Posted on 05/12/2009 8:00:24 AM PDT by ventanax5
A number of years ago, we had a bit of a motley crew over for Shabbat lunch. I remember that my brother was in town, visiting from New York. Another friend, a significant player in the Federation world was also there, as was a high school friend of one of our kids. And we were joined by one more friend, an Israeli Arab woman whom wed initially met through my work.
It was an interesting, though hardly relaxed, Shabbat afternoon. (The conversation took place in English ironically, since even though the Arab woman spoke a mellifluous Hebrew, our American Jewish leader friend didnt. But the abandonment of Hebrew on the part of American Judaism is a subject for a different conversation.)
Not enough info in this post; missing hperlink or what?
A number of years ago, we had a bit of a motley crew over for Shabbat lunch. I remember that my brother was in town, visiting from New York. Another friend, a significant player in the Federation world was also there, as was a high school friend of one of our kids. And we were joined by one more friend, an Israeli Arab woman whom wed initially met through my work.
It was an interesting, though hardly relaxed, Shabbat afternoon. (The conversation took place in English ironically, since even though the Arab woman spoke a mellifluous Hebrew, our American Jewish leader friend didnt. But the abandonment of Hebrew on the part of American Judaism is a subject for a different conversation.)
Though its been years since that lunch, I thought of it again this week, particularly one moment at the end of the afternoon. Lunch was breaking up. The Arab woman left, as did our American Jewish friend. My brother was still around, as was our sons friend, who, by the way, had been born in Israel and lived here his entire life. We were all catching our breath from what had been a pretty intense conversation.
Then the friend said, That was really interesting. I, frankly, hadnt noticed that he was paying much attention to the discussion, and was surprised. What did you think was particularly interesting? I asked him. Well, he said, Ive never met an Arab before.
That line stunned me more than the rest of the conversation. Hed been in Israel for fifteen or sixteen years, and had never met an Arab? Part of me couldnt believe that. But I knew that it was not only possible, but its common. (Israels no different than America in this regard, by the way. In Los Angeles, for example, how many Hispanics or Asians did I really meet socially? Very, very few - and in my community, I was the norm, not the exception.)
Why did I recall that conversation this week? Because I got a response from Dr. K. A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece for the Jerusalem Post that I subsequently distributed here, about a correspondence I had with a certain Dr. K about the Jerusalem home in which hed grown up prior to the War of Independence. (You can read the responses to that column here, too.) Just as I was preparing to write Dr. K and to tell him about my column, I heard from him. Hed come across the article on the web, it turns out, and wrote me. I asked him for permission to post his response here, and he agreed.
I was struck, in reading the many responses to my column that were posted on my site that many of the people writing had probably not ever met anyone like Dr. K before. Like my sons friend at that Shabbat lunch long ago, they are passionate about much of what goes on here, but havent actually conversed at all with significant swaths of the players in his complex situation.
So (yes, with his express, written permission), Im posting Dr. Ks response to my article, and his invitation to others to engage in conversation. The issue, I believe, isnt the disposition of his particular house (about which Ive done no research, as my column was about the uses of memory and how we overcome loss and work for a better future). The issues that ought to concern us are broader than that. But feel free to engage him on whatever subject youd like. Any comment thats respectful in tone will be permitted. In this week prior to Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Reunification Day), what subject could be more pertinent?
As Dr. K asks below, is it possible that we might begin to know each other and to hear each other in ways that we havent so far?
I am the Dr. K that Dr. Gordis refers to in his post above. The responses to his column raise so many issues that I find myself unable to respond to all of them. I will be short.
My father had this house built in 1932, and I was born in Jerusalem in 1937. My family left Jerusalem because of the state of war that occurred in 1948. Regardless of why we left (it was not voluntary), why should we lose title to our home because of that war? The Israeli government did not allow us to return to it (nor to pay taxes on it!) after May 1948. To this day we have never been offered compensation nor any acknowledgement by any party for our loss.
