Healing Israel/Palestine: A Path to Peace and Reconciliation

By Rabbi Michael Lerner, Tikkun Books, 2003, 201 pp. List: $18; AET: $14.

Reviewed by Hugh S. Galford

Given the ongoing situation in Israel/Palestine, with its cycle of attack and counter-attack, the intractability of its leading players, and the escalating exasperation and despair, it is easy to fall into “the blame game.” In this courageous and thought-provoking work, Rabbi Michael Lerner presents facts and viewpoints that might allow all concerned with the situation—regardless of ideological or political suasion—to see the conflict more clearly, more fully, and with a renewed sense of optimism and strengthened resolve to search for a just solution.

Lerner, editor-in-chief of Tikkun magazine and leader of the San Francisco-based Tikkun Community, has accomplished the near-impossible in Healing Israel/Palestine. He presents a balanced view of the conflict in all its historical complexity and, more importantly, allows the reader into the mindset of both Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides, he holds, have valid claims against the other, and each bears responsibility for the impasse we have now reached.

Lerner begins his book by warning his readers that they will probably be disappointed with him. In attempting to present balance, he notes that many Jews and supporters of Israel will be shocked to find him treat the Palestinian side of the story as valid and just. Supporters of the Palestinians, he says, will probably feel that he overlooks or gives short shrift to Israeli actions against an occupied people. Regardless, Lerner boldly presents his thesis, citing the need for honesty to move forward.

The bulk of the book consists of an historical overview of the conflict and the decisions made by both sides. The first chapter looks at the histories of the peoples involved, and how their century-old counter-claims to the land were tied to their relations with Europe and European ideas of nationalism and state.

Chapter two provides a useful discussion of Zionism and of how the ideology gained primacy in the European Jewish world. As Lerner shows, Zionism was not the majority view of European Jews at its inception. Many European Jews did not see it as a valid or even realistic outlook. It was only in reaction to a spate of European anti-Semitism in the 1880-1920 period, growing out of the socio-economic stresses of the modern nation-state and the failures of capitalism, that the majority of European Jewry came to view Zionism as a necessity.

Chapters three through five chronicle the decisions taken over the last 55 years, and the mistakes made. Lerner spares no one criticism. David Ben-Gurion to Ariel Sharon, Hajj Amin Husseini to Yasser Arafat to Hamas are all faulted for decisions that yielded short-term gains but long-term grief and violence. Some of Lerner’s strongest criticism is directed at those involved in the Oslo effort: Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin, and later Peres, instead of making a powerful argument for building peace with the Palestinians, focused on maintaining peace with the Israeli Right. This double-speak—Rabin, Lerner notes, told his domestic Right that he signed an agreement, but really didn’t trust Arafat or the Palestinians—undercut Arafat’s ability to trust Israeli intentions and to implement changes within the Palestinian mindset. The Israeli Center’s attempt to co-opt the Right simply strengthened the latter, leading to the demonization (and assassination) of Rabin, the defeat of Peres, and the election of Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak (though Labor, still hawkish) and Sharon.

Lerner concludes his book with Tikkun's Initiative for Middle East Peace, a long but important chapter giving “answers to the hard questions”—the criticisms he has faced when presenting his views—and a list of recommended readings and organizations working for peace in the Middle East. Healing Israel/Palestine is not intended solely as a resource, but as a springboard to action: to reach out, understand, and cooperate in developing justice, peace and security for all in Israel/Palestine.

The strength of Healing Israel/Palestine is less in its political history than in the explanation of each side’s feelings of betrayal and pain. Especially given the polarized atmosphere of today’s debates, the ability to honestly and compassionately argue both sides of the story is nothing short of amazing. Lerner shows that this is possible, however—for all of us. He also shows that this is the only thing that will extract us from the current downward spiral of violence.

Trite as it may sound, for true peace, there must be justice, and justice can come about only through understanding the deepest feelings, fears and resentments of one’s opponent. Lerner’s book provides the materials, the spiritual framework, and the honest belief that this is possible, to allow everyone concerned to move forward. This is a book for everyone who cares about Israel/Palestine and its peoples.

Hugh S. Galford is director of the AET Book Club.