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Todd Miller of Surry, when he was in sixth grade, wrote a petition to President Richard Nixon to end the Vietnam War. At 19, he registered as a conscientious objector, and later, served in the Peace Corps. In 2008, he and Barbara Kates co-founded the Eastern Maine Chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace), a precursor to J Street.
I am a Jew who believes in Israel’s right to exist and defend itself. I am appalled by the recent Hamas slaughter and kidnapping of Israeli civilians.
I am also a peace activist, frustrated by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, which perpetuates reruns of the same, old, violence-begetting-violence horror movie, misinformation, and antisemitism. As an American, I believe that a peaceful and secure Israel is a security interest of the United States.
It is impossible to negotiate with people who seek your destruction ( as Hamas does with Israel), but this is not the only option. In fact, Israelis and Palestinians have united in organizations such as Combatants for Peace and Parents Circle – Families Forum to jointly resist continued violence and to advocate for a peaceful and just solution to the conflict.
More than 1,400 Israeli soldiers who served in the West Bank and Gaza testified to Breaking the Silence that occupation isn’t the solution. But a unilateral withdrawal must be coupled with a larger peace plan. Under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s leadership, Israel greatly expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and in 2005, unilaterally withdrew from Gaza to avoid the possibility of a Palestinian majority in what remained under Israeli control. We can see how well that has worked.
Hamas’s control of Gaza must be undermined, but this cannot be accomplished militarily without inciting further radicalization and violence. The United States should continue to support Israel, but it should also support moderate Palestinians. Israel must reject its current disastrous governing coalition of religious extremists who want to annex the entire West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem. The country needs leaders who want a just peace.
What of the millions of Palestinians who live under the occupation? Evict them? Give them full citizenship in one country, which might lose its status as a Jewish homeland? Continue the oppressive rule that has only bred further violence? In fact, it appears to me that Israel has only one option that is both morally acceptable and in its own pragmatic long-term interest.
It seems that creating an independent Palestinian state at this point would take a miracle. According to one Jewish interpretation, the Red Sea didn’t part until one man stepped into the deep water. He catalyzed a miracle. That’s what we must do now.
Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, indeed an international peace corps, could build an ark of civil society in Gaza, and then invite aboard all peace-loving Palestinians. Perhaps, with international support abroad, United Nations peacekeepers on the ground, and enough time, Palestinians in Gaza, currently held hostage by Hamas, and those in the West Bank and East Jerusalem could freely choose to live peacefully alongside Israel. But this, we know: an Israeli ground assault, continued airstrikes, and a blockade of food, water, and electricity will not bring this about.
Instead of waiting for the stars to align to make peace, we must wage peace, one step at a time. Take a step with me by urging our president, members of Congress, and ambassador to the United Nations to help set a miracle in motion, from which we will all benefit.
