Amoral Zionists, Moralizing Universalists And Conditional Doves

Cohen, Steven M.

ON MY MIND STEVEN M. COHEN Amoral Zionists, Moralizing Unh/ersalists and Conditional Doves Where does the American Jewish rank-and-file (as opposed to its spokespeople and leaders) stand on...

...They are not just reacting to their not-so-distant European history of death camps and pogroms...
...In other words, despite their eagerness to find legitimate and reputable Palestinians with whom to negotiate, most American Jews remain convinced that Arabs are untrustworthy, and that the PLO is a bunch of unreconstructed terrorists bent on Israel's destruction...
...I asked my sample this lengthy question...
...Are there no conditions aside from a complete withdrawal and an ironclad Israeli commitment to Palestinian statehood that would make elections a useful advance on the road to a just and lasting peace...
...At the other extreme is the even smaller group of "moralizing universalists," well represented in the pages of Tikkun magazine and by many (but not all) of the signers of a recent Mew York Times advertisement (April 5, 1989) organized by Tikkun...
...overwhelmingly (by 69 percent to 1^ percent) the idea that "Israel should tall with the PLO without any furthei preconditions...
...Even the coldly analytical Israeli political scientists who now advocate immediate talks with the PLO and an eventual state for the Palestinian people are deeply concerned with a number of other issues—for example, what will happen to the refugees from Haifa and Jaffa and Ramie and Lod...
...The history of this conflict has demonstrated that extremists on one side reinforce extremists on the other side, just as moderates on one side have, in time, begotten moderates on the other...
...Why say "No, never," instead of "Yes, but...
...As a second aside, onl) 18 percent of Israel's Jews want Israel PLO talks to start now...
...Hardly any say they feel more distant now than they did a few years ago...
...But neither do they endorse these steps under current circumstances...
...The findings are mixed and ambivalent, confused and confusing...
...To the chagrin of those active in organized Jewish life, many of these individuals speak out on or engage in Israel-related activity only when they want to criticize the Israeli government's policy, and never to identify with Israeli society...
...ON MY MIND STEVEN M. COHEN Amoral Zionists, Moralizing Unh/ersalists and Conditional Doves Where does the American Jewish rank-and-file (as opposed to its spokespeople and leaders) stand on the Israeli-Arab conflict...
...In April 1988, more than 80 percent said that "Even when I disagree with the actions of Israel's government, that doesn't change how close I feel toward Israel...
...Jews everywhere have every right to wonder why, in April 1989, the PLO seemed to reject flatly the call for elections on the West Bank and Gaza...
...American Jews and Israelis are not paranoid...
...The vast majority of American Jews cannot be described cither as hawks or doves...
...Since 1981, I have conducted opinion surveys almost annually for the American Jewish Committee...
...Ma'alot and Munich, the Zionism-is-racism resolution, the PLO Covenant, the Achille Lauro, and on and on, do in fact strike fear and terror into the hearts of Jews worldwide...
...Why is there such a huge gap betweer the broad support for eventually talking with a moderate PLO and the slendei support for talking with the PLO ai currently constituted...
...But at the same time the American Jewish sample reject...
...The vast American Jewish center— and the Israeli political center as well— is populated by "conditional doves...
...An even larger majority (61 percent versus 8 percent who disagree believe, "The PLO is determined to destroy Israel...
...The duality of American Jewish opinion emerges in yet another pair of findings...
...Two small, conflicting, though politically significant camps bracket the broad spectrum of American Jewish attitudes toward the conflict...
...The PLO's repeated rejection of helpful half-steps mystifies the Jewish public...
...And an even more lopsided majority concur that "The PLO is a terrorist organization": 86 percent agree and a tiny 2 percent disagree...
...I call one the "amoral Zionists," and the other the "moralizing universalists...
...Even after the intifada and even after the "Who is a Jew" controversy at the end of last year, American Jews remain as staunchly pro-Israel as ever...
...In this 1989 survey, three-quarters of the respondents claimed that caring about Israel is an important part of their Jewishness...
...Between these two camps lies the vast majority of American Jews...
...More than a two-to one plurality believe that' 'you can nevei trust the Arabs to make a real peace witl Israel...
...Thus, in January and February o this year, a plurality of 38 percent tc 30 percent of the AJCommittee respond ents said it was "good that the U.S decided to talk to the PLC" An ever larger majority of 58 percent to If percent agreed that ' 'if the PLO recog nizes Israel and renounces terrorism Israel should be willing to talk with th< PLO...
...But that is the point...
...To begin to answer this question, I want to start with the extremes...
...They are-prepared to talk, to compromise, ano to seriously address the legitimate national aspirations of the Palestinian nation on the condition that such steps ensure rather than threaten the safety of Israeli Jews...
