Politicians and lobbyists stand in the way of peace

Many of us sincerely feel that the majority of people everywhere are decent and fair. If the will of the people was in fact represented in the sham “democratically elected” governments of the world, we would live in a far more peaceful and equitable world.

I read a piece on Haaretz.com a while back that underscored that belief, and it said something about the basic goodness that lies at the heart of humanity. Harvard University’s Kennedy Law School conducted a poll in Israel, and asked respondents if they would like Israel to be “a society in which Arab and Jewish citizens have mutual respect and equal opportunities.” 73% of Jews and 94% of Arabs said that yes, they would indeed like their society to be one of equal opportunity and shared respect for one another.

I emailed AIPAC months ago because I wanted to ask them a couple of questions. The first question that I wanted to ask was why they think that their agenda is necessarily consistent with the will of all or even most Jews, in Israel and around the world. They did not respond to my request, but this poll implies what I have suspected all along. There is adequate desire within both the Arab and Jewish communities in Israel for respectful and equitable co-existence. It is a powerful minority that prevents it, and AIPAC represents this minority here in America.

Two-thirds of Jews polled said that they agreed that “contributing to co-existence was a personal responsibility.” A similar number supported the teaching of conversational Arabic in Jewish schools to foster improved communication and a deeper sense of cross-cultural understanding.

The challenge inherent in the Israeli/Palestinian situation has always been clearly evident, but an enormous opportunity exists as well. If all of the people in Israel and Palestine can live together with equal opportunity and respect for one another, the rest of the world will see that where there is a sense of human decency and personal responsibility, a new paradigm of lasting peace is possible.