A.B. Yehoshua is one of Israel’s leading novelists and a confirmed Zionist. The Israeli right will point out that he is a confirmed dove whose views are therefore, in their eyes, suspect and marginal. However, what is important to me is that Yehoshua is NOT Ilan Pappe. He’s even more centrist than David Grossman or Amos Oz, two other distinguished dovish Israeli writers.
So for Yehoshua to publicly call, in a non-Israeli publication like La Stampa no less, for the U.S. to withdraw its ambassador till the Olmert government gets serious about obeying its obligations to remove West Bank settlements, strikes like a lightning bolt:
In a scathing op-ed published in the Italian daily La Stampa, Israeli novelist A. B. Yehoshua said George W. Bush should recall the US ambassador to Israel until the Jewish state dismantles all illegal outposts in the West Bank, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.
“If the American president would have really wanted Israel to disassemble the illegal outposts…he would have done better to stay in the White House…” Yehoshua wrote in response to Bush’s recent visit to the Middle East. “He should have recalled his ambassador to Tel Aviv (Richard Jones) for an indefinite period until the outposts were evacuated.
“I can guarantee you that had he acted in this manner, Israel would have promptly dismantled the outposts, and the US administration would thus cement the faith of the Israelis and the Palestinians in the peace process,” he said in the op-ed.
Yehoshua added that Israel was deceiving the international community into focusing solely on the illegal outposts.
“Instead of dealing with (all) of the illegal settlements (in the West Bank), only the illegal outposts are being discussed – this legitimizes the status of (the other) settlements, in which 250,000 Israelis reside,” he said.
Many in Israel will no doubt see this statement as a betrayal. It violates every concept of Zionist sovereignty and self-reliance–the notion being that Israel and the Jewish people need to govern themselves free of interference from any outside source, even a friendly one like the U.S.
There are at least two interesting aspects to Yehoshua’s statement. First, it indicates a desperation on the part of the rational Zionist center-left. It is clear to them that no one in current Israeli politics has the will or interest to do the hard things that need to get done for there to be peace. Under those conditions, a dyed in the wool Zionist like Yehoshua is willing to give voice to heresy and call for direct U.S. interference in Israeli domestic politics.
Second, the statement bespeaks a recognition among those same rational Zionists that now is the time for a settlement. This realization is accompanied by the conviction that losing this opportunity will be much worse than past lost opportunities because the stakes seem higher than they have ever been in terms of the violence that might be unleashed in the event of failure now.
Third, Yehoshua has attacked the U.S. president viewed by many Israelis as possibly the most friendly ever to Israeli to its interests. It takes guts, enormous levels of frustration, and at least an ounce of desperation to engage in such criticism.
Interestingly, and not surprisingly, Ynet has omitted Yehoshua’s direct criticism of the Israel lobby. JTA reports that Yehoshua also had this to say:
Yehoshua further described all West Bank settlements as illegal and described the “Jewish lobby” as having “become a powerful tool of influence on Israel’s behalf within the U.S. administration.”
What is important here is that it’s no longer Jimmy Carter or Walt-Mearsheimer attacking the Lobby. It’s now a mainstream Israeli figure like Yehoshua who, as a Zionist, might be seen to have a vested interest in supporting the work of the Lobby.
A hat tip to Sol Salbe for this story. I’m very eager to find a translation of the original Italian article or the Yediot Hebrew coverage to get as close to the original statements made as possible. If anyone knows Italian out there and can find and translate it please let me know.
Richard,
I agree with you that this is an important statement, the more so because it comes from someone whom we might call a “centrist Leftist Zionist”.
Do you have any thoughts on why he focuses on West Bank illegal settlements, which surely is very important, and doesn’t say anything about the people dying daily in Gaza due to electricity cut-offs, UN supply cut-offs?
Is not this action even more urgent of being talked about at this very moment when doctors are having to choose between saving babies and saving heart patients?
Someone with his stature could bring some attention to this, which we ordinary nameless citizens seem to be unable to do. This massive denial of basic life necessities is a barbarity rare in the modern age by a “Westernized” nation-state.
