Newsletter:
Vol. 3. Iss. 1
25 October 2001
Thus, the absence of a natural "judge" is a major impediment to the resolution of international conflict. Secondly, established governments tend not to recognize the legitimacy of "popular committees" or other "un-incorporated" non-governmental organizations; the very notion of equality of the disputants cannot be taken for granted. And finally, the idea of "the natural rights" of a nation, which corresponds to that of individuals, must be investigated.
While it may be relatively simple to establish, through religious principles or on humanist grounds, the inviolability of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for individual human beings, it will be harder to do so for nations; there may not be a basis for evaluating competing particular myths of nationhood and thereby establishing group rights to which other groups must yield. But giving up on the establishment of international justice means acknowledging that the world is a jungle where only the fittest survive.
The most tragic abdication of religion and reason by Zionists regarding their obligation towards justice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in the general legitimization given to the usurpation of the land of the Palestinian refugees. Their claim to their ancestral land is not political or geo-political, as is the right of national self-determination, which can only be realized within the limitations of political structures. On the other hand, the right of individuals to their homes is primary and undeniable, and no amount of apologetics or global shuffling can eradicate it. The demand for the restitution of the refugees to their land indeed is seen by virtually all Israeli Jews as tantamount to the dismantling of the state of Israel, and the disintegration of Israeli Jewish society. Yet, the lack of progress towards the resolution of this issue not only dooms Israelis and Palestinians to perpetual violent struggle, but also negates the basis of, and perhaps even de-legitimizes, the very existence of the state of Israel.
Judaism has a tool that must be activated for this situation: takanat hashavim, the ordinance for a compassionate justice in the restoration of misappropriated property. In order to encourage the thief to return stolen property, the strict rules of restoration that would require one who has misappropriated a wooden beam (and already used it to build a roof) to dismantle whatever the stolen beam has been used for and restore the very same beam, the rabbis allowed for the beam's value to be paid. In our case, we could use this principle to foster a gradual restoration of "Arab homes"--built by Palestinians before 1948 and involuntarily surrendered when the refugees were expelled---to the descendants of the original owners. It would maintain Jewish homes or neighborhoods built on expropriated or "abandoned" Palestinian land, as long as equivalent plots of land be given to the heirs instead. Thus, takanat hashavim applied assiduously but compassionately would work towards the restoration of Palestinian roots without revisiting trauma on Jews.
The reciprocal relationship between inner peace and interpersonal peace requires us, as it does all religious leaders, to recognize the religious imperative to contribute to peacemaking. This involves strengthening trust between individuals through fostering positive human encounters. Each human encounter can move us closer and we are therefore dependent on each other for arriving at the truth which our sources contain. We are each other's most indispensable resource.
