Gaza One Year Later
by: Rabbi Michael Lerner on January 11th, 2010 | 9 Comments »
I asked Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb to write something for Tikkun about her recent experience at the Gaza Freedom March. Here is what she sent:
Gaza Freedom March: Why I went to Cairo
by Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, cofounder of Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence and The Community of Living Traditions at Stony Point Center, NY
Operation Cast Lead was a massacre filled with thousands of heart breaking stories. Each of the 1400 persons killed represents an entire world. Yes, it is also a war crime to fire kassam rockets into Israel with the intention to kill civilians. Over 2,000 rockets and 1,600 mortar shells were fired into Israel in 2008 alone. Some among the Palestinian population use armed force to resist Israeli’s military occupation and blockade of Gaza and the West Bank. According to international law, armed resistance against illegal occupation can be considered a just cause, as long as the rules of war are observed. However, as a person committed to nonviolence, I view the use of militarism by states or non-state actors to ensure security or resist occupation as a self-defeating strategy that promotes more violence and suffering and does not, in the end, result in well-being or peace for beleaguered populations. However, for those who believe in the use of military force as a viable option, Israel’s response to kassam attacks went far beyond legal and ethical boundaries. The much maligned Goldstone report proved beyond reasonable doubt that Israel intentionally targeted civilians and civilian institutions with deadly weapons. This is nothing new.
Operation Cast Lead made clear that the sixty year Israeli military siege of the people of Palestine has increased in brutality and ferocity. Sixty years of evidence that includes eye-witness reports, analysis of video, satellite and photographic images, medical reports, forensic analysis of weapons and ammunition remnants, and the written observations and testimony of thousands of witnesses from Palestine, Israel and the international community reveal a continual pattern of continuous assault that has very little to do with Israel’s claim of ‘security’. Rather, the end game is creating ‘facts on the ground’ that establish a Jewish state from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea which limits Palestinians to 20% of the national population. Israel employs forced displacement, blockade, air strike, land mines, rubber bullets, white phosphorous, dime bombs, torture, beating and sexual humiliation, arbitrary arrest and administrative detention of minors and adults, water and land theft, Jewish only roads, hundreds of military checkpoints, security fences, nightly incursions, human shields, collaborators, deportation, permit systems, denial of access to economic opportunity, health care, culture and education, targeting of sewage and electricity plants and water installations, uprooting of thousands of trees and the destruction of thousands of homes to force the remaining Palestinian population into small enclosed areas that can only be described as open air prisons.
Ariel Sharon described these enclaves designated as the future Palestinian State as ‘bantustans’. In short, all these tactics amount to what is considered the crime of apartheid for the sake of creating a state that awards national and civil privileges based on Jewish identity while confining the excess non-Jewish population to their own ‘homeland’.
This is the ugly truth that is so hard for Jewish people and millions of so-called Christian Zionists to face. Anyone who spends a day in Palestinian territories sees this truth immediately. The so-called two state solution which is based on this vision of reality is hardly viable or legal. People will not and cannot endure oppression forever. Our own history should teach us this lesson. The question is, how does an oppressed people change the situation on the ground and open history to new possibilities.
Those who both decry Palestinian armed resistance and the option of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) can’t have it both ways. If one describes the the behavior of Israel as falling into the category of the crime of apartheid, BDS is the logical and ethical nonviolent response. Forty years of dialogue and negotiation with Israelis and Jews clearly has not worked to advance the cause of self-determination for Palestinians. The situation on the ground is far worse than ever before. The two state solution and all the peace plans and road maps have been undermined by the systematic effort to enclose Palestinians in bantustans and deny them civil and national rights. In this context, further efforts at dialogue only benefit those with privilege, unless they are accompanied by strategies of resistance to the systematic inequality Palestinians face on a daily basis.
While J Street and associated partners are a much appreciated alternative voice within the Jewish community to the AIPAC machine, they have thus far failed to address the concerns nor partner with Palestinians in their own struggle for human and equal rights. As Jews, we have to recognize that we are not going to be the ones who determine the direction of the Palestinian nonviolent struggle for freedom. What we can and should do, is find ways of acting in solidarity with that struggle by joining the Palestinian initiated international effort to use boycott, divestment and sanctions to force Israel to comply with international law and end the siege of Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine. We can also support those within Israel who are resisting the oppressive actions of their own state. We cannot truly work on this issue without understanding the meaning of resistance in our lives.
For Jews, I believe resistance requires serious study and practice of the Torah of Nonviolence. Nonviolence is the only way forward. Violence will destroy our beautiful tradition. By struggling in solidarity with those who oppose militarism and support boycott, divestment and sanctions we are also renewing the most sacred elements of our tradition that require us to protest in the street, pursue justice and peace and avoid violence. It is not an easy road.
