Washington Report, November 1988, Page 15

Focus on Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

Newton Residents Vote on Mideast Peace Question

On November 8, residents of Newton—an affluent suburb of Boston—will be voting on referendum Question 5 which asks if the United States government should support: the principle of self-determination for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples; the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip next to Israel; and security for Israel and the Palestinian state.

Question 5 was sponsored by the Newton Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, a group founded by this writer and made up of both Jews and Palestinians, most of them from Newton.

The Newton Committee placed this question on the ballot to stimulate discussion on United States policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to show policy makers that voters, even in areas like the 11th Middlesex State Legislative District, where this ballot question will appear, and where nearly half of the residents are Jewish, support the national rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.

The Newton Committee argues that "because of its extremely close relationship with Israel and its ties with other Mideast states, the United States is uniquely positioned to move the stalled Mideast peace process forward and to help negotiate an end to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. " According to Roger Hurwitz, one of the leaders of the group, "The Newton initiative does not ask if the US should impose a peace settlement on the Arabs and Israelis. Nor does it attempt to circumvent direct negotiations between the parties. It does ask Newton residents if the US should support self-determination for both peoples—a policy which is just, fair, and will work."

The Newton Mideast peace question has been confused by the press at times with another ballot question on the Middle East, which will appear in nearby Cambridge (and parts of Somerville). This question, sponsored by the Coalition for Palestinian Rights, asks voters if Congress and the president should "demand that Israel end its violations of Palestinian human rights and its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; stop all expenditure of US taxpayers' money for the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; and favor the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with peace for all states in the region including Israel."

The Newton Committee insists that the two questions are quite different the Newton question focuses on US recognition of both Israeli and Palestinian nationalism, not on Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. And the Newton question says nothing at all about a cut in aid to Israel.

Members of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), an umbrella group made up of most Jewish organizations in the Boston area, have spoken out against both the Newton and the Cambridge ballot questions. Sheila Decter, director of the New England region of the American Jewish Congress, condemned the "vitriolic language in the Cambridge resolution," but told Boston's weekly Jewish Advocate she had problems with both referenda because they do not address "direct negotiations."

An Advocate editorial urged its readers in Newton and Cambridge to vote against both resolutions, which the newspaper said "stem from the same kind of muddled thinking." It criticized Mujid Kazimi, a Palestinian member of the Newton Committee, for "revealing the true agenda of the two-state solution," which it said "is still regarded by many if not most Palestinians as merely the first step in the 'total liberation of Palestine."' A week earlier, an Advocate news article had quoted Kazimi, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a past president of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG), calling the two-state solution a "logical way" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Some local political leaders from Newton and Cambridge have created a new organization—Americans for Mideast Peace—which opposes both ballot questions. Congressmen Barney Frank, who represents Newton, and Joe Kennedy, who represents Cambridge, are co-chairmen of the group. Frank, who himself supports a "demilitarized Palestinian entity in Gaza and parts of the West Bank," called the Cambridge question "egregiously flawed" and "biased in the extreme in its discussion of human rights."

Frank found fault with the Newton referendum for "failing to recognize Israel's right to maintain a unified Jerusalem as its capital" and for "singling out Israel for criticism of its policies while remaining silent ... on the moral and political shortcomings in the policies of many of Israel's neighbors."

Dr. Henry Bader, a research chemist active in the Newton Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, says he is discouraged that Barney Frank—one of the most liberal Jewish members of Congress—is opposing the Newton ballot question. "The fact that Frank has come out against Question 5 is part of what I see as the bulldozing of American public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian issue," said Bader, a holocaust survivor born in Warsaw, Poland. "But I feel compelled to speak out on this issue. Any Jew who has eyes and honestly assesses the situation in Israel should speak out clearly and directly right now. This is what Question 5 is doing. If you see a house on fire you don't look right or left but straight ahead. Israel is a house on fire."

Andrea Barron is a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at the American University in Washington, DC, and is a member of the Jewish Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.