LONE DEMOCRACY - There are 21 Arab countries in the Middle East and, until recently, following street riots, the lone Jewish state, Israel, was the only democracy in the region.
FREED
TO WORSHIP - Israel is the only country in the
region that permits citizens of all faiths to worship freely and openly. Twenty
percent of Israeli citizens are not Jewish.
FREE
TO VOTE - While Jews are not permitted to live in
many Arab countries, Arabs are granted full citizenship and have the right to
vote in Israel. Arabs are also free to become members of the Israeli parliament
(the Knesset).
FREE
TO LEAD - In fact, several Arabs have been
democratically elected to the Knesset and have been serving there for years. Arabs
living in Israel have more rights and are freer than most Arabs living in Arab
countries.
SMALL
FOR ITS AGE - Israel is smaller than the state of
New Hampshire and is surrounded by nations hostile to her existence. Some peace
proposals—including the recent Saudi proposal—demand withdrawal from the entire
West Bank, which would leave Israel 9 miles wide at its most vulnerable point.
BACK
OFF, BULLIES -The oft-cited UN Resolution 242
(passed in the wake of the 1967 war) does not, in fact, require a complete
withdrawal from the West Bank.
As legal scholar Eugene Rostow put it,
"Resolution 242, which as undersecretary of state for political affairs
between 1966 and 1969 I helped produce, calls on the parties to make peace and
allows Israel to administer the territories it occupied in 1967 until ‘a just
and lasting peace in the Middle East’ is achieved.
When such a peace is made,
Israel is required to withdraw its armed forces ‘from territories’ it occupied
during the Six-Day War—not from ‘the’ territories nor from ‘all’ the
territories, but from some of the territories."
BIG
CONCESSION - Israel has, of course, conceded that
the Palestinians have legitimate claims to the disputed territories and is
willing to engage in negotiations on the matter. As noted above, Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak offered almost all of the territories to Arafat at Camp
David in 2000.
WE
WERE HERE FIRST - Despite claims that the Israeli
settlements in the West Bank are the obstacle to peace, Jews lived there for
centuries before being massacred or driven out by invading Arab armies in
1948-49. And contrary to common
misperceptions, Israeli settlements—which constitute less than two percent of
the territories—almost never displace Palestinians.
DISPUTE
RAGES - The area of the West Bank includes some of
the most important sites in Jewish history, among them Hebron, Bethlehem, and
Jericho. East Jerusalem, often cited as an "Arab city" or
"occupied territory," is the site of Judaism’s holiest monument.
While under Arab rule (1948-67), this area was entirely closed to Jews. Since
Israel took control, it has been open to people of all faiths.
GENEROUS
JEWS - Finally, let us consider the demand that
certain territories in the Muslim world must be off-limits to Jews. This demand
is of a piece with Hitler’s proclamation that German land had to be
"Judenrein" (empty of Jews). Arabs can live freely throughout Israel,
and as full citizens.
Why should Jews be forbidden to live or to own land in an
area like the West Bank simply because the majority of people is Arab?
ROLE
MODELS - In sum, a fair and balanced portrayal of
the Middle East will reveal that one nation stands far above the others in its
commitment to human rights and democracy as well as in its commitment to peace
and mutual security. That nation is Israel.