My original purpose in communicating with Dr. Gordis was to try and connect with another human being who can help provide me a sense of connection with my home and land of birth. I am a realist and not stuck in living in the past. Yes, I was shocked at the changes that have occurred but who wouldnt be?
I am interested in a dialogue and not in having people talking at me and telling me how I should be feeling or behaving. I hope we can talk about ourselves and not lecture others. Is this possible in this forum?
Here is a very good response to Dr.K
There was a war, a war started by the Arabs with the announced intention of destroying Israel and killing the Jews. A war has permanent resultschanges of borders, changes of sovereign control of landthat may transcend the rights of individuals to live where they would like to live. Dr. K, sadly for him, was on the losing side of that war. His family left Jerusalem. He says the departure was not voluntary, slyly implying that the Israelis kicked his family out. No one has ever charged that the Israelis kicked Arabs out of Jerusalem. The charge of forced expulsion has been made with regard to other areas of Israel, not to the city of Jerusalem itself. According to the Israelis own records, they selectively used force or the threat of force to expel Arabs from certain key spots within Israel that were indispensable to Israels capacity to defend itself. The rest of the Arabs who left, left of their own accord, or because they were urged by Arab leaders to do so.
In practical terms, Dr. K is on the side of the Arabs, on the side of all of Israels mortal enemies, who want to use the right of return to destroy Israel. He may say, I just want my familys property back, I just want to return to the place of my birth, and maybe hes even personally sincere about that. But in reality his claim is inseparable from, and helps advance, the entire concept of the right of return through which Israels enemies seek, by a claim of individual rights, to undo the defeat of the Arabs in 1948to undo their failure to destroy Israelto undo Israels successful defense of its existence. Its simply impossible to consider his claim outside the context of the ongoing Arab war to destroy Israel. Admit Dr. Ks claim, and youve admitted the right of return. Admit the right of return, and youve consigned Israel to horrible destruction.
Tens of millions of people in Europe and on the Indian subcontinent were forced to leave their homes during and after World War II. None of them is demanding their return to their former homes as a right or having that demand recognized by a large part of the worldexcept the Arabs who left Israel and their descendants. The reason is very simple. The Arabs and much of the world seek to destroy Israel, and the claimed right of return is the strongest way of expressing and advancing that intent.
Author: Uri Snyder
Comment:
Dr. K,
I first of would like to give you a little background on myself. I am a Jewish- American and an ardent Zionist. I have spent almost a year living and studying in Israel yet would never claim to fully understand what it is like to live in Israel. I’ll say that I maybe have a “child’s” understanding of what it is like to be an Israeli. However my one advantage to being so far removed from the conflict is that I have been able to see the Israeli-Arab conflict through a different lense. My opinions have not been jaded by years of living with the threat of terrorism, and I am therefore free of some of the natural “distrust” and anger that shapes the way Israelis see the situation. I have also had the privilege of speaking with many people of Palestinian descent which has given me a greater understanding of both sides of the argument. The War of Independence left a refugee problem in its wake that to this day has never been solved. I have no answers for you as to why you should not be able to return to your home. I however would humbly like to pose a question to you. What would have happened to Jewish families who wished to flee as you did, from areas of violence? They would never have been allowed to go to Arab areas in order to avoid the impending conflict. In a war such as the conflict in 1948, it seems to me that by fleeing, your family did in fact “choose a side”. I know this argument would not hold up in a court of law, however it does have moral implications. Your family was allowed to safeguard their own lives in a place where Jewish civilians would have been slaughtered for doing the same. From this perspective I understand why the Israeli government did not allow the “refugees” back into Israel. How could they trust those who fled to nearby countries whose armies were trying to exterminate the Jewish neighbors that they left behind? I do not mean to place blame on anyone but rather point out some of the reasons that contributed to this issue. Thank you and I look forward to reading your response.
