March, 2002

Mirror Images
Ira Chernus, Department of Religious Studies

Israel has the power to create a mirror image of itself in the West Bank and Gaza. But the Jewish population of Israel can not make up its mind what that image should look like. Its ambivalence stems from a fateful contradiction planted at the beginning of the Zionist movement, the progenitor of the State of Israel.

On the one hand, the earliest Zionists claimed that Jews in a Jewish state would live peaceful, contented lives. On the other hand, the earliest Zionists insisted that Jews will always be confronted with anti-Semitism and persecution. Some Israeli Jews focus on the first point. They look across their border and see Palestinians aspiring to the same peaceful contentment, in their own independent state, that Jews want for themselves. In fact, for many years a substantial majority of Palestinians have accepted the existence of the Jewish state and asked only for the right to have their own Palestinian state living peacefully alongside its neighbor. However, many other Israeli Jews look across the same border and see eternal anti-Semitism conspiring to destroy the Jewish state. In the last year, the latter group have had the upper hand in Israel's policy formulations.

The tragedy is that the fear of anti-Semitism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It leads to harsh repressive Israeli policies. Every harsh measure makes it harder for Palestinians to sustain their commitment to a peaceful two-state solution. Every act of repression lends support to the Palestinian minority who see Israel bent on destroying the Palestinian people. To this minority, it seems only logical to turn the whole area back to a single state, in which non-Jews would have a demographic majority. The more Israeli policy is based on the premise of eternal anti-Semitism, the more it fosters fear, and therefore anti-Semitism, across its border. Israeli fears create their own mirror image.

In recent weeks, the small Israeli peace movement has shown signs of renewed strength. More and more Israelis are recognizing that they have it within their power to create the kind of neighbor they want. They can move closer to the early Zionist vision of peace and contentment by helping the Palestinians fulfill their hope for peace and contentment in their own state.

Or the Israelis can fuel the fires of mutual fear, hatred, and combat. One way to do that is to keep insisting that Yassir Arafat is ""irrelevant"" and refusing to deal with him, even though he is the democratically elected leader of Palestine. Another way is to ignore the emerging democratic secular opposition to Arafat, which could effectively negotiate peace with Israel if it took over the leadership role. Unfortunately, this is the direction of the Israeli government. It insures that the more extreme Islamist groups will gain more power. This, in turn, will become Israel's excuse for further harsh repression.

The cycle will stop only when enough Israelis decide to break it and help create a mirror image of the peaceable, rather than the embattled, side of Zionism.

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