I am pleased and honored to host here a post from the blog of my dear second cousin, the distinguished Avi Galanti. Following is my (inevitable) response.
I was born in Gilo in 1973 and spent most of my childhood there. On weekends we would go to Bethlehem and shop at the main market. It was a relatively peaceful time and for the most part Jews and Arabs got along...
Gilo was taken back by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967. Prior to 1948 Jews were living in Gilo, today a beautiful mountain top neighborhood, located southwest of Jerusalem’s old city. During Israel’s Independence War in 1948 the Egyptians fought hard in that front trying to make advances towards capturing Jerusalem, and although ultimately defeated, Gilo remained under Arab control.
Since 1967 Israel developed Gilo and it is now home to over 60,000 people. Not settlers, just ordinary people, representing Israel’s entire political spectrum. Gilo, unlike the settlements, is home to Left-wing Labor Party and Shalom Achshav (Hebrew for: Peace Now) advocates, as well as right-wing supporters. Gilo is in Israel’s consensus as Kansas City is to Americans.
Gilo is connected to other Jerusalem neighborhoods and is an integral part of the city. The proposed addition of 900 units is on the north side of Gilo, towards other established Jerusalem neighborhoods. That is to say that the addition will not be to the south towards Har-Gilo or Beit-Jalah.
I think Barack Obama’s criticism is misplaced, misguided, and irresponsible. In his remarks Mr. Obama said the approved construction could prove "very dangerous" by fuelling Palestinian anger and harming prospects for peace; in essence fueling anger among Palestinians!!
Israel’s isolation in the world is growing deeper and any chance for reconciliation with the Arab world is quickly diminishing. Obama in his attempt to appease the Muslim world has turned a cold shoulder to Israel and demanded something that was never an issue before - a full stop to all settlement activities, without distinction, as a pre-condition for sitting down and negotiating a peace deal. The Palestinians seized the moment and immediately clenched to this demand. They clearly saw this, and openly declared it, as a momentum against Israel.
Settlements were one of the critical elements discussed during peace negotiations between Mr. Abbas and Mr. Olmert. However, construction for natural growth in the settlements and building in East Jerusalem, were never a reason for halting talks. Thanks to Mr. Obama’s infinite wisdom and worldly diplomatic gravitas, the peace process is all but dead, Mr. Abbas is threatening to leave office shuttering any vague hopes for renewing negotiations, and Palestinians are contemplating launching a third Intifada and declaring statehood unilaterally.
Rather than creating this deadlock by making unrealistic demands, Mr. Obama should have studied the comprehensive and far reaching peace deal Mr. Olmert had offered Mr. Abbas, and focus on having Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu sit and talk peace. Mahmoud Abbas by the way, was too foolish or too scared (or both) to accept the peace offer. He missed an incredible historic opportunity to bring peace to the two people and equally important, to take a brave stand against radicals in the Palestinian camp (Hamas and others) who have no interest in ending the conflict.
Other countries around the world were also quick to jump on the bandwagon and hold Israel’s actions responsible for failing to move the peace process forward. Israel is heavily criticized by its European allies, Russia and neighboring Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan, following the tone coming out of The White House and the U.S. State Department. The interesting thing is, the current Israeli government has done nothing more to aggravate the situation than previous governments (left and right) had done in the past.
Funny world we live in - Iran is deceiving the world and making progress in its pursue of nuclear arms, North Korea has been doing it for years, the world’s economy is still struggling to overcome a deep recession, the war in Afghanistan is a disaster where the most corrupt government on the planet is running the show, the war in Iraq is ongoing, Pakistan, a nuclear power, is fighting growing elements of Taliban forces inside its borders, Lebanon is all but taken over by Hezbollah, China continues to manipulate its currency and do nothing about human rights... and while all this is going on, Mr. Obama, followed by other world leaders, are quick to condemn Israel for approving the construction of a hotel in Jerusalem on land owned by Jews, or 900 units in a neighborhood that is as much Israeli as Tel Aviv is.
My dear Avi! great column, as always. Although, I guess you wont like my response so much. But considering the number of comments, you can’t be very picky…
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your feeling towards your home neighborhood. It's true that Gilo is deep in the consensus in the eyes of the Israeli public. But what is also true, is that it’s completely irrelevant. In the eyes of the American administrations, any one of them, all Jewish newly built towns and neighborhoods in any part of the area taken in 1967 (Gilo included) are both illegal according to international law, and immoral and therefore unacceptable.
I don’t know where you found the information that Jews lived in Gilo before Gilo existed. I didn’t find any evidence to this. But even this is not relevant.
All American administrations, including Republicans, and most western countries, hold the opinion that all Jewish residences beyond the “green line” are in contradiction to peace.
Israel is not running this world, the super powers do, together with people like Bill Gates and Rupert Murdock.
So basically, the question is not of justice or morality, but more practical: how much longer can Israel live in a virtual world, in which she sets the rules to her liking. The ancient Jewish people has survived for 3,200 years, through so many persecution, mainly thanks to a pragmatic approach which said basically: we are not physically the strongest in this world, and we will only survive if we wisely learn how to maneuver in and around the super powers.
After the state of Israel was established, we lost this wisdom. We started to feel that we can force the whole world to see the reality the way we like to see it. This is a very dangerous approach, and I think that it will prove fatal to Israel. My only hope is that, when “the world” will be fed up with us, it will force us to do the right thing and really end the occupation (which, according to most of the world, cannot be done without evacuating most or all of the settlements; what the world sees as settlements, not what we do).
I could go on and argue, that the area on which Gilo was built was illegally turned into a neighborhood for Jews only. But I’d rather focus on arguments which are relevant in a cynical world. Whether Gilo was established on injustice (I think so) or not is also not relevant now.
The holiday of Hanuka is around the corner. I think that an important lesson from this holiday must be, that revolts of small countries against great empires could only succeed, if the revolting country wisely played the game and took advantage of conflicts among the super powers. I’m afraid that we are missing this point if we think that we can confront the entire world, including our best allies. And the fact that at this particular moment it’s about 900 new apartments in an area which is in wide agreement in the Israeli public (actually, only the Jewish part of it! Oh, well, we never consider the non Jews anyway, now do we) – this is really not relevant.