Here is another:
Author: Leslie Green
Comment:
Dr. K’s story is a sad one, but as the previous comments show, not unique. My father left behind 20,000 acres of farmland in Hungary that had been in his family for more than 4 generations. My father was in agricultural school preparing to someday take over the farm that he loved when the Nazis arrested his family and all their land was confiscated. At the time, 3 different generations lived on that land in 2 homes and farmed it. They were the largest employers in their district. When he went back after being liberated from Dachau, the homes had been taken over by local families. His family decimated, he left for the United States. He had no choice. The police did not offer to remove the “squatters”. The local priest had absconded with his grandmothers beautiful furniture and china. He returned fifty years later to find that the farm had been split up, his grandfather’s home was the town’s library and his parent’s home was the doctor’s clinic. The townspeople, upon hearing that my father had come back, did not have words of welcome for him. All they wanted to know was “are you going to try to take our land away from us?”.
As a people who love Torah and take pride in conducting ourselves in an ethical manner,we should set up compensation for individuals such as Dr. K. to compensate him for the value of theloss of the home he left in 1932. However, he must remember that he was not arrested and forced off the land as my father was. His family left voluntarily, to avoid the unpleasantness of a possible war. Many stayed behind. Anyhow, the discussion is moot. You cannot discuss issues of compensation with people who refuse to acknowledge your existence and insist on “a right to return”.
Thanks ventanax5.
Dr. K Responds to the Comments on his Letter says: May 14, 2009 at 3:54 am
The responses to my comments have evoked in me a wide spectrum of feelings. I will try and stay positive, and will not be able to address all the issues raised.
One wrong does not justify another. The wrongs that Jews have suffered in Arab countries and elsewhere need recognition and compensation just like the wrongs that Palestinian Arabs have suffered.
Generalizations about whole people and cultures such as they hate us and want to drive us into the sea may apply to extreme fringes in Arab & Muslim communities, and are fueled by the persistent belief that an injustice has not been addressed. That does not make such feelings about other people and cultures acceptable. The same situation exists among many Israelis such as those who scream death to the Arabs, and advocate ethnic cleansing. Reasonable people should not let the views of the extremists on any side be allowed to charactertize what the majority of people think and feel.
Many Palestinians, including the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, advocate for a two-state solution and acknolwedge and accept the right of Israels existnece. The Arab League declaration of 1997 states the same. I dont recollect a single post in this thread acknowledging these positions. Do the views of the late Rabbi Kahane and his followers represent the Israeli perspective? Why are you generalizing the extremist view among some to all Palestinians?
On a personal basis, I am not looking for sympathy but for justice. I agree that the personal cannot be separated from the national, and I also believe that gradual positive steps can be taken that will take time and patience.
One respondent asked what measures I would like to see Israel take to address these issues? The framework for a two-state solution and a guarantee of Israels security is there on paper but needs the will of leaders to make it happen. The main obstacle I see are the Israeli settlements that dot the West Bank (and not the ones adjacent to the Green Line). Acknowledging that Palestinian Arabs suffered a loss of their homes and possessions in 1948, and that Jews in Arab countries suffered similar injustices, is a first step. These wrongs can be addressed without the destruction of Israel!
I also would ask respondents in this thread , what positive steps do you see Isreal taking in order for Israelis to live securely and prosperously in the Middle East on a longterm basis? Is living in a constant state of war the only option? When will Israel face such basic questions as to what are the borders of Israel? Why is there no constitution? Can non-Jews ever enjoy full rights of citizenship? If not, then how would one describe the kind of state Israel is? Is Israel really ready for peace without addressing these basic issues?
Personally, I feel blessed that my family and I are living in security and have thrived economically. Im not looking for money nor for sympathy, but Im looking for justice for those among the Palestinians who have not been able to enjoy the good fortune that my family and I have had, and continue to feel that they have been wronged
I think that a small minority among you might hear what Im saying, but for many the sense of historical injustice and a feeling of distrust and lack of security will remain a barrier to a meaningful dialogue. I mean my comments to be respectful and realistic, and am truly not making them in a patronizing or self-righteous fashion. I also see no sense in continuing the conversation on my end because Im not sure a real dialogue is possible in a thread like this.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to give you a glimpse of the perspective of one Palestinian Arab-American individual.
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