Envisioning Success in Annapolis
From Reb Zalman:
“It seems to me that all of us need to exert our hope and faith for the success of the negotiations in Annapolis this week. We should hold the image of a Middle East that has healed from its deep wounds. On both sides the narrative has to be changed radically.
“The atavistic reinforcement of reptilian brain reactivity cannot be changed by the mere ‘rational’ cortex language, the type of language that will be used during that conference.
“It is not likely that the shift will happen without a spiritual transparency to the will of God and the healing of the planet.
“There’s a missing ingredient, not to be found in any discussions of the peace issue from either side. That ingredient is the recognition of a benefit of having the other as neighbor.
“At the moment, the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank (also, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon), do not seem to see any benefit in having the democratic state of Israel as a neighbor in their midst. And Israel also does not seem to see a benefit of having an Arab/Muslim/Palestinian state as an intrinsic entity either.
“Until this vision is added added, the discussions will lack something crucial, negatively influencing the likelihood of a peaceful outcome.
“With the Palestinians not having agreed for themselves that there might be a benefit in having Israel as a Democratic state as their neighbor, the Palestinians will feel they have nothing to gain in negotiations other than trying to overcome the reluctance of Israel to disappear, and since this will not likely happen, they will therefore feel themselves forced to adjust their basic stated objective all of which will cause the peace work not to succeed. So before a successful outcome is possible, the vision of the Palestinians has to change and come to terms with the existence of Israel in their midst. Otherwise, the meeting will turn out as a series of posturings.
“And the same holds for Israel. Israel must see a benefit in the existence of an Arab/Muslim/Palestinian state in an intrinsic way. With Israel not having agreed for itself that there might be a benefit of an Arab/Muslim/Palestinian state, Israel will feel it has nothing to gain in negotiations other than a temporary respite from bombings and attacks. But, this objective is not enough as a going-in position. Entering into the negotiations with only this objective will not lead to the hoped-for outcome. It certainly would be a benefit for Israel if those Arabs who would like to live in their own state, one that they could govern for themselves, thus removing a demographic liability for Israel, could do so. But just trying to reduce the bombings will not provide enough incentive to show the kinds of concessions and adjustments which would be necessary for peace.
“So there must be a deep change of orientation on both sides, one which will lead to the ability of success, of mutual benefit, of neighborliness in which both sides would see at the end of the negotiations a viable and sustainable win-win situation. It would be of benefit for Israel to be on neighborly terms with people who could augment their workforce and offer agricultural and other products to Israel. In the same way it would be of benefit for the Palestinians to have free trade with Israel to harden their currency with the wages earned in Israel and to have access to the medical, financial, technical and scientific opportunities that are available in Israel.
“So it is not only the cessation of belligerence that needs to be the aim of the conversations there but also an ability to begin to conceptualize the dream of the United States Of The Middle East with Jerusalem internationalized (and the UN relocating there). Or if not now, at least we can look toward the creation of a free trade zone as a first step.
“The question of course is that it might be easier to convince Israelis to let go of the territory inhabited by Palestinian/Muslim/Arabs and thus save herself much friction and difficulties. It is still a long way off before one can count on the vision of the benefit of Israel for the Palestinians and their neighbors.
“So please join with me and exert your hope and faith for the success of the negotiations in Annapolis this week. We should hold the image of a Middle East that has healed from its deep wounds. It is not likely that the shift will happen without a spiritual transparency to the will of God and the healing of the planet.”
Please Share any thoughts or comments that will help us all in our visioning work for a peaceful Middle East. Gabbai Seth Fishman (BLOG Editor)
November 28th, 2007 at 10:50 am
For some comments regarding this post, please see http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/hopes-for-peace.html