Gaza -- Three Takes on a Grim Situation
We struggled this week to find something appropriate, productive, or helpful to do or say about the grim situation in the Gaza Strip. We are not alone; I have not seen very much from other American Jewish organizations, perhaps because the facts on the ground keep changing and the prescription for progress is far from clear.
AIPAC, for example, published a new policy memo this week, highlighting the actions of Hamas (including, they report, preexisting plans to blow up the wall on Gaza’s border with Egypt) and answering some of the more damming charges against Israel.
In a statement released today, Americans for Peace Now calls for a “new way forward:”
This new way forward should include ending the blockade of Gaza. It should also include urgent diplomatic efforts to address the security challenges associated with Gaza. In particular, Israel should explore the possibility of achieving understandings with Hamas to end the violence, including a ceasefire or a "hudna," either through direct contacts or via third parties, including President Abbas.
Perhaps it’s a sign of the difficulty of the hour, but I find myself agreeing with most of what both AIPAC and APN have to say!
But perhaps the best takes on the siltation I have read is
by my friend Daniel
Levy. Writing on his blog, Prospects for Peace, Daniel offers
a characteristically systematic analysis of the situation, and concludes that
the top priority now should be a cease-fire:
“The alternative is not only more human suffering and the continued pursuit of an ethically very un-Jewish collective punishment of the Gazan population but also the risk that an escalatory cycle keeps escalating, dragging everyone into a wider clash. As today’s Egyptian border crossing events prove, what happens in Gaza will not stay in Gaza.”