Letters to the editor March 10
Zionist hopes at stake
There is a lot of concern in the Jewish community about whether the Netanyahu government will go down in history for its failed leadership on the peace issue. At stake are the hopes of Zionists, like those in J Street, who work for a democratic Jewish homeland beside a Palestinian state.
Tzipi Livni is not the only one to voice those fears, for they are being echoed in Jewish communities across the country. The five opposition members of the Israeli parliament from the Kadima and Labor parties found a sympathetic audience when they spoke about their worries to the 2,500 attendees at the national J Street gathering in Washington last week, covered in the Chronicle only by a JTA dispatch (March 3).
The world has been promised another speech, perhaps like the one Prime Minister Netanyahu gave at Bar Ilan University in June 2009, embracing a two-state solution. No one doubts Netanyahu's gift for speechmaking. More rhetoric, however, will not be enough to seize this historic moment. Concrete steps are necessary. The terms of a settlement are well known, involving borders, security and land swaps. As the strongest military power in the region, Israel has an obligation to exercise its leadership.
Daniel P. Resnick