Boycott is a strategy capable of being used for good and for bad.
In this case, I believe that BDS is the only viable nonviolent method that can impact ‘facts on the ground’. All of us who love freedom, justice and peace, all of us who love the people of Israel and the people of Palestine have a profound responsibility to act in alignment with the people who are the actual victims in this situation. That is why I went to Cairo and created the Interfaith Gaza Satyagraha as an affinity group within the Gaza Freedom March. The call to break the siege has been joined with the call for boycott.
As the only liberal rabbi present, I was honored to stand with hundreds of other activists who spoke to me of their commitment to oppose anti-Semitism wherever it emerged. I spent ten days planning actions, protesting in the streets, talking about next steps, networking and envisioning. At one point, American Jews organized a protest in front of the Israeli Embassy which is fifteen stories above the street and visible only by the familiar blue and white flag. I was asked to lead a Sabbath service. Jews, Muslims, Christians, Egyptians and internationals of all persuasions stood round a simple kiddish cup, Egyptian flat bread and candles. I invited participants to envision a world where everyone could find a seat at the table and eat, unafraid. We sang and prayed in Hebrew in public and I saw tears flow. Standing among the crowd was a man with a Palestinian father and a Sephardic Israeli mother. He wept in joy because, for one instant, the worlds of conflict stretching across the borders of his soul could dissolve in a single vision of unification and peace. So may it be for all of us, Palestinian and Jew, living together on the same land in recognition of our common love for place and each other.
Only a ‘solution’ which ensures ‘the right to exist’ and universal human rights of all people living on the historic land of Israel/Palestine will suffice. The children of the future will see the world very differently than those of us living now. They will face new challenges and inherit a new sense of globalism which hopefully strengthens the religious, cultural and national heritage of both Palestinians and Israelis in a renewed culture of peace. It is up to us to prepare the way.
Dear Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb,
I thank you for being a peacemaker and a friend to your neighbors.
There are many of us who feel the hurt,agony, and frustration of all the people
living on that tiny sliver of land that has meant so much to our world.
So when you act in your non violent way know that you are not alone.
May the Peace of God be with you.
Ed Dick
Dear Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb,
Your excuses for Palestinian misbehaviour, including violence against Jews and Jewish children, is inconsistent with your purported nonviolent stance.
Vivian Flamm
Rabbi Gottlieb has the right idea. The question is how do you deal with the fascists.
This problem is very common, not only in Israel.
Violence and armed force are more popular than peaceful endeavors.
How about we deal with the fascism within US?
Israel’s attack on the people of Gaza was enabled by US-supplied weapons and we the people of the US who pay taxes provide over $3 billion annually to Israel although Israel has consistently misused U.S. weapons in violation of America’s Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts.
America is the worlds largest arms supplier to Israel and under a Bush negotiated deal-which Obama signed into law just before Christmas will cost we the people who pay taxes in America to also provide another $30 billion in military aid to Israel over the next decade.
During the days of Israeli assault on Gaza, “Washington provided F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles, and a wide array of munitions, including white phosphorus and DIME. The weapons required for the Israeli assault was decided upon in June 2008, and the transfer of 1,000 bunker-buster GPS-guided Small Diameter Guided Bomb Units 39 (GBU-39) were approved by Congress in September. The GBU 39 bombs were delivered to Israel in November (prior to any claims of Hamas cease fire violation!) for use in the initial air raids on Gaza.
In a 71-page report released March 25, 2009, by Human Rights Watch, Israel’s repeated firing of US-made white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes.
“Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza,” provides eye witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza.
“Human Rights Watch researchers found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended in January.
“Militaries officially use white phosphorus to obscure their operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It has also been used as an incendiary weapon, though such use constitutes a war crime.
“In Gaza, the Israeli military didn’t just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops,” said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. “It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren’t in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died.”
During the days of attack on Gaza, the UN Security Council, Amnesty International, International Red Cross, and global voices of protest rose up and demanded a ceasefire, but both houses of Congress overwhelmingly endorsed resolutions to support a continuation of Israel’s so called “self defense.”
In November 2006, Father Manuel, the parish priest at the Latin Church and school in Gaza warned the world:
“Gaza cannot sleep! The people are suffering unbelievably. They are hungry, thirsty, have no electricity or clean water. They are suffering constant bombardments and sonic booms from low flying aircraft. They need food: bread and water. Children and babies are hungry…people have no money to buy food. The price of food has doubled and tripled due to the situation. We cannot drink water from the ground here as it is salty and not hygienic. People must buy water to drink. They have no income, no opportunities to get food and water from outside and no opportunities to secure money inside of Gaza. They have no hope.
