the hands of homicidal maniac guerilla
groups. War in the 21st century is a new
beast. A very dangerous and deadly one.
• It seems hopeless but there is no
problem that cannot be solved. People
create war and people can solve it. The
Jewish people did not survive 20 centu-
ries of European oppression to die now.
We are not a people who give up eas-
ily. We are incredibly resourceful and
intelligent. In the darkest of all days, we
always choose hope. We never give up.
This remarkable resilience and ingenuity
make me proud to be a Jew.
There is a popular song being sung in
Israel today. The lyrics read, "I have no
other homeland even though the ground
is burning."
I watch my husband. Although we are
in Farmington Hills, in so many ways he
is back in Lebanon, caught in the terrible
machine of war. He knows that he must
be there. He understands that his life and
the lives of all the Jews in Israel are at
stake, and so he follows his commander
across the Lebanese border.
The tanks move in single file. The
snow is coming down hard. He is 18. P_J

Tamara Kolton is the rabbi at the Birmingham

Temple in Farmington Hills.

Answering
Israel's Critics

The Charge:

Palestinian spokesmen often
charge that the only thing stand-
ing in the way of a peace agree-
ment with Israel is Israel's "occu-
pation" of "Palestinian land."

The Answer:

Peace negotiations have to
be conducted with the rep-
resentatives of a people who
want peace. Recent polling
reveals that only 51 percent of
Palestinians support a peace-
ful settlement with Israel; more
than half, 55 percent, agree that
Hamas should not change its by-
laws that call for the destruction
of Israel; a vast majority, 97 per-
cent, support Hezbollah in the
current crisis; and 75 percent
believe that Israel is "not a peace
partner!'

— Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit

not merely the death of Israel, but also
the spread of radical Islam and its
agenda throughout the region extend-
ing from Western Asia to the Western
Mediterranean.
These religious extremists seek a
Muslim messianic age and are trans-
forming formerly ethnic and national
conflicts in the Middle East about land
and state boundaries into more terrible
conflicts about fundamental existence.
What is fearful now is not that this is
about 1967 or 1982, occupying ter-
ritories, but about 1948. It is about
the fragility of Jewish existence on yet
another continent.
Ari Shavut, a responsible Israeli
critic of the war, makes it clear that
— while he is unsure how well Israel's
effort is going (and reasonable people
can disagree on this) — he is sure
that the war is just, perhaps more so
than any other war in Israel's history.
The conflict is not about occupation or
land, not about recklessness, but about
sovereignty and survival.

tics. Education Minister Yuli Tamir, a
Labor Party peace activist, is a leading
advocate for the Lebanon campaign.
There are worthwhile debates about
tactics and goals, but not about the
war. Indeed, the war can be seen as the
necessary response for the Israeli left
to sustain any credibility to its stance
that withdrawal from occupation
means contribution to peace.
New thinking is required in the con-
text of a new kind of conflict— not
least on the American liberal left.
Israel's response to Hezbollah is
unique in its history — the first time
it has had to oppose aggression after
withdrawing from territory; the first
time it has opposed an armed radical
militia firing on Israeli cities, the first
time it has opposed opponents moti-
vated primarily by religious fervor, the
first time it has been willing to accept
that an international peacekeeping
force will be needed.
Israel's response suggests neither
recklessness nor immaturity. E

It's A First
Even Peace Now has justified the war.
Amir Peretz, defense minister, was
Israel's leading peace advocate in poli-

Kenneth Waltzer is a professor and direc-

tor of Jewish studies at Michigan State

University.

The Seattle Shooting

would have ended the occu-
pation with a just peace, in
the Taba negotiations and in
hrough the
the
nongovernmental Geneva
actions of a lone
Accord.
Unless we return to
man with an
that
path,
those who live in
unstable mental.history,
the
West
Bank
and Gaza, or
the Middle East wars have
view
themselves
as acting in
hit thy community. Naveed
sympathy with them, are likely
Haq, from a middle class •
to fight with whatever weap-
Pasco, Wash., family, shot
Paul Rogat
ons they see as available. And
six women at the Seattle
Loeb
this means the likely taking of
Jewish Federation. He .
•Special
more innocent lives.
killed one and left three
Commentary
The Seattle gunman was a
critically wounded, saying,
troubled
individual, not part
"I am a Muslim American,
of
any
political
movement.
But the situ-
angry at Israel."
ation that sparked his unconscionable
I've never been to the federation
offices, but I've worshipped at affiliated - action was the same that continues
to fuel Israeli-Palestinian cycles of
Seattle synagogues, attended federa-
violence. Hezbollah seized Israeli hos-
tion-sponsored events and met one of
tages and demanded prisoner exchang-
the critically wounded women. Haq's
es in the wake of Israeli attacks on
reprehensible attack felt personal. It
also risks sharply increasing the level of Gaza. Hamas now threatens retaliation
for the deaths in the Lebanese village of
fear in America's Jewish communities,
Qana; 87 percent of all Lebanese now
and with it the reflex support of ques-
say they support the "resistance's fight
tionable Israeli actions.
against Israeli aggression!'
We could dismiss the deaths as
No moral argument can justify the
isolated from politics, the actions of
Seattle shootings. Suicide bombings
a single deranged individual. But the
and the firing of rockets at Israel's civil-
shootings had a global context. The
ian population are equally contemptu-
actions taken in response will move us
ous of innocent lives.
toward or away from further violence.
But the question isn't about justifica-
It's tempting, particularly for those of
tions. It's how to stop future violence.
us who are Jewish, to use this shooting
as an excuse for supporting Israeli mili- Whatever the actions of Hezbollah,
forcing a fifth of the Lebanese popula-
tary escalation and to blur the urgency
tion to flee their homes, destroying
of halting the bombs and shells fall-
the power grids in Gaza and much of
ing on equally blameless civilians in
Lebanon, burning civilians with white
Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza.
Haq eventually surrendered to police. phosphorous, and bombing villages full
of children only makes matters worse.
But according to this logic, we must
The killings here in Seattle should
teach a lesson to his compatriots —
who continue to fire rockets and set off give Americans even greater impetus to
demand an alternative. 11
suicide bombs — because terror will
understand only the language of force.
Paul Rogat Loeb (www.paulloeb.org ) is the
Except that Israel has followed this
author of "The Impossible Will Take a Little
punitive approach again and again in -
While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time
the 40 years since it occupied the West
of Fear" and "Soul of a Citizen." He has 30-
Bank. It's never brought security, only
more anger. It isn't naive to suggest that plus years' experience researching and writ-
Israel's massive attacks on Lebanon and ing about citizen responsibility and empow-
Gaza will embitter a new generation. Or erment. His lecture circuit has included
the University of Michigan, the Michigan
to point out that the Hamas victory in
Education Association and Workmen's
the Palestinian elections was the fruit
Circle-Arbeiter Ring.
of daily humiliations that Palestinians
face and of Israel's blocking the PLO
from functioning as even a nascent
government.
We've come close to agreements that

Seattle

T

August - 17 = 2006

35