What did he say?
?You may not like the word, but what?s happening is occupation.?
That was Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas? Maybe even U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell?
I gasped in disbelief when I spotted that quote from Ariel Sharon, Israel?s prime minister. The guy who masterminded the settlement network. The politician whose core support is largely peopled by believers in Biblical commands that God gave the area generally known as the West Bank to the Jewish people. Can you imagine how frustrating it is for a Jew in America to try to support Israel in these times?
When the current crisis began, I was somewhere in the center and, while I regarded the Arabs to be far more culpable, I still criticized some of Sharon?s policies. Other Jews berated me for even questioning actions of the Israeli government. A funny thing happened to me in my attempt to be evenhanded. I started giving the situation far more thought than I had before. Meanwhile, advocates for the Palestinians in America were so obnoxious and insulting that they sabotaged the credibility of their cause ? if there ever was a cause. Not that Israel should remain impervious to criticism. Nor that any of my core attitudes have changed. However, I found myself moving further to the right in some ways and coming to agree with some views of the hardliners. Mainly, I now believe that the West Bank should ideally be part of Israel, though that prospect probably is not realistic. This is on grounds that the Arabs already have 20 states, so why do they need another state?
Yet one day in the past week, I thought I spotted Sharon?s whizzing figure as he moved past me at warp speed in the opposite direction ? all by legitimizing the entire Palestinian argument in uttering the O-word. Sharon?s acceptance of that term ?occupation? is ready acknowledgment that the West Bank and Gaza belong to the Arabs. Maybe I?m wrong and those lands do belong to the Arabs, but Sharon automatically solidified arguments for a Palestinian state. How can any supporter of Israel possibly question that now?
It totally contradicts the kind of response from other Jews when I suggested that Israel rid itself of the isolated settlements because they are too difficult to protect. They told me that such a move would encourage the Arabs to demand more.
Isn?t that what Sharon?s statement does?
Oh, sure, Sharon backed off the next day after Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein warned that his terminology could damage Israel in international discussions on the issue, according to the New York Times.
Too late. Sharon?s employment of the O-word has already been cited in Tom Friedman?s column (in the New York Times) and an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He said he didn?t mean it, but as the nation?s leader he has an obligation to offer clarity. If some schnook from Philadelphia could recognize exactly what Rubinstein explained, why couldn?t Israel?s most powerful citizen understand that before he opened his big mouth?
Thanks for making it so much simpler, Arik.
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Bruce Ticker is a freelance writer and former journalist living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at brucetic@aol.com.
?You may not like the word, but what?s happening is occupation.?
That was Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas? Maybe even U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell?
I gasped in disbelief when I spotted that quote from Ariel Sharon, Israel?s prime minister. The guy who masterminded the settlement network. The politician whose core support is largely peopled by believers in Biblical commands that God gave the area generally known as the West Bank to the Jewish people. Can you imagine how frustrating it is for a Jew in America to try to support Israel in these times?
When the current crisis began, I was somewhere in the center and, while I regarded the Arabs to be far more culpable, I still criticized some of Sharon?s policies. Other Jews berated me for even questioning actions of the Israeli government. A funny thing happened to me in my attempt to be evenhanded. I started giving the situation far more thought than I had before. Meanwhile, advocates for the Palestinians in America were so obnoxious and insulting that they sabotaged the credibility of their cause ? if there ever was a cause. Not that Israel should remain impervious to criticism. Nor that any of my core attitudes have changed. However, I found myself moving further to the right in some ways and coming to agree with some views of the hardliners. Mainly, I now believe that the West Bank should ideally be part of Israel, though that prospect probably is not realistic. This is on grounds that the Arabs already have 20 states, so why do they need another state?
Yet one day in the past week, I thought I spotted Sharon?s whizzing figure as he moved past me at warp speed in the opposite direction ? all by legitimizing the entire Palestinian argument in uttering the O-word. Sharon?s acceptance of that term ?occupation? is ready acknowledgment that the West Bank and Gaza belong to the Arabs. Maybe I?m wrong and those lands do belong to the Arabs, but Sharon automatically solidified arguments for a Palestinian state. How can any supporter of Israel possibly question that now?
It totally contradicts the kind of response from other Jews when I suggested that Israel rid itself of the isolated settlements because they are too difficult to protect. They told me that such a move would encourage the Arabs to demand more.
Isn?t that what Sharon?s statement does?
Oh, sure, Sharon backed off the next day after Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein warned that his terminology could damage Israel in international discussions on the issue, according to the New York Times.
Too late. Sharon?s employment of the O-word has already been cited in Tom Friedman?s column (in the New York Times) and an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He said he didn?t mean it, but as the nation?s leader he has an obligation to offer clarity. If some schnook from Philadelphia could recognize exactly what Rubinstein explained, why couldn?t Israel?s most powerful citizen understand that before he opened his big mouth?
Thanks for making it so much simpler, Arik.
--------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Ticker is a freelance writer and former journalist living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at brucetic@aol.com.