“Without electricity children are afraid. No light at night. No oil or candles…Thirsty children are crying, afraid and desperate…Many children have been violently thrown from their beds at night from the sonic booms. Many arms and legs have been broken. These planes fly low over Gaza and then reach the speed of sound. This shakes the ground and creates shock waves like an earthquake that causes people to be thrown from their bed. I, myself weigh 120 kilos and was almost thrown from my bed due to the shock wave produced by a low flying jet that made a sonic boom.
“Gaza cannot sleep…the cries of hungry children, the sullen faces of broken men and women who are just sitting in their hungry emptiness with no light, no hope, no love. These actions are War Crimes!”
ops, the link to the rest of the above is @
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1523&Itemid=227
Hi Lynn! It’s been a long time since I made that pilgrimage up to the Santuario de Chimayo with you to pray for community healing! Fancy running into you again here at Tikkun Daily. Your book is still on my shelf next to various iterations of the Torah and ‘Standing Again at Sinai.”
I will never forget standing outside at the interfaith prayer listening to the Pentacostal Preacher shout, “If you’re there God send us a sign!” Just then a huge gust of wind kicked up turning my daughter’s umbrella inside out.
“… the sixty year Israeli military siege of the people of Palestine”. The Rabbi apparently forgot that the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine accepted the UN partition, even though it would have had a very large Arab minority. They were certain that as soon as the state is proclaimed, millions will immigrate and assure the Jewish majority. Which is exactly what happened. The Arabs, on the other side, not only rejected the partition. They started a war trying to prevent by military force the implementation of the UN plan.
The Jews won that war. They paid a very heavy price for that victory. Six thousands dead. A whole one percent of the total Jewish population at that time. I leave to the imagination of Rabbi Gottlieb to guess what would have been the fate of the Palestinian Jewish community had the Arabs won that war.
Had the Arabs accepted the partition, there would have been no refugees and their independent state would gave been 62 y old today.
The remark about the “60 years” shows the anti-Isreal bias of the Rabbi. Btw, there are no “Jews only roads” in Israel or in the West Bank.
I hope the Rabbi is aware that Hamas has declared war on Israel and is doctrinally committed to its destruction. It does not fight to end the occupation, it fights to end Israel’s existence.
As for Gaza. The rocket fire went on for 8 year. Since Israel left Gaza, to the last inch in 2005, 6,500 rockets were fired. I wonder if the Rabbi knows that in some areas the residents had only 15 seconds to reach shelter from the time the alarm sounds. Can she imagine how a mother, who has children at school, feels during those alarms?
No country can be expected to tolerate the launching of rockets at its citizens. Israel is no exception. That is why it responded, after 8 long years.
There was no massacre in Gaza. Israel could have used carpet bombing to eliminate its enemies in Gaza. This would have spared the lives of Israeli soldiers but would have brought the death to many tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Israel did not do that, precisely because it wanted to minimize the civilian casualties.
Here is the testimony of Colonel Richard Kemp, in front of the UN Human Rights Council on September 16, 2009:
“I am the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan. I served with NATO and the United Nations; commanded troops in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia; and participated in the Gulf War. I spent considerable time in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and worked on international terrorism for the UK Government’s Joint Intelligence Committee.
Mr. President, based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population.
The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls. Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. To deliver aid virtually into your enemy’s hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable. But the IDF took on those risks.
Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes.
More than anything, the civilian casualties were a consequence of Hamas’ way of fighting. Hamas deliberately tried to sacrifice their own civilians.”
If the Rabbi likes it or not, Israel will continue to do all it can to defend its citizens.
[...] on January 20, 2010 at 09:24 Michael, I read Lynn Gottleib’s perspective in your article Gaza One Year Later. I was honoured to be associated with Tikkun Daily this past summer and, having read Lynn’s [...]
The State Of Israel, is not Evil because it’s Jewish, this is not A religious conflict, The State of Israel is Evil because in 1948 when the Meany Yiddin Came to Palestine they Pushed out Arabs using Brutality not to Mention Hertzl was A strong believer in Colonial Imperialism! Furthermore I Say any nation founded on Bloodshed is doomed to be Exposed by the Righteous that is What is happening to the United States! This Nation has more bloodshed than Nazi Germany, And The United States of America is Answering to the Native Americans and The Continent of Africa, That is Karma! Israel shall Answer to Palestinians, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt One Day! And Maybe with Out the Iron Cross of Hertzl and Zionism A Peaceful Jewish State can arise New, But Palestinians need Restitution First! When I Was Growing Up I used to Dream of Israel Now I dream of The Kabbalah and The Mishnah, Longing for Islamic Spain with A bunch of Jewish Communities Under the Protection of A Sufi-Sunni Muslim Empire. That is also what my Mother wants as A child I never Understood her As an Adult who has learned History that is The Best Ideal. But we Don’t live in that World this is The World of Humanism, Greed and Racism. Shalom Aleinu