The ‘J Street’, a “moderate” American-Jewish organisation is a rising voice in the United States that supports Israel, but is completely opposed to the far-right coalition ruling its affairs. This organisation is behind a new Jewish lobby established to counter the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), the most influential Zionist lobby in America.
‘J Street’ believes that the current extreme trend of Zionism in Israel is totally in contradiction with historical Jewish values that stood against apartheid, fascism and ethnic-cleansing which are the very policies of Israel today. Sounding a note of sharp pessimism, ‘J Street’, believes that the ruling coalition in Israel if let to prevail, will sooner or later destroy Israel and will negatively affect the very existence of Jews around the world. This lobby group supports President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy based upon the premise of a two-state-solution; an independent Palestinian state and an independent Israeli state. ‘J Street’ believes that such a solution would really serve the national security and interests of all concerned especially the Americans, otherwise America, Israel and all Jews would be in dire danger if the current Likud policies are allowed to prevail in the Middle East.
The Palestinian plan to seek recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations stems from the fact that it is absolutely impossible to reach an agreement with the present Israeli Likud government. It also points to the current Israeli policies involving annexation of more Palestinian land for Israeli colonies, and its insistence on ‘a one united Jerusalem under Jewish rule’ as well as insistence on obtaining Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish State.
Such a status quo is being viewed by ‘J Street’ as a recipe for a humongous disaster in the making which caused the group to apply pressure on all parties to resume negotiations to attain an independent Palestinian state. ‘J Street’ asked Obama to apply pressure on both the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas to come to the negotiating table in search of a peaceful settlement that is defined by basic principles, a move that would have made the Palestinian September plan for statehood unnecessary. Pursuing this goal, ‘J Street’ invited to Washington influential Israeli politicians who are experts unaffected by the extremist Zionist mentality and who support the two-state solution. Among them were Brigadier General Shlomo Gazit (former director of the civil administration in the Occupied Territories) Jalaad Sheer (president of a political coordinating Committee during the administration of prime minister Ehud Barak) and Ilan Baruch (ex-Israeli ambassador to South Africa). They all flew to Washington DC, as guests of ‘J Street’ and met many American decision-makers, think-tanks and effective American political organisations to stress the fact that supporting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state now is the only solution to avoid a disaster that would put Israel’s survival in doubt.
Along these lines, a seminar was organised by the Brookings Institution in which all these Israeli experts warned of the grave consequences of “keeping the status quo by permitting Netanyahu to keep it frozen, believing that leaving things as they stand would create a reality supporting the endurance of Jewish colonies which would ensure their survival in the future”.
Sheer noted: “It is a very crucial moment in the history of Israel. Ignoring the continuous expansion of colonies and the frozen state of the peace negotiations while everyone knows the parameters of a peaceful solution and where the Palestinian state should be established in lands which Israel must evacuate, would usher a very harmful outcome”.
He concluded that “the establishment of a Palestinian state is in the very interest of Israel, especially when the Palestinians actually proved their ability to maintain security and their strict adherence to agreements finalised with Israel”. On his part, Gazit said that “claims that the 1967 borders cannot be defended are nonsense, especially in the age of missiles, air drones and modern technology”. “The real problem is not with the Palestinians,” he went on to say “but with us in Israel where the survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic State has become endangered”. He declared that “if the Palestinians were to decide to abandon their quest for an independent state and were to opt to stay under Israeli rule, Israel, as we know it, would cease to exist”.
For his part, Baruch warned that “the example of South Africa in the late eighties should not be forgotten when the apartheid regime ceased to exist. It is better for Israel to hurry to execute what the entire world believes in; the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state before it is too late”. Indeed, Baruch’s concluding remarks voiced the delegate’s determination to pursue the search for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “We are here as guests of ‘J Street’, not members”, he said, adding “we all believe in the solution of two states”. He spoke of their plans to visit American cities to address Jewish communities there to gain their support for a two-state solution and an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders. “Such a solution is in the real interest of Israel”, he said and “the US is the only one who can make it happen”.
Professor As’ad Abdul Rahman is the Chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopaedia.
