAZIS IN
EUROPE
AND THE ORIGINAL
NAZIS IN THE
1930'S IS THAT...
on't get your hopes up that Yasser Arafat's ill-
ness will trigger some sort of rapid break-
through toward a real reduction of tension
between Israel and the Palestinians.
Instead, expect a lot of jousting for power among the
Palestine Liberation Organization and the terrorist and
fundamentalist groups and, sadly, a lot of inappropriate
pressure on Israel to make concessions in the name of
helping Palestinian centrists to come out on top.
Israel may very well choose actions that would assist
a more moderate leadership in Ramallah and Gaza
City. But the challenge for American Jews will be to
work to make sure that this country doesn't fall into
the trap of trying to make Israel's decisions for it.
The post-election period and Arafat's
absence might seem like an ideal time for
Colin Powell's State Department to renew
pressure to return to the road map that it
laid out with Russia, the United Nations and the
European Union. But the stubborn fact remains that
any solution has to come from Israel and the
Palestinians themselves; nothing imposed from the
outside has a chance of proving permanent and could
even turn out to be harmful.
Monday's homicidal bombing at Tel Aviv's Carmel
Market shows that the terrorists are perfectly willing to
continue their madness, presumably in hopes of keep-
ing the door of negotiations shut between Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart
Ahmed Qurei or the PLO second-in-command
Mahmoud Abbas. Groups like Hamas or the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the radical faction
that claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv murders,
fear that Arafat's absence removes Sharon's long-stand-
ing justification for refusing to talk.
Arafat may be hospitalized in France, but as
long as he continues to show any signs of
lucidity and a possible return to the Mukata,
his chancellery in Ramallah, talking formally
with Qurei or Abbas would be just the same as
talking with him. Israel doesn't really have the
option of refusing to let the 75-year-old dicta-
tor come back if he recovers because he
remains so firmly embedded as the symbol of
the drive for Palestinian independence.
Israel's stance on resuming talks never
became an issue in the U.S. presidential cam-
paign, with both George W. Bush and John E
Kerry endorsing Sharon's position, so overt
pressure from Washington would, in
effect, be a betrayal of campaign
promises. The White House figures
to be most immediately occupied
with Iraq, Afghanistan and possibly an Iran
that seems intent on having nuclear weapons.
Initiating action between Israel and the
Palestinians is unlikely, even though the stand-
off is a central issue in the Arab and Muslim
rejection of America.
The U.N. and the E.U. can be counted on
to renew their demands that Israel now make
concessions as a way to help the moderates —
despite the evidence that past concessions have
generally simply led to the deaths of more
Israelis. It seems not to occur to the U.N. and
the E.U. that the responsibility for meaningful steps
rests first and foremost on the people who rejected
Camp David and launched the Palestinian intifada
four years and 4,000 deaths ago.
Arafat's absence is an opportunity for the Palestinians
Our Evangelical Friends
tion of anti-Semitism." It describes Israel as
our beliefs, I do not detect much reciprocity.
"one of the most decent societies and one of
It should also be pointed out that while
the strongest democracies in the world. We
Jewish tourism to Israel dropped off to a
do NOT support Islamic fascists who praise
trickle during the latest round -of violence,
the Holocaust and publicly call for the anni-
Evangelical visits remained strong.
hilation of Jews."
I'm not crazy about their desire to convert
It calls upon the General Assembly to
me. On the other hand, those parents who
"rescind
this offensive, illogical and mean-
can't make the effort to give their kids a
GEO RGE
spirited" attack on Israel.
Jewish foundation really have no reason to
CAN TOR
Maybe I'm tone deaf, but that doesn't
complain when other religions find a likely
Rea lity
sound like equivocal support to me.
recruiting ground.
A statement by Presbyterians Concerned
Ch eck
What did they expect? Synagogue twice a
About Jewish Christian Relations cjcr.org
year and latkes at Chanukah would be enough?
also reaffirmed that God has a "primary,
Why blame the Evangelicals?
vital and continuing covenant with the Jewish peo-
I bring this up as part of the ongoing problem
ple." Moreover, the Novi-based National Christian
with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Leadership Conference for Israel ncici.org is doing
Church (USA), which voted to explore the possibili-
its best to publicize the ongoing persecution of
ty of divesting itself from companies doing business
Christians in areas controlled by the Palestinian
with Israel.
Authority. The mainstream churches prefer to look
That is well known. What hasn't been publicized
the other way on that hornet's nest.
is the revulsion with which that proposal has been
It really does no good to mourn the passing of old
met by many Presbyterian laypersons and individual
alliances with other religious groups. Here are our
churches. Especially in the sect's Evangelic wing, or
allies now and we should not dismiss them out of
the Confessing Church Movement, the anti-Israel
hand. We should, instead, be learning more about
campaign has caused a deep split.
who they are and what they have to say.
These churches have posted a petition on their
Web site to denounce the proposal as "a manifesta-
EDIT ORIAL
M
ost American Jews do not feel comfort-
able with Evangelical Christians, even
though that religious group is our
staunchest ally in support of Israel.
It is an anomaly — and one that deserves much
closer examination than it gets from Jewish organi-
zations.
Many Jews buy into the notorious description of
Evangelicals that appeared in the Washington Post a
few years ago — "poorly educated and easily led."
If such crude stereotyping were applied to any other
group in this country, the outcry would have been
immediate.
But Jews bridle at the conservative politics
embraced by Evangelicals. They also believe their
support for Israel is based only on millennial
prophecies that promised establishment of a home-
land for the Jews would lead to their conversion.
I suspect that most Jews are ill informed about
Evangelical theology. While we are quick to demand
that Christians attempt to understand and respect
George Cantor's e mail address is
-
gcantor@thejewishnews.com
THE NEO-NAZIS
DON'T HAVE A
LEADER TO DIRECT
THEIR FURY!
to decide what they want — more of the same vio-
lence, more of the IDF responses, more of the closed
crossings and daily hopelessness, or a brighter future.
But it is not up to Israel to make that decision for
them, and those who will pressure Sharon for conces-
sions now are simply wrong.
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