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M.J. Rosenberg is Director of Policy Analysis for , a long time Capitol Hill staffer and former editor of AIPAC's Near East Report.
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By M.J. Rosenberg
September 23, 2005
It's a play on words in Hebrew.
The Israeli far right is denouncing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for trading "territories for carpets."
By that they mean that Sharon's evacuation of Gaza did not represent "land for peace" but land for international acceptance (i.e. red carpets). In Hebrew, the words for carpets (shtichim) and for territories (shtachim) are almost identical.
Besides not being funny, the concept behind the joke is way off. Sharon did not divest Israel of Gaza to get the red carpet treatment abroad. He gave up Gaza because retaining it diminished rather than added to Israel's security. By turning Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority, Sharon significantly reduced Israel's demographic problems and also saved future generations of Israeli soldiers from fighting and dying to hold on to land of no strategic value.
But there is no denying that getting out of Gaza has strengthened Israel's diplomatic standing. Chasing after red carpets was not the reason Sharon got out but those carpets represent a very positive by-product of Gaza disengagement.
Dismissing the value of diplomatic contacts is not only ridiculous but utterly at variance with Zionism which, from the very beginning, was dedicated to obtaining international support for a Jewish State.
Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement, dedicated his life to getting major powers to support the Zionist goal. He spent his last years banging on doors seeking acceptance of Zionism from the Czar, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the British government.
He failed. But thirteen years after his death the British issued the Balfour Declaration which put the Jewish people on the road to statehood. Thirty years later the United Nations General Assembly issued Israel's birth certificate.
Israel's flag unfurled at UN in 1948. Insignificant?
Unfortunately, for most of its post-independence history, Israel has been isolated internationally. As the Palestinians gained recognition without statehood, Israel found itself losing recognition despite statehood. This trend accelerated greatly after the 1967 war with the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza serving as reason or pretext for keeping Israel at a distance.
Isolated diplomatically, Israel also suffered the loss of markets. Add to that the effect of the Arab boycott of Israel (and of businesses trading with Israel), and Israel's isolation seriously damaged the Israeli people. Yes, Israel made remarkable strides despite international ostracism, but it would have done far better if it hadn't been so unfairly shunned.
Then came Oslo. Nowadays it is conventional wisdom to call the Oslo period a disaster for Israel. That simply is not so. The last three years of Oslo were not only the safest years in Israel's history (with virtually no terror), they were also the years that Israel rebuilt its relations with the nations of the world.
Following Israel's recognition of the Palestinian right to seek statehood in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel established diplomatic relations with nine non-Arab Muslim states and with 32 of the 43 Sub-Saharan African states. Israel opened trade relations with both India and China and, most important of all, achieved the full normalization of relations with Jordan.
Foreign investment soared. The Arab boycott ended.
The most graphic demonstration of the diplomatic benefits Oslo provided to Israel were demonstrated at Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's funeral ten years ago this November, which rivaled President Kennedy's and Pope John Paul II's funerals in terms of international representation. Leaders from virtually every nation came to pay homage to Rabin. From President Clinton and Prince Charles to President Hosni Mubarak, King Hussein, and the leaders of every country in Europe, most of Africa and Asia (including India and China), Latin America, Turkey, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, and Tunisia.
They came because Yitzhak Rabin had embraced the cause of peace with the Palestinian and because he was viewed as one of the truly great figures of our time. The homage to Rabin was a clear demonstration ? as was the opening of trade and diplomatic relations ? that Israel was not being shunned by the civilized world because it is a Jewish state but because of opposition to the continuing conflict with the Palestinians. Once Rabin moved to end the conflict, he ended Israel's isolation as well. (If the problem was undying Jew-hatred, neither Oslo nor Rabin would have affected Israel's standing).
Some of the post-1993 gains have disappeared since the collapse of Oslo in 2000. Nevertheless, Israel remains stronger in the international community today than before Oslo -- although relations are considerably more tenuous than in the days following Rabin's opening to the Palestinians.
It was the Gaza withdrawal which provided a needed boost to Israel's standing. That was evident at the United Nations last week.
Today's Forward puts it like this. "In a whirlwind week of diplomatic breakthroughs, the United Nations General Assembly Hall ? not known to Israelis as friendly territory ? gave warm applause to a speech by Israel's prime minister, the once-reviled Ariel Sharon. Days later, the assembly hall was gaveled to order by Israel's own ambassador to hear a speech by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
"In between, leaders from dozens of nations lined up to meet the two Israelis. Among them were the foreign ministers of a dozen Arab and Muslim nations, including several that had not agreed previously to open contact with Israelis. This group was led by the most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia."
Perhaps most significant was Ariel Sharon's remarkable meeting at the United Nations between Prime Minister Sharon and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. The Sharon-Musharaff handshake, followed by Musharraf's speech to the American Jewish Congress (which did great work in advancing the Israeli-Pakistani connection) , helped moved Israel -- and the Jewish people -- away from the possibility that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be transformed into a conflict of civilizations between fourteen million Jews and 1.3 billion Muslims.
That frightening possibility, fueled by the political alliance between some Indian-American and some Jewish-American organizations, was reduced by the AJC's decision to reach out to Pakistan. Jews have enough problems without taking sides on matters relating to the subcontinent and the meeting with Musharraf demonstrated that Jews and Muslims can and should build positive relationships despite differences over Israel and Palestine.
It wouldn't have happened without Gaza withdrawal.
Musharraf said that his diplomatic overture was "in response to the bold step taken by Prime Minister Sharon to withdraw from Gaza," and that Pakistan had "decided to initiate an official contact with Israel."
But he added that further progress would be contingent on the state of the peace process. "As the peace process progresses towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, we will take further steps toward normalization and cooperation, looking to full diplomatic relations," he said.
For some, better relations with Pakistan and Indonesia ? as well as with India and China ? are worthless, or worth less than a few settlements in Gaza.
But those who know anything about Jewish history will understand the danger of Israeli (and Jewish) isolation. America is a great friend of Israel. But Israel needs more than one friend.
Some supporters of Israel argue that isolation is Israel's destiny. For them, the world is always going to be a hostile place and Jews and Israel can have no affect over the level of that hostility. "The whole world hates the Jews," is the mantra.
But Zionism was never about embracing isolation as a destiny. It was about reversing it, creating a nation among nations, not a ghetto.
The Torah's Book of Numbers refers to Jews as the "people that dwelleth alone." But as Rabbi Israel Singer reminds us, that phrase was not a prescription and certainly not a blessing. It was, and remains, a curse.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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