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Social Action | Mid East Open letter from our President, Mike Felsen, about feedback from the Gaza Flotilla statement
Following the web posting of our statement on the Gaza flotilla incident, we've received both expressions of support as well as an airing of concerns that the statement didn't support Israel and/or wasn't balanced.
We welcome your feedback, and as President of the organization I would like to address the concerns raised with some further thoughts:
Boston Workmen’s Circle standing positions on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict have been much debated and well-publicized. They include support for a two-state solution and an end to the violence on both sides. We do not believe that calling for non-military solutions to the conflict, for an end to the occupation, or for lifting the Gaza blockade on humanitarian aid, are in any respect anti-Israel views. Indeed, we believe that the opposite is true. Likewise, when we voice support for the positions of groups like J Street and the Geneva Initiative, we believe that we are speaking with a strong pro-Israel, pro-peace voice, that also acknowledges that the needs and aspirations of the Palestinian people must be addressed if there's to be any hope for peace in the region.
As for our Gaza flotilla statement, it's true that it doesn't reference Hamas, whose policies and actions we deplore. The statement, if anything, expresses our concerns about what we view as policies of the present Israeli government that harm both the residents of Gaza and Israel itself, and that we, as American Jews, believe fervently need to change in the very near term. To suggest that our statement is anti-Israel, or even sides with those who seek the destruction of Israel, I feel misses the point. Indeed, the last words of the statement are in many ways its most important: a speedy and just solution to the conflict that results in "a viable, independent Palestinian state...alongside a safe, secure, and democratic Israel." Is that anti-Israel?
Your feedback is welcome. I also highly recommend reading Peter Beinart’s groundbreaking New York Review of Books article a few weeks ago for a probing analysis of why it’s time for the Jewish “establishment” to embrace the pro-peace, pro-Israel position.
-- Mike Felsen
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