Lerner on Mideast Peace

* Michael Lerner (“It Was Israel’s Optimists, Not Its Cynics, Who Changed History,” Commentary, Feb. 11) is rejoicing prematurely. When the dust of Israel’s incredible capitulation to Arab designs settles; when PLO terrorists dressed in “PLO police uniforms” roam Judea, Samaria and Gaza; when the 140,000 Jewish residents of these territories are vulnerable to Arab massacre; when Arab “refugees” swarm into the territories as their first step toward regaining “Palestine,” and when every city and town of Israel will once again be vulnerable to hostile Arab shells and missiles--then we shall see who are the realists and who are the fools.

SIDNEY BALDWIN, President

Zionist Organization of America

Southern Pacific Region, Cypress

* Lerner has missed the mark again. Among the many errors in his column:

-- Jewish charity. Jewish commitment to the poor and oppressed has always continued unabated. It was never diminished by support for Israel, unless, of course, one interprets “poor and oppressed” to be equivalent to support for a Palestinian state.

-- Jewish youth. Younger Jews seek “spiritual and moral truths outside of their Jewish heritage” because they have seen their Jewish parents fail to observe the religious and moral practices of Judaism, not because Jewish life has “increasingly focused on self-defense” or lost its commitment to the poor and oppressed.

-- The Holocaust. It is necessary that the pain of the Holocaust be kept on the front burner as a reminder of what in fact happened and what we must not allow to happen again, not as Lerner states “to generate big bucks and blind loyalty to Israeli policies.”

Many Jews have serious misgivings about the current Mideast peace process, but all of us pray for peace between Jews and Palestinians.

RICHARD S. WEINER

Beverly Hills

* A problem with Lerner’s analysis is that by painting the organized Jewish community with a broad stroke he has misrepresented significant segments of it.

The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, representing some 860 Reform Jewish synagogues (about 1.5 million Jews) throughout North America has, over the years, adopted positions in support of territorial compromise by Israel and reconciliation by Israel of its security needs with the dignity, human rights and political rights of the Palestinians. These actions hardly comport with Lerner’s depiction of the “organized Jewish community.”

Further, Lerner’s assertion that Jewish commitment to the poor and the oppressed was replaced with a narrow focus on self-interest is simply contrary to the history of the Reform movement as well as that of numerous Jewish organizations. The Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism has expressed its commitment to both the needs of the Jewish people and to poor and oppressed people of all backgrounds by facilitating synagogue involvement with programs focusing on hunger, homelessness, and needs of refugees (Jewish and non-Jewish). Our Religious Action Center in Washington has advocated for legislation to address problems of poverty and to assure the protection of human rights (e.g., rights of Syrian Jews to emigrate, anti-apartheid measures, gay and lesbian civil rights, and U.S. protection of Haitian refugees).

EVELY LASER SHLENSKY

Chair, Commission on Social Action

of Reform Judaism, Santa Barbara

* Not to detract from Lerner’s optimistic article, but I must object to his depiction of Palestinians as terrorists. Twice Lerner refers to the indigenous Palestinians as “terrorists” while describing the invading Israeli colonists of occupied Palestine as “settlers.” Semantics is not trivial: it reveals the individual’s mind-set and perspective. The Palestinians who were born on the land and who are resisting occupation with violence are “the terrorists.” The Israeli colonists who resort to equal violence to enforce their illegal occupation are “the settlers.” The sophistry of those descriptions should be self-evident. Historically speaking, the oppressor obfuscates its oppression by transferring the blame and labeling its oppressed victims as hooligans, rebels and terrorists.

Contrary to Lerner’s contention that the world should be proud of Israel, I would maintain that the world should be proud of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people, in the red-blooded American tradition of resisting tyranny, have triumphed over what Lerner describes as “one of the most powerful and sophisticated armies in the world” just as Americans, in our revolution, triumphed over the tyranny of the world’s most powerful and sophisticated army, the English.

Furthermore, the lesson that Lerner claims Israel is teaching the world is not new; the two English peoples of the United States and the United Kingdom were subsequently able to reconcile and to become the staunchest of democratic allies. The two Semitic people of Israel and Palestine, hopefully, will be able to reconcile and become the staunchest of democratic allies.

ARCH MILLER, ADC Board Member

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination

Committee, Los Angeles Chapter