Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994 TAG: 9404180115
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANK W. MULLER and JEROME S. FOX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He implies that the Hebron massacre carried out by Baruch Goldstein wasn't an isolated act, but rather ``the natural byproduct of an expansionist ideology going back to the early '20s.'' This isn't true. This loathsome act of murder has been condemned by all Jewish leaders as contrary to Jewish ethical values. Rabbis and lay leaders in Israel and throughout the Jewish world have been greatly distressed by a psychopathic person's actions affiliated with a fringe element of Israeli society. Moreover, Israel has established a commission of inquiry to ascertain how this tragedy occurred and how to prevent other such terrorist acts. How many nations would do the same under similar circumstances?
Qubain quotes the writings of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane to make the point that Jews, as the chosen people, feel superior to others and are therefore not bound by ``normal rules of nationhood and statehood.'' The fact that Baruch Goldstein was a Kahane loyalist cannot be disputed. However, most Jews vehemently disagree with Kahane's racist views. In traditional Jewish theology, the concept of the chosen people doesn't imply superiority to others in any way. Chosenness means that Jewish people simply chose to accept God's law and adhere to it in their daily lives. Modern concepts of chosenness teach that we're the ``choosing'' rather than the chosen. To imply that Kahane's writings are normative Jewish teachings, as Qubain attempts to do, is a complete distortion. Kahane represents a kind of extremism from which the majority of Jews disassociate themselves. At one time. he was actually expelled from the Knesset in Israel, and today his Kach Party has been outlawed.
Qubain smugly states that Kahane's idea of chosenness should be quite familiar to Jews, since Hitler essentially wrote the same thing 60 years earlier. What dreadful chutzpah! Hitler was responsible for the death of 6 million Jews; the very mention of his name arouses deep feelings of pain within us. To allege that the Torah and "Mein Kampf" have a similar raison d'etre is an insult of the highest order. Qubain should be ashamed of himself.
Focusing on the current Middle East peace process, Qubain asserts that he doesn't ``condone attacks by Palestinians on Israeli Jews.'' However, he continues, ``these attacks must be considered within the environment of oppression that exists.'' Remember, Israel was attacked in 1967 from Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli forces occupied these lands to assure they'd no longer be used as launching pads for terrorism against Israel.
The occupation of one people by another is never pleasant. However, it isn't quite the veil of tears that Qubain pictures. During the occupation, Israel significantly improved roads, electricity, sewage, hospitals, and built six Palestinian universities where none had existed before. We're all saddened by refugee camps. However, one wonders if the Arab world, given its immense size and petrodollar wealth, couldn't have made room for its displaced brethren. Compare this inaction to Israel's resettlement of 800,000 Jews forcibly expelled from Arab/Muslim lands. They were settled and integrated into Israeli society. Between 1947-1950, about 200,000 more Jews left Arab lands than Palestinians left Israel. In effect, a population exchange took place.
Qubain contends that all Israel is giving the Palestinians is ``the privilege of cleaning their own garbage and assigning the Palestine Liberation Organization the onerous role of an enforcer killing its own people on behalf of the Israeli army.'' Israel is granting Palestinians living west of the Jordan River local autonomy, not sovereignty. Beyond ``cleaning their own garbage,'' they're to be given internal self-government, control of their culture, education and social welfare. However, they're not being offered a sovereign state. Israel's made it clear it won't tolerate a Palestinian army poised around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The task of the Palestinian police force will be to protect its own people from extremist elements within, and to keep terrorism from spreading over the border into Israel proper. Israeli withdrawal from Jericho/Gaza is a conditional experiment. If those areas become launching pads for terrorist incursions into Israel, we doubt any further withdrawals will take place.
We agree with Qubain that Palestinians and Israelis are at a historical crossroad. Let's pray that the sanest and most compromising leaders on both sides will prevail and the current peace initiative will develop into a genuine power for all peoples of the Middle East.
Frank W. Muller is rabbi at Temple Emanuel, and Jerome S. Fox is rabbi at Beth Israel Synagogue, both in Roanoke.
by CNB