...Younger Jews reporl vastly lower levels of attachment to Israel than their elders, but this apparent age-linked decline in Israel involvemenl preceded the intifada and has not beer translated into a broad-based decline ir pro-Israel feelings over the last decade of Surveys...
...These numbers—and many other indicators of Israel attachment—are neither much lower nor much higher than they were in my earlier surveys...
...The Arabs, the Palestinians and the PLO leadership need to allay the very real and reasonable fears of American and Israeli Jews...
...An Israeli looks at the map and sees a Palestinian state pointing a dagger right at the heart of the Jewish population centers...
...As an aside, one recent surve) of Israeli Jews reported exactly the sam< level of support for a question wit...
...1 'Moralizing universalists" are deeply distressed by the perversion of Judaism they believe is inherent in the Israeli occupation...
...The key question is, what are the conditions for their dovish sentiments to take hold...
...Rather than labeling them as doves or hawks, I prefer to call most of them "conditional doves," a term I would also apply to most Israeli Jews as well...
...As many as 46 percent agreed, only 17 percent disagreed, and the rest (over one-third) were unsure...
...Despite frequent (and largely accurate) reports about widespread American Jewish discomfort with the Israeli response to the uprising, few in fact are jumping ship...
...To be sure, all these pro-Israel feelings coexist with considerable misgivings about Israel's response to the intifada...
...Does the PLO mean to re-settle these refugees in the new state of Palestine on the West Bank and Gaza so as to make a permanent end to the conflict...
...And the mystification extends beyond the public to dovish elites...
...Or does it plan to keep them in the camps so as to struggle for a two-stage solution despite its current two-state rhetoric...
...On the one hand, a two-to-one plurality on survey after survey agree that "Palestinians have a right to a homeland on the West Bank and Gaza so long as it does not threaten Israel...
...almost two-thirds report that Israel's destruction would constitute one of their greatest personal tragedies...
...The arguments of both camps have some appeal to that vast middle, but each camp by itself is unpersuasive...
...Do you agree or do you disagree that "even with international guarantees and an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty, a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza would be used to threaten the very existence of Israel...
...They certainly do not rule out eventual talks with the PLO, or territorial compromise in return for real peace, or even a Palestinian state...
...The key is to be found in Americar Jews' images of Arabs generally and th< PLO particularly...
...Why didn't the PLO agree to elections provided they include the Arabs of Jerusalem, the presence of international observer teams, the curtailment of Israeli troops in populated areas and the freedom to hold mass election rallies replete with Palestinian Hags and nationalist sloganeering...
...The "amoral Zionists," often well represented in the pages of Commentary magazine, make several arguments...
...In fact,-more say they feel closer now...
...Those looking for simple estimates of the number of Jewish hawks and doves, will not find these results very helpful...
...Rather, Israelis have had firsthand and recent experience with real Arab and Palestinian enemies...
...Even though the idea was advanced by Prime Minister Shamir, is there any doubt of the ultimate victory of PLO supporters or of their ability to further mobilize Israeli and international support for satisfying Palestinian national aspirations...
...similar wording...
...In other words, discomfon ye{/ detachment no (at least for nowl There is a two-sided nature to th< American Jewish political center': reaction to the Israeli-Palestinian con diet...
...However, the same sample— just a few months ago—is plainly scared to death over the prospects of a Palestinian state...
...Many of them are utterly convinced of the sincerity of Palestinian professions of peaceful intent...
...They assert that Jews have vastly superior historic claims to the entire land of Israel, that Jews have been victims far too often in this century, that any Jew advocating compromise with the Arabs is motivated by bleeding-heart Jewish guilt, that Palestinians have been engaged in a long-term effort to dele-gitimize Israel and eradicate the Jewish state, and that Israel may very well be destroyed should influential Jews abandon her democratically elected leadership...
...The most recent was in February 1989...
...Of those with an opinion, more than one-third said they were "morally outraged at some of Israel's actions," almost half were "embarrassed by Israel's actions," and a majority could not say they were "totally comfortable" with Israel's response to Palestinian violence...
...The result certainly sounds encouraging to those who hope for American Jewish support for a free and independent Palestine...
...And, I suspect, some may even doubt the moral value of the Zionist enterprise, that is, the decision to build a strong, independent and sovereign Jewish society in the land of Israel...
...They worry about why to this day leading PLO figures sound more compromising in English and more irredentist in Arabic...

Vol. 14 • August 1989 • No. 5


 
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