Rabbi John L. Rosove,Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel of Hollywood, is a man with many outstanding accomplishments. He also passionately clings to certain ideas… Some of these are good. Some of these are bad. And some of these are dangerous to the survival of Israel. [The last e-mail address I had for Rabbi Rosove is RABBI JOHN ROSOVE <rjohn@tioh.org> . If you agree with any of the points that I make, please contact him directly.)
Currently, Rabbi Rosove is playing an instrumental role (as co-chair J Street Rabbinic Cabinet) in concert with Rabbis for Human Rights North America (RHRNA) and Americans for Peace Now (APN) in circulating a letter denouncing, with "collective alarm" ,the Israeli government's decision to allow the next steps in the planning --which will give Israel the capability in the future to build an additional number of housing units (if, in the future, the Israeli government decides that it is in the interest of Israel to do so) in what is expected by all conceivable peace agreements to remain a Jewish section of Jerusalem.
My 1st objections deal with inaccuracies in the letter (which is being distributed widely in the United States, Europe, etc. to the
media, government agencies, and the public.)
FROM THE RABBI's LETTER: “about the Israeli government's decision to construct housing in the E1 Zone in Jerusalem…. we urge you to cease plans to construct new settlements in E1, elsewhere in the West Bank, or in East Jerusalem"…"effectively make the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict untenable."
Rabbi Rosove is fully aware that the planning and permitting process has many steps. This is permission to proceed with planning. It's many steps away from approving the construction of the housing.
In 1993 Israel signed an agreement with the PLO in which there was no ban whatsoever on Israel building more buildings on existing settlements. The Palestinians formed a government that received political control over all the towns and villages of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It agreed that Israel would continue to control Jerusalem. The two sides further agreed that the political status of these territories would be changed only through a mutual peace treaty.
Also, any statements in theRabbi's letter ( or elsewhere ) that it would make the 2 state solution impossible; it would split the Ramallah region off from Bethlehem, effectively cutting the West Bank in two making a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible, etc. are not correct. Here is a map of the region :
Ma’ale Adumim is one of those communities that were expected to become part of Israel in any negotiated settlement. Not only does it not cut the “West Bank” in half but the distance between the eastern part of Ma’ale Adumim and the Jordan is greater than the width of Israel at its narrowest point according to the pre-1967 borders!
E1 is located between eastern Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, 4 miles away. The units would be built on around 12,000 dunams (about 3,000 acres) of state land northwest of Maaleh Adumim. Approving the submission of the plan would open the door for objections to be filed. The entire process could take a prolonged period of time.
Rabbi Rosove and the letter never mentions that Olmert, now a critic, supported E1 construction in 2006.( In a 2006 interview in Haaretz, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said E1 area must be built up. Olmert told Haaretz that "it is unthinkable that we would talk about Maaleh Adumim as part of the State of Israel and leave it as an island or isolated enclave. It is absolutely clear that there will be built-up continuity between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim.""Olmert insisted that the area would remain under Israeli sovereignty in a final-status agreement with the intention being to build there to create territorial contiguity with Maaleh Adumim," the Olmert spokesperson said.)
MY SECOND MAJOR OBJECTION: the total membership of these groups (much of them overlapping) numbers, according to their text approximately 700. The American Jewish community numbers several million. American Jewish leadership numbers many thousands. The American Jewish organizations have an established organization for representation. At best, these are small splinter groups masquerading to the media, the government and to the public as the voice of the American Jewish community.
Also, although they claim to be operating as individuals they use their Rabbinic titles and selective biblical interpretations to lend credibility to their positions.
Some quotes:"As leaders of our community" … ""As American rabbis"… "The Mishna (Pirke Avot 1:12) tells us, "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving humankind and bringing them closer to the Torah." The commentary on this saying in Avot d'Rabbi Natan tells us that it is not enough merely to love peace, but that one must pursue it as strenuously as Aaron did."
A THIRD MAJOR OBJECTION is the misstatement of facts and history."As American rabbis, we also fear that construction in E1 damages the critical relationship between Israel and the United States. Construction in E1 would violate repeated commitments to the United States, dating back to 1994, not to build settlements in the area."
Concerning US and Israeli agreements on settlements….the Bush letter to Netanyahu on settlements... was reviewed and approved by candidate Obama and then was later negated by Pres.Obama and Secretary of State Clinton who at first claimed that such a letter did not exist and then announced that it was “no longer operational”.
