ר"ע תיתד תונויצל ינויערה גוחה ,םולשו זוע
Over the past few weeks, Netivot Shalom has been attacked and defamed by the religious right in Israel - simply for its efforts to promote dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. These events illustrate the difficult climate in which the Israeli religious left operates, and of the extremely intolerance that prevails in the "mainstream" religious Zionist camp today.
Four weeks ago, an advertisement for the Netivot Shalom Tikkun Leil Shavuot appeared in our weekly Parshat HaShauva flyer. The Tikkun was a three-day seminar during Shabbat and Shavuot, May 29-31, at Ma’ale HaChamisha, a hotel just outside of Jerusalem. The program for the Tikkun included lectures and seminars by many prominent religious Zionist intellectuals - Tzvi Zohar, Avi Saguy, Rabbi Tzvi Nehurai, and Menachem Fish - as well as a talk on Friday afternoon by Mr. Razi Abu Jayab, a Palestinian from Gaza, reflecting on four years of Palestinian autonomous rule in Gaza. Mr. Jayab’s appearance is in the spirit of many other Netivot Shalom events seeking to foster dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.
The brief advertisement in our Parshat HaShavua flyer mentioned all of the speakers, including Mr. Jayab, in one list. It did not specify that Mr. Jayab’s talk would occur on Friday afternoon, separate from the lectures on Shabbat and Shavuot which were to focus on the study of Torah. The religious right seized upon this ambiguity to attack Netivot Shalom. On the Sunday after the advertisement appeared, our executive director, Yohanan Tzoref, received a phone call from a reporter from "HaTzofeh", the magazine of the National Religious Party (NRP), who wanted more information about the Tikkun.
Yohanan faxed him a complete schedule of the weekend, but "HaTzofeh" ignored it and ran an article entitled "Tikkun Leil Shavuot with Razi Abu Jayab," blasting Netivot Shalom for "inviting a Palestinian to teach Torah." Similar statements appeared in other newspapers and on flyers posted at Bar Ilan University. These actions were deliberate attempts to misrepresent the context of Mr. Jayab’s talk and to delegitimize dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.
Netivot Shalom responded to this misrepresentation with a long letter written by Yitzhak Frankenthal, the former director of Netivot Shalom, asking "HaTzofeh" why they deliberately ignored the schedule that was faxed to them. "HaTzofeh" responded with another op-ed piece, saying that it was "even worse" that Mr. Jayab would be speaking on Friday and not Saturday night, as they originally stated.
"HaTzofeh" did not bother to explain its reasons for why Friday was "worse" than Saturday. "HaTzofeh"’s desire to attack the appearance of Mr. Jayab, no matter when it was occurring, indicates that their gripe was not with the timing or the context of Mr. Jayab’s talk but with the fact that he was invited to speak at all. The religious right does not seek the truth, and it does not seek to sit down with the Palestinians to try and find a solution to the conflict between us -- instead, it seeks to perpetuate the perception that the Palestinians are a faceless, inhuman enemy that can only be dealt with through force and violence. Any dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians is a threat to the right, because through such dialogue both sides come to understand the essential humanity of their enemy and are impelled to seek a peaceful and just solution. This is precisely what the right does not want, and so they must resort to misrepresentation and slander in order to undermine our efforts.
Sadly, because of this controversy, one of the other lecturers for the Shavuot weekend canceled. Some members of his family threatened to break off all contact with him if he spoke at an event where a Palestinian would also be speaking. This sort of pressure is a common tactic of the religious right to silence those who disagree with them.
Despite the best efforts of "HaTzofeh" and their cohorts to disrupt our activities, our Shavuot weekend was very successful. We received far more requests for reservations than we could accommodate -- testament to the fact that there are many in Israel who are committed to both Torah and to dialogue with Palestinians. We know that those who attend will learn a great deal -- both about the Jewish tradition and about our Arab neighbors. And we will continue to hold this sort of event, to promote the idea that the study of Torah teaches us to "seek peace and pursue it" - a task which most certainly includes meeting with Palestinians.
|
|
|
| |
| Home |
The Movement Objectives and Principles You can Help! |
What's New Activities and Current Events |
Articles and Position Papers Peace Judaism and Israel |
|
|
|
|
Weekly Parsha (Hebrew) Weekly Parsha (English) |
Search Our Site | Links To Peace Movements |
Contact Us
OZ veSHALOM - NETIVOT SHALOM
P.O. Box 4433, Jerusalem, 91043 Israel
Tel: 02-5664218, for Shabbat Shalom only call 053-920206
ozshalom@netvision.net.il
©
Copyright 1997-2003 by Oz Veshalom. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.