For years now, my colleagues and I at the American Task Force on Palestine have been arguing that everyone who believes in a negotiated end-of-conflict agreement in the Middle East that allows for two states, Israel and Palestine, to live side-by-side in peace need to form a real, functioning national coalition to support this goal.
Until now, all such efforts have been limited for numerous reasons. First of all, the most interested parties, specifically Jewish-American friends of Israel and Arab-American supporters of Palestine, have been alienated by decades of mistrust. Historically, most American Jews and Arabs have largely seen each other through the distorted lens of a zero-sum perspective, assuming that what is good for Israel is necessarily bad for the Palestinians and vice versa, and that this extends to their respective supporters in the United States.
If this was ever true, it certainly isn't now. As President Obama has pointed out, such a peace agreement is Israel's interest, in Palestine's interest, in the United States interest, and in the world's interest. It may seem counterintuitive to some, and certainly runs counter to years of simplistic assumptions, but Israelis and Palestinians need the same thing: a workable peace agreement based on two states. It follows therefore that their supporters in the United States should be able to find common cause in pursuing this goal.
President Obama has put a great deal of his own political credibility and capital on the line in pursuit of this noble aim, clearly and forcefully articulating what all parties must do to build momentum towards the needed peace agreement. He has stated plainly that Palestinians need to move on security measures and combating incitement, that Israel must end settlements and avoid measures that preclude Palestinian statehood, and that the Arab states need to become more involved in the peace process. These important principles and concrete measures to actually implement them on all the parties ought to be supported by everyone who agrees with the goal of peace in the Middle East. It is fine for supporters of Israel to reiterate what is required of the Palestinians and what is needed from the Arab states, but they cannot remain silent about Israel's commitments. There is no reason for supporters of Palestine to hold back on insisting that Israel live up to its obligations under the roadmap as President Obama is requiring, but they cannot ignore Palestinian responsibilities either. Everyone with ties and relationships to the Arab governments should similarly be pressing them to do everything they can to support the President’s initiative and seize this extraordinary, historic opportunity. We all have a responsibility and a role to play.
Jewish and Arab Americans cannot allow their past differences and historical competition to impede what is plainly become a common imperative in supporting the President's bold moves on peace. It's perfectly true that they are used to seeing each other only as competitors and rivals, but these long-standing prejudices and misperceptions need to be jettisoned forthwith if we are to truly play the role we must. No two groups in the United States care more about what happens between Israel and the Palestinians than Jewish and Arab Americans. No one in the United States has deeper ties, more connections, or more sophisticated understandings of the history, realities and perceptions that motivate both parties to the conflict. We cannot leave this to the government alone. We must play our role in civil society, by living up to our responsibilities as citizens in engaging with our own government and those in the Middle East with whom we identify, and doing everything we can to support these extremely positive developments.
To fully live up to this historic opportunity, these two communities need to do everything they can to make common cause on this issue. Now is the time to put aside tribalism, simplistic ethnic identification, and communal defensiveness, and reach out to each other in pursuit of an all-important common interest. Much has been said and done in the past to fuel a sense of rivalry and alienation between the Jewish and Arab American communities. This history has left deep scars, but it needs to be consigned to the past and moved beyond with all dispatch in order to achieve urgent mutual interests. Past actions and statements ought to be properly seen as irrelevant to the present task, and need not be forgotten or forgiven, but must be placed to one side in pursuit of a peace agreement that transcends by far in importance any past differences, slights and transgressions. Sincere, responsible people of goodwill in both communities can demonstrate their constructive intentions first of all by actively combating those among their own brethren who would oppose peace and continue to advocate rejectionism, violence, occupation and conflict.
It is perfectly true that there are many Jewish-Americans who remain suspicious that Arab and Arab-American support for peace based on two states is merely the first step in a "plan of phases," intended ultimately to lead to the destruction of Israel. Certainly there are many Arab-Americans who have yet to be convinced that Israelis and their supporters who say they who favor peace negotiations are not simply trying to help buy time to build more settlements and consolidate the occupation so that no Palestinian state will ever be possible in the occupied territories. In other words, while most people in both communities say they want the same thing, many do not believe each other. They are sure of their own sincerity, but extremely dubious about the sincerity and intentions of those on the other side of the ethnic divide. However, rather than assuming at the outset that the other party is lying and playing some kind of elaborate game of deception, surely it would make more sense to test the waters and see if it is not possible that, because Israelis and Palestinians need the same thing, their respective friends in the United States also honestly and sincerely wish to work in that direction. Is it inconceivable that Jewish-American friends of Israel and Arab-American supporters of Palestine are actually supportive of the same goal even though they often fail to recognize this reality because it contradicts traditional assumptions and seems, to many people, counterintuitive? We believe that this is in fact the case.
It is necessary, of course, to test each other's sincerity, but this can only be done through active engagement and a sustained effort to forge a serious alliance based on common interests. But, it is neither necessary nor helpful to try to analyze each other's motivations, or insist that competing and possibly irreconcilable narratives and political analyses become harmonized. It should be understood from the outset that, just as Israelis and Palestinians require the same peace agreement for their own purposes and not out of any abiding affection for each other, their friends and supporters in the United States will have very differing motivations for joining a national coalition in support of a two-state agreement. One of the greatest virtues of a two-states arrangement, and what makes it plausibly realizable, is that in fact it does not require Israelis and Palestinians to reconcile their narratives. Each society can then live in its own state, with internal minority groups, and forge its future according to its own understandings, needs and imperatives.
Jewish and Arab Americans similarly need not agree on the history of the conflict, who did what to whom, how to apportion blame for the present situation, or any other implausible forms of reconciliation. All they need do is agree that it is in the American national interest, and the national interests of their friends in the Middle East, to achieve a reasonable peace agreement based on two states. It is enough to seriously and sincerely agree on this point to build a single-issue coalition in order to pursue that goal. Differently motivated parties pursue the same aims in ad hoc informal coalitions in the American political system all the time. Indeed, that is how most major change is accomplished: differently interested parties agreeing for varying reasons on the same goal.
We should not only be increasing our efforts at outreach and dialogue, since more concrete measures are now called for and the political space opened up by President Obama's bold moves on peace will require more than tentative steps for support if it is to succeed. Responsible organizations and individuals should be thinking in terms of joint projects, statements and efforts in pursuit of peace and to support the President’s initiatives. It may well be time for the most mainstream and politically significant Arab and Jewish Americans to think about developing a formal statement of principles or some other defining document or coalition that can guide and give shape to a real, effective and powerful national coalition for a two-state agreement in the Middle East. Obviously there are many other parties that can and should be brought into these efforts at the earliest possible date, including church and other religious organizations, other peace oriented organizations, and corporate entities with a stake in Middle East peace. There is a need for such a coalition to be broader than simply a Jewish-Arab American alliance in favor of peace, however cooperation between these two uniquely interested and engaged communities must be the essential backdrop if any serious and sustained effort of this kind is to be successful.
It is now time to stop merely thinking and talking about joint efforts, and actually develop a national coalition for Middle East peace. The urgency and intensity of President Obama's political and diplomatic emphasis on building momentum towards peace is an extraordinary, possibly unique, and perhaps even final opportunity for Jewish and Arab Americans who both say they want peace in the Middle East based on a two-state agreement to begin seriously working together to achieve this result. The President is doing his part. It is now up to all of us who agree with him to do ours.
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