Letters to the Editor, Dec. 9
San Francisco Chronicle
December 9, 2017
- Of course, Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel. But it is also the capital of the State of Palestine, currently occupied by the Israeli army and unable to exercise its sovereignty in the Arab parts of Jerusalem that will some day be an integral part of the Palestinian state. American Jews who seek an end to that struggle recognize that a lasting peace with justice for both sides can only be achieved through a new spirit of generosity and repentance from both sides. President Trump has weakened the hands of those who seek peace through negotiations and has given a gift to Hamas and to the Israeli settlers.
As Jews approach the celebration of Hanukkah, our own national liberation struggle against the occupation of Judea by an oppressive imperial power, many of us will rededicate ourselves to seeking for the Palestinian people the same rights and dignity of national self-determination that we rightly fought for in creating the State of Israel in 1948. We must also overcome the poison of all forms of reactionary nationalism and develop instead a commitment to the well-being of all people on this planet and to saving our planet from the environmental destruction that Trump’s policies are advancing.
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Berkeley