By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
It was introduced as a “careful discussion,” where organizers promised to build a safety zone for participants to air their feelings about the current battle between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, the Sunday morning program on Jan. 11, sponsored by the Kadima Reconstructionist Jewish Community, included forays into how to communicate on the subject with members of the local Jewish community who support Israel’s actions in Gaza, brainstorming action plans to lobby for a ceasefire, and formulating strategies for bringing about a peaceful end to the bloodshed that ceased on Jan. 17.
Leading the discussion was a panel of four Seattle political activists, three of whom expressed a sincere rejection of Israeli policies in the territories, and demonstrated a true inability to fathom the other — those Jews who defend the right of Israel to do whatever it needs to do to defend itself.
The fourth panel member, Andrea Cohen, from the Compassionate Listening Project, opened the program by leading the room of 85 audience members at the Sandpoint Education Center in a controlled “sharing” exercise. After breaking up into groups of two and three, people discussed their feelings and just plain vented.
Several people cried. Chimes marked the time for a speaker change, until all had their turn to talk.
“Compassionate listening is hearing what’s beneath the surface of a person’s words,” Cohen said. “What’s motivating a person to come up with a position that’s so different? We don’t want people to feel like they’re made wrong.”
But wrong was the message that all of the presenters delivered concerning the policies and actions that Israel has taken in the territories and in the current flare-up with Hamas.
According to Judith Kolokoff, from American Jews for a Just Peace, who wrote an op-ed that was published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Jan. 7, 2009, Israel has implemented brutal policies in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. is complicit in the brutality, wrote Kolokoff, by its economic aid and its silence.
“We need to de-mystify a lot of what we’re being told,” Kolokoff told the crowd. “It’s extremely hard to challenge the beliefs and the ideology with which we’ve grown up. One of them is the issue of who really broke the ceasefire. Israel really broke the ceasefire…96 percent of the ceasefires have been broken by Israel, and [any ceasefire] that has lasted longer than nine days has been broken by Israel.”
Kolokoff’s statistics came from a study done by B’Tselem — The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
Panelist Richard Silverstein, a writer on Arab-Israeli politics and other Jewish issues on his “Tikun Olam” blog, considers himself a “critical or progressive Zionist.”
While he is “strongly supportive of the state of Israel,” Silverstein said, he is “not supportive of the policies it’s adopted in this particular situation,” or the entire approach Israel has taken with this conflict.
“The issue of proportionality is very important — maybe the most important thing,” said Silverstein. “When the ratio of dead is 100 Palestinians dead for every Israeli, we have to stop and think about that — about whether this policy makes any sense…. My answer, of course, would be no.”
Silverstein said that although he wasn’t a “fan” of Hamas, he defends them as a democratically elected Palestinian movement. The way to achieve a ceasefire, he said, is to require Hamas, and all Palestinians, to stop firing rockets into Israel. Reciprocally, added Silverstein, Israel should “give up on the idea that the siege of Gaza, the blockade of Gaza…will work or can work.”
Silverstein referenced a blog by an Israeli-American living in Sderot, which has received some media attention. He writes with a Palestinian friend living just inside the Gaza border. Silverstein also cited J Streetpac, a new organization that describes itself as “the political arm of the pro-peace, pro-Israel movement.”
Barbara Lahav, a panelist from Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, an organization that sums up its ideology as “Pro-Israel – Pro-Peace,” distributed copies of a letter circulated by BTVS. The letter, signed by 27 local rabbis and sent to President Obama, beseeches the new president to dedicate himself to creating a viable Palestinian state, and to appointing a U.S. emissary and negotiator who will follow through with any and all agreements between the parties there.
“We need to find a way to galvanize our voice,” Lahav said. “We need to find a way to proactively encourage the powers that be in our government that the status quo is no longer acceptable.”
In an effort to be transparent about her views, Lahav stated them for the record. However, once articulated, they clearly illustrated the dilemma that many in the room find themselves in.
“I believe in the right of the state of Israel to exist and I believe that there are people in Israel who want to destroy Palestinians and the dream of a Palestinian state,” Lahav began.
“I believe in the rights of Palestinians to sovereignty…and I believe there are Palestinians that want to destroy Israel. What a mess. It’s really hard to be pro-Israel, pro-peace, and pro-Palestinian at this time.”
During the limited time for discussion, most speakers echoed the views of the panel. One audience member questioned why no one on the panel laid any of the blame for the fighting at the doorstep of Hamas. It is unclear how many others in the room shared that concern.
Event co-organizer Rainer Waldman Adkins, a longtime Kadima member as well as a member of Congregation Beth Shalom in North Seattle, said he wanted a more eclectic panel, but wasn’t successful.
“I did reach out to people who are to the right of the panelists, but the people I contacted were too conflicted,” said Adkins. “At times like this, I think we all have conflicting reactions, but Kadima wants to be a model for the Jewish community.”
He added that Kadima hopes to organize future events where all views and opinions can be openly discussed in an inclusive atmosphere.