CPTnet
30 January 2007

HEBRON REFLECTION: A rabbi and a politician

by Bill Baldwin

I went to see a rabbi in Ottawa, Canada, where I live when I am not with the
CPT Hebron team. This man is not a supporter of CPT and he told me, "You
have paid me the honour of coming to visit me. Now I need to pay you the
honour of telling you what I think." He said, "For me the establishment of
the State of Israel is the beginning of our redemption." He went on to tell
me how he had taught his children to be proud of their Jewish heritage and
supportive of Israel. Several of his children later moved to the Jewish
settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron and are more militant
Zionists than he is.

Since coming back to Hebron, I was part of a meeting with an elected
official belonging to the Hamas party. Hamas states in its founding charter
that Palestine is a Waqf--an inheritance passed down to the Palestinian
people from their ancestors, and held in trust for future generations. This
official does not believe that he has the authority to negotiate away the
inheritance of his people. Yet he wants to work with Jews and he looks to a
future in which Jews and Palestinians can live together in peace. He said,
"God does not want people to kill each other." In our meeting, Israelis,
Palestinians and internationals could ask difficult questions and receive
honest answers.

The Jewish rabbi and the Palestinian elected official are each committed to
a vision of his people living in its own land in obedience to God's law.
The way they see this vision may lead to what, for now, are irreconcilable
differences. These differences might lead some to want to label either one
or both of them as extremist. Yet, both men tell their story honestly and
are prepared to listen compassionately to how others tell their stories.

These men will never meet each other, but if they did meet, would they be
able to see how much they hold in common?