What are your thoughts on this?
ellen
I heard Alef Bet Yehoshua interviewed today on Israel’s radio show “Hakol Diburim” about this article. When asked why he feels the need to go to foreign media and demand the US intervene directly to force Israel to carry out policies he wants, he basically indicated that it was despair that the Arabs apparently will not agree to make peace with Israel, so therefore some sort of deus ex machina is needed to resolve things the way he wants. Your friend Bernard Avishai said the same in his last posting about Gidon Levy…that some “foreign force” will come in and straighten everything out. Do you really think Europeans, Americans and other Arab countries will send troops to defend Israel against Palestinian terrorists. What is ironic is that Yehoshua said after Oslo was signed that Israel should bomb the hell out of Gaza if there is trouble from there. When the time came to carry out his policy, he suddenly changed his mind. You are quite right, the “center-left” has been infected with the despair I mentioned above and they are now grasping for some sort , any sort of salvation that doesn’t exist.
“Do you really think Europeans, Americans and other Arab countries will send troops to defend Israel against Palestinian terrorists.”
very funny. Who is defending the Palestinian people against the Israelis?
The Israelis and Palestinians should both know by now that NO ONE is going to come to their respected defenses. I don’t think any negotiated agreement can be based on the belief that another party will intervene to save the them if necessary. Both groups have learned that this does not map to reality. At least so far.
That still shouldn’t rule out a 2-state solution. Just make sure to work out contingencies and arrangements to ensure that both parties are protected.
Solution seeker,
I think you are right.
But in terms of making a protest, it is hard for me to understand why hundreds of thousands of Muslims took to the streets to protest a cartoon, but Muslim people dying from a blockade does not even merit a little yell.
ellen
Richard,
Thanks for bringing this to the attention of the blogosphere. I applaud Yehoshua, but think you are exaggerating the novelty of his public positions. My latest post is all about your take on this issue:
http://www.realisticdove.org/archives/185
Ellen: Yehoshua’s approach isn’t always to my liking. Like many Israelis he prob. has essentially given up on Hamas as a serious interlocutor & Gaza along with it. I don’t defend this attitude–just describe it. Most Israelis see the West Bank as the key bone of contention & think if the problems there can be worked out then Gaza will somehow fall into place. Again, it’s a strange attitude but there it is…
Ellen said:
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But in terms of making a protest, it is hard for me to understand why hundreds of thousands of Muslims took to the streets to protest a cartoon, but Muslim people dying from a blockade does not even merit a little yell.
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Very interesting point. I always wondered why the ongoing fratricidal slaughter in countries like Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Pakistan and Somalia never mobilized large demonstrations in the Muslim world or in areas in Europe or the US with large Muslim minorities. If they didn’t want to be seen to be supporting the US presence in Iraq, they could have signs and chants that said “Americans out, Terrorists out of Iraq”, but I haven’t seen it. Why the indifference?
In partial answer to my question, and also to bar_kochba132’s:
I was told that in many Arab countries, eg Jordan, demonstrations against US/Israel are forbidden, but demos against the cartoon were encouraged.
Also, that there have been demos ag. the Gaza blockade in some Arab countries, seen on Aljazeera TV. I don’t know which countries.
ellen
I’m really touched by how concerned you are at the slaughter of Muslims. It couldn’t be perhaps that you have a hidden agenda which is to focus obsessively on issues like this to point out how murderous Muslims are? Not to mention that violence in countries you mention isn’t only due to religious differences. There are also the kind of political differences that produce violence in many non-Muslim countries as well.
There are hundreds of millions of Muslims in the world. Contrary to what you might think Muslims in Indonesia do have a lot of other concerns than whether Syrians are murdering Lebanese. Besides I don’t think large demonstrations are the only measure of expressing concern for such violence & many Muslims DO express their concern for their brethren in distress.
If there were hundreds of millions of Jews living in as many countries as Muslims now live in, & some of those countries had Jewish majorities as Muslims do in many countries, I have no doubt that focus & concern for Jews in trouble around the world would be more diffuse than it is now.