Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 1987, pages 22-23

Seeing the Light

Ibrahim and Daniel

By Dan Bloom

I am an American Jew who shares the belief, with many other American Jews, that a just and equitable peace must come to the Middle East. I am not pro-Israeli and I am not pro-Arab. I am pro-peace, pro-justice.

I was born in 1949 and, like many American Jews who grew up after Israel became a state, I spent many hours learning about Israel, studying maps of Israel, learning Hebrew, and even sending pennies and dimes to Israel to build and plant forests in the desert areas. Israel became for me, and most of my contemporaries, a familiar place, and idealized place, a utopian place.

Then in 1969 I visited Israel during my junior year in college, staying with relatives in Tel Aviv and at a youth hostel in Jerusalem. I visited Bethlehem and Beersheba and Haifa, too. I read the newspapers. I spoke with both Israelis and Arabs. I watched television and I read up on the history of this "land of milk and honey" from which my forbears had come 2,000 years ago.

The American Jewish community is not of one mind on these issues, or of one voice. There are many American Jews like myself who are not Zionists and are not anti-Arab. Like me, they are pro-peace.

And then in Rome, a few weeks later, I met an Egyptian student of my own age, from Cairo. We spent an entire afternoon speaking about the Middle East and about our hopes for peace there. We disagreed about some things, but we agreed about many things. A friendship was born, across cultures, across national boundaries, across religious faiths. Ibrahim and Daniel talked of many things, but the most important thing we agreed upon was that by the year 1994 there should be peace in the Middle East.

"Twenty-five years from today," we both agreed, and shook hands and embraced.

How this peace will be achieved I do not know.

But I do know this: I am an independent American Jew. I read the newspapers and the magazines and the history books and I make up my own mind. When Israel makes a mistake in policy or judgement, I am not afraid to speak up and say so. When Arab countries make mistakes, I also am compelled to speak up. As I said, I am for peace and justice. I do not favor any one nation over another. We must all learn to respect the rights, the cultures, the religions, and the national aspirations of each other, be we Arabs or Jews, Israelis or Palestinians, Americans or Jordanians.

Whatever happened in the past lies in the past, and we must all learn to understand it and analyze it and come to terms with it. Where there was injustice, we must say there was injustice. Where there is ethnic stereotyping, we must speak out and confront this ethnic stereotyping, be it of Arabs or of Jews. Where there is disinformation, we must seek out the correct information. Where there is propaganda and manipulation, we must seek out the truth and accept it.

In Rome a friendship was born, across cultures, across national boundaries, across religious faiths. Ibrahim and Daniel agreed that there must be peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

As a child I brought my pennies to Sunday School to help plant forests in Israel. Those were my innocent days. Today I feel compelled to speak out for a negotiated, just, peaceful settlement of the Middle East crisis—a peace that speaks fairly and equitably to both the Palestinians and the Israelis, a peace that recognizes the histories and aspirations of both peoples.

I am pro-life: Palestinian life and Israeli life. The American-Jewish community is not of one mind on these issues, or of one voice. There are many American Jews like myself, who came of age in the 50's, 60's and 70's, and who are not Zionists and are not anti-Arab. Like me, they are pro-peace and not afraid to say so.

Daniel Halevi Bloom is a newspaper editor in Juneau, Alaska.

"Seeing the Light" is a regular feature in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Readers are invited to send in their own accounts of a personal experience or experiences that cut through the mythology and misinformation that underlie the "conventional wisdom" about the Middle East.

SIDEBAR

Arab Women's Council Essay Contest

The Arab Women's Council is sponsoring an essay contest on the topic "The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Solution" for high school junior and seniors. The three best essays will earn a fully paid trip to the Middle East for the winning students and sponsoring teachers. Submissions must be received by April 20, 1988. Register by Feb. 15, 1988 by writing AWC Research and Education Fund, PO Box 39181, Washington, DC 20016.