Peace in the Face of War

And here, in order for the descriptions to remain analogous, i.e. oppressor
switching position with the oppressed, we would expect the Rabbi to say, ‘…
what it would be like to be a Palestinian family forced out of their home by
the Israeli Defence Forces (sometimes at night, and in the middle of winter)
and having to watch helplessly as IDF bulldozers demolish their house along
with most of their belongings and an olive grove, which is not only a source
of their livelihood, but also the work of many generations of husbandry.’
Instead he writes,
…what it would be like to be a Christian or Muslim facing the threat of death
because of their faith in Syria or Iraq.
Jews are not involved in the oppression of Christians and Muslim in Syria
and Iraq today. They are not the cause their shame. On the other hand, in the
case of Palestinian home demolition they, or at least the Israeli government,
is. The application of role reversal here might prove of benefit.
The usefulness of the exercise in any case remains clear. And no less for
those Christian NGOs urgently calling for reconciliation between Israel and
Palestine, saying: ‘While [we]… acknowledge the legitimate grievances of
both Israelis and Palestinians and the responsibility of participants on both
sides to stop any violence perpetrated against the other, we cannot ignore
the gross imbalance of power and resources in favour of Israel’ which is true,
certainly, within the borders of Israel. Israel, on the other hand, is surrounded
by Arab nations who for a time sought Israel’s annihilation. This position
was countermanded in the 90’s with a new agreed statement by the Arab
nations saying that Israel has a right to exist. However, Jews find this hard to
believe since the Arab media is still saturated with anti-Semitic sentiments,
which purport, for example, of having found genuine documents admitting
that Jews mix the blood of Islamic and/or Christian children when preparing
the dough of their matzos for Passover; or again, intercepted documents
written by ‘Jews’ which provide a grand scheme for a Jewish take-over the
world through political and economic domination. For purposes of inviting
us to role reversal, Dr Sacks documents these cases with strict reserve, but
also commendable accuracy. This is not paranoia; it is very well researched.
Yet we hear virtually nothing about this sort of thing in the Western press
nowadays.
There is a work to be done here, an important, urgent and vital work. But
clearly we are working against several generations of Islamic education,
made possible by Western petrodollars, which funded:
… networks of schools, madrasahs, university professorships and
departments, dedicated to … [fundamentalist] interpretations of Islam,
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