views

commentary

An Interesting Read

I

sraeli Journalist and
author Yossi Klein
Halevi’s professional
credentials suggest that
he should be a cynic,
always looking at the
glass as half-empty.
Yet, he has a written
Berl Falbaum
a book, Letters to My
Palestinian Neighbor,
which reveals a man
still filled with hope
— perhaps not much,
but some hope — that the intractable
Israeli-Palestinian conflict might be
resolved by a better understanding of
each other’s “dreams and fears.”
The book was writ-
ten from Halevi’s home
on French Hill in east
Jerusalem from which
he can see his neighbor
in a Palestinian village
just the other side of
the wall erected by
Israel to stem terror-
Yossi Klein
ism, a wall which he
Halevi
describes as an “insult”
and a “negation of my
deepest hope for Israel, which is to find
its place among our neighbors.”
His basic premise is that neither side
knows the history of the other, and to
develop a constructive reconciliation
process, the Palestinians and Israelis
need to learn the other’s past and how
each defines itself and the other. Thus,
he has written this book containing 10
letters, and he invites a response from
his neighbor.
He writes that “in the hope that an

honest telling of my story may touch you
— and help create some understand-
ing, if not agreement, between us — two
traumatized people each clinging to the
same sliver of land.”
Let’s give Halevi the
benefit of the doubt
that, indeed, peacemak-
ing has failed because
of ignorance of the
other side’s history. It
seems unlikely that
Israelis don’t know
the Palestinian story
or that Palestinians
don’t know their
“neighbor’s.”
Also, let us
ignore that “a
better dialogue”
has been pro-
posed endlessly
between his-
toric adversaries as, for
instance, between blacks and whites
since the beginning of the Civil Rights
Movement. Most often such proposals
are judged to ignore reality and consid-
ered “naïve.”
Regardless, Haveli, Brooklyn-born and
educated who made aliyah in 1982, loves
Israel and makes his case with passion.
In writing the letters, he doesn’t mince
words.
He chastises his “neighbor” for reject-
ing many offers from Israel that would
have given Palestinians a state long
ago, beginning in 1948 when the Arab
nations rejected partition.
He tries to put to bed the political
argument that Israel is a product of the

Holocaust. (His father, born in Hungary,
was a Holocaust survivor). He states
emphatically that Israel has a right to
the land historically as did Joan Peters,
in 1984, in her powerful book, From
Time Immemorial: The Origins
of the Arab–Jewish
Conflict over Palestine.
He criticizes
Palestinians for foment-
ing hate, terrorism and
an unwillingness to
come to the table to talk,
and even to acknowledge
any legitimacy in Israel’s
claim to the land, and
their objective to be “free of
Israel’s existence entirely.”
But … and it is a big but
… while that line of argu-
ment is the traditional right-
wing view, Halevi also admits
that Israel is at fault as well.
Specifically, he writes, “Israelis
are guilty of failing to treat
Palestinians with dignity. Israelis often
don’t know how to treat each other with
respect, let alone those we are occupy-
ing.” He even uses the word “occupying.”
He abashedly states that he understands
the Palestinians perspective and claims
to territory.
“The challenge facing my genera-
tion of Israel is to turn outward to you,
neighbor, because my future is insepa-
rable from yours,” Halevi observes. Thus,
a two-state solution is the only fair out-
come for both sides.
He writes: “The ongoing disparity
between your hill (on the other side of
the wall) and mine challenges my deep-

est self-understanding and moral com-
mitments as a Jew and an Israeli. Ending
that disparity is one reason why I sup-
port a two-state solution.”
While defending Israel’s right to all
land between the Jordan River and
the Mediterranean Sea, he is “… ready
to partition the land, if convinced the
trade-off will be peace and not greater
terror.”
How far does he go? Answer: “I want
my government to stop expanding
settlements, not only for your sake, but
also for mine.”
To make the book attractive for his
“neighbor,” Halevi has made it available
in Arabic and it can be downloaded for
free.
Halevi, co-director of Jerusalem’s
Muslim Leadership Initiative at the
Shalom Hartman Institute, should
receive credit for his effort. He also
deserves praise for his passion, writing
skills, insights and thought-provoking
analysis. It is very moving to read his
critique.
While he is probably right in support-
ing a two-state solution, it won’t come
from learning each other’s histories. He
is perhaps a little idealistic. A good case
can be made that the two sides know the
others’ histories but reject that record.
Given Halevi’s ardor, affection for
Israel and sympathetic understanding
of the Palestinians’ plight, one hopes he
will not be disappointed when he does
not receive a response, or his letters are
considered “undeliverable.” •

Berl Falbaum of West Bloomfield is a veteran jour-
nalist and author.

commentary

Religious Liberty – It’s Not Only For Christians

I

n mere moments
— in a speech
given at the
Department of
Justice’s Religious
Liberty Summit in
Washington, D.C.
— Attorney General
Sam Dubin
Jeff Sessions doubled
down on the Trump
administration’s com-
mitment to religious
liberty.
On July 30, Sessions made an
announcement that would further
electrify right-wing evangelicals in
this country — the creation of a “reli-

gious liberty task force.”
President Trump signed an execu-
tive order last May that directed
Sessions to “issue guidance interpret-
ing religious liberty protections in
federal law.” Subsequently, Sessions
issued a religious liberty memoran-
dum in October that outlined guid-
ance for religious liberty protections.
Finally — and what is making the
headlines in recent weeks — came the
announcement of the newly created
“religious liberty task force.” This new
initiative will be tasked to implement
the Sessions’ memo released last year.
Critics worry the task force will
have a broad-reaching interpretation

of what is considered religious liberty
and will be to the detriment of LGBT
folks, women and other marginalized
communities. They point to cases like
the famous “cake-baking” incident
that allows businesses to discriminate
against certain people because of their
deeply held religious beliefs.
In today’s culture, where identity
politics controls so much of the con-
versation, it’s easy for marginalized
folks to feel as though their voices
don’t matter. I’m here to say they do.
This task force is unmistakably cre-
ated to protect Christians — specifi-
cally evangelicals — from persecution
without direct regard for other reli-

gions or secular people.
Sessions vehemently believes that
secularism is the problem in our
country, and it must be combated. “A
dangerous movement, undetected by
many, is now challenging and eroding
our great tradition of religious free-
dom,” Sessions said, which “must be
confronted and defeated.”
I couldn’t disagree more.
Jeff Sessions goes on to say, “There
can be no doubt that we are stronger
as a nation because of the contribu-
tion of religious people.” He makes the
point that religious folks feed the hun-
gry, shelter the homeless, educate the
young and care for the sick.

continued on page 10

8

August 16 • 2018

jn