Mike Berger (”Of rhetoric and ‘resistance”’, December 14 2001) clouds the issues around the Declaration of Conscience by South Africans of Jewish Descent Ronnie Kasrils and I co-authored. Our aim was to call for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, not to write a history. Like most South African Zionists, he does not call for negotiations. Our Zionists seem unable to make any criticism of the Ariel Sharon government. Rather they are retreating into a laager to justify the actions of the most militarily aggressive Israeli government in years. Because the Zionist movement and the Israeli government claim to speak on behalf of all Jews, we believe it is important for Jews who believe in peace and negotiations to make their voices heard. Otherwise we become silent accomplices in the denial of the human rights of the Palestinian people. It is only possible to support the current actions of Israel by justifying why the human rights of the Palestinians must be suppressed. Berger says: ”The first task of a state is to protect its civilians against murderous assassins. If ruthless measures are needed then it is their moral duty to use them.” Is it the ”moral duty” of Israel to inflict collective punishment including military occupation for 34 years, exile, demolition of homes and orchards, arbitrary arrest, and other repressive measures on the Palestinian people, whether they are involved in terrorism or not? Rather than calling for a resolution of the issues that lead to resistance from the Palestinians, and unfortunately to terrorism from a few, Berger encourages Sharon to soldier on. Absurdly, Berger claims that with regard to democracy and human rights, ”Israel is incontestably superior to the Palestinians”. Yet the Palestinians have been denied their right to self-determination by the Israelis and have no way at present of creating a democratic state that would guarantee them human rights. State power in both Israel and Palestine is in Sharon’s hands. He shows it every day. As in South Africa, where the apartheid regime had to take the first bold steps to negotiations the unbanning of the liberation movements and the release of political prisoners, so the Israelis have the same responsibility.
Sharon has another agenda. He believes he can stop the creation of a Palestinian state by increasing immigration of Jews, consolidating Jewish settlements on the West Bank and provoking a civil war among the Palestinians.
In Israel there is a strong political current that calls for negotiations and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Jews in South Africa should join this call and give full support to President Thabo Mbeki’s attempt to bring together the two sides. Max Ozinsky MPL, Western Cape Legislature