Israel Matzav: Seize the initiative

Seize the initiative

The following is a guest post from Michael Fenenbock.

In Los Angeles recently Daphne and I had an opportunity to breakfast with Martin Sherman.

Professor Sherman has proposed a compelling, workable, pragmatic alternative to 2-State. And his proposal has an eye-catching curtain raiser – get rid of UNRWA.

My view is we must forcefully project an alternative vision of the future, a pragmatic option to 2-state. And now more than ever.

The current state-of-play is alarming. The situation is dire. The threat to the Zionist enterprise from the imposition of 2-State is immediate. The unceasing pressure from the Obama Administration on the Jewish State is myopic. The need to respond is urgent.

Very soon the Obama Administration plans to submit a “peace plan” centered on 2-state and calling for a partition of Jerusalem. They have already sent former President Bill Clinton out front to clear the way. Publicizing Senator Kerry’s negotiation with Damascus to halt a missle allocation to Hezbollah is part of the game plan. Spin designed to neutralize Jewish American resistance to the Obama plan. And President Obama’s smarmy letter to Alan Solow, an Obama supporter and chairman of the Conference of Presidents, of is more of the same.

Believe it. The train to 2-state is roaring down the track and its due date is before the November American election. 2-state is the sin qua non of their foreign policy.

Unless we propose – and seriously market to the world - alternatives to 2-state we will continue be labeled by world opinion as obstructionist.

The stakes could not be higher. If we fail to stop the rush to 2-state we will certainly forfeit the central touchstone of our history our culture and our religion – we will lose Jerusalem.

While differing in detail with alternatives to 2-state advanced by Arieh Eldad and Benny Elon, the important fact is Martin Sherman has placed on the table a rational alternative.

Much of this looming tragedy is of our own making. Leaders in Israel and the Diaspora continue to publicly position themselves as in support of a 2-state solution. The Prime Minister finds himself locked in this in this dead-end trap.

And while I applaud Ron Lauder’s recent statement it repeated the party line on 2-state.

This course of action, saying we are for 2-state, must be reversed.

Those of us who oppose 2-state must make our voices heard and if we do friends will join our fight.

Promoting rational, pragmatic alternatives to 2-state arms us with a powerful political weapon in this battle. It allows us to seize the initiative in the debate. It provides an opportunity to reclaim lost momentum. It means we can go on the offensive.

If we call for an alternative view we will have friends who will stand with us in opposition to the imposition of 2-state. Powerful friends.

I recommend Martin Sherman and his work personally. And I strongly associate myself with the need to present to the world a rational 2-state alternative.

Those of us who are of a disposition to fight 2-state and to do our best to see the culmination of the Zionist dream have a responsibility to our history and a duty to future Jewish generations. We can only benefit by uniting our efforts and pooling our resources.

Standing together it is possible to make our voices heard.

Michael Fenenbock

New York

April 22, 2010

Indeed.

And the biggest argument for two-state - which is a lie - is the so called 'demographic threat.' I've done lots of posts about why that's a lie. Search the archives (mostly under the name "Yoram Ettinger" who has done most of the work on that issue).

Israel Matzav: Seize the initiative