Support independent Palestinian state

Wow! I nearly had to take a dose of anti-nausea medicine after reading the full-page screed by Morton A. Klein (July 18), arguing that a Palestinian state won’t bring peace! It’s a long time since I’ve seen such a full-throttled dump of anti-Arab hatred, stereotyping and, you should pardon the expression, just plain dreck! Still, it’s useful that The Chronicle published this to give us a chance to see the kind of poison that’s being peddled by at least a part of the Jewish community and its so-called “leadership.”

Morton is so preoccupied with sliming the Arabs and Palestinians that he overlooks the obvious: of course there’s no guarantee that a Palestinian state will bring peace. But what is guaranteed is that maintaining the status quo, as he advocates, will assuredly not bring peace. All Israel will have, in such a tragic scenario, is a large and eternally angry and resentful Palestinian population under its boot, ready to explode at any moment and on a regular basis. Is that really the future Morton and his ilk wish for Israel? If it is, he and his friends are truly meshugginah and should be committed to some kind of institution!

Although there are no 100 percent assurances in any part of life, let alone the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, there are real chances that an independent Palestinian state will begin to turn from its endless grievances with Israel to starting to build up their own country and society. The average Palestinian is sick to death of the current situation in which it’s impossible to plan for the future or seriously begin developing commerce and industry, or even just raise a family. Most just want what everyone wants: a chance to live a normal life! Certainly there are die-hard ideologues among the Palestinians who will nurse their resentments against Israel and even act on them once in a while. But those are manageable threats that Israel can live and deal with, just as it has been ever since 1967. A Palestinian state is not going to be a serious, credible existential threat to Israel. If it were to go to war against Israel it would be wiped out in hours. Whatever their rhetoric may be, the Palestinians aren’t that stupid, nor are they suicidal. There will be peace between an independent Israel and Palestine, even if relations may not be as free of friction as those between, say, Canada and the United States. But in time that will come, because it’s in the interest of both peoples and countries.

It’s time for all of us really care about Israel’s future to speak strongly in favor of a two-state solution and do everything we can to pressure both-sides to get serious about negotiating a permanent peace. Now is a propitious time to do it, because with the upheavals in the Arab world the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no longer the one central, burning issue in the region. In much of the Arab world people are calling for an end to the corrupt, authoritarian regimes under which they’ve suffered, and are beginning to evolve into modern societies. The average Palestinian wants that, too. That means that there are new opportunities that didn’t exist before, and it’s important to seize this transformative moment in the Arab world. Yes, there are risks involved, but to perpetuate the existing stagnant situation is no answer. It’s time for both Israelis and Palestinians to move ahead, and we need to help them get there. It’s time!

Rob Montague

Overland Park, Kan.

SAFEHOME thanks Flo Harris Foundation

SAFEHOME would like to publicly thank the Flo Harris Foundation for renewing SAFEHOME’s Jewish Outreach Program Grant for this grant cycle. Chronicle subscribers received a copy of “The Guide to Jewish Life” a few weeks ago. At the time of the editor’s deadline, SAFEHOME did not know that the Flo Harris Foundation would again fund the agency’s Jewish Outreach Program. How wonderful that we can acknowledge the Foundation’s generosity now!

For your information, in the last year, funding from the Flo Harris Foundation allowed me to facilitate several speaking engagements in a wide variety of venues in our community. This grant also enabled SAFEHOME to print new materials to send out in a mailing to all our local Jewish clergy. It both moved and excited me that upon receiving the mailing, six rabbis contacted me immediately saying they would be more than willing to help in any way if a Jewish victim asked for resources beyond SAFEHOME’s scope. It is our dream that in the upcoming year we will see an increased level of collaboration to promote healthy familial relationships and awareness of the dynamics of family violence. I hope this will include a collaborative, educational program in late winter. The Flo Harris Foundation truly deserves a kol ha k’vod for supporting SAFEHOME’s continued domestic abuse education in our Jewish Community.

As the introspection begins with the advent of our holidays, appreciate the peacefulness of your homes. When Yom Kippur ends and you build your sukkah, please know that those affected by family violence, and people who make the courageous decision to leave and find refuge in SAFEHOME’s shelter, truly live in a “temporary dwelling.” Together, we can help them achieve better, safer lives.

Let me wish you a very early L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu.

Susan Lebovitz, CVM

Volunteer Manager

SAFEHOME’s Jewish Outreach

Program Coordinator

Claims Conference needs to distribute money now

I have been relentless in attempting to force the Holocaust Claims Conference to re-evaluate and change their methods. At least they are enacting these corrections. However, why shouldn’t the money they have in their possession be distributed immediately to Holocaust survivors? There are precious few survivors left and soon they will be gone. Only the youngest are still alive. My father Jacob, a survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, passed away 30 years ago. My mother, a survivor of Skarzish and Buchenwald, passed away 20 years ago.

I ask every Holocaust survivor reading this to protest to the Claims Conference or their attorneys and ask what is happening with the funds. Twenty percent of these funds goes to birthright, Holocaust museums, writers etc. Ask why a Nazi is receiving compensation from the Claims Conference after his identity as a Nazi was revealed. Ask why individuals who are not really Holocaust survivors but were added to the list receiving funds.

It is your money and you deserve it now. How is it possible for Holocaust survivors to be in need of food and medications when the Claims conference holds so much money?

I am only one person. You must speak up now.

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg

Edison, N.J.