Does anyone remember that the UN and the US promised Israel that Hezbollah would not be permitted to rearm? Or that Israel was promised freedom of navigation through the Suez Canal? Or that Israel was guaranteed a supply of petroleum from Egypt? {Previously ,I have written on the history of the US failing to honor US commitments to Israel .}
There are many alarming developments that SHOULD concern Rabbi John Rosove.
RABBI ROSOVE SHOULD BE VERY CONCERNED THAT BOTH THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY AND HAMAS HAVE RECONFIRMED ALL OF THEIR BASIC RESOLUTIONS.
A. In partial response to the Six-Day War, the Arab League convened a summit ( from August 29 to September 1, 1967) attended by the heads of state of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait and Sudan. At the conclusion of the summit ,a resolution was issued( the Khartoum Resolution) calling for a continued state of belligerency with Israel and pledging their "three famous'Nos": "NO PEACE WITH ISRAEL, NO RECOGNITION OF ISRAEL, NO NEGOTIATIONS WITH ISRAEL”.
(Note: some historians, mainly Jewish have written that these pledges were not absolute and Israel should bear some of the responsibility for them being issued. It should be noted that as of the present according to both the PLO and Hamas they incorporate the most extreme form of this.)
The Palestine liberation organization does not recognize the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. In spite of all the statements made by supporters of the “2 state solution” and other outsiders ,the PLO has not amended their charter,nor have they announced in Arabic to the Palestinian people their acceptance of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. The words used by liberal Jews such as “in effect they have”, etc. are totally rejected by the PLO and by the Palestinian Authority. Without such public and unequivocal acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state all agreements with Israel are regarded as temporary truces to serve as resting points.( Hudna) in their campaign to "redeem all of sacred Moslem land from the infidels.”
Within the last week (on the 25th anniversary of Hamas’s founding) Mr. Meshal said the Jewish state would be wiped away through military action. “The state will come from resistance, not negotiation,” he said. “Liberation first, then statehood.” His voice rising to a shout, Mr. Meshal said: “Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on any inch of the land.” He vowed that all Palestinian refugees and their descendants would one day return to their original homes in what is now Israel.
“We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation, and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel, no matter how long it will take,” he said. “We will free Jerusalem inch by inch, stone by stone. Israel has no right to be in Jerusalem.”
B. Currently, the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, etc. are demanding the absolute and non-negotiable right of all Palestinians (self identified) and their dependents to return to the “pre-1967 boundaries of Palestine” (Israel). The number of "refugees" is variously estimated at between 5 and 7 million. Numerous Arab authorities have stated that no one has the authority to enter into a bargain which would limit or cancel these rights. Thus, any agreement would be renounced by some element as not being binding on them. Further, complicating this aspect is the statement made by the Palestinian Authority that Palestinians living in the camps in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and even on the west bank would not be eligible as citizens for a new Palestinian state on the West Bank but should be absorbed by Israel.
C. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas demand that the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and all other Palestinian territory be Jew-free. There is a major difference between sovereignty and land ownership.This demand is a throwback to the Jewish exclusions from land ownership that plagued the Jews for centuries and also the Nazi regime in Germany (which unfortunately was supported by the mufti of Jerusalem with a division of SS troops dedicated to hunting down and killing Jews). This returns the West Bank and East Jerusalem to the exact same condition as the Jordanian occupation wherein all Jews were either murdered or expelled and all Jewish property was expropriated.
IT IS THE DUTY OF THOSE WHO THOSE WHO PURPORT TO KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR ISRAEL AND ADVOCATE “A 2 STATE SOLUTION” (OR ANY OTHER SOLUTION INVOLVING THE PLO, THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, AND/OR HAMAS) TO MAKE THE CLEAR DEMAND THAT
THEY RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE.
THE RIGHT OF RETURN BE UNEQUIVOCALLY ABANDONED AS A BARGAINING POINT.{ It would ease the situation if they also demanded that the various states (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, a new Palestinian state on the West Bank, etc.) offer the option of citizenship to their Palestinian residents.}
Rabbi Rosove( J Street , Rabbis for Human Rights North America, Americans for Peace Now,etc.) As long as the Palestinians maintain the Arab League position: no negotiations; no recognition; no peace; demand that any area they takeover should be Jew-free. ; maintain that even if they get a State, the residents of the camps on the West Bank, in Jordan, Syria, etc. would not be citizens this new state but would have the right of unlimited return to the state of Israel; and that all of Israel is unredeemed Islamic territory, THERE WILL NEVER BE PEACE!
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