[ ]J Street [ ]
Friends,

Today, Palestinians around the world mark ‘Nakba Day’ -- commemorating
events in 1948 when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced
from the land they call home.

Yesterday marked 75 years, on the Gregorian calendar, since Israel
declared independence. Jews around the world celebrate Israel’s
independence as a miracle -- the rebirth of a nation-state of the Jewish
people centuries after they were displaced from the land they call home.

There’s recently been some debate, on Capitol Hill and in the Jewish
community, about what it means to publicly recognize the Palestinian
experience of ‘Nakba’ -- and I wanted to share some of my own reflections
with you.

As a Jewish American with deep connections to Israel, I take deep pride
and joy in the return of the Jewish people to our historic home and the
establishment of a state that provides safety and self-determination for
Jews after centuries of oppression and tragedy.

Even so, I recognize that Palestinians regard the events surrounding the
founding of the modern State of Israel to be a national “catastrophe”
(‘Nakba’ in Arabic).

Understanding that view and sense of loss is critical.

After all, I know that the Jewish people wept by the rivers of Babylon
after the First Temple was destroyed and prayed for millennia to return to
Zion after the Roman conquest in 70 CE. Precisely because of these and so
many other Jewish experiences with loss and catastrophe, I understand how
deeply Palestinians yearn to return to the homes they lost less than a
century ago.

And I know that, if we are ever to resolve this tragic conflict between
Jews and Palestinians, both peoples will need to understand the narrative
of the other, their history of pain and their connection to the same land.

All Palestinians will, I hope, one day acknowledge the Jewish people’s
meaningful and deep connection to the land of Israel.

And all Jews will, I hope, one day acknowledge the Palestinian connection
to the land and understand why they regard 1948 as a catastrophe.

If Americans are to play a productive role, it will be by helping these
two peoples to resolve their conflict and to fulfill their individual and
collective rights in the land they both call home (almost certainly in two
states living side by side).

That won’t happen, though, if Americans themselves are incapable of seeing
that each of these peoples is entitled to their narrative and their
history.

Last week’s decision by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to cancel a Nakba Day
commemoration sponsored by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was a step in
precisely the wrong direction. Even more unfortunate was the support for
his decision by major American Jewish organizations.

When Senator Bernie Sanders, himself a Jewish pro-Israel American,
ultimately provided space in a Senate hearing room for the event, the head
of the ADL then denounced the Senator’s action as “disgraceful.”

Sadly, this aggressive effort to prevent acknowledgement of the Nakba on
Capitol Hill is consistent with everyday efforts to label Palestinian
voices and advocates for Palestinian rights as antisemites and figures of
hate.

Guided by the misguided view that anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic,
too many advocates for Israel imply that those who experienced 1948 as a
tragedy rather than a miracle have no right to speak their own truths --
and that even attempting to grapple with Palestinian experiences and
aspirations is somehow an act that harms or endangers Israel.

In his tweet denouncing Senator Sanders, the ADL’s CEO wrote that “real
conversations are needed around a path to peace, but not with groups and
individuals who espouse antisemitism.” Yet pushing the notion that
Palestinian rights advocacy, opposition to occupation, or discussion of
Nakba is “antisemitic” effectively excludes the vast majority of
Palestinians from any meaningful engagement around the conflict and its
resolution.

Let me be clear -- this goes both ways: I believe those who mark the Nakba
should also acknowledge the legitimacy of Jewish connection to the land of
Israel and that the Jewish people too have a right to self-determination.

Israelis and Palestinians are unlikely to ever agree on a common version
of history -- and they don’t need to. But they will never achieve a
peaceful shared future if they cannot acknowledge the legitimacy of the
other’s perspective.

There are dozens of Jewish Americans in the Senate and House. Last month,
they proudly enlisted the overwhelming majority of Congress in celebrating
Israel’s independence.

Representative Tlaib is the one Palestinian-American in national elected
office. Silencing and/or demonizing her does nothing to defend Israel. In
fact, it makes it more difficult to have honest, pragmatic and serious
conversations about the role of the United States in promoting peace and
self-determination for both Jews and Palestinians.

One final thought: Jewish leaders and organizations should pause before
celebrating when politicians like Kevin McCarthy silence pro-Palestinian
voices. Too many politicians on the American right today are representing
and appealing to a populist base whose politics are grounded in white
nationalism and antisemitism. These are people manifestly opposed to the
interests of the Jewish community in America.

Jewish Americans need to stand in solidarity with Arab Americans and
Palestinian Americans against the shared threat we face to our rights and
equality in this county and not allow ourselves to be divided to advance
far-right Republican politics.

I celebrate Israel and its independence even as I recognize the tragedy
and suffering endured by the Palestinian people. As with our own American
independence, there is a reckoning to be had about the costs, and it
begins with acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the suffering and loss on
the other side of a formative conflict.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for your thoughtful engagement with
this difficult but important subject.

Yours,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street

[ [link removed] ]PS. This reflection has also been shared on our website in blog format
here.


[ [link removed] ]DONATE
[ [link removed] ]Facebook [ [link removed] ]Instagram [ [link removed] ]Twitter
© 2023 J Street | [ [link removed] ]www.jstreet.org | [email protected]

J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the
Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]