Basically, my 2 cents-- two things need to happen here:
Israle/Palestine need to be combined in a singular, secular state. Jews and Muslims can, I think, due to the restrictive nature of their religious laws, only be truly protected (alongside the natural rights of individual citizens) by a state dedicated to ensuring religious freedom for all of its citizens. Such a state would be dedicated to ensuring that Halacha and Sharia could be carried out quietly-- AS LONG AS SUCH DID NOT INTERFERE WITH BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS, or were enforced on non-practitioners of those religions, as much as possible. Do I think this would be easy or without problems? Of course not. But is it the solution that would ensure things like, oh, Muslim homes being destroyed or denied building permits because of where they wish to dwell could not happen, as well as preventing the persecution of Jews that Israel was created to prevent? I think so. At the very least, it would give recourse to those prosecuted. But I believe that all state should be separate from religion; I take the opposite view as Dostoevsky and think that the state has a responsibility to protect the practitioners of any given religion from persecution, and everyone else from religious restriction.
2) Jerusalem must become, like Vatican City, an independent religious city-state ruled by a triumvirate of Jew, Muslim, and Christian representatives, or at least Jew and Muslim, but neutral as much as possible. Either way, allowing it to remain a point of contention is... bad. I can think of no better term.
But seriously, the Jews (all Jews, especially the Israelis) ought to be considering how to contribute more to Tikkun Olam, rather than being bristly when it comes to their Arab neighbors (which I mean in a sesame street, 'these are the people in your neighborhood' kind of way-- the folks you have to live with, whether you like it or not). And as to the Muslims... I'm far less familiar with their beliefs than with the Jews, but I hardly think that peace is beyond them either, and that they can find repairing the world an undesirable thing.
Oddly enough, it seems that most of the things I'm hearing on the news (I listen mostly to NPR, admittedly), are very pro-Palestine, and are if nothing else, being quite chilly towards the Israeli actions here, and critical of American silence on the matter.
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Date: 2009-01-05 04:11 pm (UTC)Israle/Palestine need to be combined in a singular, secular state. Jews and Muslims can, I think, due to the restrictive nature of their religious laws, only be truly protected (alongside the natural rights of individual citizens) by a state dedicated to ensuring religious freedom for all of its citizens. Such a state would be dedicated to ensuring that Halacha and Sharia could be carried out quietly-- AS LONG AS SUCH DID NOT INTERFERE WITH BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS, or were enforced on non-practitioners of those religions, as much as possible. Do I think this would be easy or without problems? Of course not. But is it the solution that would ensure things like, oh, Muslim homes being destroyed or denied building permits because of where they wish to dwell could not happen, as well as preventing the persecution of Jews that Israel was created to prevent? I think so. At the very least, it would give recourse to those prosecuted. But I believe that all state should be separate from religion; I take the opposite view as Dostoevsky and think that the state has a responsibility to protect the practitioners of any given religion from persecution, and everyone else from religious restriction.
2) Jerusalem must become, like Vatican City, an independent religious city-state ruled by a triumvirate of Jew, Muslim, and Christian representatives, or at least Jew and Muslim, but neutral as much as possible. Either way, allowing it to remain a point of contention is... bad. I can think of no better term.
But seriously, the Jews (all Jews, especially the Israelis) ought to be considering how to contribute more to Tikkun Olam, rather than being bristly when it comes to their Arab neighbors (which I mean in a sesame street, 'these are the people in your neighborhood' kind of way-- the folks you have to live with, whether you like it or not). And as to the Muslims... I'm far less familiar with their beliefs than with the Jews, but I hardly think that peace is beyond them either, and that they can find repairing the world an undesirable thing.
Oddly enough, it seems that most of the things I'm hearing on the news (I listen mostly to NPR, admittedly), are very pro-Palestine, and are if nothing else, being quite chilly towards the Israeli actions here, and critical of American silence on the matter.
But that could be just me.