Walling off the covenant : Jewish identity in the = 21st century

Opinion

Walling=20 off the covenant : Jewish identity in the 21st century =

Several months ago my new book arrived in the = bookstore,=20 and I am wondering whether its arrival was already too = late.=20 The subject matter is Israel and Palestine and the = work=20 carries two subtitles. The first, Out of the Ashes, is = easily=20 understood with the situation on the ground in the = Middle East=20 as it is today.
During the last year Israel has=20 re-occupied the West Bank and Gaza has been cut off = from the=20 world. Earlier statements by President George W. Bush = that=20 demanded Israel=92s withdrawal to previously held = positions have=20 been ignored. All the while, and again recently, = Palestinian=20 suicide bombers have struck deep within Israel, a = place once=20 felt invulnerable despite the turmoil outside.
The = =93road=20 map=94 to peace is exploding. Death is now the daily = fare.=20
For some time, and I am not alone here among my = fellow=20 Jews, I have been feeling an array of emotions: anger = at the=20 violence that seems to have no end and a feeling of = betrayal=20 by my own community=92s participation in policies = which were, in=20 another age and in different circumstances, carried = out=20 against us. Ghettoization of an entire people, = collective=20 punishment for the resistance of the few, a pretense = to=20 innocence when the actions involved are against = international=20 law and a moral tradition embraced for centuries by = the Jewish=20 people are difficult to accept as a person of = conscience and=20 as a Jew.
The =93security=94 wall being built = around=20 Palestinian population centers in the West Bank = continues=20 unabated, unmentioned by the diplomats. This concrete = wall=20 stands over seven meters high. It features sniper = towers and=20 barbed wire. This wall should remind Jews of other = times and=20 places in Jewish history.
I, again with other = Jews, have=20 been disappointed by the reaction of those who would = call=20 themselves Jewish leaders. Their voices have only = called for=20 unity against an =93uncivilized=94 foe and for loving = rather than=20 criticizing the state of Israel. Unfortunately, there = is more.=20 Especially in America, Jewish leaders have begun a = campaign=20 against Jews of conscience who dare to say that they = oppose=20 Israeli policies, that the occupation, instead of = being=20 expanded, must end, and that the actions of Israeli = armed=20 forces are not done in our name.
In fact, dissent = among=20 Jews is flourishing, providing some of the most = gripping=20 dissent against injustice found anywhere in the world. = I take=20 solace in this amazing resilience and other dissenters = against=20 injustice should take heart. But self-congratulation, = even=20 when pursued by those who seek to impose a wall of = silence, is=20 short-sighted. The horrible truth is that our dissent = is only=20 a token and one decidedly without political or = military power.=20 Palestinians and Israelis are dying in a cycle of = violence,=20 occupation and atrocity and Jews of conscience are = left only=20 with the pen, the computer and essay. And the recently = arrived=20 book.
Thus the second subtitle: The Search for = Jewish=20 Identity in the 21st Century. Jews of conscience ask = what will=20 be left of Jewish life and ethics if the occupation = continues=20 and somehow becomes permanent. Or perhaps Israel has = already=20 conquered Palestine and only the disposition of = millions of=20 Palestinians awaits a final agreement.
What kind = of Jewish=20 identity will flourish now? Does the wall imprisoning=20 Palestinians mirror the wall of injustice that lies = only=20 inches below our own history of struggle and = suffering? Can we=20 embrace and argue our Jewishness absent justice and = ethics at=20 the center of our identity?
I know that discussion = of=20 Jewish identity will not lift us out of the ashes. = What will?=20 We all have our presumed solutions to the = Israeli-Palestinian=20 conflict. Do we need more conferences, more national = foreign=20 policy initiatives, more international resolutions? Is = there=20 anything more to say, write or resolve about the issue = that=20 has eluded Jews and Palestinians, indeed the entire = world, for=20 more than half a century?
We know that Jewish = identity has=20 become more and more militarized. Does discussing this = militarization, as Jews of conscience often do, help = us as a=20 people face our history and this change? Or does it = simply=20 widen a gulf between Jewish leadership and Jews of = conscience=20 until the gulf is too wide and a division within = Judaism=20 becomes the norm?
The recently concluded Iraq war = is very=20 much on our minds and again Jews, as many in America, = are=20 divided on the issue. The cycle of violence and = atrocity=20 continues.
I cannot help but wonder what will = happen to=20 Palestinians now, after the Iraq war and the failure = of the=20 latest peace process. Will they be forgotten by Jews = and the=20 world? Will their fate concern us less? Will their = struggle=20 for freedom be seen as a form of terrorism and = therefore share=20 the same fate as Afghanistan and Iraq? Will Jews of = conscience=20 be seen as aiding and abetting terrorism if they stand = in=20 solidarity with the Palestinian people?
Will Jews = allow=20 the wall of separation to be completed? That wall now = is at=20 the center of Jewish life, defining us as a people who = have=20 chosen violence, complicity and silence. What will = happen to=20 those Jews who say no to the wall the wall of = denial=20 and who speak up even as they are exiled from = Jewish=20 life?
Some time ago I suggested that we replace = the Torah=20 in the Ark of the Covenant with helicopter gunships. = Since=20 military power defines Jewish life, we should be = honest about=20 what we worship. If we worship power and might and = remain=20 silent about injustice then we should be acknowledge = that=20 choice. At the most meaningful moment of worship we = should bow=20 before that which secures us. Does the covenant secure = us or=20 do the helicopter gunships that hover over Palestinian = cities=20 and refugee camps? Torah or helicopter gunships? =
Now we=20 should add to the Ark a wall. Or perhaps the Ark = should be a=20 wall within which the helicopter gunship is placed. = Like the=20 wall of separation, a sniper tower must also be = visible. What=20 is a wall without the means to protect those on the = other side=20 of the wall from those who attempt to enter beyond its = boundary? Do the soldiers in the sniper tower protect = the=20 Jewish people like the Torah was supposed to protect = us? Do=20 they guard the covenant? Do they guard the Jewish = people? Do=20 they guard God?
The covenant is no longer with us. = It has=20 fled the injustice and violence of our community. I = wonder if=20 the covenant is to be found within the wall of = separation and=20 exploitation, among the Palestinian people who suffer = daily.=20
I cannot help but think that my book has arrived = too late.=20 Yet the message remains. As does the calling of the = covenant,=20 a covenant without walls and sniper towers.

Marc H. Ellis is a professor of American = and=20 Jewish Studies and Director of the Center for American = and=20 Jewish Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. = His book=20 Israel and Palestine: Out of the Ashes, the Search for = Jewish=20 Identity in the 21st Century, is published by Pluto = Press. He=20 wrote this commentary for The Daily Star=20

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DS=20 = 21/06/03

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